Marketing research system and method for obtaining retail data on a real time basis

A market research system comprising

• a plurality of cooperating retail stores in a market research test area, each of said stores having at least partially automated first means for processing retail sales transactions in said store,
• non-invasive automated second means disposed in each of said stores for monitoring said first means in a substantially totally passive manner and for collecting market research data based on said retail sales transactions, said second means including sensor means for monitoring said first means, said sensor means including an antenna, said second means further including microprocessor means for processing and storing retail sales transaction data detected by said antenna, said microprocessor means being otherwise adapted to process and store said retail sales transaction data independently of said first means, and said microprocessor including a central processing unit, variable memory means and retail sales transaction data storage means, said second means further including adapter means for adapting said second means to a particular first means in said store in which said second means is disposed for enabling said microprocessor to process said retail sales transaction data detected by said antenna, and
• automated third means remotely located from said plurality of retail stores for receiving said market research data from said plurality of retail stores and for storing said market research data for subsequent use by market researchers,
• said first means operating independently of said second means, and said first means generating first electrical signals relating to said retail sales transactions,
• wherein said antenna is physically disposed in the vicinity of said first means for enabling at least portions of said first electrical signals to be detected by said antenna, and
• wherein said second means further comprises interface means disposed between said sensor means and said adapter means for supplying electrical power to said sensor means and for supplying second electrical signals representative of said first electrical signals to said adapter means.

A market research data collection system comprising

• a plurality of cooperating retail stores, each of said stores having automated first means for processing retail sales transactions in said store, said first means comprising at least one point-of-sale scanner and an automated scanner controller, said scanner and said controller being interconnected by a digital data store communications loop,
• non-invasive automated second means disposed in each of said stores for monitoring said store loop in a substantially totally passive manner and for collecting market research data based on said retail sales transactions, said second means including antenna means physically disposed adjacent to a portion of said store loop for detecting digital data present on said store loop representative of said retail sales transactions, said second means further including microprocessor means, including a central processing unit, variable memory means and retail sales transaction data storage means, for processing said digital data detected by said antenna means, said microprocessor means being otherwise adapted to collect said retail sales transaction data represented by said digital data independently of said first means, said second means further including adapter means for adapting said second means to a particular first means in said store in which said second means is disposed for enabling said microprocessor to process said digital data detected by said antenna means, and
• third means remotely located from said plurality of retail stores for receiving said market research data from said plurality of retail stores and for storing said market research data
• wherein the only electrical signal connection between said first means and said second means is through said antenna means, and wherein said antenna means comprises part of a sensor assembly disposed adjacent to said portion of said store loop for monitoring said digital data present on said store loop and wherein said second means further comprises interface means disposed between said sensor assembly and said adapter means for supplying low voltage, direct current electrical power to said sensor assembly and for supplying time varying electrical signals representative of said digital data detected by said antenna means to said adapter means.

A method of collecting market research data from a plurality of cooperating retail stores, each store of said plurality of stores having at least one Point-Of-Sale scanner and a scanner controller and a store digital data communications loop interconnecting said scanner and said scanner controller, said method comprising the steps of

• disposing non-invasive sensor means in each of said stores for monitoring and for detecting in a substantially totally passive manner with respect to said scanner and said scanner controller and said store loop digital data present on said store loop, said detected digital data being representative of retail sales transactions in said store,
• detecting said digital data present in said store loop,
• storing information in response to the detection of said digital data in a memory, said memory being separate from said scanner and said scanner controller in said store, said sensor means and said memory operating responsive to the normal retail sales operations of said scanner and said scanner controller in said retail store and
• transmitting said information from said retail store to a remote central location, said transmitted information for processing, storage and use by market researchers.