Abstract:
A tag for an item includes a support having a printable area; a writable display attached to the support, the writable display including a layer of material for displaying information relating to the item, and an image of the item printed on the printable area

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    The present invention relates to an item tag having printed information about an item, and a liquid crystal display for displaying information about the item.  
         BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    Currently, pricing of items is shown by item tags attached to an item or to a shelf near a collection of items Item tags are typically printed with inks using thermal, impact or inkjet processes. Such printing creates an unchanging display of a price Electronic Shelf Labels (ESL) from IBM, National Cash Register and Fujitsu provide glass liquid crystal displays to present pricing information that can be electronically updated. Commercial Electronic Shelf Labels use conventional TN displays that require continuous electronic refreshing to display data The continuous refreshing requires refreshing electronics and a battery Printed labels are attached to a rigid substrate of the ESL to provide a display of unchanging universal product code (UPC) and product description. Current ESLs update pricing information using radio waves or light to transmit updated pricing information to a specific label.  
           [0003]    Media systems exist that maintain electronically changeable data without power. Such system can be electrophoretic (Eink), gyricon or polymer dispersed cholesteric materials. An example of electronically updateable display can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,600,060 issued Aug. 17, 1971 to Churchill et al. that shows a device having a coated then dried emulsion of cholesteric liquid crystals in aqueous gelatin to form a field responsive, bistable display.  
           [0004]    Fabrication of flexible, electronically written display sheets is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,435,047 issued Mar. 6, 1984 to Fergason. A first sheet has transparent ITO conductive areas and a second sheet has electrically conductive inks printed on display areas The sheets can be glass, but in practice have been formed of Mylar polyester. A dispersion of liquid crystal material in a binder is coated on the first sheet, and the second sheet is pressed onto the liquid crystal material. Electrical potential applied to opposing conductive areas operates on the liquid crystal material to expose display areas. The display ceases to present an image when de-energized.  
           [0005]    U.S. Pat. No. 5,751,257 issued May 12, 1998 to Sutherland discloses an electronic shelf label using a display that has first and second rigid substrates, with the bottom substrate protruding beyond the top substrate to provide access to conductors on the bottom substrate Cholesteric material in the proposed display provides pricing information that does not require refresh electronic or a power source Connection to a common conductor on the top substrate is provided by an extension arm having an electrical contact that makes contact with the conductor on the underside of top substrate Segments of the display are updated by rolling a second contact across sequentially arrayed contacts on the bottom substrate.  
           [0006]    Stores update pricing of items frequently. Printed tags must be continually replaced to provide updated information. Electronic tags are expensive, and currently are built into rigid assemblies. It would be useful to have an image of the item printed onto an item tag. Unfortunately, image printing is expensive for disposable tags. Electronically re-writable displays cannot be passed through conventional printing systems such as inexpensive ink jet printers.  
           [0007]    There is a need therefore for an inexpensive display structure that can be electronically re-written and receive a printed image of the item for sale. It is of further utility that the tag be flexible to pass through conventional ink jet printers  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0008]    The need is met according to the present invention by a tag for an item that includes a support having a printable area, a writable display attached to the support, the writable display including a layer of material for displaying information relating to the item, and an image of the item printed on the printable area.  
         ADVANTAGES  
         [0009]    The addition of item image on the item tag of the present invention improves the accuracy of pricing information by visually identifying an item&#39;s price with the item. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0010]    [0010]FIG. 1 is a top view of an item tag in accordance with the present invention having writable pricing information and a printed image of an item;  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a system to provide an item tag according to the present invention,  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 3 is a schematic side view of a printer for printing a item tag in accordance with the present invention,  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 4A is a diagram representing a data set for an item in the system of FIG. 2;  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 4B is diagram representing an alternative data set for an item in the system of FIG. 2; and  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of an item tag in accordance with the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0016]    [0016]FIG. 1 shows a top view of an item tag  5  according to the present invention. Item tag  5  can include printed description data  125  such as an item description, a universal product code (UPC) and UPC bar code printed on a printable support  80 . The item tag  5  can be attached to a sale item, or be presented near a grouping of common sales items as for example, a shelf tag. Writable numeric information is displayed on an electronically writable display  10  attached to a printable support  80 . Display  10  can be configured to display price information, quantity information or time information about item  87  (see FIG. 2). Alternatively, display  10  can show the number of items in a set, such as number of parts remaining in a container, or the expiration date of the common items in a container.  
         [0017]    In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the item tag  5  is a flexible tag of the type described in U.S. Ser. No. 10/134,185, filed Apr. 29, 2002 by Stephenson et al. Such flexible tags permit pricing information to be updated with respect to unchanging description data  125 . The flexible item tag  5  can be passed through a standard printer, such as an ink jet printer to print description data  125 . In accordance with the present invention, the item tag  5  further includes an item image  88  of an item  87  (see FIG. 2). A datawriter  115  can be used to update display  10 .  
