JP7249115B2 - Merchandise management system - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to merchandise management systems.

Various techniques are currently known for managing articles using wireless tags. Products sold at convenience stores, supermarkets, etc. can be considered as products managed using wireless tags. Here, in order to manage products efficiently, it is important to grasp the degree of customer interest and to accurately manage expiration dates. For this reason, for example, there is a demand to accurately grasp the position of the product in real time in order to grasp that the product has been temporarily removed from the display shelf.

Patent Literature 1 discloses a product management system that manages the remaining quantity of products placed in a store. The product management system disclosed in Patent Document 1 acquires the remaining quantity based on the information received from the wireless tag attached to each product, and when it is determined that replenishment is required based on the acquired remaining quantity, Notify a designated person of the replenishment request.

Japanese Patent No. 5239399

Patent Document 1 does not describe an antenna used when reading a product code from a wireless tag. However, in the invention disclosed in Patent Document 1, if a general antenna with a reception area spread over a three-dimensional space is used, it is possible to accurately and in real time detect that the product has been temporarily removed from the display shelf. Can not. As a result, the invention disclosed in Patent Literature 1 cannot manage products efficiently. Therefore, there is a demand for a technique for efficiently managing commodities.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a product management system that efficiently manages products.

In order to achieve the above object, the merchandise management system according to the present invention includes:
A radio wave receiving means which is planar and is provided at a place where a product to which a radio tag is attached is arranged and which receives radio waves emitted from the radio tag;
reading means for reading tag information from the wireless tag via the radio wave receiving means;
an arrangement determining means for determining whether or not the commodity is arranged at the arrangement location based on whether or not the tag information can be read by the reading means.

The apparatus may further include merchandise information display means for displaying merchandise information regarding the merchandise when a result of determination by the layout determination means has changed.

a deadline storage means for storing deadline information indicating a sales deadline assigned to the product;
a notifying means for notifying an administrator that the sell-by date of the product has expired when the placement determining means determines that the product is placed at the placement location after the sell-by date has passed. You may prepare.

a deadline storage means for storing deadline information indicating a sales deadline assigned to the product;
The product may further include discount information display means for displaying discount information relating to a discount on the product when the time until the sell-by deadline is less than a predetermined margin time.

The product is stored at a temperature different from room temperature at the placement location,
period specifying means for specifying a take-out period, which is a period during which the product is temporarily taken out from the placement location, based on the result of determination by the placement determiner;
A deadline updating means for updating the deadline information so that the selling deadline is brought forward according to the length of the take-out period may be further provided.

The wireless tag has an appearance corresponding to the sell-by date,
The discount information display means may display the discount information including the information indicating the appearance when the time until the sales deadline is less than the margin time.

The appearance may include at least one of color and shape.

the products include a first type of product and a second type of product;
purchase detection means for detecting that the first type of product has been purchased;
correspondence type storage means;
Within the period immediately before purchase, which is a period from the detection time at which the purchase of the first type of product is detected by the purchase detection means to a time preceding the detection time by a predetermined set length of time. first type identification information for identifying the first type and second type identification information for identifying the second type when the second type of product is temporarily removed from the placement location; and correspondence type recording means for storing the correspondence type information including the above in the correspondence type storage means.

The purchase detection means further detects a customer attribute including at least one of sex and age of the customer who purchased the first type of product,
The corresponding type recording means records the first type identification information and the second type identification information when the second type of product is temporarily taken out from the placement location within the period immediately before purchase. The service type information including the customer attribute information indicating the customer attribute may be stored in the service type storage means.

ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, goods can be managed efficiently.

1 is a configuration diagram of a merchandise management system according to an embodiment of the present invention; Detailed configuration diagram of the product management system according to the embodiment of the present invention 1 is a plan view of a communication sheet according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. Cross-sectional view of AA line in FIG. 1 is a functional configuration diagram of a merchandise management system according to an embodiment of the present invention; Explanatory diagram of layout information Explanatory diagram of placement history information 3 is a flowchart showing merchandise management processing executed by the merchandise management system according to the embodiment of the present invention; Flowchart showing the reading process shown in FIG. Flowchart showing confirmation processing shown in FIG. Flowchart showing the recording process shown in FIG. Illustration showing an image with a prompt to restock the product Explanatory diagram of the total number of times data FIG. 3 is a diagram showing wireless tags of each color, (A) is a plan view of a colorless and transparent wireless tag, (B) is a plan view of a red wireless tag, and (C) is a plan view of a blue wireless tag. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing wireless tags of each shape, (A) is a plan view of a rectangular wireless tag, (B) is a plan view of a parallelogram wireless tag, and (C) is an elliptical wireless tag. Plan view A diagram showing an image for notifying a product discount

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In addition, in the drawings, the same reference numerals are given to the same or corresponding parts.

(embodiment)
First, the configuration of a merchandise management system 1000 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. The product management system 1000 is a system for managing products sold at stores such as convenience stores and supermarkets. The merchandise management system 1000 can also be said to be a system that assists administrators (for example, store managers and clerks) in managing such merchandise. As such products, there are many daily foods, perishable foods, cosmetics, and the like. Incidentally, the daily foods are, for example, foods that are delivered every day, such as bread, milk, desserts, pickles, and water. Therefore, such products substantially have sell-by dates corresponding to expiry dates, best-before dates, use-by dates, etc. (hereinafter referred to as "expiration dates, etc.").

For this reason, it is desired that products be supplied to stores and shop fronts in just the right amount so that the products will not be discarded or collected and that sales opportunities will not be lost. The product management system 1000 is a system for efficiently managing products so that products are not wasted. Specifically, the product management system 1000 monitors the exact position of products in real time, executes automatic product inspection, promotes sales, instructs product replenishment, displays discounts according to sell-by dates, and Execute a notification that the connection has expired.

As shown in FIG. 1, a product management system 1000 includes a processing device 100, a terminal device 200, a reader/writer 300, a communication sheet 310, a display device 400, a POS (Point Of Sales) terminal 500, a server 600, and a And prepare. Processing device 100 , terminal device 200 , display device 400 and POS terminal 500 are interconnected via internal network 710 . Processing device 100 and server 600 are interconnected via external network 720 .

The reader/writer 300 and communication sheet 310 are interconnected via a communication cable 330 . Specifically, the reader/writer 300 is connected to the communication sheet 310A via a communication cable 330A, to the communication sheet 310B via a communication cable 330B, and to the communication sheet 310C via a communication cable 330C. It is connected to communication sheet 310D via cable 330D. The communication sheet 310 is a general term for the communication sheets 310A, 310B, 310C, and 310D. Communication cable 330 is a generic term for communication cables 330A, 330B, 330C, and 330D.

The processing device 100 is a device that executes various processes related to product management. The processing device 100 is, for example, a desktop personal computer. The processing device 100 includes a communication interface 101 , a control section 102 and a storage section 103 .

The communication interface 101 has a function of connecting to the internal network 710 , a function of connecting to the external network 720 , and a function of connecting to the reader/writer 300 . The communication interface 101 includes, for example, a LAN (Local Area Network) interface (for example, a NIC (Network Interface Card)) for connecting to the internal network 710 and the external network 720 . Further, the communication interface 101 has an interface conforming to USB (Universal Serial Bus) or RS-232 (Recommended Standard 232), for example, as an interface for connecting to the reader/writer 300 .

The control unit 102 controls the overall operation of the processing device 100 . The control unit 102 controls the communication interface 101 to communicate with other devices. The control unit 102 also records information in the storage unit 103 and reads information from the storage unit 103 . The control unit 102 includes, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit, not shown), ROM (Read Only Memory, not shown), RAM (Random Access Memory, not shown), RTC (Real Time Clock, not shown). Prepare. The storage unit 103 stores various information used by the processing device 100 . Information stored in the storage unit 103 is periodically uploaded to the server 600 and stored in the storage unit 603 . The storage unit 103 has, for example, a flash memory (not shown).

The terminal device 200 is basically a device that serves as a user interface for the processing device 100 . The terminal device 200 is, for example, a notebook computer, a tablet terminal, or a smart phone used by an administrator (eg, store manager or store clerk). The terminal device 200 includes a communication interface 201 , a control section 202 , a storage section 203 , an operation reception section 204 and a display section 205 .

Communication interface 201 has a function of connecting to internal network 710 . The communication interface 201 comprises, for example, a LAN interface. The control unit 202 controls the overall operation of the terminal device 200 . The control unit 202 controls the communication interface 201 to communicate with other devices. The control unit 202 also records information in the storage unit 203 and reads information from the storage unit 203 . Also, the control unit 202 acquires information received by the operation receiving unit 204 . Also, the control unit 202 causes the display unit 205 to display an image. The control unit 202 includes, for example, a CPU (not shown), a ROM (not shown), a RAM (not shown), and an RTC (not shown).

The storage unit 203 stores various information used by the terminal device 200 . Storage unit 203 includes, for example, a flash memory (not shown). The operation reception unit 204 receives various operations from the user. The operation reception unit 204 includes, for example, a touch screen (not shown). The display unit 205 displays an image according to control by the control unit 202 . The display unit 205 has, for example, a touch screen (not shown).

When the reader/writer 300 receives the information instructing to read the tag information from the processing device 100, the reader/writer 300 generates electricity according to radio waves for supplying power to the wireless tag 11 (hereinafter referred to as “power supply radio waves” as appropriate). Send a signal to communication sheet 310 . The reader/writer 300 generates a near field in the vicinity of the communication sheet 310 by transmitting an electric signal corresponding to the electric wave for power supply to the communication sheet 310 .

