Intelligent shopping cart system having cart position determining capability

A system for determining the position of a shopping cart within a retail establishment comprising:

• a plurality of transmitting means each disposed in a different predetermined location in said retail establishment and each for spontaneously transmitting a position signal;
• means associated with said shopping cart for receiving a plurality of said position signals from a plurality of said transmitting means;
• means for generating positional data from each received position signal wherein each said positional data is representative of the position of said shopping cart within said retail establishment when one of said position signals is received;
• and
• means for contemporaneously storing said positional data representing a plurality of positions of said shopping cart.

A system for determining the position of a shopping cart within a retail establishment comprising:

• means at a first location in said retail establishment for spontaneously transmitting a position signal;
• clock means for generating signals representative of the passage of time;
• means associated with said shopping cart for receiving said position signal;
• means responsive to said clock means for generating positional data from said position signal, wherein said positional data are representative of the position of said shopping cart within said retail establishment and the time at which said positional data are generated;
• and
• means for storing said positional data.