SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR CUSTOMIZED NAVIGATION
In some embodiments, apparatuses and methods are provided herein useful to providing customized in-store navigation. In some embodiments, there is provided a system for providing customized in-store navigation including shelving units; shelf electronic shelf labels; product electronic shelf labels; wireless access points (WAPs); one or more databases; a navigation services control circuit configured to transmit location information associated with the product ESLs at a retail store to an in-store navigation interface operable on a portable electronic device when the portable electronic device is inside the retail store; wireless beacons; and the in-store navigation interface configured to: receive an input; identify a target retail product; receive the location information; receive beacon; determine a location of the portable electronic device; determine a location of the target retail product; and display directions to the location of the target retail product on a display device.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/750,783 filed Oct. 25, 2018 (Docket No. 8842-144223-USPR_5159US01), which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
TECHNICAL FIELDThis invention relates generally to providing navigation and/or direction in a facility.
BACKGROUNDRetail stores are generally used for day-to-day shopping purposes. However, searching for a particular item in a large retail environment can sometimes become a challenging task.
Disclosed herein are embodiments of systems, apparatuses and methods pertaining to providing customized in-store navigation. This description includes drawings, wherein:
Elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions and/or relative positioning of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of various embodiments of the present invention. Also, common but well-understood elements that are useful or necessary in a commercially feasible embodiment are often not depicted in order to facilitate a less obstructed view of these various embodiments of the present invention. Certain actions and/or steps may be described or depicted in a particular order of occurrence while those skilled in the art will understand that such specificity with respect to sequence is not actually required. The terms and expressions used herein have the ordinary technical meaning as is accorded to such terms and expressions by persons skilled in the technical field as set forth above except where different specific meanings have otherwise been set forth herein.
DETAILED DESCRIPTIONGenerally speaking, pursuant to various embodiments, systems, apparatuses and methods are provided herein useful for providing customized in-store navigation to a user inside a retail store. In some embodiments, there is provided a system including a plurality of shelving units in a retail store configured to store a plurality of retail products. By one approach, each of the plurality of shelving units includes a plurality of shelves each distributed along a height of and in between at least two support members coupled to each end of the plurality of shelves. In one configuration, the system may include a plurality of shelf electronic shelf labels (shelf ESLs). By one approach, each shelf ESL of the plurality of shelf ESLs may be mounted to a portion of the shelving unit of the plurality of shelving units. In another configuration, the system may include a plurality of product electronic shelf labels (product ESLs) communicatively coupled to at least one of the plurality of shelf ESLs. By one approach, at least one of the plurality of product ESLs may be associated with at least one of the plurality of shelves of the shelving unit. By another approach, each product ESL may be associated with a set of product items belonging to a particular retail product of the plurality of retail products. In another configuration, the system may include a plurality of wireless access points (WAPs) configured to wireless communicate with the at least one of the plurality of shelf ESLs and the plurality of product ESLs. For example, the plurality of WAPs may be coupled to an ESL services control circuit. In another configuration, the system may include one or more databases that may store a plurality of location information associated with the plurality of product ESLs at the retail store relative to a layout of a map of the retail store.
In another configuration, the system may include a navigation services control circuit coupled to the WAPs and the one or more databases. By one approach, the navigation services control circuit is implemented at a server remote from the store location. By one approach, the navigation services control circuit may transmit the plurality of location information associated with the plurality of product ESLs at the retail store to an in-store navigation interface operable on a portable electronic device when the portable electronic device is inside the retail store. In another configuration, the system may include a plurality of wireless beacons located proximate to the plurality of shelving units. By one approach, the plurality of wireless beacons may transmit wireless beacon signals. In another configuration, the system may include the in-store navigation interface. By one approach, the in-store navigation interface may receive an input from a user associated with the portable electronic device. Alternatively or in addition to, the in-store navigation interface may identify a target retail product of the plurality of retail products from the input. Alternatively or in addition to, the in-store navigation interface may receive the plurality of location information associated with the plurality of product ESLs via a transceiver of the portable electronic device. Alternatively or in addition to, the in-store navigation interface may receive beacon signals transmitted by the plurality of wireless beacons. Alternatively or in addition to, the in-store navigation interface may determine, in cooperation with a first control circuit of the portable electronic device and based on the beacon signals, a location of the portable electronic device. Alternatively or in addition to, the in-store navigation interface may determine a location of the target retail product identified from the voice input based on the plurality of location information associated with the plurality of product ESLs. Alternatively or in addition to, the in-store navigation interface may display directions to the location of the target retail product on a display device of the portable electronic device, wherein the directions to the location of the target retail product are overlaid on the layout of the map of the retail store.
