Abstract:
A price maintenance system and method in which price information entered into or read from a price-lookup file is shared to avoid price mismatch. The price-lookup file and price changes to the price-lookup file are shared by a point-of-service system including a bar code scanner, and a routine for printing labels. The system includes a computer coupled to the point-of-service system which updates the prices within the price-lookup file and sends the updated prices to the label printing routine for printing by a printing system. An electronic shelf label system may also share the price-lookup file and price changes to the price-lookup file.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to shelf label systems, and more specifically to a method of assigning electronic shelf labels to price-lookup file items. 
     In a traditional retail store, bar code scanners rely on price information maintained within a price-lookup (PLU) file. The PLU file is typically stored in a single location at host server. 
     Electronic shelf label (ESL) systems typically include a plurality of electronic displays. The electronic displays are coupled to a central server from where prices for all of the displays can be changed. 
     In a typical installation, one electronic shelf label is assigned to each PLU item in the store. Decisions regarding ESL assignments are typically made by store personnel. The current process implemented by such personnel involves periodically scanning items within the store with a hand-held scanner and manually recording whether a price change occurred. Store personnel review the manually gathered statistics and determine ESL assignments. This method is expensive and time consuming. 
     Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a method for assigning electronic shelf labels to PLU file items which minimizes decisions by store personnel and maximizes a store&#39;s return on investment in the electronic shelf label system. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In accordance with the teachings of the present invention, a method of assigning electronic shelf labels to price-lookup file items is provided. The method includes the initial step of determining a price change frequency for each merchandise item by a computer. Then, in a first embodiment, the computer assigns electronic shelf labels to each merchandise item by a computer. Then, in a first embodiment, the computer assigns electronic shelf labels to items having a price change frequency greater than a predetermined minimum price change frequency. In a second embodiment, the computer assigns a fixed number of electronic shelf labels to items, in order of price change frequency and starting with the largest price change frequency, until the electronic shelf labels are exhausted. Finally, in a third embodiment, the computer classifies the merchandise items into a plurality of groups, and assigns the electronic shelf labels to groups containing items having a price change frequency greater than a predetermined minimum price change frequency. 
     The computer recognizes multiple instances of electronic shelf labels for the same PLU file item, and multiple tags for the same PLU file item. The computer sends tag printing data to a printing system. 
     It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a method of assigning electronic shelf labels to price-lookup file items. 
     It is another object of the present invention to provide a method of assigning electronic shelf labels to price-lookup file items which assigns electronic shelf labels only to items whose prices change at a frequency greater than a predetermined frequency. 
     It is another object of the present invention to provide a method of assigning electronic shelf labels to price-lookup items which maximizes a store&#39;s return on investment in an electronic shelf label system. 
     It is another object of the present invention to provide a method of assigning electronic shelf labels to price-lookup items which minimizes decisions by store personnel regarding ESL assignments. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     Additional benefits and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art to which this invention relates from the subsequent description of the preferred embodiments and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: 
     FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a computer network within a store; 
     FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating a first embodiment of the method of the present invention; and 
     FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating a second embodiment of the method of the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Referring now to FIG. 1, store system  10  includes computer  12 , price-lookup (PLU) file  14 , electronic shelf label (ESL) system  16 , and tag overlay printing system  17 . 
     Computer  12  analyzes price change information for PLU file items  22  and produces a sorted list  26 . List  26  may include PLU file items  22  in order of price change, or companies having PLU file items  22 , or categories of PLU file items  22 , or any other grouping of PLU file items  22 . Computer  12  assigns ESLs  18  under the method of the present invention and passes ESL and ESL tag information to tag printing system  17 . Group  21  represents an assignment of one ESL to one PLU file item. Computer  12  may be a host computer in a store network. 
     Computer  12  also identifies multiple occurrences of the same PLU file item. Group  19  represents a single PLU file item which is located at two different places within the store and which requires multiple ESLs having the same tag at each location. Computer  12  also identifies PLU file items requiring multiple ESLs, each having a different tag  28 , from map  15  within storage medium  20 . 
     PLU file  14  contains price information about store file items  22 . The price information for one file item may change at a frequency different than any other file item. PLU file  14  is stored within a storage medium  20  associated with computer  12 . 
     ESL system  16  includes a plurality of ESLs  18  assigned to PLU file items  22 . Under one embodiment of the present invention, only those file items  22  that evidence a price change frequency greater than a predetermined minimum are assigned ESLs  18 . Alternatively, for a given number of ESLs  18 , only the file items  22  which evidence the highest price change frequency are assigned ESLs  18 . Under either method, the possibility exists that an item  25  may be assigned a single ESL  18 , that an item  24  may not be assigned one of ESLs  18 , or that an item  23  may be assigned multiple ESLs  18 . 
     Each of ESLs  18  includes a printed tag or overlay  28  for displaying information about PLU file items  22 . Tag printing system  17  prints tags  28  after ESLs  18  are assigned to PLU file items  22 . Printing system may be located at the point of manufacture of ESLs  18  or at some other location outside of the store. 
     Thus, turning now to FIG. 2, a first embodiment of the method of the present invention begins with START  30 . 
     In step  32 , computer  12  monitors the number of price changes per PLU item during a predetermined period of time. 
     In step  34 , computer  12  accumulates and stores the number of price changes from step  32  in storage medium  20 . 
     In step  36 , computer  12  sorts the accumulated price changes from least number of price changes to most number of price changes at the end of the predetermined time period. 
