Technique for communicating with electronic labels in an electronic price display system
First Claim
Patent Images
1. Apparatus for displaying information, said apparatus having a predetermined address and comprising:
- a screen having individually actuable character elements, subsets of the character elements defining different ensembles of display characters,a memory for storing data composed of bits;
means for receiving messages each having an address field and data;
means for accepting the received messages whose address fields match said predetermined address;
means for storing data of the accepted messages in said memory, each character element on said screen being associated with a different one of stored data bits; and
means for actuating a subset of the character elements associated with the stored data bits having a predetermined value to display information on said screen.
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Abstract
In a system for displaying prices in a retail store, an improved protocol is disclosed to permit improved communications between a host, or central computer and display devices. Such a protocol enables the host to effectively communicate messages to the display devices for the latter to display information to consumers and/or store personnel.
93 Citations
45 Claims
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1. Apparatus for displaying information, said apparatus having a predetermined address and comprising:
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a screen having individually actuable character elements, subsets of the character elements defining different ensembles of display characters, a memory for storing data composed of bits; means for receiving messages each having an address field and data; means for accepting the received messages whose address fields match said predetermined address; means for storing data of the accepted messages in said memory, each character element on said screen being associated with a different one of stored data bits; and means for actuating a subset of the character elements associated with the stored data bits having a predetermined value to display information on said screen. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A method for use in an apparatus for displaying information, said apparatus having a predetermined address and comprising a screen having individually actuable character elements, subsets of which define different ensembles of display characters, and a memory for storing data composed of bits, said method comprising the steps of:
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receiving messages each having an address field and data; accepting the received messages whose address fields match said predetermined address; storing data of the accepted messages in said memory, each character element on said screen being associated with a different one of stored data bits; and actuating a subset of the character elements associated with the stored data bits having a predetermined value to display information on said screen. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9)
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10. A system for displaying information comprising:
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control means including means for providing messages each containing an address and data; a multiplicity of electronic displays communicatively coupled with the control means, each electronic display having a respective address and comprising; a screen having individually actuable character elements, subsets of which define different ensembles of display characters; a memory for storing data composed of bits; means for accepting messages provided by the control means, addresses of the accepted messages being identical to said respective address, data of the accepted messages being stored in the memory; and driving means responsive to bits of the stored data for actuating a subset of the character elements to display information on said screen, each character element being associated with a different one of the stored data bits, said driving means actuating the subset of the character elements which are associated with the stored data bits having a predetermined value. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A method for use in a system for displaying information, said system comprising control means and at least one display apparatus communicatively coupled with said control means, said display apparatus having a predetermined address and comprising a screen having individually actuable character elements, subsets of which define different ensembles of display characters, and a memory for storing data composed of bits, said method comprising the steps of:
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providing from said control means messages each containing an address and data; accepting by said display apparatus messages provided by the control means, addresses of the accepted messages being identical to said predetermined address; storing data of the accepted messages in said memory, each character element on said screen being associated with a different one of bits of stored data; and actuating a subset of the character elements associated with the stored data bits having a predetermined value to display information on said screen. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. Apparatus for displaying information, said apparatus having a predetermined address and comprising:
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a screen having individually actuable characters for displaying information; at least a first memory and a second memory for storing first and second data, respectively, said first and second data representing individual characters; means for receiving messages each having an address field and data; means for accepting the received messages whose address fields match said predetermined address, data of the accepted messages including pointer data; means responsive to the pointer data for selecting one of said first memory and said second memory; and driving means for actuating, on said screen, a character represented by data stored in the selected memory. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. A method for use in an apparatus for displaying information, said apparatus having a predetermined address and comprising a screen having individually actuable characters for displaying information, and at least a first memory and a second memory for storing first and second data, respectively, said first and second data representing individual characters, said method comprising the steps of:
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receiving messages each having an address field and data; accepting the received messages whose address fields match said predetermined address, data of the accepted messages including pointer data; selecting one of said first memory and said second memory in response to said pointer data; and actuating on said screen a character represented by data stored in the selected memory. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29)
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30. A system for displaying information comprising:
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control means including means for providing messages each containing an address and data; a multiplicity of displays communicatively coupled with the control means, each display having a respective address and comprising; a screen having individually actuable characters for displaying information; at least a first memory and a second memory for storing first and second data, respectively, said first and second data representing individual characters; means for accepting messages provided by the control means, addresses of the accepted messages being identical to said respective address, and data of the accepted messages including pointer data; means responsive to the pointer data for selecting one of said first memory and said second memory; and driver means for actuating, on said screen, a character represented by data stored in the selected memory. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. A method for use in a system for displaying information, said system comprising control means and at least one display apparatus communicatively coupled with the control means, said display apparatus having a predetermined address and comprising a screen having individually actuable characters for displaying information, and at least a first memory and a second memory for storing first and second data, respectively, said first and second data representing individual characters, said method comprising the steps of:
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providing from the control means messages each containing an address and data; accepting by said display apparatus messages provided by the control means, addresses of the accepted messages being identical to said predetermined address, and data of the accepted messages including pointer data; selecting one of said first memory and said second memory in response to said pointer data; and actuating on said screen a character represented by data stored in the selected memory. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39, 40)
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41. Apparatus for displaying information, said apparatus having a predetermined address and comprising:
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a screen; at least one memory array comprising a plurality of memory elements, each memory element storing display data; means operative for reading the memory elements in a predetermined order; means for displaying on said screen information based on the display data stored in the memory elements read by the reading means; means for receiving messages each having an address field, data and an indicator; means for accepting the received messages whose address fields match said predetermined address; means for updating the memory elements with data of the accepted messages; and means responsive to the indicator for operating the reading means to stop reading the memory elements when one or more of said memory elements are updated. - View Dependent Claims (42, 43, 44, 45)
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Specification