Automatic price display control by emulation of electronic cash register price lookup

• US 9,058,621 B2
• Filed: 06/24/2011
• Issued: 06/16/2015
• 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.
• Primary Examiner(s): Iwarere, Seye
• Application Number:
  US13/168,574
• Publication Number:
  US 20110258060A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,453 Days
• Field of Search: 705/20, 705/21, 705/16
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/201 Price look-up processing, e.g. updating
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/202 Interconnection or interaction of plural electronic cash registers [ECR] or to host computer, e.g. network details, transfer of information from host to ECR or from ECR to ECR
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G07G 1/145 PLU-management

Abstract

A system and method for distribution of product price and/or sales data in a retail establishment. Product price and/or sales data is stored locally, either in a central computer or master electronic cash register (ECR) or remotely at a master computer. The product price data is stored in the form of a price look-up (PLU) table. The price data can be pushed from the master ECR, local or master computers to and ECR emulation hub to an ECR emulation hub. Similarly, the ECR emulation hub can request product price data from the master ECR, local or master computers. Once the product price data arrives at the ECR emulation hub, it can be processed and sent to a display, which will be located near the appropriate product. The ECR emulation hub can also record and/or transmit prices actually charged for products over time to allow for automatic auditing of promotional pricing offers such as those made by manufacturers of the product. The ECR emulation hub acts like an ECR, thereby requiring no special software or hardware modifications to existing pricing display systems that already support ECRs.

Claims

1. A method for the distribution and display of product information in a retail establishment, the retail establishment having a plurality of electronic cash registers and a plurality of electronic display units, each respective electronic cash register having an associated electronic cash register emulation hub configured to emulate the respective electronic cash register, and each electronic display unit being dedicated to display product information of a particular product, the method comprising the steps of:

transmitting product information from a master database to at least one of the plurality of electronic cash registers over a network;

monitoring, via the associated electronic cash register emulation hub, product information transmitted to the at least one electronic cash register for data associated with at least one first product;

acquiring, via the associated electronic cash register emulation hub, the data associated with the at least one first product;

translating the data associated with the at least one first product to an electronic display unit format;

transferring, over the network, the translated data associated with the at least one first product from the electronic cash register emulation hub to at least one of the plurality of electronic price display units dedicated for displaying product information associated with the first product; and

displaying the product information based on the data associated with the at least one first product on the at least one electronic price display unit.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of transmitting product information from the master database to the at least one electronic cash register comprises:

transmitting product information over a first communication bus from the master database to a central database located at the retail establishment; and

transmitting the product information over a second communication bus from the central database to the at least one electronic cash register.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of transferring the translated data associated with the at least one first product from the associated electronic cash register emulation hub to the at least one electronic price display unit comprises:

translating, in the associated electronic cash register emulation hub, the data associated with the at least one first product from one of a universal price code format and a dedicated price lookup key table format to an electronic price display unit format; and

transmitting the translated data associated with the at least one first product from the associated electronic cash register emulation hub to the at least one electronic price display unit.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein product information comprises price information, sales information, or price and sales information.

4. A method for the distribution and display of product information in a retail establishment, the retail establishment having a plurality of electronic cash registers and a plurality of electronic display units, each respective electronic cash register having an associated electronic cash register emulation hub configured to emulate the respective electronic cash register, and each electronic display unit being dedicated to display product information of a particular product, the method comprising the steps of:

transmitting product information from a central database to at least one of the plurality of electronic cash registers over a network;

monitoring, via the associated electronic cash register emulation hub, product information transmitted to the at least one electronic cash register for data associated with at least one first product;

acquiring, via the associated electronic cash register emulation hub, the data associated with the at least one first product;

transferring, over the network, the data associated with the at least one first product from the associated electronic cash register emulation hub to at least one of the plurality of electronic price display units dedicated for displaying product information associated with the first product; and

displaying the product information based on the data associated with the at least one first product on the at least one electronic price display unit.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the step of transferring the data associated with the at least one first product from the associated electronic cash register emulation hub to the at least one electronic price display unit comprises:

translating, in the associated electronic cash register emulation hub, the data associated with the at least one first product from a universal price code format to an electronic price display unit format; and

transmitting the translated data associated with the at least one first product from the associated electronic cash register emulation hub to the at least one electronic price display unit.

13. The method of claim 4, wherein product information comprises price information, sales information, or price and sales information.

6. A method for the distribution and display of product information in a retail establishment, the retail establishment having a plurality of electronic cash registers and a plurality of electronic display units, each respective electronic cash register having an associated electronic cash register emulation hub configured to emulate the respective electronic cash register, and each electronic display unit being dedicated to display product information of a particular product, the method comprising the steps of:

monitoring, at the associated electronic cash register emulation hub, product information transmitted to a master electronic cash register for data associated with at least one first product;

transferring, over the network, the data associated with the at least one first product from the associated electronic cash register emulation hub to at least one of the plurality of electronic price display units dedicated for displaying product information associated with the first product;

displaying the product information based on the data associated with the at least one first product on the at least one electronic price display unit; and

recording selling price information from said product information based on the data associated with the at least one first product in a memory or transmitting said selling price information to another location.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the step of transferring the data associated with the at least one first product from the associated electronic cash register emulation hub to the at least one electronic price display unit comprises:

translating, in the associated electronic cash register emulation hub, the data associated with the at least one first product from one of a universal price code format and a dedicated price lookup key table format to an electronic price display unit format; and

transmitting the translated data associated with the at least one first product from the associated electronic cash register emulation hub to the at least one electronic price display unit.

14. The method of claim 6, wherein product information comprises price information, sales information, or price and sales information.

8. A method for the distribution and display of product information in a retail establishment, the retail establishment having a plurality of electronic cash registers and a plurality of electronic display units, each respective electronic cash register having an associated electronic cash register emulation hub configured to emulate the respective electronic cash register, and each electronic display unit being dedicated to display product information of a particular product, the method comprising the steps of:

requesting, in at least one of the electronic cash registers, product information located in a central database, wherein the associated electronic cash register emulation hub is configured to emulate the at least one electronic cash register on a network;

acquiring at the associated electronic cash register emulation hub and from the product information transmitted to the at least one electronic cash register, data associated with at least one first product;

transferring the data associated with at least one first product from the associated electronic cash register emulation hub to at least one electronic price display unit dedicated for displaying product information associated with the first product; and

displaying the product information based on the data associated with the first product on the at least one electronic price display unit.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the step of transferring the data associated with at least one first product from the associated electronic cash register emulation hub to the at least one electronic price display unit comprises:

translating, in the associated electronic cash register emulation hub, the data associated with the at least one first product from a universal price code format to an electronic price display unit format; and

transmitting the translated data associated with the at least one first product from the associated electronic cash register emulation hub to the at least one electronic price display unit.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the step of requesting product information from a central database by an electronic cash register located at a retail establishment, comprises:

requesting product information according to a scheduled transmission.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the step of requesting product information from a central database by an electronic cash register located at a retail establishment, comprises:

requesting product information according to a customer request.

15. The method of claim 8, wherein product information comprises price information, sales information, or price and sales information.