JP2017033442A - Location information collection device, sensing type content display device, location information management server and method of the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To integrate behavior logs of customer users in a shopping floor in real time with a simple configuration quite easy in maintenance, and to provide contents matching the behavior of the customer user in real time.SOLUTION: A location information collection device 2 comprises: a signal reception unit that receives a signal to be transmitted from signal transmitters 11b and 12b disposed in conveyable containers 11 and 12 in which products are accommodated; a reception start location information generation unit that generates reception start location information including at least location information on the conveyable container, an identifier uniquely identifying the conveyable container and reception start time from the received signal; a reception disappearance location generation unit that generates reception disappearance location information including at least the location information on the conveyable container, the identifier of the conveyable container and reception disappearance time from the received signal; and a location information transmission unit that sends the generated reception start location information and the generated reception disappearance location information to a server 5 to be connected via a wireless communication path 4.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a position information collection device, a sensitive content display device, a position information management server, and a method thereof in a shopping floor (sales floor) of a retail store such as a supermarket, a department store, a convenience store, and a shopping mall. The present invention relates to a technique for acquiring location information of a customer user who performs shopping on-site and navigating customer product purchases in real time.

A technique for acquiring location information of a customer user on a shopping floor (sales floor) from entering a store to checking out at a cashier counter is known. It has been attempted to generate a customer user's movement history from the acquired position information and to make shopping floor layout and product display more efficient based on the generated movement history.
For example, in Patent Document 1, in a sales information management system such as a supermarket, a department store, or a convenience store, an RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tag is attached to a shopping cart or a shopping basket, and a position information transmitter is installed at a predetermined position of the sales floor. And the system which acquires the position information of a customer user is disclosed.

Specifically, in Patent Document 1, when an RFID tag attached to a cart or a shopping basket receives position information transmitted from a position information transmitter installed at a predetermined position of a sales floor, the received position information The ID of the RFID tag is transmitted to the management computer via an antenna, a receiver, etc. installed in the vicinity. The management computer stores the received position information and RFID tag ID in the storage device together with the transmitted time.
By using the position information for each RFID tag stored in the storage device, it is possible to analyze the sales floor information for each area without depending on the product purchase information acquired in the POS cash register system or the like. For example, the residence time for each sales area and the density of shoppers can be displayed and output by analyzing information from the storage device.

JP 2005-56173 A

However, the prior art has the following problems.
That is, in the technique of Patent Document 1, an RFID tag attached to a shopping cart or a shopping basket held by a customer user moving on a shopping floor is transmitted from a position information transmitter installed on a display shelf or the like of each sales floor. A receiving device that receives position information. For this reason, it has been difficult to grasp in real time the current position information and movement trajectory of the cart and the shopping basket that move in the shopping floor. At the same time, the location information received by the management server is discrete because it is the location information of the location information transmitter fixed to the display shelf, not the location itself of the cart or shopping basket moving in the floor, It was difficult to accurately grasp the position of the moving cart. Furthermore, construction and maintenance of an application for transmitting location information from the RFID tag device to the management server are necessary, which is complicated.
The received location information is transmitted from the RFID tag to the management server via a receiver and an antenna installed at each sales floor. For this location information transmission, a shopping cart or a shopping cart is predicted. In order to have directivity at the passing point, it is necessary to install an antenna and a receiver separately from the position information transmitter, which complicates the equipment configuration and changes the sales floor layout. It had to be rearranged and lacked flexibility.

Furthermore, since the RFID tag attached to the shopping cart or shopping basket held by the customer user who moves on the shopping floor is a receiving device as described above, even if a display device is installed on a display shelf or the like of each sales floor, It is difficult to link with this, and only pre-stored information on uniform product purchases (discounts, etc.), promotional videos, etc. are displayed and output. For this reason, it has been difficult to display and output individualized content corresponding to each moving customer user.
The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-described problems of the prior art, and by collecting a user user's action log (movement history) on the shopping floor in real time with a simple and extremely easy configuration, PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a location information accumulation device, a sensitive content display device, a location information management server, and a method thereof capable of presenting in real time content that matches the behavior of the customer user from the accumulated behavior log. It is what.

In order to solve the above-described problem, according to an aspect of the present invention, a position information collection device installed at a predetermined position in a shopping area, which can be carried by a user in the shopping area, A signal receiving unit that receives a signal transmitted from a signal transmitter disposed in a portable container to be accommodated, and reception of the signal from one portable container from the signal received by the signal receiving unit A reception start position information generating unit that generates reception start position information including at least the position information of the transportable container at a start time, an identifier that uniquely identifies the transportable container, and the reception start time; The position information of the portable container at the reception disappearance time when the signal from the portable container disappears from the signal received by the reception signal unit A reception loss position information generation unit that generates reception loss position information including at least the identifier of the portable container and the reception loss time, and the reception start position information generated by the reception start position information generation unit And a position information transmission unit that transmits the reception loss position information generated by the reception loss position information generation unit to a server connected via a wireless communication path. An information collection device is provided.
The position information collecting device further includes an image capturing unit that captures an image in the vicinity of the position indicated by the position information when the signal is received by the signal receiving unit, and the position information transmitting unit May transmit the image captured by the image capturing unit to the server together with the identifier of the portable container.
In the position information collection device, the signal receiving unit receives the signal transmitted from the transmitter as a beacon signal via non-contact wireless communication based on Bluetooth (registered trademark) Low Energy (BLE) standard. You can do it.