In some embodiments, there is a method for providing customized in-store navigation to a user inside a retail store including receiving, by an in-store navigation interface operable on a portable electronic device when the portable electronic device is inside a retail store, an input from a user associated with the portable electronic device. By one approach, the method may include identifying, by the in-store navigation interface, a target retail product of a plurality of retail products from the input. By another approach, the method may include receiving, by the in-store navigation interface from a navigation services control circuit, a plurality of location information associated with a plurality of product ESLs via a transceiver of the portable electronic device. In one configuration, at least one of the plurality of product ESLs may be associated with at least one of a plurality of shelves of a shelving unit of a plurality of shelving units in the retail store. In another configuration, each product ESLs of the plurality of product ESLs may be associated with a set of product items belonging to a particular retail product of the plurality of retail products. In another configuration, each of the plurality of shelving units may include a plurality of shelves each distributed along a height of and in between at least two support members coupled to each end of the plurality of shelves. By another approach, the method may include receiving, by the in-store navigation interface, beacon signals transmitted by a plurality of wireless beacons in the retail store. By another approach, the method may include determining, by the in-store navigation interface in cooperation with a first control circuit of the portable electronic device and based on the beacon signals, a location of the portable electronic device. By another approach, the method may include determining, by the in-store navigation interface, a location of the target retail product identified from the input based on the plurality of location information associated with the plurality of product ESLs. In one configuration, the plurality of location information associated with the plurality of product ESLs may be transmitted by a plurality of shelf electronic shelf labels (shelf ESLs) to a plurality of wireless access points (WAPs). Alternatively or in addition to, the method may include displaying, by the in-store navigation interface, a direction to the location of the target retail product to a display device of the portable electronic device. In one scenario, the direction to the location of the target retail product may be overlaid on a layout of a map of the retail store. In another scenario, the plurality of location information associated with the plurality of product ESLs at the retail store relative to the layout of the map may be stored by one or more databases coupled to the navigation services control circuit.
To illustrate,
In some configuration, the system 100 may include a plurality of product electronic shelf labels (product ESLs) 130. By one approach, the product ESLs 130 may communicatively couple to at least one of the plurality of shelf ESLs 128. By another approach, at least one of the plurality of product ESLs 130 may be associated with at least one of the plurality of shelves 126 of the shelving unit 202. In one example, each product ESL being associated with a set of product items belonging to a particular retail product of the plurality of retail products 204 as illustratively shown in
In some configurations, the system 100 may include one or more databases 118. By one approach, the one or more databases 118 may store a plurality of location information associated with the product ESLs 130 at the retail store relative to a layout of a map of the retail store. In one implementation, the one or more databases 118 may be distinct from the one or more databases 114 associated with the ESL services control circuit 122 as described above. In such an implementation, the one or more databases 118 may be associated with a navigation services control circuit 116. In yet another implementation, the ESL services control circuit 122 may send the plurality of location information associated with the product ESLs 130 to a core services control circuit 120 and the core services control circuit 120 may send the plurality of location information associated with the product ESLs 130 to the navigation services control circuit 116. In response, the navigation services control circuit 116 may initiate the one or more databases 118 to store the plurality of location information associated with the product ESLs 130. In some embodiment, one or more of the core services control circuit 120, the navigation services control circuit 116, and the ESL services control circuit 122 may be locally located at the retail store. In one example, databases described herein, for example, the one or more databases 118 and the plurality of databases 114 may include one or more semiconductor memories, random access memories (RAM), read only memories (ROM), hard disk drives (HDDs), solid-state drives (SSDs), network-attached storage (NAS) devices, storage area networks (SANs), and the like. In some implementation, the plurality of databases 114 may store one or more of a plurality of pricing data, a plurality of product items data, a plurality of product items sales descriptions, and a plurality of promotional data. By one approach, the core services control circuit 120 may access the plurality of databases 114 and associate and/or send one or more information stored in the plurality of databases 114 to one or more of the ESL services control circuit 122 and the navigation services control circuit 116. In some implementation, the core services control circuit 120 may receive the plurality of location information of the plurality of product ESLs 130 from the ESL services control circuit 122. Alternatively or in addition to, the core services control circuit 120 may transmit the plurality of location information of the plurality of product ESLs 130 to the navigation services control circuit 116. In some embodiments, the navigation services control circuit 116 may associate each of the plurality of location information of the plurality of product ESLs 130 with one or more floor areas in the retail store. Alternatively or in addition to, the navigation services control circuit 116 may transmit the map of the retail store to the in-store navigation interface 104.