When the communication sheet 310 receives radio waves containing tag information (hereinafter referred to as "tag information containing radio waves"), the reader/writer 300 receives an electric signal corresponding to the tag information containing radio waves from the communication sheet 310. . The reader/writer 300 transmits tag information indicated by the received electrical signal to the processing device 100 . Thus, the reader/writer 300 reads the tag information through the near field generated near the communication sheet 310 . The electric wave for power supply and the electric wave including tag information are, for example, electric waves in the UHF band (for example, electric waves with a frequency of about 920 MHz and a wavelength of about 30 cm).

In this embodiment, the reader/writer 300 reads tag information while switching between four communication sheets 310 at predetermined intervals (for example, several hundred milliseconds) under the control of the processing device 100 . When the reader/writer 300 reads the tag information, the reader/writer 300 may supply information for identifying the communication sheet 310 to the processing device 100 together with the tag information. In this embodiment, an example in which the reader/writer 300 is connected to four communication sheets 310 will be described. may be connected to In this embodiment, one reader/writer 300 is connected to one or more communication sheets 310 arranged on one shelf 20 . Note that FIG. 1 shows only one shelf 20 and one reader/writer 300 for easy understanding.

As shown in FIG. 1, communication sheets 310A and 310B are laid in parallel on the first level of the shelf 20, and communication sheets 310C and 310D are laid in parallel on the second level of the shelf 20. As shown in FIG. The communication sheets 310A and 310B read the tag information from the wireless tag 11A attached to the product 10A placed on the first stage of the shelf 20. FIG. Further, the communication sheets 310C and 310D read tag information from the wireless tag 11B attached to the product 10B placed on the second stage of the shelf 20. FIG. The wireless tag 11A is, for example, fixed below the product 10A (for example, below the bottom surface of the product 10A, below the side surface of the product 10A). Also, the wireless tag 11B is, for example, fixed below the product 10B (for example, below the bottom surface of the product 10B, below the side surface of the product 10B). That is, the wireless tag 11 is fixed to the product 10 so as to be included in the seepage area 316 to be described later when the product 10 is placed on the communication sheet 310 .

Note that the communication sheet 310 may be installed anywhere as long as the tag information can be read from the wireless tag 11 attached to the product 10 . For example, the communication sheet 310 may be installed on the ceiling surface of each stage or the side surface (wall surface) of each stage instead of the floor surface of each stage of the shelf 20 . Also, the communication sheet 310 may be installed at an installation location other than the shelf 20 . Products 10A and 10B are products to be managed. In the example shown in FIG. 1, there are six products 10A and eight products 10B. The product 10A and the product 10B are different types of products. Note that the product 10 is a general term for the products 10A and 10B. The product 10 may be placed on the shelf 20 or may be placed on a place other than the shelf 20. - 特許庁

The wireless tag 11A stores tag information including information (hereinafter referred to as "product identification information") that can identify the individual product 10A to which the wireless tag 11A is attached. The wireless tag 11B stores tag information including product identification information that can identify the individual product 10B to which the wireless tag 11B is attached. Therefore, the product identification information is information that can identify not only the type of product but also the individual product. Note that the processing device 100 may receive information identifying the communication sheet 310 from the reader/writer 300 in addition to tag information including product identification information. The processing device 100 can identify which product 10 is placed where (on what shelf of which shelf 20).

The communication sheet 310 emits power supply radio waves under the control of the reader/writer 300 and supplies the reader/writer 300 with an electric signal corresponding to the tag information-containing radio waves received from the wireless tag to be communicated. Specifically, the communication sheet 310 emits power supply radio waves corresponding to the electrical signal received from the reader/writer 300 . The communication sheet 310 also receives radio waves including tag information emitted by the wireless tag 11 in response to receiving the radio waves for power supply. The communication sheet 310 transmits to the reader/writer 300 an electrical signal corresponding to the tag information-containing radio wave.

The communication sheet 310 is an antenna whose communication performance greatly depends on the distance to the wireless tag 11 . Specifically, the communication sheet 310 can communicate with the wireless tag 11 when the distance to the wireless tag 11 is relatively short, and can communicate with the wireless tag 11 when the distance to the wireless tag 11 is relatively long. cannot communicate with Accordingly, the radio wave intensity of the communication sheet 310 is very high near the communication sheet 310, while the radio wave intensity is very low at a distance from the communication sheet 310. FIG. The communication sheet 310 is, for example, a planar antenna whose radiation surface is substantially flat, and is also called a sheet-shaped antenna.

The configuration of the communication sheet 310 will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. FIG. FIG. 3 is a plan view of the communication sheet 310. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. 3. FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, the communication sheet 310 has a sheet-like conductor 311 with mesh-like openings formed on one surface in the thickness direction. In addition, as shown in FIG. 4, the communication sheet 310 has a sheet-like conductor 312 arranged opposite to the sheet-like conductor 311 on the surface on the other side in the thickness direction. It has a dielectric 313 between 312 . A protective sheet 314 made of vinyl chloride or the like is attached to the upper surface of the sheet-like conductor 311 in case water is spilled. Similarly, a protective sheet 315 such as vinyl chloride is attached to the lower surface of the sheet-like conductor 312 .

The sheet-like conductor 311 has, for example, a plurality of equilateral triangles formed by crossing a plurality of first linear conductors, a plurality of second linear conductors, and a plurality of third linear conductors. is a layer in which openings are formed. The first linear conductor, the second linear conductor and the third linear conductor are arranged on the same plane and cross each other at an angle of 60 degrees. In this embodiment, it is assumed that the length of one side of the equilateral triangle is 7 mm.

The sheet-like conductor 311 and the sheet-like conductor 312 are each composed of an aluminum laminate having a thickness of about 32 μm, for example. Dielectric 313 is made of foamed polyolefin having a thickness of about 2 mm, for example. The sheet-like conductor 311 and the sheet-like conductor 312 are not limited to aluminum laminate, and may be made of metal foil such as copper, silver, nickel, plating, vapor deposition, printing, or the like. Moreover, the dielectric 313 is not limited to foamed polyolefin, and may be made of polyester, polyamide, aromatic polyamide, or the like. Alternatively, air may be provided between the sheet conductors 311 and 312 without using the dielectric 313 .

The protective sheet 314 is a layer made of an insulator. The protective sheet 314 has a function of preventing the surface of the sheet-like conductor 311 from being damaged and the surface of the sheet-like conductor 311 from coming into contact with an external conductor. The protective sheet 315 is a layer made of an insulator. The protective sheet 315 has a function of preventing the surface of the sheet-like conductor 312 from being damaged and the surface of the sheet-like conductor 312 from coming into contact with an external conductor. The protective sheets 314 and 315 are made of PET (polyethylene terephthalate), for example.

The communication sheet 310 has a radio wave interface 320 for supplying radio waves (electric signals) to the communication sheet 310 at one end in the longitudinal direction. The radio interface 320 is connected to the reader/writer 300 via a communication cable 330 . Further, the communication sheet 310 has a radio wave absorbing portion 340 for absorbing radio waves at the other end in the longitudinal direction.

The radio interface 320 includes a conductor layer 321 , a conductor layer 322 , an insulator layer 323 , an electrode 324 , an electrode 325 and a connector 326 . The conductor layer 321 is a layer formed on one surface of the insulator layer 323 and made of a conductor. The conductor layer 322 is a layer formed on the other surface of the insulator layer 323 and made of a conductor. The insulator layer 323 is a layer sandwiched between the conductor layer 321 and the conductor layer 322 and is a layer made of an insulator. The electrode 324 is a flat plate-shaped electrode arranged to straddle the conductor layer 321 and the protective sheet 314 . The electrode 325 is a plate-like electrode arranged to straddle the conductor layer 322 and the protective sheet 315 . The connector 326 is provided on one surface of the conductor layer 321 and into which the communication cable 330 is inserted. The connector 326 is composed of conductors.

Communication cable 330 is a coaxial cable comprising an inner conductor 331, an insulator (not shown), an outer conductor 332, and a protective coating (not shown). The internal conductor 331 is a conductor to which a signal potential is applied, and is made of copper wire, for example. An insulator (not shown) is an insulator for insulating the inner conductor 331 and the outer conductor 332, and is made of polyethylene, for example. The outer conductor 332 is a conductor to which a ground potential is applied, and is composed of braided copper wire, for example. A protective coating (not shown) is an insulator for protecting the inside of the communication cable 330, and is made of vinyl resin, for example.

Communication cable 330 plugs into connector 326 . The internal conductor 331 is connected to the conductor layer 322 through a through hole provided in the substrate composed of the conductor layer 321 , the conductor layer 322 and the insulator layer 323 . On the other hand, the outer conductor 332 is connected with the connector 326 . Therefore, the inner conductor 331, the conductor layer 322 and the electrode 325 are electrically connected, and the outer conductor 332, the connector 326, the conductor layer 321 and the electrode 324 are electrically connected. That is, the signal potential is applied to the electrode 325 and the ground potential is applied to the electrode 324 . A radio wave (electrical signal) supplied between the electrodes 325 and 324 propagates through the communication sheet 310 .

