Method of locating electronic price labels in transaction establishments
First Claim
1. A method of locating a wireless electronic price label in a transaction establishment comprising the steps of:
- (a) receiving a message from the wireless electronic price label;
(b) determining a first approximate location of the electronic price label from characteristics of the message received from the electronic price label;
(c) selecting other wireless electronic price labels in proximity with the first approximate location;
(d) receiving messages from a number of the other wireless electronic price labels whose locations are known;
(e) determining which of the number of the other wireless electronic price labels is closest to the electronic price label from characteristics of the messages from the number of the other wireless electronic price labels; and
(f) determining a second approximate location of the wireless electronic price label based on the location of the closest wireless electronic price label.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method of locating an electronic price label in a transaction establishment which relies on known location information from other electronic price labels. The method includes the steps of receiving a message from the electronic price label, determining a first approximate location of the electronic price label from characteristics of the return message, selecting other electronic price labels in proximity with the approximate location, receiving messages from a number of the other electronic price labels whose locations are known, determining which of the number of the other electronic price labels is closest to the electronic price label from characteristics of the messages from the number of the other electronic price labels, and determining a second approximate location of the electronic price label based on the location of the closest electronic price label.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method of locating a wireless electronic price label in a transaction establishment comprising the steps of:
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(a) receiving a message from the wireless electronic price label; (b) determining a first approximate location of the electronic price label from characteristics of the message received from the electronic price label; (c) selecting other wireless electronic price labels in proximity with the first approximate location; (d) receiving messages from a number of the other wireless electronic price labels whose locations are known; (e) determining which of the number of the other wireless electronic price labels is closest to the electronic price label from characteristics of the messages from the number of the other wireless electronic price labels; and (f) determining a second approximate location of the wireless electronic price label based on the location of the closest wireless electronic price label. - View Dependent Claims (4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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2. A method of locating a wireless electronic price label in a transaction establishment comprising the steps of:
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(a) transmitting a message to the wireless electronic price label; (b) monitoring for a return message from the wireless electronic price label; (c) performing steps (a) and (b) a number of times; (d) receiving the return message from the wireless electronic price label by a number of receive antennae; (e) determining a first approximate location of the wireless electronic price label from signal-to-noise information associated with the return message at each receive antennae; (f) selecting other wireless electronic price labels, whose locations are known, within a predetermined distance of the approximate location; (g) transmitting another message to the other wireless electronic price labels; (h) monitoring for return messages from the other wireless electronic price labels; (i) performing steps (g) and (h) a number of times; (j) receiving the return messages from a number of the other wireless electronic shelf labels by a number of receive antennae; (k) determining which of the number of the other wireless electronic price labels is closest to the wireless electronic price label from signal-to-noise information associated with the return messages from the number of the other wireless electronic price labels at each of the number of receive antennae; (l) determining a second approximate location of the wireless electronic price label based on the location of the closest wireless electronic price label; and (m) indicating to an operator the second approximate location of the wireless electronic electronic price label.
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3. A method of locating a wireless electronic price label in a transaction establishment comprising the steps of:
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(a) transmitting a message to the wireless electronic price label; (b) monitoring for a return message from the wireless electronic price label; (c) performing steps (a) and (b) a number of times; (d) receiving the return message from the wireless electronic price label; (e) determining a first approximate location of the wireless electronic price label from characteristics of the return message; (f) selecting other wireless electronic price labels, whose locations are known, within a predetermined distance of the approximate location; (g) transmitting another message to the other wireless electronic price labels; (h) monitoring for return messages from the other wireless electronic price labels; (i) performing steps (g) and (h) a number of times; (j) receiving the return messages from a number of other wireless electronic price labels; (k) determining which of the number of the other wireless electronic price labels is closest to the wireless electronic price label from characteristics of the return messages from the number of the other wireless electronic price labels; (l) determining a second approximate location of the wireless electronic price label based on the location of the closest of the number of the other wireless electronic price labels; and (m) indicating to an operator the second approximate location of the wireless electronic price label.
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Specification