In some configuration, the system 100 may include the navigation services control circuit 116. By one approach, the navigation services control circuit 116 may couple to the WAPs 124 and/or the one or more databases 118. In one example, the navigation services control circuit 116 may transmit the plurality of location information associated with the plurality of product ESLs 130 at the retail store to an in-store navigation interface 104 operable on a portable electronic device 102 when the portable electronic device 102 is inside the retail store. By one approach, the plurality of location information may be transmitted periodically. By another approach, the navigation services control circuit 116 may determine, based on the portable electronic device 102 communicative coupling with one or more WAPs 124, that the portable electronic device 102 is inside the retail store. In response, the navigation services control circuit 116 may transmit the plurality of location information to the portable electronic device 102. In some embodiments, the navigation services control circuit 116 may include one or more locally located and cloud-based control circuits. In another example, the navigation services control circuit 116 may include distributed computing computers, server, processors, and control circuits.
In some configuration, the system 100 may include a plurality of wireless beacons 112 located proximate to the plurality of shelving units 126. By one approach, the wireless beacons 112 may transmit wireless beacon signals. In some implementation, each wireless beacon signal of the plurality of wireless beacons 112 may include a beacon identifier. By one approach, the wireless beacon signals may be transmitted periodically by the wireless beacons 112. As such, as a user associated with the portable electronic device 102 walks/shops at the retail store, the portable electronic device 102 receives the wireless beacon signals. In some embodiments, the wireless beacons 112 may include WIFI-based beacons, BLUETOOTH-based beacons, and/or other wireless communication protocols standard to the industry and/or one or more privately created wireless communication protocols used by companies in the industry. In one implementation, the portable electronic device 102 and/or the in-store navigation interface 104 via a transceiver 106 of the portable electronic device 102 may receive the wireless beacon signals from the wireless beacons 112 that are proximate the portable electronic device 102. By one approach, the portable electronic device 102 and/or the in-store navigation interface 104 in cooperation with a first control circuit 108 of the portable electronic device 102 may determine the signal strength (e.g., take RSSI measurements) of each of the wireless beacon signals received. In response, based on the determined signal strength of the received wireless beacon signals from multiple wireless beacons, the portable electronic device 102 and/or the in-store navigation interface 104 in cooperation with the first control circuit 108 may determine the location of the portable electronic device 102 inside the retail store. For example, the portable electronic device 102 and/or the in-store navigation interface 104 may triangulate signal strength measurements of each of the wireless beacon signals and determine based on the triangulation the location of the portable electronic device 102. Indoor triangulation using WIFI and BLUETOOTH are generally known in the art. By one approach, the triangulation may be performed using one or more of the commercially known/available signal processing techniques/methodology/algorithm. It is noted that in the illustrated example of
Alternatively or in addition to, a first beacon of the plurality of wireless beacons 112 associated with the first row may be mounted proximate a top-side edge of the at least one of the at least two support members 132a, 132b of an end shelving unit 202a of the plurality of shelving units 126 associated with the first row, as shown in 304. By one approach, the top-side edge may not be adjoining another top-side edge of a support member 132a, 132b associated with an adjoining shelving unit of the plurality of shelving units associated with the first row, as shown in 304. Alternatively or in addition to, a set of beacons of the plurality of beacons 112 may be mounted on a ceiling over one or more areas of the retail store, as shown in 306 (top-down view of an area of the retail store). As illustrated in 306 of
In some configuration, the system 100 may include the in-store navigation interface 104. In one implementation, the in-store navigation interface 104 comprises a detachable circuitry enclosed in a housing. In one example, the in-store navigation interface 104 is detachably coupled to the portable electronic device 102. In another implementation, the portable electronic device 102 may comprise a computer program product embodied on a computer readable storage medium associated with the portable electronic device 102. In one example, the computer program product may include one or more computer codes for providing customized in-store navigation to a user inside a retail store. For example, the in-store navigation interface 104 may comprise a mobile app usable and/or downloadable to a mobile phone, such as an iPhone, an ANDROID phone, and/or the like, from an app store associated with APPLE, ANDROID, and/or other like companies/software the in-store navigation interface 104 vendors.