The radio wave absorber 340 absorbs the supplied radio waves. The radio wave absorber 340 suppresses reflection of the radio waves propagating through the communication sheet 310 at the other end of the communication sheet 310 . The radio wave absorber 340 includes a radio wave absorber 341 and a conductor plate 342 . The radio wave absorber 341 absorbs the supplied radio waves and converts them into thermal energy. The conductor plate 342 is a plate-like conductor having a U-shaped cross section.

When an electric signal is supplied from the reader/writer 300 to the communication sheet 310 , radio waves corresponding to the electric signal are transmitted inside the communication sheet 310 . A near-field is generated when the radio wave transmitted inside the communication sheet 310 seeps out from the surface of the communication sheet 310 . More specifically, radio waves corresponding to electrical signals supplied from the reader/writer 300 to the communication sheet 310 are absorbed by the connector 326 in the dielectric 313 between the two layers of sheet-like conductors 311 and 312 . 340. Radio waves propagating in the dielectric 313 seep out of the mesh-like openings formed in the sheet-like conductor 311, resulting in a seepage region 316 (indicated by the dashed line in FIG. 4) in the immediate vicinity of the sheet-like conductor 311. area). This leaked radio wave (evanescent wave) does not propagate far, and forms a near-field in a leaked region 316 very close to the sheet-like conductor 311 .

The amount of radio waves leaking out from the surface of the sheet-like conductor 311, that is, the size of the leaking region 316 is mainly determined by the spacing of the meshes formed on the sheet-like conductor 311, the dielectric constant of the dielectric 313, and the dielectric constant of the dielectric 313. determined by the thickness of the In addition, since the surface of the communication sheet 310 on the side of the sheet-like conductor 312 is shielded without openings, radio waves transmitted through the dielectric 313 do not leak from the sheet-like conductor 312 side.

The display device 400 is a device that displays various types of information regarding the product 10 to a customer who is about to purchase the product 10 . Therefore, the display device 400 is arranged near the shelf 20 . The display device 400 includes a communication interface 401 , a control section 402 and a display section 405 .

Communication interface 401 has a function of connecting to internal network 710 . Communication interface 401 includes, for example, a LAN interface. The control unit 402 controls the overall operation of the display device 400 . The control unit 402 controls the communication interface 401 to communicate with other devices. Further, the control unit 402 causes the display unit 405 to display an image. The control unit 402 includes, for example, a CPU (not shown), a ROM (not shown), a RAM (not shown), and an RTC (not shown). A display unit 405 displays an image under the control of the control unit 402 . Display unit 405 includes, for example, a touch screen (not shown).

The POS terminal 500 is a terminal having a cash register function and a bar code reader function, and is a terminal operated by a user (a store manager or a store clerk), for example. The POS terminal 500 includes a communication interface 501 , a control section 502 , a storage section 503 , an operation reception section 504 , a display section 505 and a barcode reader 506 .

Communication interface 501 has a function of connecting to internal network 710 . The communication interface 501 comprises, for example, a LAN interface. A control unit 502 controls the overall operation of the POS terminal 500 . A control unit 502 controls the communication interface 501 to communicate with other devices. The control unit 502 also records information in the storage unit 503 and reads information from the storage unit 503 . Also, the control unit 502 acquires information received by the operation receiving unit 504 . Further, the control unit 502 causes the display unit 505 to display an image. Also, the control unit 502 records information acquired from the barcode reader 506 in the storage unit 503 . The control unit 502 includes, for example, a CPU (not shown), a ROM (not shown), a RAM (not shown), and an RTC (not shown).

The storage unit 503 stores various information used by the POS terminal 500 . The storage unit 503 stores information acquired by the barcode reader 506, for example. Information stored in the storage unit 103 is periodically uploaded to the server 600 and stored in the storage unit 603 . Storage unit 503 includes, for example, a flash memory (not shown). The operation reception unit 504 receives various operations from the user. The operation reception unit 504 includes, for example, a touch screen (not shown). A display unit 505 displays an image under the control of the control unit 502 . The display unit 505 includes, for example, a touch screen (not shown). A barcode reader 506 reads a barcode (not shown) attached to the product 10 . The barcode can identify the type of product 10 (product 10A or product 10B), but cannot identify the individual product 10. FIG.

The server 600 is a device that provides various services and information. The server 600 is installed, for example, outside the store. The server 600 includes a communication interface 601 , a control section 602 and a storage section 603 . Communication interface 601 has a function of connecting to external network 720 . Communication interface 601 includes, for example, a LAN interface. A control unit 602 controls the overall operation of the server 600 . A control unit 602 controls the communication interface 601 to communicate with other devices. The control unit 602 also records information in the storage unit 603 and reads information from the storage unit 603 . The control unit 602 includes, for example, a CPU (not shown), a ROM (not shown), a RAM (not shown), and an RTC (not shown). The storage unit 603 stores various information uploaded from the processing device 100, the POS terminal 500, and the like. The storage unit 603 has, for example, a flash memory (not shown).

The internal network 710 is a network constructed within the store, and is a network for mutual communication between devices connected to the internal network 710 . Internal network 710 is, for example, a wireless LAN. The external network 720 is a network constructed outside the store, and is a network for mutual communication between devices connected to the external network 720 . External network 720 is, for example, the Internet.

Next, basic functions of the product management system 1000 will be described with reference to FIG. Product management system 1000 functionally includes radio wave receiving unit 1001, reading unit 1002, placement determination unit 1003, placement history storage unit 1004, product information display unit 1005, deadline storage unit 1006, notification unit 1007 , a discount information display unit 1008 , a period identification unit 1009 , a deadline update unit 1010 , a purchase detection unit 1011 , a support type storage unit 1012 , and a support type recording unit 1013 .

The radio wave receiving unit 1001 receives radio waves emitted from the wireless tag 11 . The radio wave receiving unit 1001 has a planar shape and is provided at an arrangement place (for example, the shelf 20) where the product 10 to which the wireless tag 11 is attached is arranged. The function of the radio wave receiving unit 1001 is realized by the function of the communication sheet 310, for example.

The reading unit 1002 reads tag information from the wireless tag 11 via the radio wave receiving unit 1001 . The function of the reading unit 1002 is realized by the function of the reader/writer 300, for example.

The placement determination unit 1003 determines whether the product 10 is placed at the placement location based on whether the reading unit 1002 can read the tag information. Generally, there are multiple items 10 to be managed. Accordingly, the placement determination unit 1003 determines which product 10 is placed where (on which stage of which shelf 20). The placement determination unit 1003 generates information indicating the determination result (hereinafter referred to as “placement information”). The placement determination unit 1003 can exclude purchased products 10 from placement determination based on purchase information supplied from the purchase detection unit 1011, which will be described later. The function of the arrangement determination unit 1003 is realized by the function of the control unit 102, for example.

Here, the arrangement information 800 will be described with reference to FIG. The placement information 800 is information indicating where the product 10 is placed. The placement location of the product 10 is on the communication sheet 310 . Therefore, the place where the product 10 is placed is specified by the communication sheet 310 that receives radio waves from the wireless tag 11 attached to the product 10 . In other words, the arrangement information 800 is information in which product identification information for identifying individual products 10 and information for identifying the communication sheet 310 (hereinafter referred to as "communication sheet identification information") are associated with each other.

In FIG. 6, CS1, CS2, CS3 and CS4 are the communication sheet identification information 801 of the communication sheets 310A, 310B, 310C and 310D, respectively. 6, P11, P12, P13, P14, P15, and P16 are the product identification information 802 of the product 10A whose type is A, and P21, P22, P23, P24, P25, P26, P27, and P28 are , the product identification information 802 of the product 10B whose type is B. FIG.

In the arrangement information 800, five products 10A identified by P11, P12, P13, P14, and P15 are arranged on the communication sheet 310A, and one product 10A identified by P16 is arranged on the communication sheet 310B. 5 products 10B identified by P21, P22, P23, P24 and P25 are placed on communication sheet 310C, and 3 products identified by P26, P27 and P28 are placed on communication sheet 310D. 10B are arranged. Note that the communication sheet identification information 801 and the sheet position information indicating the position where the communication sheet 310A is arranged (information indicating on which shelf 20 and on which stage the communication sheet 310A is arranged) are associated in advance. are stored in the storage unit 103.

The placement history storage unit 1004 stores placement history information, which is information indicating a history of which product 10 has been placed where. The arrangement history information may be an aggregate of a plurality of pieces of arrangement information acquired at a predetermined cycle, or may be information generated based on a plurality of pieces of arrangement information acquired at a predetermined cycle. may The function of the arrangement history storage unit 1004 is realized by the function of the storage unit 103, for example.

Here, the placement history information 810 will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 7, the placement history information 810 includes, for example, communication sheet identification information 801, product identification information 802, first detection time information 803, final detection time information 804, and non-detection period information 805. This is associated information. Note that FIG. 7 shows only the placement history information 810 regarding the communication sheet 310A. The first detection time information 803 is the time when the product 10 was first detected by the communication sheet 310 (the radio wave representing the tag information including the product identification information of the product 10 was transmitted from the wireless tag 11 attached to the product 10 by the communication sheet 310). This is information indicating the time when it was first received. The last detection time information 804 is information indicating the time when the product 10 was last detected by the communication sheet 310 . The non-detection period information 805 is information indicating a period during which the product 10 was temporarily not detected by the communication sheet 310 after the product 10 was detected by the communication sheet 310 . The non-detection period information 805 is included in the placement history information 810 for the number of periods during which no detection was made.