  According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a sensitive content display device installed at a predetermined position in a shopping area, which can be carried by a user in the shopping area and contains a product. A signal receiving unit that receives a signal transmitted from a signal transmitter, and an identifier acquiring unit that acquires an identifier for uniquely identifying the portable container from the signal received by the signal receiving unit; A search request transmission unit that transmits a search request for content corresponding to the identifier of the portable container acquired by the identifier acquisition unit to a server connected via a wireless communication path; and the search from the server. In response to the search request transmitted by the request transmission unit, the search is performed corresponding to the trajectory information obtained from the position information accumulated for the portable container. A content receiving unit that receives the received content; and a display control unit that displays the content received by the content receiving unit on a display device while the signal is received. A type content display device is provided.

  According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a position information management server remotely connected to each of a position information collection device and a sensitive content display device installed at a predetermined position in a shopping area via a wireless communication path. The reception start time of a signal transmitted from the position information collection device, which can be carried by the user in the shopping area and is transmitted from a signal transmitter disposed in a portable container in which goods are stored. Reception start position information including at least the position information of the portable container, an identifier for uniquely identifying the portable container, and the reception start time, and reception in which the signal from the portable container has disappeared A reception including at least the position information of the portable container at the disappearance time, the identifier of the transportable container, and the reception disappearance time. The position information receiving unit that receives the lost position information, and the reception start position information and the received lost position information received by the position information receiving unit are stored in the storage device for each identifier of the portable container. A trajectory for generating trajectory information in the shopping area for each identifier of the portable container from the position information storage control unit to be accumulated and the reception start position information and the reception loss position information stored in the storage device An information generation unit, a content storage control unit that stores content to be displayed on the sensitive content display device in a storage device corresponding to the trajectory information, and a single content transmitted from the sensitive content display device A search request receiving unit that receives a search request for content corresponding to the identifier of the portable container, and the search request receiving unit. A search unit that searches the content stored in the storage device in response to the trajectory information generated for the portable container with the identifier included in the search request in response to the search request, and the search unit A location information management server, comprising: a transmission unit configured to transmit the content retrieved by the method to the sensitive content display device.

  According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a location information collection method executed by a location information collection device installed at a predetermined location in a shopping area, the user being able to carry in the shopping area, Receiving a signal transmitted from a signal transmitter disposed in a portable container in which the container is accommodated, and from the received signal, the portable at the reception start time of the signal from one portable container Generating reception start position information including at least the position information of the container, an identifier for uniquely identifying the portable container, and the reception start time; and from the received signal, from the portable container The position information of the portable container at the reception loss time when the signal of the loss of the signal, the identifier of the portable container, and the reception loss time And generating the reception loss position information including at least the received reception position information and the generated reception loss position information to a server connected via a wireless communication path. A position information collecting method characterized by comprising:

  According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer program that causes a computer to operate as a position information collection device installed at a predetermined position in a shopping area, which can be carried by a user in the shopping area. From a signal receiving process for receiving a signal transmitted from a signal transmitter disposed in a portable container in which a product is accommodated, and from the signal received by the signal receiving process, from one portable container Reception start position information for generating reception start position information including at least the position information of the portable container at the reception start time of the signal, an identifier for uniquely identifying the portable container, and the reception start time The signal from the portable container disappears from the generation process and the signal received by the reception signal process. Reception loss position information generation processing for generating reception loss position information including at least the position information of the portable container at the reception loss time, the identifier of the portable container, and the reception loss time, and the reception start Position information for transmitting the reception start position information generated by the position information generation process and the reception loss position information generated by the reception loss position information generation process to a server connected via a wireless communication path A computer program characterized by including a transmission process is provided.

  According to the position information collection device, the sensitive content display device, the position information management server, and the method thereof according to the present invention, an action log (movement history) of a customer user on a shopping floor can be obtained with a simple and extremely easy configuration. It is possible to present in real time the contents that are accumulated in real time and that match the behavior of the customer user from the accumulated action logs. Therefore, the optimal content obtained from the customer user's action log (movement history) on the shopping floor can be promptly fed back to the customer user who is staying on the shopping floor and before checking out. Therefore, loss of merchandise sales opportunities can be avoided, contributing to improvement in merchandise sales efficiency.