To help illustrate,
By another approach, the data pushed by the navigation services control circuit 11 to the in-store navigation interface 104 may comprise locations of the plurality of product ESLs 130 and the layout of the map of the retail store. In such an approach, the in-store navigation interface 104, after receiving the data pushed by the navigation services control circuit 116, may overlay the locations of the plurality of product ESLs 130 on the layout of the map of the retail store such that when the data is pushed onto the in-store navigation interface 104, the in-store navigation interface 104 may determine a product ESL 130 and corresponding location that is associated with the target retail product based on the plurality of location information associated with the plurality of product ESLs 130. In response, the in-store navigation interface 104 may identify the corresponding location on the layout of the map of the retail store. As such, the in-store navigation interface 104 may determine a location of the target retail product identified from the voice input based on the plurality of location information associated with the plurality of product ESLs 130. Alternatively or in addition to, the in-store navigation interface 104 may receive beacon signals transmitted by the plurality of wireless beacons 112, at step 1008. Alternatively or in addition to, the in-store navigation interface 104 may determine, in cooperation with the first control circuit 108 of the portable electronic device 102 and based on the beacon signals, a location of the portable electronic device 102, at step 1010, as previously described above.
In some embodiments, the in-store navigation interface 104 may display directions to the location of the target retail product on a display device 110 of the portable electronic device 102. By one approach, the directions to the location of the target retail product may be overlaid on the layout of the map of the retail store by the navigation services control circuit 116 and/or the in-store navigation interface 104. In one implementation, when the in-store navigation interface 104 determines the location of the target retail product, at step 1012, the in-store navigation interface 104 may send the determined location to the navigation services control circuit 116. In response, the navigation services control circuit 116 may determine directions to the determined location and/or overlay the directions onto the layout of the map of the retail store, and subsequently send the directions with the overlaid layout of the retail store to the in-store navigation interface 104 in order for the in-store navigation interface 104 to display at a time each direction to the user relative to the user's and/or the portable electronic device 102's location in the retail store. In another implementation, when the in-store navigation interface 104 determines the location of the target retail product, the in-store navigation interface 104 may determine directions to the determined location and/or overlay the directions onto the layout of the map of the retail store. By one approach, the in-store navigation interface 104 may display directions to the user relative to the user's and/or the portable electronic device 102's location in the retail store, at step 1014. In some embodiments, the in-store navigation interface 104 may determine the directions based in part on sensor data provided by one or more sensors 134 of the portable electronic device 102. By one approach, the one or more sensors 134 may comprise accelerometer, gyroscope useful to navigation, and/or other types of sensors that may provide data useful for determining directions to the target retail product provided to the user. In some configuration, the portable electronic device 102 may comprise a smartphone, an iPad, smartwatch, a laptop, and/or the like. In some configuration, the portable electronic device 102 may comprise a kiosk, a desktop, and/or the like.
In some embodiments, a set of wireless network-based techniques may offer localization and navigation service in a retail store. By one approach, the location of an item (e.g., product item) may be collected base on a distance drawn from a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) between an Electronic Shelf Label (e.g., shelf ESLs 128, product ESLs 130) and BLUETOOTH access point (AP). Alternatively or in addition to, the position of a customer and/or a user may be identified from the measurement of the RSSI between a mobile device and the AP. By one approach, an In-Club map may be pre-constructed based on the locations of the items. Alternatively or in addition to, an optimal route from the location of the customer to the target item may be offered according to different business scenarios. For example, in an initial assessment, the accuracy of the localization systems and the performance of the navigation system in a mini store environment may be validated. In one scenario, the new In-Club navigation system (e.g., the in-store navigation interface 104 and/or the navigation services control circuit 116) may offer a more convenient and easier shopping experience.
For example, a retail store is generally the most widely visited places for general shopping needs fulfillment. This type of business may sell consumer goods to customers through multiple channels of distribution in the stores to earn a profit. As such, a shopping environment of the retail store may have a substantial effect on the retail store's profitability. Generally, a pleasant and convenient store environment could provide a positive emotional state of the customers and may further bring a positive contribution on the store's profitability. Embodiments described herein provides illustrative non-limiting examples that provide creating a pleasant, entertaining experience for the consumer who may be interested in not only just the product, but also the store atmosphere. The embodiments described herein describe improvements on the shopping environment. For example, improvements and/or benefits of the embodiments described herein contributes to the design and/or implementation of a more convenient shopping environment, such as providing customized in-store navigation to a user inside a retail store. By one approach, the design and/or implementation may be an improvement to a shopping experience in a conventional retail store. Alternatively or in addition to, the design and/or implementation may be an improvement integrated into a design and/or implementation of a new retail store.