The arrangement history information 810 shown in FIG. 7 indicates that the product 10A identified by P11 is detected by the communication sheet 310A for the first time at the time indicated by t1, and then communicated during the period indicated by T11 and the period indicated by T12. It is not detected by the sheet 310A, and is finally detected by the communication sheet 310A at the time indicated by t3. Note that t3 is the most recent detection time, which is approximately the current time. That is, the fact that the last detection time information indicates t3 indicates that detection is being performed at the present time.

In addition, the placement history information 810 continues until the time indicated by t1 (current time) after the product 10A identified by P12, P13, and P14 is detected by the communication sheet 310A for the first time at the time indicated by t1. This indicates that the communication sheet 310A is actually detected. Also, in the placement history information 810, the product 10A identified by P15 is detected by the communication sheet 310A for the first time at the time indicated by t2, is not detected by the communication sheet 310A for the period indicated by T51, and is indicated by t3. It is indicated that the communication sheet 310A has detected the time (current time).

Also, in the placement history information 810, the product 10A identified by P17 is detected by the communication sheet 310A for the first time at the time indicated by t2, and thereafter detected by the communication sheet 310A until the time indicated by t4. It indicates that the communication sheet 310A has not been detected after the indicated time. In other words, the product 10A identified by P17 has been taken out from the shelf 20 at this point. Information about the purchased product 10 is deleted from the placement history information 810 . The POS terminal 500 notifies the processing device 100 that the product 10 has been purchased.

The product information display unit 1005 displays information about the product 10 when the determination result by the placement determination unit 1003 changes. There are two possible cases where the result of determination by the placement determination unit 1003 changes: when the product 10 is taken out from the shelf 20 and when the product 10 is returned to the shelf 20 . In either case, the customer is presumed to be interested in the product 10 . Therefore, the product information display unit 1005 displays information about the product 10 (hereinafter referred to as "product information"). The product information display unit 1005 may display product information only when the product 10 is taken out from the shelf 20 or may display product information only when the product 10 is returned to the shelf 20 . The function of the product information display unit 1005 is realized by cooperation of the communication interface 101, the control unit 102, the communication interface 401, the control unit 402, and the display unit 405, for example.

The expiration date storage unit 1006 stores information indicating the sales expiration date assigned to the product 10 (hereinafter referred to as "expiration date information"). The sell-by date is set, for example, for a type of product 10 for which an expiration date or the like is set. The initial value of the sell-by date is set to the expiration date or the like. The function of the deadline storage unit 1006 is realized by the function of the storage unit 103, for example.

A notifying part 1007 notifies that the selling period of the commodity 10 has expired when the arrangement discriminating part 1003 determines that the commodity 10 is arranged at the arrangement place after the selling period indicated by the term information has passed. That is, the notification unit 1007 searches for products 10 whose sell-by date has expired from among the detected products 10, and notifies that the sell-by date has expired for the products 10 whose sell-by date has expired. As a notification method, for example, the control unit 102 transmits information indicating that the sell-by date has expired to the terminal device 200 via the communication interface 101, and in response to the communication interface 201 receiving this information, the control unit There is a method of displaying an image notifying that the sell-by date has expired on the display unit 205 on the 202 . The function of the notification unit 1007 is realized by cooperation of the communication interface 101, the control unit 102, the communication interface 201, the control unit 202, and the display unit 205, for example.

The discount information display unit 1008 displays information (hereinafter referred to as "discount information") regarding discounts of the product 10 when the time until the sales deadline indicated by the deadline information is less than a predetermined margin time. . Discounts and the like are concepts including, for example, discounts, point additions in point service systems, combinations of discounts and point additions, and the like. Point addition is a concept that includes, for example, adding points when points are not normally added, increasing the number of points to be added more than usual, and increasing the percentage of points to be added more than usual. In other words, when it is assumed that the product 10 will be collected and discarded by the sell-by date, and considering the possibility that the product 10 will remain unsold without a discount, it is preferable that the product 10 sells even with a discount. There is Therefore, when the sales deadline is approaching, for example, an image showing the discount amount, discount rate, number of points to be added, point addition rate, etc. (hereinafter referred to as "discount amount, etc." as appropriate) is displayed. It should be noted that the extent of the spare time can be adjusted as appropriate. For example, it is preferable to set the spare time to a ratio (for example, several percent to several tens of percent) of the time from the production date to the expiration date.

Also, the displayed image may be, for example, an image showing a message that reads, "20% off the offered price for the product 10A whose expiration date is August 24, 2017." The method of displaying such images can be adjusted as appropriate. For example, the control unit 102 transmits information indicating that the expiration date is imminent to the display device 400 via the communication interface 101, and in response to the communication interface 401 receiving this information, the control unit 402 displays the display unit 405. There is a method of displaying an image notifying that a discount will be given because the expiration date is approaching. The function of the discount information display unit 1008 is realized by cooperation of the communication interface 101, the control unit 102, the communication interface 401, the control unit 402, and the display unit 405, for example.

The period specifying unit 1009 specifies a take-out period during which the product 10 is temporarily taken out from the place of placement based on the determination result of the placement determination unit 1003 . The period identification unit 1009 can identify the extraction period, which is the non-detection period, based on the placement history information 810, for example. The function of the period identification unit 1009 is realized by the function of the control unit 102, for example.

The expiration update unit 1010 updates the expiration information stored in the expiration storage unit 1006 so that the sales period is shortened according to the length of the take-out period specified by the period specification unit 1009 . For example, assume that the product 10 is a product that requires refrigeration (eg, milk, tofu), and that the product 10 is placed on the shelf 20 and cooled by a refrigerating device (not shown). In this case, for example, when the product 10 is temporarily removed from the shelf 20 by the customer, the product 10 is not cooled during the period of removal from the shelf 20, compared to the case where the product 10 is continuously placed on the shelf 20. , will hurt quickly. Therefore, in such a case, it is preferable to set the sell-by date earlier than the expiration date set by the manufacturer of the product 10 or the like. Therefore, the expiration date update unit 1010 updates the expiration date information so that the sell-by date is brought forward according to the total length of the take-out period, for example. The function of the expiration update unit 1010 is realized by the function of the control unit 102, for example.

The purchase detection unit 1011 detects that the product 10 has been purchased by a customer. Specifically, the purchase detection unit 1011 determines whether or not the product 10 has been purchased, and whether the type of the purchased product 10 is the first type (for example, product 10A) or the second type (for example, product 10B). ) is detected. Also, the purchase detection unit 1011 further detects the customer attribute of the customer who purchased the product 10 . Customer attributes include, for example, at least one of a customer's sex (male, female) and a customer's age group (eg, under 10, teens, twenties, thirties). The purchase detection unit 1011 identifies customer attributes, for example, according to an operation by a user (for example, a cashier) or based on information such as a membership card presented to a cashier when a customer makes a purchase. The purchase detection unit 1011 stores purchase information including type identification information for identifying the type of the purchased product 10 and customer attribute information indicating the customer attributes of the customer who made the purchase through the arrangement determination unit 1003 and the correspondence type recording unit 1013 . and send to. The function of the purchase detection unit 1011 is realized by cooperation of the communication interface 501, the control unit 502, the operation reception unit 504, and the barcode reader 506, for example.

The correspondence type storage unit 1012 stores correspondence type information, which will be described later, under the control of the correspondence type recording unit 1013 . The function of the correspondence type storage unit 1012 is realized by the function of the storage unit 103, for example.

In the period immediately before purchase, when the second type of product is temporarily taken out from the placement location, the corresponding type recording unit 1013 stores type identification information for identifying the first type and type identification information for identifying the second type. The correspondence type information including the identification information is stored in the correspondence type storage unit 1012 . The period immediately before purchase is a period from the detection time when the purchase of the first type of product is detected by the purchase detection unit 1011 to the time before the detection time by a predetermined set length of time. The set time length is, for example, several seconds to several minutes. The correspondence type recording unit 1013 can detect that the first type of product has been purchased from the content of the purchase information acquired from the purchase detection unit 1011 . Further, the correspondence type recording unit 1013 can specify the detection time from the time when the purchase information is acquired from the purchase detection unit 1011 . In addition, based on the arrangement history information 810, the correspondence type recording unit 1013 can identify whether or not the second type of product was temporarily taken out from the shelf 20 in the period immediately before purchase.

For example, assume that the first type of product is the product 10B and the second type of product is the product 10A. In this case, when the product 10B is purchased at the detection time, the corresponding type recording unit 1013 acquires purchase information including the type identification information of the product 10B from the purchase detection unit 1011 at the detection time. The correspondence type recording unit 1013 refers to the arrangement history information 810 and searches for the product 10 having the non-detection period included in the period immediately before purchase. For example, when T12 is included in the period immediately before purchase, the product 10A identified by P11 is specified. In other words, it can be seen that the product 10A identified by P11 was once picked up from the shelf 20 immediately before the purchase of the product 10B, and then returned to the shelf 20 without being purchased. Therefore, in this case, the customer may have purchased the product 10B after hesitating which product to purchase between the product 10A and the product 10B. Accordingly, the response type recording unit 1013 generates response type information including the type identification information indicating the type of the product 10A and the type identification information indicating the type of the product 10B, and causes the response type storage unit 1012 to store the information.

