Subglobal area addressing for electronic price displays
First Claim
1. A method of addressing more than one and less than all of the display devices in an electronic display system, said system comprising a host and a multiplicity of electronic price display devices communicatively coupled with the host, each display device having a respective unique address and responsive to messages from the host containing said unique address, said method comprising the steps of:
- selecting a first particular subglobal address value;
storing to substantially all of the display devices respective subglobal address values such that the particular subglobal address value is stored to more than one and less than all of the display devices;
broadcasting to the display devices a command comprising;
an indication that the command is to be addressed with respect to each display device'"'"'s respective subglobal address; and
a second particular subglobal address value;
within each display device, comparing the second particular subglobal address value with the display device'"'"'s respective stored subglobal address value, and performing a predetermined action if the second particular subglobal address value bears a predetermined relation to the display device'"'"'s respective stored subglobal address value.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An electronic price display system has uniquely addressed electronic shelf labels (ESLs) controlled by a central computer or host. To save power and communications channel bandwidth, subglobal addressing is defined which permits the central computer to address more than one but less than all of the labels. In one application of the addressing protocol the central computer causes the subglobally addressed labels to perform some common action such as changing a display to an alternative display. In another application of the addressing protocol the central computer uses the subglobal addressing to disambiguate when data collisions occur due to more than one label attempting to respond to a global query.
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Citations
48 Claims
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1. A method of addressing more than one and less than all of the display devices in an electronic display system, said system comprising a host and a multiplicity of electronic price display devices communicatively coupled with the host, each display device having a respective unique address and responsive to messages from the host containing said unique address, said method comprising the steps of:
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selecting a first particular subglobal address value; storing to substantially all of the display devices respective subglobal address values such that the particular subglobal address value is stored to more than one and less than all of the display devices; broadcasting to the display devices a command comprising; an indication that the command is to be addressed with respect to each display device'"'"'s respective subglobal address; and a second particular subglobal address value; within each display device, comparing the second particular subglobal address value with the display device'"'"'s respective stored subglobal address value, and performing a predetermined action if the second particular subglobal address value bears a predetermined relation to the display device'"'"'s respective stored subglobal address value. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. An address-loading method for use in an electronic display system having a host with a first bus, a plurality of appenders communicatively coupled with the first bus, each appender having a respective unique address and having a respective second bus and communicatively coupling the first and second bus, and a multiplicity of display devices communicatively coupled with various of the second buses, each display device having a respective unique address and responding to messages from the host containing the respective address, each appender responsive to a response from a display device detected on its second bus for transmitting its own address subsequently thereto;
- the method comprising the steps of;
sending a message from the host to a particular one of the display devices; sending a response from the particular one of the display devices; transmitting, from the appender detecting the response, the address of the appender; detecting, within the particular one of the display devices, the address transmitted by the appender; and storing, within the particular one of the display devices, the detected address. - View Dependent Claims (16)
- the method comprising the steps of;
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17. A method of addressing substantially all of the display devices on one particular rail in an electronic display system, said system having a host with a first bus, a plurality of appenders communicatively coupled with the first bus, each appender associated with a rail and having a respective unique address and having a respective second bus associated with the rail and communicatively coupling the first and second bus, and a multiplicity of display devices mounted on various of the rails, each display device having a respective unique address and responding to messages from the host containing the respective address, each appender responsive to a response from a display device detected on its second bus for transmitting its own address subsequently thereto;
- said method comprising the steps of;
for each particular one of substantially all of the display devices in the system, sending a message from the host to the particular one of the display devices;
sending a response from the particular one of the display devices;
transmitting, from the appender detecting the response, the address of the appender;
detecting, within the particular one of the display devices, the address transmitted by the appender; and
storing, within the particular one of the display devices, the detected address defining a subglobal address;broadcasting to the display devices a command comprising; an indication that the command is to be addressed with respect to each display device'"'"'s respective subglobal address; and the unique address of the appender associated with the particular rail defining a second particular subglobal address value; within each display device, comparing the second particular subglobal address value with the display device'"'"'s respective stored subglobal address value, and performing a predetermined action if the second particular subglobal address value bears a predetermined relation to the display device'"'"'s respective stored subglobal address value. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
- said method comprising the steps of;
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24. A method of addressing substantially all of the display devices in a selected subspace of an electronic display system, said system having a host with a first bus, a plurality of appenders communicatively coupled with the first bus, each appender associated with a rail and having a respective unique address and having a respective second bus associated with the rail and communicatively coupling the first and second bus, and a multiplicity of display devices mounted on various of the rails, each display device having a respective unique address and responding to messages from the host containing the respective address, each appender responsive to a response from a display device detected on its second bus for transmitting its own address subsequently thereto;
