Micro digital signage hardware integration

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9785964-B2
Application number	US-201113997077-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 14, 2011
Priority date	Dec 14, 2011
Publication date	Oct 10, 2017
Grant date	Oct 10, 2017

Abstract

A system to display information using a display shelf of a retailer may include a first display configured to be attached to a first edge portion of the display shelf and to display information related to a first product. A second display may be configured to be attached to a second edge portion of the display shelf and to display information related to a second product. The first display and the second display can be configured to have a height similar to a height of the first and the second edge portion of the shelf. The first display and the second display may also be configured to display information related to a third product as if the first display is continuously connected to the second display as an extended display.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus comprising:
a processor;
a display, in communication with the processor, and arranged on a first housing having a front side and a back side, the first housing configured to be coupled with an edge of a shelf, and wherein the display is configured to display information related to at least one merchandise to be placed on the shelf; and
an attachment mechanism configured to enable the first housing to be attached to at least one adjacent housing such that the display of the first housing and a display of the adjacent housing are lined up to form a virtually continuous display, wherein the display of the first housing is configured to display the information related to the at least one merchandise using each of the following implementations:
(a) independently of the display of the adjacent housing,
(b) together with the display of the adjacent housing using the virtually continuous display, and
(c) partially independently and partially together with the display of the adjacent housing.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , further including a retaining mechanism, wherein the first housing is to be coupled with the edge of the shelf using the retaining mechanism, and wherein the retaining mechanism includes a first set of connectors that connects to the shelf and a second set of connectors that connects to the back side of the first housing.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the back side of the first housing includes surfaces defining slots configured to receive the second set of connectors of the retaining mechanism.

4. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the edge of the shelf is to be a front edge, and wherein the first housing is to be attached to the edge of the shelf in a manner that causes the display on the front side of the first housing to be visible to the consumer.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one adjacent housing includes a second housing and a third housing, wherein the attachment mechanism includes a set of one or more male connectors and a set of one or more female connectors, wherein the set of one or more male connectors is configured to enable attaching the first housing to the second housing, and wherein the set of one or more female connectors is configured to enable the third housing to be attached to the first housing.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , further comprising an activator to engage or to retract the set of one or more male connectors.

7. The apparatus of claim 5 , further comprising:
a communication module coupled to the processor and configured to enable the first housing to be connected to a network using wireless communication; and
an interface mechanism configured to enable the first housing to communicate with the second and the third housings, wherein the first housing is configured to receive information related to the at least one merchandise from a server computer system connected to the network to enable the information related to the at least one merchandise to be displayed on the display of the first housing.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the interface mechanism is configured to carry electrical power to power the first housing and to maintain a charge for a battery included in the first housing, the battery configured to enable the first housing to continue to operate if there is a loss of the electrical power.

9. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein based on the first housing being attached to the second and the third housings forming a row of attached housings, only the third housing in the row of housings is configured to be connected to the network using the wireless communication and to operate as a routing point to enable the first and the second housings in the row of attached housings to communicate with the server computer system.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the row of attached housings is to be located in a store having multiple separate rows of attached housings, and wherein a housing located at an end of each row of attached housings is to be designated as the housing that operates as the routing point.

11. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein a housing that is not configured to operate as the routing point is configured to communicate with the server computer system via its associated interface mechanism and the routing point.

12. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the housing that is not configured to operate as the routing point is configured to monitor for disconnection of any of the attached housings in its associated row of attached housings and to transmit a disconnection notification to the server computer system using its own communication module based on detecting the disconnection.

13. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first housing includes a camera module configured to collect at least video analytics information, the housing further including a temperature sensor and a motion sensor.

14. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first housing is configured to have a height approximately a size of the edge of the shelf.

Assignees

• Birch Thomas
• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Birch Thomas

Classifications

• G06Q30/02

  Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising · CPC title

• G06Q30/06

  Buying, selling or leasing transactions · CPC title

• G09F3/204

  specially adapted to be attached to a shelf or the like · CPC title

• G09F9/30

  in which the desired character or characters are formed by combining individual elements (panels comprising a number of electrodes in a single cell controlling light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. electro-optical or magneto-optical cell, G02F1/00) · CPC title

• G06Q30/0272

  Period of advertisement exposure · CPC title