The purchase information acquired by the correspondence type recording unit 1013 from the purchase detection unit 1011 includes, for example, customer attribute information indicating that the purchaser of the product 10B is a man in his twenties in addition to the type identification information of the product 10B. may be included. In this case, the response type recording unit 1013 generates response type information including type identification information indicating the type of the product 10A, type identification information indicating the type of the product 10B, and customer attribute information indicating a male in his twenties. Stored in the type storage unit 1012 . In this case, the analyst can infer from the correspondence type information that the male in his twenties hesitated about which product to purchase between the product 10A and the product 10B. The function of the correspondence type recording unit 1013 is realized by the function of the control unit 102, for example.

Next, referring to FIG. 8, the merchandise management processing executed by the merchandise management system 1000 will be described. The product management process is basically a process mainly executed by the processing device 100 (in particular, the control unit 102), and is executed in response to the power of the processing device 100 being turned on.

First, the control unit 102 executes reading processing (step S101). The reading process will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

First, the control unit 102 selects the communication sheet 310 (step S201). Specifically, the control unit 102 selects one communication sheet 310 from four communication sheets 310 (communication sheets 310A, 310B, 310C, and 310D). After completing the process of step S201, the control unit 102 reads the tag information (step S202). Specifically, the control unit 102 causes the reader/writer 300 to read the tag information from the selected communication sheet 310 via the communication interface 101 . Then, the control unit 102 acquires tag information from the reader/writer 300 .

After completing the process of step S202, the control unit 102 updates the arrangement information 800 (step S203). That is, the control unit 102 causes the storage unit 103 to store the latest arrangement information 800 . After completing the process of step S203, the control unit 102 updates the placement history information 810 (step S204). That is, the control unit 102 updates the placement history information 810 stored in the storage unit 103 based on the latest placement information 800. FIG.

After completing the process of step S204, the control unit 102 determines whether or not there is an unselected communication sheet 310 (step S205). When determining that there is an unselected communication sheet 310 (step S205: YES), the control unit 102 returns the process to step S201 and selects an unselected communication sheet 310. FIG. When the control unit 102 determines that there is no unselected communication sheet 310 (step S205: NO), the reading process is completed.

After completing the process of step S101, the control unit 102 executes a confirmation process (step S102). The confirmation process will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

First, the control unit 102 selects the product 10 (step S301). For example, the control unit 102 selects one product 10 from products 10 identified by the product identification information 802 included in the placement history information 810 . After completing the processing of step S301, the control unit 102 determines whether or not the selected product 10 has become non-detected (step S302). For example, when the final detection time indicated by the final detection time information 804 included in the placement history information 810 is not the current time, the control unit 102 determines that the selected product 10 has not been detected.

When the control unit 102 determines that the selected product 10 has not been detected (step S302: YES), the product information is displayed (step S303). Specifically, the control unit 102 causes the display unit 405 to display the product information under the control of the control unit 402 via the communication interface 101 . This product information is information that arouses the desire to purchase the selected product 10 . The product information is, for example, information relating to a campaign that "If you purchase the product 10A and the product 10B at the same time, the tax-excluded price will be reduced by 30 yen."

When the control unit 102 determines that the selected product 10 has not been detected (step S302: NO), or when the process of step S303 is completed, the control unit 102 determines whether the selected product 10 has been detected again. Determine (step S304). For example, when the ending time of the non-detection period indicated by the non-detection period information 805 included in the placement history information 810 is the current time, the control unit 102 determines that the selected product 10 has been detected again.

When the control unit 102 determines that the selected product 10 has been detected again (step S304: YES), it updates the expiration date information (step S305). Specifically, the control unit 102 sets the sell-by date of the selected product 10 indicated by the expiration information stored in the storage unit 103 to the last detected non-detection period (non-detection period in which the last time is the current time). The expiration information is updated so that it is shortened by the amount of time corresponding to the length of the detection period). For example, the deadline information is updated so that the selling deadline is brought forward by one day for every 30 minutes of the non-detection period. Note that if the selected product 10 is a product 10 that can be stored at room temperature, the process of step S305 is not executed.

If the control unit 102 determines that the selected product 10 has not been detected again (step S304: NO), or if the process of step S305 has been completed, the control unit 102 determines whether the sell-by date of the selected product 10 has expired. (step S306). For example, when the current time has passed the sell-by date of the selected product 10 indicated by the time limit information stored in the storage unit 103, the control unit 102 determines that the sell-by date of the selected product 10 has expired.

If the control unit 102 determines that the sell-by date of the selected product 10 has expired (step S306: YES), it notifies that the sell-by date has expired (step S307). Specifically, the control unit 102 transmits to the control unit 202 via the communication interface 101 information indicating that the sell-by date of the selected product 10 has expired. On the other hand, in response to receiving this information, the control unit 202 causes the display unit 205 to display an image indicating that the sell-by date of the selected product 10 has expired.

When the control unit 102 determines that the sell-by date of the selected product 10 has not expired (step S306: NO), or when the process of step S307 is completed, the control unit 102 determines whether the sell-by date of the selected product 10 is about to expire. (step S308). For example, if the difference between the current time and the sell-by date of the selected product 10 indicated by the expiration information stored in the storage unit 103 is less than the margin time, the control unit 102 determines that the sell-by date of the selected product 10 is about to expire. It is determined that

When the control unit 102 determines that the sell-by date of the selected product 10 is about to expire (step S308: YES), the control unit 102 displays discount information (step S309). Specifically, control unit 102 transmits to control unit 402 via communication interface 101 information indicating that the sell-by date of the selected product 10 is about to expire. On the other hand, in response to receiving this information, the control section 402 causes the display section 405 to display an image showing the discount information of the selected product 10 .

When the control unit 102 determines that the selected product 10 is not about to expire (step S308: NO), or when the process of step S309 is completed, the control unit 102 determines whether there is an unselected product 10 ( step S310). When the control unit 102 determines that there is an unselected product 10 (step S310: YES), the process returns to step S301 to select the unselected product 10. FIG. When the control unit 102 determines that there is no unselected product 10 (step S310: NO), the confirmation process is completed.

After completing the process of step S102, the control unit 102 executes a recording process (step S103). The recording process will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

First, the control unit 102 determines whether purchase information has been received (step S401). For example, the control unit 102 determines whether purchase information has been received from the POS terminal 500 through the communication interface 101 . When determining that purchase information has been received (step S401: YES), the control unit 102 determines whether or not there is a product 10 having a non-detection period immediately before purchase (step S402). Specifically, the control unit 102 refers to the placement history information 810 to determine whether or not there is a product 10 having a non-detection period within the period immediately before purchase.

If the control unit 102 determines that there is a product 10 having a non-detection period immediately before purchase (step S402: YES), it records the correspondence type information (step S403). Specifically, the control unit 102 controls the attribute information of the customer who made the purchase, the type identification information (first type identification information) for identifying the type of the purchased product 10, and the product having a non-detection period immediately before the purchase. and type identification information (second type identification information) for identifying the 10 types is stored in the storage unit 103 . When the type of the purchased commodity 10 and the type of the commodity 10 having a non-detection period immediately before purchase are the same, it is presumed that the purchased commodity 10 was purchased after hesitation. Also, the correspondence type information may include a plurality of types of type identification information (second type identification information) that identify types of products 10 that have a non-detection period immediately before purchase. In this case, it is presumed that the purchaser hesitated about which product 10 to purchase among three or more types of products 10 before purchasing the product 10 . Note that the correspondence type information is accumulated in the storage unit 103 .

When the control unit 102 determines that there is no product 10 having a non-detection period immediately before purchase (step S402: NO), or when the processing of step S403 is completed, the control unit 102 updates the placement history information 810 (step S404). . Specifically, the control unit 102 detects the product 10 that is of the same type as the purchased product 10 in the product identification information 802 included in the placement history information 810 and whose last detection time is not the current time. The information associated with the product identification information 802 that identifies the is deleted. When the control unit 102 determines that the purchase information has not been received (step S401: NO), or when the processing of step S404 is completed, the recording processing is completed.

After completing the process of step S103, the control unit 102 waits for a predetermined time (step S104). For example, the control unit 102 waits for several seconds. After completing the process of step S104, the control unit 102 returns the process to step S101.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to efficiently manage products or assist an administrator in efficiently managing products. Specifically, for example, in the present embodiment, a planar communication sheet 310 is used for reading tag information. Therefore, in this embodiment, whether or not the product 10 is placed on the shelf 20 can be accurately determined in real time.

Further, in this embodiment, when the product 10 is picked up from the shelf 20 or when the product 10 is returned to the shelf 20, the product information related to the product 10 is displayed. Therefore, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to present the customer with information about the product 10 that the customer is paying attention to, and it can be expected that the customer's willingness to sell will increase.

Further, in this embodiment, when the product 10 whose sell-by date has expired is placed on the shelf 20, the manager is notified that the sell-by date of this product 10 has expired. Therefore, according to this embodiment, the product 10 whose sell-by date has expired can be promptly collected.

Further, in the present embodiment, when a product 10 whose sell-by date is about to expire is placed on the shelf 20, discount information regarding this product 10 is displayed. Therefore, according to the present embodiment, sales of products 10 whose sell-by date is about to expire are promoted, and waste due to collection and disposal of products 10 can be reduced as much as possible.