- wherein the display devices are in a physical space;
said method comprising the steps of;for each particular one of substantially all of the display devices in the system, sending a message from the host to the particular one of the display devices;
sending a response from the particular one of the display devices;
transmitting, from the appender detecting the response, the address of the appender;
detecting, within the particular one of the display devices, the address transmitted by the appender; and
storing, within the particular one of the display devices, the detected address defining a subglobal address;partitioning the physical space into subspaces; compiling a list indicative of the addresses of the appenders associated with the rails located within the various subspaces; for each particular one of the appender addresses listed for the selected subspace, broadcasting to the display devices a command comprising; an indication that the command is to be addressed with respect to each display device'"'"'s respective subglobal address; and the one of the particular appender addresses, said address defining a second particular subglobal address value; within each display device, comparing the second particular subglobal address value with the display device'"'"'s respective stored subglobal address value, and performing a predetermined action if the second particular subglobal address value bears a predetermined relation to the display device'"'"'s respective stored subglobal address value. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
- wherein the display devices are in a physical space;
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34. An electronic display system comprising:
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a host; a multiplicity of display devices, each having a unique address and responsive to a first message from the host containing the unique address for generating a second message in response thereto; and a communications channel communicatively coupling the host and the multiplicity of display devices; each display device further characterized in having a power-status status flag that is set upon power-up of the display device and that is cleared upon receipt of a third message from the host; each display device responsive to a fourth message from the host that does not contain its unique address with a fifth message in the event of the display device'"'"'s power-status flag being set; each display device further characterized in being responsive to a sixth message from the host containing a portion of its unique address with a seventh message in the event of both the display device'"'"'s power-status flag being set and the event of the portion in the sixth message matching the corresponding portion of its own address. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36)
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37. An electronic display system comprising:
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a host; a multiplicity of display devices, each having a unique address and responsive to a first message from the host containing the unique address for generating a second message in response thereto; and a communications channel communicatively coupling the host and the multiplicity of display devices; each display device further characterized in having a button and a button-status flag that is set upon the pressing of the button and that is cleared upon receipt of a third message from the host; each display device responsive to a fourth message from the host that does not contain its unique address with a fifth message in the event of the display device'"'"'s button-status flag being set; each display device further characterized in being responsive to a sixth message from the host containing a portion of its unique address with a seventh message in the event of both the display device'"'"'s button-status flag being set and the event of the portion in the sixth message matching the corresponding portion of its own address. - View Dependent Claims (38, 39)
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40. An electronic display system comprising:
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a host; a multiplicity of display devices, each having a unique address and responsive to a first message from the host containing the unique address for generating a second message in response thereto; and a communications channel communicatively coupling the host and the multiplicity of display devices; each display device further characterized in having a battery and a battery-status flag that is set upon the event of some level of battery loss; each display device responsive to a fourth message from the host that does not contain its unique address with a fifth message in the event of the display device'"'"'s battery-status flag being set; each display device further characterized in being responsive to a sixth message from the host containing a portion of its unique address with a seventh message in the event of both the display device'"'"'s battery-status flag being set and the event of the portion in the sixth message matching the corresponding portion of its own address. - View Dependent Claims (41, 42)
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43. An electronic display system comprising:
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a host; a multiplicity of display devices, each having a unique address and responsive to a first message from the host containing the unique address for generating a second message in response thereto; and a communications channel communicatively coupling the host and the multiplicity of display devices; each display device further characterized in having a sensor sensing presence of a bib attached to the device and a bib-status flag that is set upon the event of the sensor sensing a change; each display device responsive to a fourth message from the host that does not contain its unique address with a fifth message in the event of the display device'"'"'s bib-status flag being set; each display device further characterized in being responsive to a sixth message from the host containing a portion of its unique address with a seventh message in the event of both the display device'"'"'s bib-status flag being set and the event of the portion in the sixth message matching the corresponding portion of its own address. - View Dependent Claims (44, 45)
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46. An electronic display system comprising:
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a host; a multiplicity of display devices, each having a unique address and responsive to a first message from the host containing the unique address for generating a second message in response thereto; and a communications channel communicatively coupling the host and the multiplicity of display devices; each display device further characterized in having a flag that is set upon some event not controlled by the host; each display device responsive to a fourth message from the host that does not contain its unique address with a fifth message in the event of the display device'"'"'s flag being set; each display device further characterized in being responsive to a sixth message from the host containing a portion of its unique address with a seventh message in the event of both the display device'"'"'s flag being set and the event of the portion in the sixth message matching the corresponding portion of its own address. - View Dependent Claims (47, 48)
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Specification