Electronic shelf label

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10083390-B2
Application number	US-201515524099-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 3, 2015
Priority date	Nov 3, 2014
Publication date	Sep 25, 2018
Grant date	Sep 25, 2018

Abstract

According to an embodiment of the present invention, an electronic price indicator comprises: a base substrate and five mounting units formed on the base substrate. A first antenna for receiving information from a server is mounted on the first mounting unit. A first communication module connected to the first antenna is mounted on the second mounting unit. A second antenna for receiving a management signal from a management terminal is mounted on the third mounting unit. A second communication module connected to the second antenna is selectively mounted on the fourth mounting unit. The fifth mounting unit is selectively and directly connected to any one of the second antenna and the second communication module, and provided with a low frequency (LF) circuit mounted thereon to transmit an interrupt in accordance with the management signal to the first communication module.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An electronic price indicator comprising:
a first antenna configured to receive a first signal in a first frequency band;
a first communication module connected to the first antenna and configured to receive the first signal;
a display part configured to display price information included in the first signal that is processed by the first communication module;
a second antenna configured to receive a second signal in a second frequency band different from the first frequency band;
an inverter configured to receive the second signal via the second antenna and output an interrupt signal of a pulse waveform having at least two levels based on the received second signal; and
a second communication module selectively configured between the second antenna and the inverter, configured to receive the second signal from the second antenna and to output the second signal to the first communication module or the inverter,
wherein the second communication module comprises a near field communication (NFC) module,
wherein the first communication module receives the interrupt signal output from the inverter and changes an operation mode depending on the received interrupt signal,
wherein the second communication module is configured to output the second signal to the first communication module when the second signal is additional information data, and
wherein the second communication module is configured to output the second signal to the inverter when the second signal is a management signal.

2. The electronic price indicator of claim 1 , further comprising a type selector disposed between the second antenna and the inverter and configured to output the second signal to the inverter when the second communication module is not configured between the second antenna and the inverter.

3. The electronic price indicator of claim 2 , wherein:
the interrupt signal is a pulse waveform signal corresponding to a first level or a second level;
a voltage level corresponding to the first level is smaller than a voltage level corresponding to the second level;
an input terminal of the inverter is connected to a second end of a resistor having a first end connected to a ground to receive the second signal; and
an output terminal of the inverter outputs an interrupt signal corresponding to the first level when the second signal is received, and outputs an interrupt signal corresponding to the second level when the second signal is not received.

4. The electronic price indicator of claim 2 , wherein:
the second signal includes a first section including a valid signal of a waveform in the second frequency band and a second section that is empty; and
the inverter outputs the interrupt signal in which the first section has a high level and the second section has a low level.

5. The electronic price indicator of claim 4 , wherein the first communication module receives the interrupt signal, counts the number of signals having a high level within the received interrupt signal, and determines the operation mode to be changed depending on the counted number of high level signals;
the operation mode includes a wake-up mode, a reset mode, a keeping-alive mode, or a deep sleep mode; and
in the management signal, durations and the number of signals having the high level are different for different operation modes.

6. The electronic price indicator of claim 2 , further comprising:
an antenna tuning part connected to one end and the other end of the second antenna and including at least one capacitor; and
a second communication module including a first input terminal connected to the one end of the second antenna via the antenna tuning part and a second input terminal connected to the other end of the second antenna via the antenna tuning part,
wherein at least one diode is connected to the second input terminal and transmits the second signal to the inverter.

7. The electronic price indicator of claim 1 , wherein the second frequency band is operated at about 13.56 MHz.

8. The electronic price indicator of claim 7 , wherein the inverter comprises a smoothing part configured to smooth the second signal when the second communication module is not configured.

9. The electronic price indicator of claim 1 , wherein:
the second signal includes a first section including a valid signal of a waveform in the second frequency band and a second section that is empty; and
the inverter outputs a signal of an active low waveform based on the first section and the second section,
the operation mode includes a wake-up mode, a reset mode, a keeping-alive mode, or a deep sleep mode; and
in the management signal, durations and number of valid signals are different for different operation modes.

10. The electronic price indicator of claim 9 , wherein the second communication module is configured to smooth the second signal when the second signal is the management signal.

11. A method of changing an operation mode of an electronic price indicator including a first antenna configured to receive a first waveform signal in a first frequency band, a second antenna configured to receive a second waveform signal in a second frequency band, and an inverter connected to the second antenna, and a second communication module selectively configured between the second antenna and the inverter, the method comprising:
receiving the second waveform signal in the second frequency band;
outputting, by the inverter, an interrupt signal of a pulse waveform having at least two levels based on the received second waveform signal;
determining an operation mode of the electronic price indicator based on of a duration of the output interrupt signal and/or number of interrupt signals; and
changing the operation mode based on a result of the determining an operation mode,
wherein the changing includes waking up a first communication module configured to receive and process the first waveform signal in the first frequency band, which is different from the second frequency band,
wherein the second communication module comprises a near field communication (NFC) module,
wherein the first communication module receives the interrupt signal output from the inverter and changes an operation mode depending on the received interrupt signal,
wherein the second communication module is configured to output the second signal to the first communication module when the second signal is additional information data,
wherein the second communication module is configured to output the second signal to the inverter when the second signal is a management signal, and
wherein the second frequency band is operated at about 13.56 MHz.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein:
the interrupt signal is a pulse waveform signal corresponding to a first level or a second level;
a voltage level corresponding to the first level is smaller than a voltage level corresponding to the second level;
a ground voltage or the second waveform signal is applied to the inverter; and
the inverter outputs an interrupt signal corresponding to the first level when the second waveform signal is applied thereto, and outputs an interrupt signal corresponding to the second level when the second waveform signal is not applied thereto.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein:
the second waveform signal includes a first section including a valid signal of a waveform in the second frequency band and a second section that is empty; and
the inverter outputs a signal of an active low waveform based on the first section and the second section.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein:
the second signal includes

Assignees

• Lg Innotek Co Ltd

Inventors

• Kim Dae Hun

Classifications

• G06Q30/06 Primary

  Buying, selling or leasing transactions · CPC title

• G06K19/077 Primary

  Constructional details, e.g. mounting of circuits in the carrier · CPC title

• H04L69/14

  Multichannel or multilink protocols · CPC title

• G06Q30/0601

  Electronic shopping [e-shopping] · CPC title

• G06K19/0775 Primary

  arrangements for connecting the integrated circuit to the antenna · CPC title