Further, in the present embodiment, when the product 10 requiring refrigeration is temporarily taken out from the shelf 20, the sell-by date of the product 10 is advanced according to the length of time taken out. Therefore, according to the present embodiment, the product 10 is managed according to an appropriate sell-by date that takes into consideration the condition of the product 10, as compared to a uniform expiration date specified by the manufacturer of the product 10. Therefore, for example, it is possible to prevent customers from purchasing products 10 whose quality has deteriorated but whose expiration date has not passed.

Further, in the present embodiment, when there is a product 10 temporarily taken out from the shelf 20 immediately before the purchase of the product 10, the first type identification information for identifying the type of the purchased product 10; Corresponding type information including second type identification information for identifying the type of the product 10 taken out is recorded. Therefore, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to estimate that the purchaser of the product 10 hesitated about purchasing and the type of the product he hesitated about.

Further, in this embodiment, the correspondence type information includes customer attribute information indicating customer attributes of the purchaser. Therefore, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to estimate the customer attributes of the purchaser who hesitated about purchasing the product 10 .

(Modification)
Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, various modifications and applications are possible in carrying out the present invention.

In the present invention, any part of the configurations, functions, and operations described in the above embodiments may be adopted. Further, in addition to the configurations, functions, and operations described above, further configurations, functions, and operations may be employed in the present invention. Moreover, the above-described embodiments can be freely combined as appropriate. Also, the number of components described in the above embodiments can be adjusted as appropriate. Further, it goes without saying that materials, sizes, electrical characteristics, etc. that can be used in the present invention are not limited to those shown in the above embodiments.

In the above-described embodiment, the example in which the processing device 100 executes most of the processes included in the merchandise management process has been described. In the present invention, as long as the merchandise management processing is performed by the merchandise management system 1000 as a whole, the processing included in the merchandise management processing may be performed by any configuration. For example, the terminal device 200, the reader/writer 300, the display device 400, the POS terminal 500, the server 600, etc. may execute the processing described as the processing executed by the processing device 100 among the processing included in the merchandise management processing.

In the above-described embodiment, an example has been described in which notification and display are performed based on the sell-by date, which can be updated and whose initial value is set to the expiration date or the like. In the present invention, the sell-by date may not be updated. In this case, the sell-by date is substantially the same as the expiration date or the like. In addition, in the present invention, notification and display may be performed based on the expiration date or the like. For example, if the placement determination unit 1003 determines that the product 10 is placed at the placement location after the expiration date (or best-before date) has passed, the notification unit 1007 determines that the product 10 has reached the expiration date (or best-before date). You may notify that the time limit has expired. Moreover, the discount information display unit 1008 may display the discount information of the product 10 when the time until the expiration date (or the expiration date) is less than the margin time.

The merchandise management system 1000 can be applied to automatic inspection processing for automatically inspecting whether or not the merchandise 10 to be displayed on the shelf 20 has been appropriately displayed on the shelf 20 . In this case, for example, arrangement plan information in which product identification information 802 for identifying the product 10 is associated with communication sheet identification information 801 for identifying the communication sheet 310 to be arranged is stored in the storage unit 103 in advance. be stored in By judging whether or not the content of the arrangement plan information and the content of the arrangement information 800 match, it is possible to automatically check whether or not the product 10 is arranged on the correct shelf 20.例文帳に追加

In the above embodiment, an example of managing the product 10 at the stage where the product 10 is placed on the shelf 20 in the store has been described. In the present invention, the step of managing merchandise 10 may be another step. For example, the product 10 may be managed at the stage of storing the product 10 in the backyard of the store, transporting the product 10 by truck, or producing the product 10 in a factory.

In this case, the location of the product 10, the inventory of the product 10, the sell-by date of the product 10, and the like can be accurately grasped in real time. As a result, it is possible to automatically place an order for the product 10 whose inventory is insufficient at the store, automatically exchange the product 10 whose inventory is insufficient among a plurality of stores, and automatically set a delivery route to a plurality of stores. , and the production schedule of the product 10 in the factory can be automatically and appropriately adjusted. Note that the processing device 100 can execute order processing for the server 600, for example. The server 600 can also execute delivery route selection processing and production schedule adjustment processing.

Specific methods of these include, for example, an erroneous order prevention method proposed in Japanese Patent No. 4664847, a daily goods ordering optimization support system proposed in Japanese Patent No. 4388713, and a A real-time inventory management system proposed in Japanese Patent No. 5483636, a product order management system proposed in Japanese Patent No. 5483636, etc. may be applied, or a combination of parts described in these may be applied. good too.

In addition, the merchandise management system 1000 may issue a replenishment instruction for the merchandise 10 or a face-up instruction for the merchandise 10 . For example, in FIG. 1, when there are no more than a predetermined number of products 10A on the first stage of the shelf 20, a replenishment instruction for the products 10A may be given. For example, as shown in FIG. 12, the replenishment instruction may be "There is no product 10A on the shelf 20. Please replenish the product 10A immediately." or "There are only two products 10A on the shelf 20." Please replenish product 10A." The product 10A is arranged on the first stage of the shelf 20 because the tag information including the product identification information for identifying the product 10A is transmitted to the reader/writer 300 via either the communication sheet 310A or the communication sheet 310B. It can be detected by detecting that it is read.

Further, for example, when the number of products 10A arranged on the communication sheet 310B is larger than the number of products 10A arranged on the communication sheet 310A, an instruction to face up the product 10A may be given. . Note that the face-up instruction can be realized, for example, by the control unit 102 causing the display unit 205 to display a message such as "Please face up the product 10A."

Further, by combining the information uploaded from the POS terminal 500 to the server 600 and the information uploaded from the processing device 100 to the server 600, various analyzes can be performed. For example, the analyst identifies, for each type of product 10, an arrangement that sells well (for example, the shelf 20 on which the communication sheet 310A identified by the communication sheet identification information 801 is arranged and the number of rows within the shelf 20). be able to.

In addition, the product management system 1000 stores the number of times the second type of product 10 is temporarily taken out of its placement location immediately before the first type of product 10 is purchased (for example, the most recent period). Easily searchable data can be provided for the total number of times within a year). Both the first type of product 10 and the second type of product 10 are products 10 attached with a wireless tag 11 whose tag information can be read via a planar radio wave receiving section 1001 . In addition, the number of times of temporarily taken out is the number of times that is increased by a maximum of one each time the first type of product 10 is purchased once. In other words, even if the second type of product 10 is taken out from the arrangement place a plurality of times immediately before the first type of product 10 is purchased once, this number of times is counted only once. Such data has a data structure as shown in FIG. 13, for example.

As shown in FIG. 13, the total number of times data 820 includes first type identification data 821, second type identification data 822, customer attribute identification data 823, individual number of times data 824, and type-specific number of times data 825. , customer attribute frequency data 826 and total frequency data 827 .

The first type identification data 821 is type identification data for identifying the first type (type of the product 10 of the first type). The second type identification data 822 is type identification data for identifying the second type (the type of the product 10 of the second type). The customer attribute identification data 823 is data identifying the customer attribute of the customer who purchased the first type of product 10 . The individual number data 824 is data indicating the total number of times for each customer attribute and for each type of second type product 10 . The number-of-times data 825 by type is data indicating the total number of times for each type of the second type of product 10 . The number data by customer attribute 826 is data indicating the total number of times for each customer attribute. The total number of times data 827 is data indicating the total number of times.

According to the total number of times data 820 having such a data structure, the total number of times the customer hesitated when purchasing the product 10 is calculated for each customer attribute, for each type of product 10 of the second type, and for each type of product 10 of the second type. can be quickly provided for each type of product 10, for each customer attribute, or as a total.

In the above-described embodiment, when there is a product 10 to be discounted and the sell-by date is about to expire, the method of allowing the customer to identify the product 10 to be discounted by the expiration date has been described. With this method, the customer needs to confirm the expiration date attached to the product 10, and thus the customer has a heavy burden to identify the product 10 to be discounted. Therefore, below, a method for reducing the customer's burden for identifying the product 10 to be discounted will be described. Simply put, this method is a method of allowing a customer to identify the product 10 to be discounted by the appearance of the wireless tag 11 .

Specifically, first, the appearance of the wireless tag 11 attached to the product 10 is made to correspond to the sell-by date of the product 10 . For example, a wireless tag 11 having an appearance corresponding to the sell-by date of the product 10 is attached to the product 10 when the product 10 is produced, packaged, or shipped. This appearance is, for example, a concept that includes at least one of color and shape. Here, it is assumed that the sell-by date of the product 10 matches the expiration date of the product 10 and the expiration date of the product 10 is determined from the production date and time of the product 10 . That is, the article 10 is attached with a wireless tag 11 having an appearance corresponding to the production date and time of the article 10 .

Here, the discount information display unit 1008 displays the discount information including the information indicating the appearance when the time until the sales deadline is less than the margin time. In other words, when a certain product 10 is about to expire, the discount information display unit 1008 clearly displays information indicating the appearance of the wireless tag 11 attached to the product 10 to the customer. On the other hand, the customer identifies the discounted product 10 based on the specified information. That is, the customer recognizes the product 10 attached with the wireless tag 11 having the appearance indicated by the specified information as the product 10 to be discounted. According to such a configuration, the customer can easily specify the product 10 to be discounted from among the multiple products 10 .