         [0018]    [0018]FIG. 2 is a schematic of a system to provide a item tag having electronically updated pricing information and an image of the sale item. Unchanging description data  125  and item image  88  is printed on an unprinted item tag  6  using a conventional ink jet or thermal printer  110  to produce item tag  5 .  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 3 shows an ink jet print head  120  printing an item tag  5 . A plurality of item tags  5  can be attached to a release liner  56  in a way that permits item tags  5  to be removed from release liner  56  after printing. The ink jet print head  120  is spaced a conventional distance, approximately 1 millimeter, from the printable support  80  to print description data  125  and item image  88  using ink droplets  112 . Display  10  is approximately 0.25 millimeters in thickness, and does not obstruct the motion of ink jet print head  120  as the head traverses over display  10 . Display  10  and printable support  80  are thin enough to flexibly pass through a conventional inkjet printer which typically has a media path that requires the media to bend.  
         [0020]    Returning to FIG. 2, a processor  100  accesses data from a database  105 , which contains information about the items  87 . According to the present invention, database  105  includes image data  107  representing items  87 . FIG. 4 a  shows a data set  106  for a sale item in the system of FIG. 2. The data set  106  includes description data  125  consisting of a Universal Product Code (UPC), a product description, a price, and image data  107  that can be used to print an image of an item  87  Image data  107  can be conventional image file types, such as a *.jpg or * tiff file type The image data can represent either black and white, or color images FIG. 4 b  is an alternative dataset for an item  87  in the system of FIG. 2. Two separate records are created, a first record having the descriptive data  125  for an item including the UPC, and a second file containing image data  107  that is indexed to descriptive data  125  using the UPC Processor  100  accesses both records using the common UPC to generate a item tag  5  with both descriptive data  125  and an item image  88 .  
         [0021]    Returning to FIG. 2, processor  100  operates on data from database  105  to supply printing instructions to printer  110  having a print head  120  to print on unprinted item tag  6  both descriptive data  125  and an item image  88  to create a item tag  5  for an item  87 . Item tag  5  can be directly attached to an item  87  or be presented on a shelf adjacent to one or more items  87  that may be stacked on the shelf or stored in a bin (not shown).  
         [0022]    Often, many types of items are presented in close adjacency. The addition of item image  88  on item tag  5  improves the accuracy of pricing information by providing visual confirmation that data on display  10  is for a given item  87  The cost of replacing item tags  5  when pricing information is updated is eliminated when item tags  5  includes electronically updateable information in electrically writable display  10   
         [0023]    Datawriter  115  is incorporated into the system of FIG. 2. In one embodiment, datawriter  115  is selectively connected to processor  100  to receive update information  108  from processor  100  for certain articles  87 . Processor  100  accesses database  105 , and transmits updated display information to datawriter  115  Datawriter  115  can be a portable data terminal that is pressed against each item tag  5  to update information on display  10 .  
         [0024]    [0024]FIG. 5 is an exploded schematic view of an item tag  5  in accordance with another embodiment of the current invention. In this embodiment, display  10  is a conventional twisted-nematic display cell that requires periodic electronic updates to maintain an image on display  10 . Item tag  5  includes tag electronics  200  that are powered by a power supply  204 . Power supply  204  continuously powers item tag  5  and can be a battery or a solar cell connected to tag electronics  200  for updating the display  10 .  
         [0025]    Display  10  is preferably a cholesteric liquid crystal display that maintains an image in the absence of an electric field generated in a single write process by tag electronics  200  The use of a cholesteric liquid crystal display in this embodiment reduces power demand on power supply  204 . In this embodiment, printable support  80  is a flexible label printed by a conventional printer  110  and has an item image  88 . Printable support  80  is attached to the front of item tag  5 . The addition of item image  88  improves the accuracy of pricing information by providing visual confirmation that data on display  10  is for a given item  87   
         [0026]    Alternatively, datawriter  115  can be a transmitter that broadcasts update information to tag electronics  200  to update display  10  using radio waves, visible light or infrared light In this application, item tag  5  may be of rigid construction, with a printable area to display item image  88  Item image  88  can be applied to item tag  5  using ink jet components disposed to imprint image item  88  onto a printable support  80  that is attached to the front of item label  5 . The addition of item image  88  improves the accuracy of pricing information by providing visual confirmation that data on display  10  is for a given item  87 .  
         [0027]    The invention has been described in detail with particular reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof, but it will be understood that variations and modifications can be effected within the spirit and scope of the invention.  
       PARTS LIST  
       [0028]    [0028] 5  item tag  
         [0029]    [0029] 6  unprinted item tag  
         [0030]    [0030] 10  display  
         [0031]    [0031] 56  release liner  
         [0032]    [0032] 80  printable support  
         [0033]    [0033] 87  item  
         [0034]    [0034] 88  item image  
         [0035]    [0035] 100  processor  
         [0036]    [0036] 105  database  
         [0037]    [0037] 106  data set  
         [0038]    [0038] 107  image data  
         [0039]    [0039] 108  update information  
         [0040]    [0040] 110  printer  
         [0041]    [0041] 112  ink droplets  
         [0042]    [0042] 115  datawriter  
         [0043]    [0043] 120  ink jet head  
         [0044]    [0044] 125  description data  
         [0045]    [0045] 200  tag electronics  
         [0046]    [0046] 204  power supply