It is a figure which shows an example of the network structure of the positional infomation management system which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows an example of the beacon transmitter which concerns on 1st Embodiment, and the shopping basket to which this beacon transmitter was attached. It is a top view which shows an example of installation in the shopping floor of the positional information collection apparatus (beacon receiver) and content display apparatus which concern on 1st Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the processing flow of the positional information collection process which the positional information collection apparatus which concerns on 1st Embodiment performs. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the processing flow of the positional information management process which the positional information management server which concerns on 1st Embodiment performs. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the processing flow of the content display process which the content display apparatus which concerns on 1st Embodiment performs. It is a figure which shows an example of the hardware constitutions of each apparatus installed in the server apparatus and shopping floor which concern on each embodiment of this invention.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
First Embodiment (Configuration of Location Information Management System According to First Embodiment)
The configuration of the location information management system according to the first embodiment will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a network configuration of a location information management system according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
In FIG. 1, the location information management system 1 includes beacon transmitters 11 b and 12 b, a location information collection device 2, a content display device 3, a wireless network 4, and a location information management server 5. The location information management system 1 may further include a POS information management server 6.
One beacon transmitter 11b, 12b is attached to each end of the shopping basket 11 or shopping cart 12 placed at the entrance of the shopping floor or the like. The beacon transmitters 11b and 12b are transmitters that transmit beacon signals that comply with, for example, the Bluetooth (registered trademark) Low Energy (BLE) standard (a part of the Bluetooth (registered trademark) 4.0 standard). It is a beacon terminal and wirelessly transmits a beacon signal, for example, intermittently (for example, once every few seconds). The beacon signals transmitted by the beacon transmitters 11b and 12b include at least an ID (identifier) that uniquely identifies each of the beacon transmitters 11b and 12b. Further, the beacon signal may include position information that specifies the positions of the beacon transmitters 11b and 12b.

  A beacon terminal conforming to the BLE standard is a general-purpose small terminal having a size of only a few centimeters, and is available at a very low cost. Furthermore, since the beacon terminal can transmit a beacon signal with power saving, it can be driven for one year or more by one button battery. For this reason, each of a large number of portable containers (or portable containers) such as a shopping basket 11 and a shopping cart 12 that a customer user carries on the shopping floor and temporarily stores a product to be purchased (checked out). When it is necessary to attach a beacon terminal, once the beacon transmitters 11b and 12b having a built-in battery are attached to each of a large number of shopping carts 11 or shopping carts 12, maintenance is unnecessary for one year or more. Therefore, even if each is attached to a large number of shopping carts 11 or shopping carts 12, the total device installation cost and maintenance cost can be maintained at a low cost.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an example in which a beacon transmitter 11 b is attached to the shopping basket 11. The beacon transmitter 11b includes an attachment (fixing tool) that can be fixed to the shopping basket 11, and is not limited to the illustrated portion as long as it is a part that does not easily interfere with a product that is stored (inserted) in the shopping basket 11. It may be attached to any part.
Returning to FIG. 1, the position information collection device 2 has a non-contact type beacon signal transmitted from the beacon transmitters 11 b and 12 b attached to the shopping basket 11 or the shopping cart 12 with a built-in or external antenna 2 b. Detection and reception are performed via the antenna 2b within the range defined by the BLE standard (in the order of several centimeters to several tens of meters).
In the first embodiment, since the location information collection device 2 receives the beacon signals transmitted from the beacon transmitters 11b and 12b, the beacon signal reception range is arbitrarily selected within the range allowed by the BLE standard. Can be set to For example, if beacon signal reception ranges of a certain location information collection device 2 and an adjacent location information collection device 2 are set to overlap, one beacon transmitter is transmitted by two or more location information collection devices 2 Since the position information of 11b and 12b can be acquired, the coordinate position of the beacon transmitters 11b and 12b can be specified with higher accuracy by applying a known surveying technique, which is preferable.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an arrangement example of a plurality of position information collection devices 2 installed at a sales floor or a cash register counter in a shopping floor. As shown in FIG. 3, the position information collection device 2 is installed in, for example, a shopping cart 11 or a shopping cart 12 place near a shopping area entrance, a product display shelf 3, a special shelf 3, and a cash register counter 8. With this configuration, the position information collection device 2 moves outside the beacon signal reception area after the shopping basket 11 or the shopping cart 12 carried by the customer user who moves within the shopping area enters the beacon signal reception area of the own device. Until then, the beacon signals of the beacon transmitters 11b and 12b attached to the shopping basket 11 or the shopping cart 12 can be continuously received.

Returning to FIG. 1, the position information collection device 2 may have any configuration as long as it is a general-purpose device having a BLE reception function, for example. The position information collecting device 2 can be mounted by mounting a small casing PC such as an Edison terminal device, for example.
The location information collection device 2 is connected to the location information management server 5 via a wireless network (for example, a wireless LAN network) 4, and can also be connected to the POS information management server 6 via the wireless network 4.
The location information collecting device 2 receives a beacon signal transmitted from the beacon transmitters 11b and 12b that have entered the beacon signal reception area by approaching the own device, and the source beacon transmitters 11b and 12b are received from the received beacon signals. Get the ID. That is, the position information collecting device 2 uses a beacon transmitter 11b attached to the shopping basket 11 or the shopping cart 12 from the beacon signal detected when the shopping basket 11 or the shopping cart 12 enters the beacon signal reception area. Get the ID of 12b.
Furthermore, the position information collection device 2 detects position information that specifies the positions of the beacon transmitters 11b and 12b that are the transmission sources of the received beacon signals, based on the beacon signals transmitted by the beacon transmitters 11b and 12b. For example, the position information of the beacon signal transmitters 11b and 12b can be detected using the reception direction of the received beacon signal, the received signal strength (RSSI), or the like.