Next, a method of determining the color of the wireless tag 11 attached to the product 10 according to the sell-by date of the product 10 will be described. For ease of understanding, it is assumed that production dates, expiration dates, etc., and sell-by dates are managed in units of three hours. Specifically, for products 10 produced between midnight and 3:00 a.m. (hereinafter referred to as "products 10 of the first group"), the date and time of production is assumed to be 3:00 a.m. on the day of production. However, the expiration date, etc. and the sell-by date shall be deemed to be 3:00 a.m. on the day following production. In addition, regarding the products 10 produced between 3:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. (hereinafter referred to as “products 10 of the second group” as appropriate), the date and time of production shall be deemed to be 6:00 a.m. on the day of production and consumed. The deadline, etc. and the sell-by deadline shall be deemed to be 6:00 a.m. on the day following production. In addition, with regard to products 10 produced between 6:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. (hereinafter referred to as “third group products 10” as appropriate), the date and time of production shall be deemed to be 9:00 a.m. on the day of production, and shall be consumed. The deadline, etc. and the sell-by deadline shall be deemed to be 9:00 a.m. on the day following production. Similarly, for the products 10 of the fourth to eighth groups, the date and time of production, the expiry date, etc., and the sell-by date are determined according to the time zone in which they were produced.

Here, the product 10 is attached with a wireless tag 11 having a color corresponding to the time zone in which the product 10 was produced. In other words, the product 10 is attached with the wireless tag 11 having a color corresponding to the group of the product 10 . For example, as shown in FIG. 14A, colorless and transparent wireless tags 11 are attached to the products 10 of the first group. Also, as shown in FIG. 14B, red wireless tags 11 are attached to the products 10 of the second group. Further, blue wireless tags 11 are attached to the products 10 of the third group, as shown in FIG. 14(C). Similarly, wireless tags 11 of respective colors are attached to the products 10 of the fourth to eighth groups.

The configuration of the wireless tag 11 will be described below with reference to FIG. 14(A). As shown in FIG. 14A, the wireless tag 11 includes a base material 110, an antenna 111, and a storage section 112. As shown in FIG. The base material 110 is a sheet-like member that supports the antenna 111 and the storage unit 112 . The antenna 111 is an antenna that receives radio waves for power supply and emits radio waves containing tag information. The storage unit 112 stores tag information including product identification information. The wireless tag 11 is attached to the surface of the product 10 or the surface of the packaging of the product 10 with, for example, double-sided tape.

Here, when making the wireless tag 11 identifiable by appearance, it is preferable to provide a difference in the appearance of the base material 110 included in the wireless tag 11 . The reason is that the base material 110 is more likely to have a different appearance than the antenna 111 and the storage unit 112 . Specifically, as long as the base material 110 can support the antenna 111 and the storage unit 112, the material and shape that determine the color may be of any type. In other words, the base material 110 has a high degree of freedom in material and shape, and it is easy to provide different appearances. On the other hand, the material and shape of the antenna 111 are designed or selected in consideration of the usage environment of the wireless tag 11 and the performance of the communication sheet 310, for example. In other words, the antenna 111 has a low degree of freedom in material and shape, and it is difficult to make a difference in appearance. Moreover, since the storage unit 112 is basically small, it is not suitable for identification by appearance. Hereinafter, the appearance of the wireless tag 11 basically means the appearance of the base material 110 .

For example, when making the wireless tags 11 identifiable by color, it is preferable to provide different colors for the base material 110 of the wireless tags 11 . FIG. 14A shows a wireless tag 11 having a base material 110 made of a colorless and transparent material. FIG. 14B shows a wireless tag 11 having a base material 110 made of a red material. FIG. 14(C) shows a wireless tag 11 having a base material 110 made of a blue material.

However, the method of making the wireless tag 11 identifiable by color is not limited to the method of making the colors of the materials constituting the base material 110 different. For example, the substrate 110 may be colored by applying paint to the surface of the substrate 110 . Moreover, not the entire surface of the base material 110 but a part of the surface of the base material 110 may be colored.

Moreover, the product 10 may be attached with a wireless tag 11 having a shape corresponding to the group of the product 10 . For example, as shown in FIG. 15A, a wireless tag 11 that is rectangular in plan view is attached to the product 10 of the first group. Also, as shown in FIG. 15B, the products 10 of the second group are attached with wireless tags 11 that are parallelogram-shaped in plan view. Moreover, as shown in FIG. 15C, the products 10 of the third group are attached with wireless tags 11 that are elliptical in plan view. Similarly, the wireless tags 11 of each shape are also attached to the products 10 of the fourth to eighth groups. Among the constituent elements of the wireless tag 11, the constituent element having a high degree of freedom in shape is the base material 110. As shown in FIG. Therefore, the shape of the wireless tag 11 basically means the shape of the base material 110 .

Note that the method of making the wireless tag 11 identifiable by its shape is not limited to this example. For example, the wireless tag 11 may be identified by the shape of the edge portion when the wireless tag 11 is viewed from above. For example, as the shape of the edge portion, a linear shape, a shape with continuous semicircles, a shape corresponding to a sine wave, a shape corresponding to a rectangular wave, a shape corresponding to a triangular wave, or a shape corresponding to a sawtooth wave may be adopted. can be done.

Next, discount information displayed by the discount information display unit 1008 will be described. If there is a product 10 to be discounted, the discount information display unit 1008 displays information indicating the appearance of the wireless tag 11 attached to the product 10 to be discounted (hereinafter referred to as "appearance information") and the discount target. (hereinafter referred to as "discount amount information") indicating the discount amount of the product 10, and the like. The appearance information is, for example, a character string indicating the color of the wireless tag 11 such as "red" or "blue". The discount amount information is, for example, a character string indicating a discount amount such as "30 yen" or "50 yen" or a character string indicating a discount rate for the offered price such as "10%" or "30%".

The product 10 to be discounted is the product 10 whose time until the sales deadline is less than the margin time. The extra time, the discount amount, and the like may be set in stages. For example, the first slack time is set to 6 hours, and the second slack time is set to 3 hours. Also, for example, the first discount rate corresponding to the first slack time is set to 10%, and the second discount rate corresponding to the second slack time is set to 30%.

Here, it is assumed that there are a second group of products 10 whose sell-by date is 6:00 am on the day after production and a third group of products 10 whose sell-by date is 9:00 am on the day after production. In this case, the discount information display unit 1008 displays discount information notifying that the second group of products 10 will be discounted by 10% when the current time is midnight on the day after production. Then, the discount information display section 1008 indicates that when the current time is 3:00 AM on the day after production, the discount of 30% will be applied to the products 10 of the second group and the discount of 10% will be applied to the products 10 of the third group. , to display discount information.

FIG. 16 shows an image 910 displayed by the discount information display unit 1008 at 3:00 am on the day after production. The image 910 includes a character string notifying that the second group of products 10 with red wireless tags 11 are discounted by 30%, and the third group of products 10 with blue wireless tags 11. and a character string notifying that the price will be discounted. In this way, the discount information display unit 1008 notifies the customer of the product 10 to be discounted by the color of the wireless tag 11 attached to the product 10 . Therefore, the customer can confirm the color of the wireless tag 11 attached to the product 10 and quickly identify the product 10 to be discounted.

Note that the discount information display unit 1008 may notify the customer of the product 10 to be discounted by the shape of the wireless tag 11 attached to the product 10 . In this case, the customer can confirm the shape of the wireless tag 11 attached to the product 10 and quickly identify the product 10 to be discounted. Note that the discount information display unit 1008 preferably does not display the image 910 including the discount information when there is no product 10 to be discounted.

Here, the information indicating the correspondence relationship between the sell-by date assigned to the product 10 and the appearance of the wireless tag 11 (hereinafter referred to as "correspondence information" as appropriate) is stored in the storage unit 103 provided in the processing device 100, Alternatively, it is stored in the storage unit 603 included in the server 600 . On the other hand, deadline information indicating the sell-by deadline assigned to the product 10 is stored in the deadline storage unit 1006 . Here, it is not easy to replace the wireless tag 11 attached to the product 10 . Therefore, it is preferable that the sell-by date is maintained at the expiration date or the like, and the expiration information is not updated. For example, it is preferable that the sell-by date is not changed even if the product 10 is temporarily taken out from the shelf 20 by the customer, and the expiration date information is not updated by the expiration update unit 1010 .

The appearance of the wireless tag 11 may be identified by both the color of the wireless tag 11 and the shape of the wireless tag 11 . In this case, a combination of the color of the wireless tag 11 and the shape of the wireless tag 11 is assigned for each sell-by date of the product 10 . The appearance of the wireless tag 11 is identified by the size of the wireless tag 11, the pattern attached to the wireless tag 11, the color of the mark attached to the wireless tag 11, or the shape of the mark attached to the wireless tag 11. may be

Moreover, the sell-by date is of course not limited to the example classified in units of 3 hours. For example, the sell-by date may be classified by 1 hour, 2 hours, 4 hours, 6 hours, 8 hours, 12 hours, 1 day, 1 week, or 1 month.

Also, the appearance of the wireless tag 11 may be determined according to the sell-by date of the product 10 regardless of the type of the product 10 . For example, if there are rice balls and boxed lunches as types of the product 10, regardless of whether the product 10 is a rice ball or a boxed lunch, the sell-by date of the product 10 is classified in units of 3 hours, and classified in units of 3 hours. The color of the wireless tag 11 is assigned to each. In this case, the product 10 to which the wireless tag 11 of the color specified by the discount information is attached is the product 10 to be discounted regardless of the type of the product 10 .

