US 6,553,349 B1Granted

System and method of applying price changes in an electronic price label system

AssigneeNCR Corporation

InventorJohn C. Goodwin, III

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Abstract

A system and method of applying price changes which minimizes price look-up file access attempts by using a separate file for daily price change information, including a new price, a date, a start time, and an end time. The system includes an electronic price label associated with the item and a computer for reading a record for the item in a price file, for obtaining daily price change information for the item from the record, for adding the daily price change information to another file different from the price file, and for processing the daily price change information in the other file by reading the daily price change information from the other file, sending a first message to the electronic price label at the start time including a command to display the new price, and sending a second message to the electronic price label at the end time including a command to display a regular price for the item from the price file.

A method of applying a price change for an item comprising the steps of:

(a) reading a record for the item in a first file containing price information for a plurality of items including the item;
(b) reading a second file to determine that the item is associated with an electronic price label;
(c) obtaining first price change information including a new price, a date, a start time, and an end time from the record in the first file;
(d) comparing the first price change information to second price change information in a third file different from the first file and containing prices from the first file scheduled in the first file to change on the date in the first price change information to determine whether the first price change information is already stored within the third file;
(e) if the first price change information is not already stored within the third file, storing the first price change information in the third file;
and
(f) continuously processing the first price change information in the third file including the substeps of:
(f-1) determining a present time and a present date;
(f-2) comparing the present date to the date in the first price change information in the third file;
(f-3) if the present date is after the date in the first price change information in the third file, deleting the first price change information from the third file;
(f-4) if the present date is not after the date in the first price change information in the third file, comparing the present time to the start time in the first price change information in the third file to determine whether the first price change information should be started;
(f-5) if the first price change information should be started, reading the first price change information from the third file instead of the first file and sending a message to the electronic price label at about the start time on the date in the first price change information in the third file including a first command to display the new price;
(f-6) if the first price change information has been started, comparing the present time to the end time in the first price change information in the third file to determine whether the first price change information should be stopped;
and
(f-7) if the first price change information should be stopped, sending a second message to the electronic price label at about the end time on the date in the first price change information in the third file including a second command to display a regular price for the item.

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Abstract

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