Similarly, when the beacon signal from the beacon transmitters 11b and 12b that have moved out of the beacon signal reception area disappears, the location information collection device 2 uses the beacon transmitters 11b and 12b as the transmission source from the beacon signal received immediately before. ID and position information are acquired. That is, the position information collecting device 2 uses a beacon transmitter attached to the shopping basket 11 or the shopping cart 12 based on the beacon signal detected immediately before the shopping basket 11 or the shopping cart 12 moves out of the beacon signal reception area. 11b and 12b ID and position information are acquired.
The position information collection device 2 adds the reception time (reception time stamp) or disappearance time (disappearance time stamp) of the beacon signal to the ID and position information of the beacon transmitters 11b and 12b acquired and generated as described above. The position information is transmitted to the position information management server 5 as time-positioned position information for each beacon transmitter.

Note that the location information collection device 2 may continuously transmit the ID and location information of the beacon transmitters 11b and 12b to the location information management server 5 while the beacon signal is received, and at predetermined intervals. The ID and position information of the beacon transmitters 11 b and 12 b may be intermittently transmitted to the position information management server 5.
As described above, the position information collection device 2 is realized by causing a general-purpose device having a BLE reception function to execute a simple application that only transmits the received position information of the beacon transmitters 11b and 12b and their IDs. It is possible to arrange a large number of units in a sales floor or a cashier counter with an extremely small device configuration.

In addition, when the location information collection device 2 is fixedly arranged at a sales floor or a cashier counter, the RFID tag is attached to the shopping basket, and the ID information is received from the RFID tag and transmitted to the server. In installing antennas for receiving ID information from beacon transmitters 11b and 12b, it is not necessary to install antennas in consideration of directivity and the like as on the beacon signal transmitter side. For this reason, even when the layout of the shopping floor is changed, it is not necessary to correct the direction of the installed antenna each time.
Furthermore, in the shopping floor, when a detection system for preventing shoplifting is configured, for example, by attaching an RFID to a product or its package to grasp position information, for example, an RFID attached to a shopping cart There is a possibility that interference such as crosstalk occurs between the communication and the RFID attached to the product etc., and the communication quality is impaired. On the other hand, according to the present embodiment, there is no interference with the existing system in the shopping floor using such RFID.

The location information management server 5 is connected to the location information collection device 2 and the content display device 3 via the wireless network 4. The location information management server 5 may be further connected to the POS information management server 6.
The location information management server 5 includes a location information history DB 51, a trajectory information DB 52, and a content DB 53.
The position information management server 5 also cross-references the position information and time information about one beacon transmitter 11b, 12b acquired from each of the plurality of position information collection devices 2 to obtain a certain beacon transmitter 11b, 12b. The coordinate position with higher accuracy may be estimated, and this estimated position may also be stored together with the position information history DB.

The location information history DB 51 accumulates and stores the location information transmitted from the location information collection device 2 and the time information (time stamp) when the location information was acquired for each ID of the beacon transmitters 11b and 12b.
The trajectory information DB 52 is stored and stored in the position information history DB 51 for each ID of the beacon transmitters 11b and 12b in real time from the position information and time information (time stamp) for each ID of the beacon transmitters 11b and 12b. In addition, trajectory information can be generated. From this trajectory information, it is possible to grasp the flow line and staying status (staying place and staying time) of the customer user who has the shopping basket 11 or the shopping cart 12 in the shopping floor.

The content DB 53 stores the beacon transmitters 11b and 12b (that is, the shopping cart 11 or the shopping cart to which the beacon transmitters 11b and 11b are attached) at each sales floor or cash register counter on the shopping floor according to the trajectory information generated for a certain beacon transmitter 11b or 12b. 12) stores and stores the content to be displayed and output on the content display device 3 that has been approached. The contents stored and stored may have various types such as text data, graphic data, still image data, video data, and audio data.
For example, these contents are grasped from trajectory information, products estimated to be purchased by the customer user, promotional videos and coupon information of products that are purchased (or sold together) with the products, scenarios of combined sales, It includes promotional videos and advertisements for products at other sales floors that are estimated to be of interest to the customer user ascertained from the trajectory information, cooking recipes using products as materials, and the like.

The location information management server 5 estimates content from the generated trajectory information in response to a content search request received from the content display device 3, and the content related to a product that is likely to attract or purchase by the customer user. And the selected content is transmitted to the content display device 3 that is the content search request transmission source.
The POS information management server 6 may be connected to the location information management server 5, the location information collection device 2, and the content display device 3 via the wireless network 4. Note that the position information management system 1 may not include the POS information management server 6 when the POS information is not used for behavior analysis of the customer user.
The POS information management server 6 includes a POS information DB 61. The position information collecting device 2 is also installed in the cash register counter 8 to acquire the position information of the beacon transmitters 11b and 12b, and for example, it may be associated with the POS data acquired at the POS cash register of the cash register counter 8. For example, by executing non-contact communication limited to a short distance between the POS register for acquiring POS data and the position information collection device 2, the shopping cart 11 or the shopping cart 12, and the shopping cart 11 or the shopping cart. The POS data acquired for 12 can be associated. This association may be executed in the location information collection device 2, or alternatively, may be executed in the location information management server 5 using the IDs of the beacon transmitters 11 b and 12 b as keys.