Alternatively, the appearance of the wireless tag 11 may be determined for each type of product 10 according to the sell-by date of the product 10 . For example, if there are rice balls and milk as the types of products 10, the sell-by deadlines of rice balls are classified in units of 3 hours, and the color of the wireless tag 11 is assigned to each classification in units of 3 hours. On the other hand, the sell-by date of milk is classified in units of one day, and the color of the wireless tag 11 is assigned to each classification in units of one day. In this case, the color of the wireless tag 11 and the type of the product 10 are designated by the discount information, and the product 10 matching both the color of the wireless tag 11 and the type of the product 10 is the product 10 to be discounted. In this case, the correspondence information is information indicating the correspondence between the sell-by date and the appearance of the wireless tag 11 for each product 10 type.

In the embodiment, an example has been described in which stable reading of tag information is possible. Specifically, in the embodiment, when the product 10 is present on the shelf 20, the tag information stored in the wireless tag 11 attached to the product 10 is always read by the reader/writer 300 connected to the communication sheet 310. An example that can be reliably read has been described. Depending on the performance and usage environment of the communication sheet 310 and the reader/writer 300, it may be difficult to stably read the tag information. For example, if the reception sensitivity of the communication sheet 310 is low, movement of a dielectric near the shelf 20 may cause disturbance in the electromagnetic field around the shelf 20, making it impossible to read the tag information. Note that the dielectric is, for example, the customer's body (eg, hands, feet, head, body, etc.) or the product 10 .

In such a case, it may not be possible to correctly determine the presence or absence of the product 10, which is an object to be managed, and as a result, the product 10 may not be properly managed. For example, when the product 10 is on the shelf 20 and the customer reaches out or approaches the shelf 20, the strength of the electric wave for power supply received by the wireless tag 11 and the tag information received by the communication sheet 310 are detected. When the strength of the included radio wave is lowered, the tag information may not be read from the wireless tag 11 in some cases. In this case, for example, although the product 10 has not been removed from the shelf 20, it is determined that the product 10 has been removed from the shelf 20, and the sell-by date of the product 10 is unnecessarily advanced. Therefore, it is preferable to devise ways to correctly determine the presence or absence of the product 10 .

For example, it is preferable to provide a sensor for detecting the presence of a dielectric in front of the shelf 20, and to interrupt normal tag information utilization processing when the presence of the dielectric is detected by this sensor. For example, the period from the time when the presence of the dielectric is detected until the time when the presence of the dielectric is no longer detected continuously for a predetermined time (for example, several seconds to several tens of seconds) (hereinafter referred to as "interruption period ), the presence or absence of the product 10 may be determined assuming that the state immediately before the presence of the dielectric is detected is maintained without adopting the read tag information. In this case, the tag information reading process itself may be suspended during the suspension period.

Alternatively, during the interruption period, the presence or absence of the product 10 may be determined by rounding the detection result by majority decision or the like. In this case, for example, the presence/absence of the product 10 may be determined by majority decision every predetermined time (for example, about one second). Alternatively, if the same state is not maintained for a predetermined time (for example, about 1 second) or more, the state is not updated, and if the same state is maintained for a predetermined time (for example, about 1 second) or more, The presence or absence of the product 10 may be updated.

Various sensors can be employed as the sensor for detecting the presence of the dielectric. For example, as such a sensor, an infrared sensor, laser sensor, phototube sensor, thermography, pressure sensor, camera, etc. can be employed. Such sensors are installed, for example, on the floor of the store, the ceiling of the store, the wall of the store, the shelf 20, and the like. As described above, the communication sheet 310 and the reader/writer 300 are employed as the main sensor for detecting the presence or absence of the product 10, and the sensor for detecting the presence of the dielectric is used as the material for determining the reliability of the detection result by the main sensor. as a sub-sensor, the detection accuracy of the presence or absence of the product 10 can be improved.

In the embodiment, most of the functions of the processing device 100, the terminal device 200, the display device 400, and the server 600 are realized by software (or firmware), that is, the processing device 100, the terminal device 200, the display device 400, It has been described that most of the functions of the server 600 are realized by executing programs by the processor. In the present invention, such functions may be implemented by hardware. In this case, for example, the processing device 100, the terminal device 200, the display device 400, and the server 600 have processing circuits instead of CPUs. This processing circuit is composed of, for example, a single circuit, a composite circuit, a programmed processor, a parallel programmed processor, an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), or a combination thereof.

By applying an operation program that defines the operations of the processing device 100, the terminal device 200, the display device 400, and the server 600 according to the present invention to an existing personal computer or information terminal device, the personal computer can be used as the processing device according to the present invention. 100 , terminal device 200 , display device 400 and server 600 . Any method of distributing such a program may be used. For example, the program may be distributed by storing it in a computer-readable recording medium such as a CD-ROM (Compact Disk Read-Only Memory), a DVD (Digital Versatile Disk), or a memory card. or distributed over a communication network (eg, the Internet).

10, 10A, 10B goods, 11, 11A, 11B wireless tag, 20 shelf, 100 processing device, 101, 201, 401, 501, 601 communication interface, 102, 202, 402, 502, 602 control section, 103, 112, 203,403,503,603 storage unit 110 base material 111 antenna 200 terminal device 204,504 operation reception unit 205,405,505 display unit 300 reader/writer 310,310A,310B,310C,310D communication sheet, 311, 312 sheet-like conductor, 313 dielectric, 314, 315 protective sheet, 316 seepage region, 320 radio wave interface, 321, 322 conductor layer, 323 insulator layer, 324, 325 electrode, 326 connector, 330, 330A, 330B, 330C, 330D communication cable, 331 inner conductor, 332 outer conductor, 340 radio wave absorber, 341 radio wave absorber, 342 conductor plate, 400 display device, 500 POS terminal, 506 barcode reader, 600 server, 710 internal network, 720 external network 800 arrangement information 801 communication sheet identification information 802 product identification information 803 first detection time information 804 final detection time information 805 non-detection period information 810 arrangement history information 820 total number of times data 821 first type identification data, 822 second type identification data, 823 customer attribute identification data, 824 individual frequency data, 825 frequency data by type, 826 frequency data by customer attribute, 827 total frequency data, 900, 910 images, 1000 products management system, 1001 radio wave receiving unit, 1002 reading unit, 1003 placement determination unit, 1004 placement history storage unit, 1005 product information display unit, 1006 time limit storage unit, 1007 notification unit, 1008 discount information display unit, 1009 period identification unit, 1010 Expiration date update unit 1011 Purchase detection unit 1012 Support type storage unit 1013 Support type recording unit

Claims (10)

A radio wave receiving means which is planar and is provided at a place where a product to which a radio tag is attached is arranged and which receives radio waves emitted from the radio tag;
reading means for reading tag information from the wireless tag via the radio wave receiving means;
placement determination means for determining whether or not the product is placed at the placement location based on whether or not the tag information can be read by the reading means;
the products include a first type of product and a second type of product;
purchase detection means for detecting that the first type of product has been purchased;
correspondence type storage means;
Within the period immediately before purchase, which is a period from the detection time at which the purchase of the first type of product is detected by the purchase detection means to a time preceding the detection time by a predetermined set length of time. first type identification information for identifying the first type and second type identification information for identifying the second type when the second type of product is temporarily removed from the placement location; and a correspondence type recording means for storing, in the correspondence type storage means, correspondence type information including
Product management system. The purchase detection means further detects a customer attribute including at least one of sex and age of the customer who purchased the first type of product,
The corresponding type recording means records the first type identification information and the second type identification information when the second type of product is temporarily taken out from the placement location within the period immediately before purchase. storing in the service type storage means service type information including customer attribute information indicating the customer attribute;
The commodity management system according to claim 1 . Further comprising product information display means for displaying product information about the product when the determination result by the placement determination means changes,
The merchandise management system according to claim 1 or 2 . a deadline storage means for storing deadline information indicating a sales deadline assigned to the product;
a notifying means for notifying an administrator that the sell-by date of the product has expired when the placement determining means determines that the product is placed at the placement location after the sell-by date has passed. prepare
The merchandise management system according to any one of claims 1 to 3 . a deadline storage means for storing deadline information indicating a sales deadline assigned to the product;
discount information display means for displaying discount information regarding discounts on the product when the time until the sales deadline is less than a predetermined margin time,
The merchandise management system according to any one of claims 1 to 3 . The wireless tag has an appearance corresponding to the sell-by date,
The discount information display means displays the discount information including the information indicating the appearance when the time until the sales deadline is less than the margin time.
The merchandise management system according to claim 5 . the appearance includes at least one of color and shape;
The merchandise management system according to claim 6 . The product is stored at a temperature different from room temperature at the placement location,
period specifying means for specifying a take-out period, which is a period during which the product is temporarily taken out from the placement location, based on the result of determination by the placement determiner;
a deadline updating means for updating the deadline information so that the selling deadline is brought forward according to the length of the take-out period;
The merchandise management system according to any one of claims 4 to 7 . Further comprising an arrangement history storage means for storing arrangement history information indicating a history of the arrangement of the products based on the determination result by the arrangement determination means,
The merchandise management system according to any one of claims 1 to 8 . The placement history information includes non-detection period information indicating a period during which the product was temporarily not detected,
The product management system according to claim 9 .

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