In some embodiments, a series of wireless network-based techniques may offer localization and path planning service in a retail store environment. For example, the location of items (e.g., the retail products 204) shown in
In some implementations, the In-Club localization systems may be divided into two parts: item localization (e.g. see
For example, a technique based on Bluetooth positioning to determine the location of an item and/or to improve the accuracy and reusability of the item localization system. For example, the technique may determine the location of an ESL by sensing Bluetooth signal strength with a reference model-based approach. As shown in
In one configuration, the In-Club localization system may find the location of a moving customer continuously and/or accurately based at least in part on usage of BLUETOOTH signal strength of a widely deployable location sensing system. By one approach,
In one configuration, the In-Club navigation system may improve the shopping experience in a retail store. By one approach, a set of path planning techniques may offer a more efficient and/or convenient navigation service in a retailing store. As such, the embodiments described herein minimizes the in store travel time of a customer. In some embodiments, the directions displayed to the user may be a shortest path searching in a rectangular graph with blockage as shown in
Finding optimal paths for multiple items may be based on one or more approaches. For example, for small amount/number of items, exhaustive search algorithms may be used to find optimal paths. In another example, for large amount/number of items, heuristic algorithms may be used to find sub-optimal solutions. These techniques/approaches may offer an ideal path to a customer when we have extra information such as multiple shopping items, historical shopping record, time and/or date of the shopping event etc. The embodiments described herein may offer an In-Club recommendation system that may remind the customer of any potential missing items on their shopping list; the most money saving items the customer does not realized but might be needed in the near future etc. In some exemplary embodiments, the optimum path P may then be selected by maximizing
Score(p)=α·D(p)+βI(p)+γ·H(c)
where the D (p) denotes the travel distance of a particular path, the I(p) denotes the score of the potential shopping items along the path, the H(c) denotes the historical shopping data of a certain customer. The parameters of α, β, γ are determined using the historical training data. By doing this, a real time, customer specific In-Club recommendation system is offered that can substantially and/or significantly enhance the customers shopping experience. For an initial evaluation, the item localization system, customer localization system as well as the pre-constructed store map was setup for a mini store, a real-world shopping experience within the mini-store. The accuracy of the localization systems for item and customer were evaluated. This process was repeated for a range of values of item location and the customer location. The effectiveness of the In-Club navigation system is then evaluated by comparing two groups of items searching time with and without the navigation systems. The result of the initial evaluation, the In-Club localization systems offers a good location estimation for both items and customers. As such, the In-Club navigation system can significantly reduce the item searching time for the customer. Thus, the retailing store is generally used for regular shopping purpose. However, searching for a particular item in a big retailing store could sometimes become a challenging task. In some embodiments, a set of techniques based on Bluetooth may be implemented to improve the convenience in a retailing store environment. As a first step, one or more techniques described herein were evaluated at a mini retail store that has a full functionality of a regular retailing store. The results showed that the techniques as described in the embodiments herein afforded much greater convenience than the conventional and/or traditional retailing store that is not implementing these embodiments. Thus, the embodiments described herein may render shopping in a retailing store to be more convenient by, for example, only altering a small portion of the hardware and software in a retailing store while maintaining most of its original component. Further, the added capability of providing In-Club navigation may allow the conventional retailing store to also offer In-Club recommendation service.
To illustrate,
In some implementation, the maps 500, 600, 700, 800, and/or 900 may include a scan icon 504, a listing icon 506, and/or a shopping cart icon 508. In one example, the scan icon 504 may be operated on by the user when the user sees a product item that is desirable to be included in the electronic shopping cart associated with the shopping cart icon 508 (e.g., product items in the electronic shopping cart may include product items that the user is ready to purchase prior to leaving the retail store) and/or a listing of product items associated with the listing icon 506 that the user may purchase in the future. In another example, there are various functionalities that may be associated with the electronic shopping cart associated with the shopping cart icon 508 and/or the listing of product items associated with the listing icon 506 that are usable in providing an efficient and/or pleasant shopping experience by the user at a retail store. In some embodiments, the maps 500, 600, 700, 800, and/or 900 may include one or more pop-ups (e.g., shown in
Further, the circuits, circuitry, systems, devices, processes, methods, techniques, functionality, services, servers, sources and the like described herein may be utilized, implemented and/or run on many different types of devices and/or systems.