  The POS (Point of Sales) information is referred to in response to a request from the position information management server 5 to be stored in the shopping cart 11 or the shopping cart 12 to which the beacon transmitters 11b and 12b in which the trajectory information is generated are attached. It is possible to grasp which of the sold products has finally been purchased at the register counter. By analyzing the behavior of the customer user together with the information about the product that has been purchased and the trajectory information, it is possible to perform more accurate purchase behavior analysis and optimize the floor plan or product display. By acquiring customer user information along with POS data from media such as smart cards carried by point cards and customer users, and analyzing in combination with trajectory information and POS data, learning the customer user's behavior pattern, You can also provide feedback when you visit the store next time.

Similar to the position information collection device 2, the content display device 3 has a built-in or exterior antenna (not shown) and receives beacon signals transmitted from the beacon transmitters 11b and 12b attached to the shopping basket 11 or the shopping cart 12. It is a non-contact type and detects and receives within the range defined by the BLE standard (in the order of several centimeters to several tens of meters).
It is a figure which shows the example of arrangement | positioning of the some content display apparatus 3 installed in the sales floor in a shopping floor, or a cash register counter again with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, the content display device 3 may be installed in, for example, a shopping cart 11 or a shopping cart 12 place near a shopping area entrance, a product display shelf 3 or a special shelf 3, and a cashier counter 8. It is preferable that the user is installed at a position where it is easy to view the displayed content.

  With this configuration, the content display device 3 can acquire the beacon transmitted when the shopping cart 11 or the shopping cart 12 carried by the customer user who moves in the shopping area enters the beacon signal reception area of the device itself. A search request for content corresponding to the IDs of the devices 11 b and 12 b is generated and transmitted to the location information management server 5. The content display device 3 also causes the display device of its own device to display and output the content received from the location information management server 5 in response to the search request. Thereby, until the shopping basket 11 or the shopping cart 12 moves out of the beacon signal reception area, the customer user carrying the shopping basket 11 or the shopping cart 12 is notified to the customer user's trajectory information (flow line information, moving direction, Content suitable for invoking purchases estimated from a staying situation including a staying place and a staying time can be surely made visible to the customer user.

Preferably, the content displayed and output by the content display device 3 is content suitable for inviting the purchase of the customer user, and further, content related to products displayed on the sales floor where the content display device 3 is installed. It is. For this purpose, the floor plan information of the shopping floor may be included in the content DB 53 managed by the location information management server 5.
Preferably, the content display device 3 displays and outputs the content corresponding to the ID of the beacon transmitters 11b and 12b while the beacon signal from the beacon transmitters 11b and 12b is received, and the beacon signal disappears. The display output of the content may be terminated when triggered by this.
Alternatively, as a modification, a smartphone (not shown) carried by the customer user may have the function of the content display device 3 and display and output the content received from the location information management server 5.

Returning to FIG. 1, the content display device 3 may be of any configuration as long as it is a general-purpose device having a BLE reception function and includes a device capable of displaying or outputting audio. The content display device 3 is mounted on a tablet terminal device, for example.
The content display device 3 is connected to the location information management server 5 via a wireless network (for example, a wireless LAN network) 4, and can also be connected to the POS information management server 6 via the wireless network 4.
The content display device 3 receives the beacon signal transmitted from the beacon transmitters 11b and 12b that have entered the beacon signal reception area by approaching the own device, and the source beacon transmitters 11b and 12b receive the beacon signals from the received beacon signals. Get an ID. In other words, the content display device 3 uses the beacon signals detected when the shopping basket 11 or the shopping cart 12 enters the beacon signal reception area, and the beacon transmitters 11b and 12b attached to the shopping basket 11 or the shopping cart 12. Get the ID. Based on the received beacon signal, the content display device 3 detects the position information of the beacon transmitters 11b and 12b that are the source of the beacon signal. Alternatively, the beacon signal may include position information of the beacon transmitters 11b and 12b. While the beacon signal is received, the detection of the position information is continued.

(Location information collection processing according to the first embodiment)
Next, with reference to FIG. 4, the detail of the positional information collection process which the positional information collection device 2 performs according to the first embodiment will be described.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a flow of position information collection processing executed by the position information collection device 2 according to the first embodiment.
First, in step S41, the position information collection device 2 determines whether or not a beacon signal transmitted from the beacon transmitters 11b and 12b attached to the shopping basket 11 or the shopping cart 12 has been received.
When a beacon signal is received (step S41Y), the process proceeds to step S42. On the other hand, when a beacon signal is not received, the process ends and the beacon signal standby state is maintained (step S41N).