     In step  38 , computer  12  produces list  26  of PLU file items  22  in order of price change frequency and stores list  26  in storage medium  20 . 
     In step  40 , computer  12  identifies multiple occurrences of a single PLU file item within the store. Such PLU file items would each require one of ESLs  18 , if that PLU file item evidenced a high enough price change frequency. Computer  12  employs map  15  of PLU file items  22  within the store to determine the multiple occurrences. Map  15  may be a standard store scan file or a standard planogram file. 
     In step  42 , computer  12  identifies PLU file items having multiple tags from map  15 . During creation of map  15 , a PLU file item requiring multiple ESLs must be scanned as many times as the number of paper shelf tags to be replaced by the ESLs. 
     In step  44 , computer  12  determines how ESLs  18  should be assigned to PLU file items  14  on the list. The first embodiment of the present invention envisions at least two methods for determining how to assign ESLs  18 . 
     A first method assumes a given number of ESLs  18  and determines that PLU file items  22  should be assigned ESLs  18 , in order starting from the PLU file item having the highest price change frequency, until ESLs  18  are exhausted. 
     A second method assumes that PLU file items will be assigned ESLs only if their price change frequencies exceed a predetermined minimum price change frequency. If all of the PLU file items have price change frequencies, then all PLU file items will be assigned ESLs. This method assumes that a predetermined percentage of price change coverage is desirable. 
     In each case, an arbitrarily chosen PLU file item may be entered into computer  12  if there is a tie between PLU file items. The choice may be based on a predetermined preference for one manufacturer over another, or one category over another. 
     In step  46 , computer  12  assigns ESLs  18  to PLU file items  22  in accordance with the determination of step  44 . 
     In step  48 , computer  12  sends the map of ESL and overlay tag printing data to overlay tag printing system  17  and the method ends at END  50 . 
     Turning now to FIG. 3, a second embodiment of the present invention begins with START  60 . 
     In step  62 , computer  12  monitors the number of price changes per PLU item during a predetermined period of time. 
     In step  64 , computer  12  accumulates and stores the number of price changes from step  62  in storage medium  20 . 
     In step  65 , computer  12  sorts the accumulated numbers of price changes for PLU file items into identified groups. A group may be a manufacturer, a category of products (e.g., perfumes), or any other classification of PLU file items  22 . A sorting by manufacturer is the simplest method of grouping, since the first five digits in a universal product code (UPC) identify the manufacturer. A sort by some other category requires that the category information be made available to computer  12 . Category information may be manually added to PLU file  14 . 
     Step  65  may sort all of the numbers of price changes into groups or only some of the numbers of price changes into groups, depending on the number of identified groups. For example, computer  12  may sort the numbers of price changes for PLU file items identified with a predetermined manufacturer into a group associated with that manufacturer, leaving the numbers of price changes for remaining PLU file items unsorted by group. 
     The effect of the sort into groups presupposes that all of the PLU file items within the identified groups will be assigned ESLs. The groups may be identified primarily from historical price change frequency information, reflecting groups of PLU file items exhibiting high price change frequencies. 
     This sort also presupposes there are plenty of ESLs to assign to all of the PLU file items within all of the identified groups. In cases where all of the PLU file items have been grouped, but there are not enough ESLs to assign, the same method for ranking individual PLU file items may be used to rank groups of PLU file items. That is, one way to rank groups would be to determine the average of price change frequency of each group and assign ESLs starting with the group having the highest average. 
     In step  66 , computer  12  sorts the accumulated price changes a second time, except that the price changes for PLU file items sorted within groups are not counted. 
     In step  68 , computer  12  produces list  26  of PLU file items not associated with a group and stores list  26  in storage medium  20 . 
     In step  70 , computer  12  identifies multiple occurrences of a single PLU file item within the store, whether that PLU file item is in an identified group or not. Such PLU file items would each require one of ESLs  18 , if that PLU file item evidenced a high enough price change frequency. Computer  12  employs map  15  of PLU file items  22  within the store to determine the multiple occurrences. Map  15  may be a standard store scan file or a standard planogram file. 
     In step  72 , computer  12  identifies PLU file items having multiple tags from map  15 , whether those PLU file items are in identified groups or not. During creation of map  15 , a PLU file item having multiple tags must be scanned as many times as there are tags for that PLU file item. 
     In step  74 , computer  12  determines how ESLs  18  should be assigned to PLU file items  14  on list  26 . The first embodiment of the present invention envisions two methods for determining how to assign ESLs  18 , which are similar to the methods of the first embodiment. 
     A first method assumes a given number of ESLs  18  and determines that the PLU file items  22  should be assigned ESLs  18 , in order starting within the highest price change frequency. 
     A second method assumes that PLU file items will be assigned ESLs only if the price change frequencies of the PLU file items each exceed a predetermined minimum price change frequency. 
     In each case, an arbitrarily chosen PLU file item may be entered into computer  12  if there is a tie between PLU file items. The choice may be based on a predetermined preference for one manufacturer over another, or one category over another. 
     In step  76 , computer  12  assigns ESLS  18  to PLU file items  22  in accordance with the determination of step  74 . 
     In step  78 , computer  12  sends the map of ESL and tag printing data to tag printing system  17  and the method ends at END  80 . 
     Both embodiments of FIGS. 2 and 3 may be implemented indefinitely to optimize ESL assignments in a dynamic store environment. 
     Although the present invention has been described with particular reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof, variations and modifications of the present invention can be effected within the spirit and scope of the following claims.