By way of example, the system 1100 may comprise a processor module (or a control circuit) 1112, memory 1114, and one or more communication links, paths, buses or the like 1118. Some embodiments may include one or more user interfaces 1116, and/or one or more internal and/or external power sources or supplies 1140. The control circuit 1112 can be implemented through one or more processors, microprocessors, central processing unit, logic, local digital storage, firmware, software, and/or other control hardware and/or software, and may be used to execute or assist in executing the steps of the processes, methods, functionality and techniques described herein, and control various communications, decisions, programs, content, listings, services, interfaces, logging, reporting, etc. Further, in some embodiments, the control circuit 1112 can be part of control circuitry and/or a control system 1110, which may be implemented through one or more processors with access to one or more memory 1114 that can store instructions, code and the like that is implemented by the control circuit and/or processors to implement intended functionality. In some applications, the control circuit and/or memory may be distributed over a communications network (e.g., LAN, WAN, Internet) providing distributed and/or redundant processing and functionality. Again, the system 1100 may be used to implement one or more of the above or below, or parts of, components, circuits, systems, processes and the like. For example, the system 1100 may implement the system for providing customized in-store navigation to a user inside a retail store with the first control circuit 108, the portable electronic device 102, the navigation services control circuit 116, the ESL services control circuit 122, and/or the core services control circuit 120 being the control circuit 1112.
The user interface 1116 can allow a user to interact with the system 1100 and receive information through the system. In some instances, the user interface 1116 includes a display 1122 and/or one or more user inputs 1124, such as buttons, touch screen, track ball, keyboard, mouse, etc., which can be part of or wired or wirelessly coupled with the system 1100. Typically, the system 1100 further includes one or more communication interfaces, ports, transceivers 1120 and the like allowing the system 1100 to communicate over a communication bus, a distributed computer and/or communication network (e.g., a local area network (LAN), the Internet, wide area network (WAN), etc.), communication link 1118, other networks or communication channels with other devices and/or other such communications or combination of two or more of such communication methods. Further the transceiver 1120 can be configured for wired, wireless, optical, fiber optical cable, satellite, or other such communication configurations or combinations of two or more of such communications. Some embodiments include one or more input/output (I/O) interface 1134 that allow one or more devices to couple with the system 1100. The I/O interface can be substantially any relevant port or combinations of ports, such as but not limited to USB, Ethernet, or other such ports. The I/O interface 1134 can be configured to allow wired and/or wireless communication coupling to external components. For example, the I/O interface can provide wired communication and/or wireless communication (e.g., Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, cellular, RF, and/or other such wireless communication), and in some instances may include any known wired and/or wireless interfacing device, circuit and/or connecting device, such as but not limited to one or more transmitters, receivers, transceivers, or combination of two or more of such devices.
In some embodiments, the system may include one or more sensors 1126 to provide information to the system and/or sensor information that is communicated to another component, such as the portable electronic device 102, the in-store navigation interface 104, the first control circuit 108, the plurality of databases 114, the navigation services control circuit 116, the one or more databases 118, the shelf electronic shelf labels (shelf ESLs) 128, the product electronic shelf labels (product ESLs) 130, the wireless access points (WAPs) 124, the ESL services control circuit 122, the core services control circuit 120, etc. The sensors can include substantially any relevant sensor, such as temperature sensors, distance measurement sensors (e.g., optical units, sound/ultrasound units, etc.), optical based scanning sensors to sense and read optical patterns (e.g., bar codes), radio frequency identification (RFID) tag reader sensors capable of reading RFID tags in proximity to the sensor, and other such sensors. The foregoing examples are intended to be illustrative and are not intended to convey an exhaustive listing of all possible sensors. Instead, it will be understood that these teachings will accommodate sensing any of a wide variety of circumstances in a given application setting.
The system 1100 comprises an example of a control and/or processor-based system with the control circuit 1112. Again, the control circuit 1112 can be implemented through one or more processors, controllers, central processing units, logic, software and the like. Further, in some implementations the control circuit 1112 may provide multiprocessor functionality.
The memory 1114, which can be accessed by the control circuit 1112, typically includes one or more processor readable and/or computer readable media accessed by at least the control circuit 1112, and can include volatile and/or nonvolatile media, such as RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory and/or other memory technology. Further, the memory 1114 is shown as internal to the control system 1110; however, the memory 1114 can be internal, external or a combination of internal and external memory. Similarly, some or all of the memory 1114 can be internal, external or a combination of internal and external memory of the control circuit 1112. The external memory can be substantially any relevant memory such as, but not limited to, solid-state storage devices or drives, hard drive, one or more of universal serial bus (USB) stick or drive, flash memory secure digital (SD) card, other memory cards, and other such memory or combinations of two or more of such memory, and some or all of the memory may be distributed at multiple locations over the computer network. The memory 1114 can store code, software, executables, scripts, data, content, lists, programming, programs, log or history data, user information, customer information, product information, and the like. While
Those skilled in the art will recognize that a wide variety of other modifications, alterations, and combinations can also be made with respect to the above described embodiments without departing from the scope of the invention, and that such modifications, alterations, and combinations are to be viewed as being within the ambit of the inventive concept.
