Point-of-sale marketing material presence and viewability verification system and method

• US 7,119,804 B2
• Filed: 01/22/2003
• Issued: 10/10/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 06/04/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Philip Morris USA Incorporated (Altria Group, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Philip Morris USA Incorporated (Altria Group, Inc.)
• Inventors: Sweeney, William R., Smith, Ulysses
• Primary Examiner(s): Hjerpe, Richard
• Assistant Examiner(s): Said, Mansour M.
• Application Number:
  US10/348,407
• Publication Number:
  US 20030227384A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,357 Days
• Field of Search: 345 98- 99, 345/765, 345/156, 345/162, 345/169, 345174-177, 345/207, 345/211, 345/214, 705/1, 705/26, 705/27, 705 20- 21, 340 591- 592, 235382-383
• US Class Current: 345/214
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/246 Check out systems combined with EAS, e.g. price information stored on EAS tag anti-theft systems in point of sale systems G07G3/003
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/248 EAS system combined with another detection technology, e.g. dual EAS and video or other presence detection system
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 23/00 Alarms responsive to unspecified undesired or abnormal conditions

Abstract

A system and method is provided for monitoring the viewability of a display, and includes a point-of-sale display, at least one sensor that detects at least one of presence, placement and viewability of a display, a central processing unit that receives an output from the sensor and compares the output with a predetermined value to determine if an abnormal condition affecting viewability of the display exists, and a communication device that communicates an alarm signal produced by the central processing unit under abnormal conditions to a remote recipient or to a storage device.

Claims

1. A system for monitoring viewability of a point-of-sale display, comprising:

the point-of-sale display,

at least one sensor that detects presence, placement and viewability of the display, and

a central processing unit that receives an output from said sensor and compares said output with a predetermined value to determine if an abnormal condition affecting viewability of the display exists.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the at least one sensor detects the positioning of the display.

3. The system according to claim 2, wherein the at least one sensor is a flux gate or other type of electronic compass.

4. The system according to claim 1, wherein the at least one sensor is a GPS (Global Positioning System) or other location sensor.

5. The system according to claim 1, wherein the at least one sensor detects the viewability of the display.

6. The system according to claim 5, wherein the at least one sensor is a light sensitive sensor which can detect whether at least a portion of the display is covered.

7. The system according to claim 6, wherein the at least one sensor is a photoresistive light sensor.

8. The system according to claim 6, wherein the at least one sensor is a photovoltaic light sensor.

9. The system according to claim 8, wherein the photovoltaic light sensor produces at least a portion of the power used by the display.

10. The system according to claim 5, wherein the at least one sensor is a contact sensor that detects removal of the display from a surface or placement of an object over a front face of the display.

11. The system according to claim 5, wherein the at least one sensor detects the presence of an object obstructing at least part of a view of the display.

12. The system according to claim 11, wherein the at least one sensor is an electric field sensor.

13. The system according to claim 11, wherein the at least one sensor is a capacitive sensor.

14. The system according to claim 11, wherein the at least one sensor is a dielectric sensor.

15. The system according to claim 11, wherein the at least one sensor is an acoustical sensor.

16. The system according to claim 1, wherein the at least one sensor is attached to a surface of the display.

17. The system according to claim 1, further including a communication device, the central processing unit produces an alarm signal if the output from said sensor is different than said predetermined value, and

the alarm signal is communicated by said communication device to a remote recipient or to a storage device.

18. The system according to claim 17, wherein the communication device is at least one of a wired phone, wireless phone, cell phone, PCS, wireless digital data service, two-way data radio, two-way pager, or the Internet.

19. The system according to claim 18, wherein the central processing unit and the communication device are also used in producing the display.

20. A method of verifying the viewability of a point-of-sale display, comprising:

monitoring a sensor positioned in the vicinity of the point-of-sale display to detect the orientation of the display, the location of the display and the presence of an object blocking viewability of at least part of the display;

outputting a signal from said sensor to a central processing unit;

comparing the signal from said sensor with a predetermined value to determine whether an abnormal condition affecting viewability of the display exists.

21. The method according to claim 20, further including:

producing an alarm signal when the signal differs from the predetermined value sufficiently to indicate an abnormal condition affecting viewability of the display.

22. The method according to claim 21, further including:

communicating the alarm signal to a remote location.

23. The method according to claim 22, wherein the alarm signal is communicated to a remote location by at least one of a wired phone, wireless phone, cell phone, PCS, wireless digital data service, two-way data radio, two-way pager or the Internet.

24. The method according to claim 21, further including:

storing the alarm signal and logging it for read out at a later time.