US 5,473,146 A · System and method for connecting product information with electronic shelf displays

Abstract

A system and method for connecting product information with electronic shelf displays. The system includes a first database at a place where the merchandise items are sold containing information about the items, a second database at another place containing identification information about the electronic shelf displays, a first computer terminal at the one place for downloading the item information, and a second computer terminal at the other place for receiving the downloaded item information and for matching the item information to the electronic shelf display identification information. The system also includes a hand-held scanner for obtaining the item information. Item bar code labels are preferably arranged into groups and scanned by group. A programming bar code label may be used to program the scanner for each group scan. Electronic shelf display information is also obtained by scanning bar code labels on groups of displays.

Claims12

Dependent claims

A system for assigning a plurality of merchandise items to a plurality of electronic shelf display modules comprising:

a first database at a place where the merchandise items are sold containing information about the items;
a second database at another place different than the one place containing identification information about the electronic shelf display modules;
a first computer terminal at the one place for downloading the item information;
and
a second computer terminal at the other place for receiving the downloaded item information, for matching the item information for each item to the identification information of a unique one of the display modules, for creating a record containing the matched information, and for initializing the electronic shelf display modules with information from the record.

2 more elements

A method for assigning a plurality of merchandise items to a plurality of new electronic shelf display modules in a place where the merchandise items and their associated prices are to be displayed comprising the steps of:

(a) providing a first record containing information about the merchandise items;
(b) providing a second record containing identification information for the electronic shelf display modules;
(c) matching the item information for each item to the identification information of a unique one of the electronic shelf display modules by a computer terminal to produce a third record containing the matched information;
(d) initializing the electronic shelf displays with information from the third record by the computer terminal;
and
(e) storing the third record produced by step (c) in a database by the computer terminal.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

System and method for connecting product information with electronic shelf displays

Life of this patent

System and method for connecting product information with electronic shelf displays

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims12