Commodity management system with a cart having a wireless tag reader/writer for specifying a quantity of a commodity displayed in a display area
AssigneeToshiba Tec Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorYoshiyuki Matsui
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A commodity management system includes a cart including a wireless tag reader/writer configured to read first information from first wireless tags attached to commodities displayed in a store and second information from second wireless tags each disposed in a different display area in the store, and a commodity management apparatus configured to acquire the first and second information read by the wireless tag reader/writer, determine a display area in the store using the acquired second information, and specify a quantity of a commodity displayed in the determined display area based on the acquired first information.
Claims10
A commodity management system, comprising:
- a cart including a wireless tag reader-and-writer, wherein the wireless tag reader-and-writer is configured to read:
- first information from first wireless tags attached to commodities displayed in a store, and
- second information from second wireless tags associated with different display areas in the store, the second information including tag identifiers (IDs) of the second wireless tags;
- and
- a commodity management apparatus configured to:
- acquire the first and second information read by the wireless tag reader-and-writer,
- determine a display area in which one of the commodities is displayed, using the tag IDs of the second wireless tags associated with the different display areas, and
- specify a first quantity of said one of the commodities displayed in the determined display area based on the acquired first information, wherein
- the wireless tag reader-and-writer is configured to emit radio signals at a first intensity and a second intensity less than the first intensity.
A commodity management apparatus, comprising:
- a network interface configured to communicate with a wireless tag reader-and-writer that is attached to a cart, wherein the wireless tag reader-and-writer is configured to read:
- first information from first wireless tags attached to commodities displayed in a store, and
- second information from second wireless tags associated with different display areas in the store, the second information including tag identifiers (IDs) of the second wireless tags;
- and
- a processor configured to:
- acquire, via the network interface, the first and second information read by the wireless tag reader-and-writer,
- determine a display area in which one of the commodities is displayed, using the tag IDs of the second wireless tags associated with the different display areas, and
- specify a first quantity of said one of the commodities displayed in the determined display area based on the acquired first information, wherein
- the wireless tag reader-and-writer is configured to emit radio signals at a first intensity and a second intensity less than the first intensity.
A commodity management method, comprising:
- attaching a wireless tag reader-and-writer to a shopping cart;
- emitting radio waves from the wireless tag reader-and-writer to read first information from first wireless tags attached to commodities displayed in a store and second information from second wireless tags associated with different display areas in the store, the second information including tag identifiers (IDs) of the second wireless tags;
- transmitting the read first and second information from the wireless tag reader-and-writer to a commodity management apparatus;
- determining, by the commodity management apparatus, a display area in which one of the commodities is displayed, using the tag IDs of the second wireless tags associated with the different display areas;
- and
- specifying, by the commodity management apparatus, a quantity of said one of the commodities displayed in the determined display area based on the acquired first information, wherein
- the wireless tag reader-and-writer is configured to emit radio signals at a first intensity and a second intensity less than the first intensity.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.