In step S42, the position information collection device 2 acquires the IDs of the beacon transmitters 11b and 12b that are the transmission source of the received beacon signal from the received beacon signal via BLE communication. The position information collecting device 2 also detects position information of the beacon transmitters 11b and 12b that are the transmission source of the beacon signal based on the received beacon signal.
Furthermore, the position information collection device 2 acquires the reception time of the beacon signal as the reception start time from its own timer or from the received beacon signal.
In step S43, the position information collection device 2 generates reception start position information including the ID, position information, and reception start time information of the beacon transmitters 11b and 12b acquired in step S42.
In step S <b> 44, the location information collection device 2 transmits the reception start location information generated in step S <b> 43 to the location information management server 5 via the wireless network 4.

Next, in step S45, the position information collection device 2 determines whether or not the beacon signals from the beacon transmitters 11b and 12b to which the reception start position information has been transmitted have disappeared due to movement outside the beacon signal reception area. To do.
If the beacon signal disappears, the process proceeds to step S46. If the beacon signal does not disappear, the process is terminated and the beacon signal standby state is maintained (step S45N).
In step S46, the position information collection device 2 acquires the IDs of the beacon transmitters 11b and 12b that are the sources of the lost beacon signals and the position information of the beacon transmitters 11b and 12b via BLE communication. Furthermore, the position information collection device 2 acquires the reception time of the beacon signal as the reception loss time from its own timer or from the beacon signal received immediately before the loss.
In step S47, the position information collection device 2 generates reception loss position information including the ID, position information, and reception loss time information of the beacon transmitters 11b and 12b acquired in step S46.
In step S <b> 48, the location information collection device 2 transmits the reception loss location information generated in step S <b> 47 to the location information management server 5 via the wireless network 4.

(Location information management processing according to the first embodiment)
Next, details of the location information management process according to the first embodiment executed by the location information management server 5 will be described with reference to FIG.
FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a flow of location information management processing executed by the location information management server 5 according to the first embodiment.
First, in step S <b> 51, the position information management server 5 determines whether either the reception start position information or the reception lost position information is received from the position information collection device 2.
When reception start position information or reception loss position information is received (step S51Y), the process proceeds to step S52. On the other hand, when reception start position information or reception loss position information is not received, the process is terminated, and step S54 is performed. (Step S51N).
In step S52, the location information management server 5 uses the reception start location information or the reception loss location information received in step S51 as the ID of the beacon transmitters 11b and 12b that are the origins of the location information (that is, the shopping cart 11 Alternatively, the information is accumulated and stored in the position information history DB 51 for each ID of the shopping cart 12. Since both the reception start position information and the reception disappearance position information have time information, the flow line history in the shopping floor for certain position information transmitters 11b and 12b is calculated from the position information accumulated and stored in the position information history DB 51. Can be configured.

In this way, in step S53, the location information management server 5 uses the shopping cart 11 or the shopping cart for each ID of the beacon transmitters 11b and 12b from the reception start location information and the reception loss location information accumulated and stored in the location information history DB 51. Trajectory information including flow line information, moving direction and staying place / time on 12 shopping floors is generated. As the trajectory information, in response to the content search request from the content display device 3 in step S54, trajectory information corresponding to the IDs of the beacon transmitters 11b and 12b included in the content search request may be generated. , May be generated in advance. The generated trajectory information may be stored and accumulated in the trajectory information DB 52, and may be appropriately held in a work memory or the like.
In step S <b> 54, the location information management server 5 receives a content search request from the content display device 3. Specifically, the content display device receives the beacon signal transmitted from the beacon transmitters 11b and 12b that have entered the beacon signal reception area of the content display device 3, and the beacon transmitters 11b and 12b that are the transmission sources of the content display device. A content search request corresponding to the ID, that is, corresponding to the trajectory information generated from the time of entry to the present time for the ID is transmitted and received by the location information management server 5.

In step S55, the location information management server 5 searches the trajectory information DB 52 using the ID of the beacon transmitters 11b and 12b included in the content search request received in step S54 as a key, and corresponds to the beacon transmitters 11b and 12b. The trajectory information stored in this way is acquired.
The location information management server 5 further uses the acquired trajectory information to promote a probable video such as a product likely to be purchased by a customer user estimated from the trajectory information or a product to be sold (cross-selled), and coupon information of the product. Search for content that includes
In step S56, the location information management server 5 transmits the content searched in step S55 to the content display device 3 that is the transmission source of the content search request. In step S56, the content information management server 5 presents the content display device 3 periodically by itself instead of or in addition to transmitting the searched content to the transmission source content display device 3. A request for acquiring display content that is optimal for this may be issued to the location information management server 5.

(Content display processing according to the first embodiment)
Next, with reference to FIG. 6, details of the content display processing according to the first embodiment executed by the content display device 3 will be described.
FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a flow of content display processing executed by the content display device 3 according to the first embodiment.
First, in step S61, the content display device 3 is activated when the beacon transmitters 11b and 12b attached to the shopping cart 11 or the shopping cart 12 enter the beacon signal reception area. A beacon signal is received.
In step S62, the content display apparatus 3 acquires the IDs of the beacon transmitters 11b and 12b that are the transmission source of the beacon signal together with the position information from the beacon signal received in step S61.