Claims
1. A system for providing customized in-store navigation to a user inside a retail store comprising:
- a plurality of shelving units in a retail store configured to store a plurality of retail products, each of the plurality of shelving units comprises a plurality of shelves each distributed along a height of and in between at least two support members coupled to each end of the plurality of shelves;
- a plurality of shelf electronic shelf labels (shelf ESLs), wherein each shelf ESL of the plurality of shelf ESLs is mounted to a portion of the shelving unit of the plurality of shelving units;
- a plurality of product electronic shelf labels (product ESLs) communicatively coupled to at least one of the plurality of shelf ESLs, wherein at least one of the plurality of product ESLs is associated with at least one of the plurality of shelves of the shelving unit, wherein each product ESL being associated with a set of product items belonging to a particular retail product of the plurality of retail products;
- a plurality of wireless access points (WAPs) configured to wireless communicate with the at least one of the plurality of shelf ESLs and the plurality of product ESLs, the plurality of WAPs configured to be coupled to an ESL services control circuit;
- one or more databases configured to store a plurality of location information associated with the plurality of product ESLs at the retail store relative to a layout of a map of the retail store;
- a navigation services control circuit coupled to the WAPs and the one or more databases and configured to transmit the plurality of location information associated with the plurality of product ESLs at the retail store to an in-store navigation interface operable on a portable electronic device when the portable electronic device is inside the retail store;
- a plurality of wireless beacons located proximate to the plurality of shelving units and configured to transmit wireless beacon signals; and
- the in-store navigation interface configured to: receive an input from a user associated with the portable electronic device; identify a target retail product of the plurality of retail products from the input; receive the plurality of location information associated with the plurality of product ESLs via a transceiver of the portable electronic device; receive beacon signals transmitted by the plurality of wireless beacons; determine, in cooperation with a first control circuit of the portable electronic device and based on the beacon signals, a location of the portable electronic device; determine a location of the target retail product identified from the voice input based on the plurality of location information associated with the plurality of product ESLs; and display directions to the location of the target retail product on a display device of the portable electronic device, wherein the directions to the location of the target retail product are overlaid on the layout of the map of the retail store.
2. The system of claim 1, wherein each of the shelf ESLs is mounted to each one of the at least two support members.
3. The system of claim 1, wherein each of the shelf ESLs is associated with a particular shelving unit of the plurality of shelving units.
4. The system of claim 1, wherein each wireless beacon signal of the plurality of wireless beacons comprises a beacon identifier.
5. The system of claim 1, wherein each wireless beacon of the plurality of wireless beacons is mounted proximate a top edge of the at least one of the at least two support members of the shelving unit.
6. The system of claim 1, wherein each wireless beacon of the plurality of wireless beacons that is associated with a first row of a pair of rows of a set of shelving units of the plurality of shelving units is a threshold distance apart from other wireless beacon of the plurality of wireless beacons.
7. The system of claim 6, wherein each wireless beacon of the plurality of wireless beacons that is associated with a second row of the pair of rows of the set of shelving units is located diagonally relative to the plurality of wireless beacons associated with the first row, and wherein each of the plurality of wireless beacons associated the second row is the threshold distance apart from other wireless beacon of the plurality of wireless beacons associated with the second row.
8. The system of claim 6, wherein a first beacon of the plurality of wireless beacons associated with the first row is mounted proximate a top-side edge of the at least one of the at least two support members of an end shelving unit of the plurality of shelving units associated with the first row, wherein the top-side edge is not adjoining another top-side edge of a support member associated with an adjoining shelving unit of the plurality of shelving units associated with the first row.
9. The system of claim 1, wherein a set of beacons of the plurality of beacons is mounted on a ceiling over one or more areas of the retail store, wherein the plurality of shelving units are not located in the one or more areas.