In step S63, the content display device 3 displays the content to be displayed and output to the customer user carrying the shopping basket 11 or the shopping cart 12 to which the beacon transmitters 11b and 12b having the ID acquired in step S62 are attached. Generate a search request. This content search request includes at least the IDs of the beacon transmitters 11b and 12b of the location information transmission source.
In step S64, the content display device 3 transmits the content search request generated in step S63 to the location information management server 5.
In step S65, the content display device 3 receives the search result content as a response to the content search request transmitted in step S63.

In step S66, the content display device 3 displays or outputs the content received in step S65 via its own display device. This content display may be output from when the beacon transmitters 11b and 12b enter the beacon signal reception area of the content display device 3 until they move out of the beacon reception signal area.
Alternatively, the threshold value of the distance to the content display device 3 in the short-distance range is further provided in one or more stages within the beacon signal reception range, and when the beacon transmitters 11b and 12b are closer to the content display device 3, the customer Content output for alerting the user may be output, and subsequently, content related to the product may be displayed and output.

  Further, if the trajectory information having the direction of movement is received from the position information management server 5 together with the content, the beacon transmitters 11b and 12b within the beacon reception range move in a direction approaching the content display device 3. It can be grasped in the content display apparatus 3 whether it is moving to the direction which leaves | separates or it leaves | separates. If the content is displayed when the beacon transmitters 11b and 12b are moving in the direction approaching the content display device 3, the content display device 3 is likely to be in the customer user's field of view. It can be expected that the appeal effect by the content presentation is enhanced for the user.

Second Embodiment In contrast to the configuration of the first embodiment described above, a device having a BLE reception function, such as a position information collection device 2 (and content display device 3) according to the second embodiment, is a camera or the like. The imaging device is further provided.
The specific information of the approaching customer user is imaged by the imaging device included in the positional information collection device 2 according to the second embodiment, and the positional information collection device 2 stores the captured image data in the positional information management server. To 5.
Specifically, the imaging device of the position information collection device 2 is indicated by position information detected based on a beacon signal, for example, when a beacon signal transmitted from a certain beacon transmitter 11b or 12b is received. It can operate to capture an image near the position. The captured image may be transmitted to the location information management server 5 together with the IDs of the beacon transmitters 11b and 12b (the shopping basket 11 and the shopping cart 12), for example.
If the received image data is analyzed in the position information management server 5, it is grasped whether or not the user who has acquired the position information has performed an operation of holding the product and putting it into the shopping basket 11 or the shopping cart 12. It becomes possible to do. It can be presumed that the product put into the shopping basket 11 or the shopping cart 12 is purchased through a checkout at a checkout counter. For this reason, it is possible to easily acquire and use information related to product purchase without acquiring POS information or personal information.

(Example of hardware configuration of each device)
FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration included in each device in the location information management system 1. The location information management server 5, the POS information management server 6, the content display device 3, and the location information collection device (for example, one equipped with an Edison terminal) 2 include all or part of the hardware components shown in FIG. A PC 720 illustrated in FIG. 7 includes a CPU 721, a ROM 722, a RAM 723, an external memory 724, an input unit 725, a display unit 726, a communication I / F 727, and a system bus 728. The location information collection device 2 and the content display device 3 may further include an imaging unit (not shown) that captures an image when the beacon transmitter approaches.

  The CPU 721 controls the overall operation of the apparatus, and controls each component (722 to 727) via the system bus 728. The CPU 721 functions as a processing unit that executes position information collection processing, position information management processing, or content display processing. The ROM 722 is a nonvolatile memory that stores a control program and the like necessary for the CPU 721 to execute processing. The program may be stored in the external memory 724 or a removable storage medium (not shown). The RAM 723 functions as a main memory, work area, and the like for the CPU 721. Therefore, the CPU 721 implements various functional operations by loading a necessary program from the ROM 722 into the RAM 723 and executing the program.

The external memory 724 stores, for example, various data and various information necessary for the CPU 721 to perform processing using a program. The external memory 724 stores, for example, various data and various information obtained by the CPU 721 performing processing using a program or the like. The input unit 725 includes various input devices such as a keyboard and a tablet. The display unit 726 is composed of, for example, a liquid crystal display. The communication I / F 727 is an interface for communicating with an external device, and includes, for example, a wireless LAN (Wi-Fi) interface and a Bluetooth (registered trademark) interface. The system bus 728 connects the CPU 721, the ROM 722, the RAM 723, the external memory 724, the input unit 725, the display unit 726, and the communication I / F 727 so that they can communicate with each other.
As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described in detail, the said embodiment only showed the specific example in implementing this invention. The technical scope of the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. The present invention can be variously modified without departing from the gist thereof, and these are also included in the technical scope of the present invention.

2 Position information collection device 2b Antenna 3 Content display device 4 Wireless network 5 Location information management server 6 POS server 7 Product display shelf 8 Cash register 11 Shopping basket 11b, 12b Beacon transmitter 12 Shopping cart 51 Location information history DB
52 Trajectory information DB
53 Content DB
61 POS information DB
720 PC
721 CPU
722 ROM
723 RAM
724 External memory 725 Input unit 726 Display unit 727 Communication I / F

Claims (7)

A position information collecting device installed at a predetermined position in a shopping area,
A signal receiver that receives a signal transmitted from a signal transmitter that can be carried by the user in the shopping area and that is disposed in a portable container in which goods are stored;
From the signal received by the signal receiving unit, the position information of the portable container at the reception start time of the signal from one portable container, an identifier for uniquely identifying the portable container, and the reception A reception start position information generating unit that generates reception start position information including at least a start time;
From the signal received by the reception signal unit, the position information of the portable container at the reception loss time when the signal from the portable container disappeared, the identifier of the portable container, and the reception loss time And a reception loss position information generation unit that generates reception loss position information including at least:
The reception start position information generated by the reception start position information generation unit and the reception loss position information generated by the reception loss position information generation unit are transmitted to a server connected via a wireless communication path. A location information transmitter to
A position information collecting apparatus comprising: An image capturing unit that captures an image in the vicinity of the position indicated by the position information detected based on the signal when the signal is received by the signal receiving unit;
The position information transmitting unit transmits the image captured by the image capturing unit to the server together with the identifier of the portable container.
The position information collecting apparatus according to claim 1.   The signal reception unit receives the signal transmitted from the transmitter as a beacon signal via non-contact wireless communication based on Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) standard. 2. The positional information collection device according to 2. A sensitive content display device installed at a predetermined position in a shopping area,
A signal receiver that receives a signal transmitted from a signal transmitter that can be carried by the user in the shopping area and that is disposed in a portable container in which goods are stored;
An identifier obtaining unit for obtaining an identifier for uniquely identifying the portable container from the signal received by the signal receiving unit;
A search request transmission unit for transmitting a search request for content corresponding to the identifier of the portable container acquired by the identifier acquisition unit to a server connected via a wireless communication path;
A content receiving unit that receives, from the server, content searched for in response to trajectory information obtained from the position information stored for the portable container in response to the search request transmitted by the search request transmission unit When,
A display control unit that displays the content received by the content receiving unit on a display device while the signal is received;
A sensitive content display device comprising: A position information management server remotely connected to each of a position information collection device and a sensitive content display device installed at a predetermined position in a shopping area via a wireless communication path,
The signal at the reception start time of a signal transmitted from the position information collecting device, which can be carried by the user in the shopping area and is transmitted from a signal transmitter disposed in a portable container in which goods are stored. Reception start position information including at least the position information of the transportable container, an identifier for uniquely identifying the transportable container, and the reception start time, and a reception loss time at which the signal from the transportable container has disappeared A position information receiving unit that receives the position information of the transportable container, the identifier of the transportable container, and the reception loss position information including at least the reception loss time;
A position information storage control unit for storing and storing the reception start position information and the reception loss position information received by the position information reception unit in a storage device for each identifier of the portable container;
A trajectory information generation unit that generates trajectory information in the shopping area for each identifier of the portable container from the reception start position information and the reception loss position information stored in the storage device;
A content storage control unit for storing content to be displayed on the sensitive content display device in a storage device corresponding to the trajectory information;
A search request receiving unit that receives a search request for content corresponding to the identifier of one portable container transmitted from the sensitive content display device;
In response to the search request received by the search request receiving unit, the content stored in the storage device is searched corresponding to the trajectory information generated for the portable container with the identifier included in the search request. A search section;
A transmission unit for transmitting the content searched by the search unit to the sensitive content display device;
A location information management server comprising: A position information collecting method executed by a position information collecting device installed at a predetermined position in a shopping area,
Receiving a signal transmitted from a signal transmitter that can be carried by the user in the shopping area and disposed in a transportable container in which goods are stored;
From the received signal, the position information of the portable container at the reception start time of the signal from one portable container, an identifier for uniquely identifying the portable container, and the reception start time. Generating reception start position information including at least;
From the received signal, at least the position information of the portable container at the reception loss time when the signal from the portable container disappeared, the identifier of the portable container, and the reception loss time Generating reception loss position information;
Transmitting the generated reception start position information and the generated reception loss position information to a server connected via a wireless communication path;
A position information collecting method comprising: A computer program that causes a computer to operate as a position information collection device installed at a predetermined position in a shopping area,
A signal receiving process for receiving a signal transmitted from a signal transmitter disposed in a transportable container in which a user can carry the product in the shopping area, and
From the signal received by the signal receiving process, the position information of the portable container at the reception start time of the signal from one portable container, an identifier for uniquely identifying the portable container, and the reception A reception start position information generation process for generating reception start position information including at least a start time;
From the signal received by the reception signal processing, the position information of the portable container at the reception loss time when the signal from the portable container disappeared, the identifier of the portable container, and the reception loss time Reception loss position information generation processing for generating reception loss position information including at least
The reception start position information generated by the reception start position information generation process and the reception loss position information generated by the reception loss position information generation process are transmitted to a server connected via a wireless communication path. Position information transmission processing to
A computer program comprising:

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