10. The system of claim 1, further comprising:
- the ESL services control circuit configured to: receive the plurality of location information transmitted by the plurality of product ESLs; and transmit particular pricing information to each of the plurality of product ESLs;
- a plurality of databases configured to store one or more of a plurality of pricing data, a plurality of product items data, a plurality of product items sales descriptions, and a plurality of promotional data; and
- a core services control circuit coupled to the ESL services control circuit, the plurality of databases, and the navigation services control circuit, the core services control circuit configured to: receive the plurality of location information of the plurality of product ESLs from the ESL services control circuit; and transmit the plurality of location information of the plurality of product ESLs to the navigation services control circuit,
- wherein the navigation services control circuit is further configured to: associate each of the plurality of location information of the plurality of product ESLs with one or more floor areas in the retail store; and transmit the map of the retail store to the in-store navigation interface.
11. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of WAPs comprise WIFI-based access points and the plurality of wireless beacons comprise BLUETOOTH-based beacons.
12. A method for providing customized in-store navigation to a user inside a retail store comprising:
- receiving, by an in-store navigation interface operable on a portable electronic device when the portable electronic device is inside a retail store, an input from a user associated with the portable electronic device;
- identifying, by the in-store navigation interface, a target retail product of a plurality of retail products from the input;
- receiving, by the in-store navigation interface from a navigation services control circuit, a plurality of location information associated with a plurality of product ESLs via a transceiver of the portable electronic device, wherein at least one of the plurality of product ESLs is associated with at least one of a plurality of shelves of a shelving unit of a plurality of shelving units in the retail store, wherein each product ESLs of the plurality of product ESLs is associated with a set of product items belonging to a particular retail product of the plurality of retail products, and wherein each of the plurality of shelving units comprises a plurality of shelves each distributed along a height of and in between at least two support members coupled to each end of the plurality of shelves;
- receiving, by the in-store navigation interface, beacon signals transmitted by a plurality of wireless beacons in the retail store;
- determining, by the in-store navigation interface in cooperation with a first control circuit of the portable electronic device and based on the beacon signals, a location of the portable electronic device;
- determining, by the in-store navigation interface, a location of the target retail product identified from the input based on the plurality of location information associated with the plurality of product ESLs, wherein plurality of location information associated with the plurality of product ESLs is transmitted by a plurality of shelf electronic shelf labels (shelf ESLs) to a plurality of wireless access points (WAPs); and
- displaying, by the in-store navigation interface, a direction to the location of the target retail product to a display device of the portable electronic device, wherein the direction to the location of the target retail product is overlaid on a layout of a map of the retail store, and wherein the plurality of location information associated with the plurality of product ESLs at the retail store relative to the layout of the map are stored by one or more databases coupled to the navigation services control circuit.
13. The method of claim 12, wherein each of the shelf ESLs is mounted to each one of the at least two support members.
14. The method of claim 12, wherein each of the shelf ESLs is associated with a particular shelf unit of the plurality of shelving units.
15. The method of claim 12, wherein each wireless beacon signal of the plurality of wireless beacons coupled to the in-store navigation interface comprises a beacon identifier
16. The method of claim 12, wherein each wireless beacon of the plurality of wireless beacons is mounted proximate a top edge of the at least one of the at least two support members of the shelving unit.
17. The method of claim 12, wherein each wireless beacon of the plurality of wireless beacons that is associated with a first row of a pair of rows of a set of shelving units of the plurality of shelving units is a threshold distance apart from other wireless beacon of the plurality of wireless beacons.
18. The method of claim 17, wherein each wireless beacon of the plurality of wireless beacons that is associated with a second row of the pair of rows of the set of shelving units is located diagonally relative to the beacons associated with the first row, and wherein each of the beacons associated the second row is the threshold distance apart from other wireless beacon of the plurality of wireless beacons associated with the second row.
19. The method of claim 17, wherein a first beacon of the plurality of wireless beacons associated with the first row is mounted proximate a top-side edge of the at least one of the at least two support members of an end shelf unit of the plurality of shelving units associated with the first row, wherein the top-side edge is not adjoining another top-side edge of a support member associated with an adjoining shelf unit of the plurality of shelving units associated with the first row.
20. The method of claim 12, wherein a set of beacons of the plurality of beacons is mounted on a ceiling over one or more areas of the retail store, wherein the plurality of shelving units are not located in the one or more areas.
21. The method of claim 12, wherein the plurality of WAPs comprise WIFI-based access points and the plurality of wireless beacons comprise BLUETOOTH-based beacons.
Type: Application
Filed: Oct 18, 2019
Publication Date: Apr 30, 2020
Inventors: Huozhou Xu (Rogers, AR), William R. Rose (Noel, MO), Jie Zhu (Fayetteville, AR), Bowen Gong (Centerton, AR), Yanbin Ye (Bentonville, AR), Jiankun Liu (Dallas, TX)
Application Number: 16/657,790