The invention relates to a refrigerated sales furniture, in particular to a refrigerated sales furniture comprising at least one identification device, which is configured for identifying products while they are put into and/or taken out of the refrigerated sales furniture.

Refrigerated sales furnitures such as refrigerated sales cabinets and refrigerated sales islands provide the bridge between retailers and consumers.

It therefore is desirable to provide specific information about the products stored within those furnitures. Even scanning and registering the products, which are sold, at the cashier devices, cannot provide detailed and reliable information about the current stock, as scanning the products at the cashier devices does not provide specified real time information for each furniture.

It therefore would be beneficial to provide an improved refrigerated sales furniture, which allows to keep track of its contents, i.e. of products put into and taken out of the furniture, in real-time.

According to an embodiment of the invention, a refrigerated sales furniture comprises a furniture body providing a refrigerated sales space for storing products to be presented therein; at least one access area providing access to the refrigerated sales space; and at least one identification device, which is arranged and configured for identifying products passing through said at least one access area.

According to an embodiment of the invention, a method of operating a refrigerated sales furniture is provided. The refrigerated sales furniture comprises a furniture body providing a refrigerated sales space for storing products to be presented therein; and at least one access area providing access to the refrigerated sales space. The method comprises the step of identifying products passing through the at least one access area. A refrigerated sales furniture and a method of operating a refrigerated sales furniture according to exemplary embodiments of the invention allow to reliably keep track of the contents of the refrigerated sales furniture by identifying all products, which are put into and taken out of the refrigerated sales furniture, in real-time.

The information provided by a refrigerated sales furniture comprising at least one identification device according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention may be used for generating statistics of movements and stocks of individual products for each furniture.

Exemplary embodiments will be described with reference to the enclosed figures:

Figure 1 shows a schematic perspective view of a refrigerated sales furniture according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention.

Figure 2 shows a schematic perspective view of a compartment of a refrigerated sales furniture according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention.

Figure 3 shows an enlarged view of a product reader bar, as it is shown at the front edge of the upper shelf of Figure 2.

Figure 1 shows a schematic perspective view of a refrigerated sales furniture 2 according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention.

In Figures 1 to 3 a refrigerated sales cabinet is shown as an example of a refrigerated sales furniture 2. The refrigerated sales furniture 2 typically comprises a plurality of refrigerated sales spaces 5a-5e, which are configured for storing products 20 to be presented therein. An access area 3 providing access to the refrigerated sales spaces 5a-5e is formed by the upright front portion located in front of the refrigerated sales spaces 5a-5e of the refrigerated sales furniture 2. A plurality of shelves or racks, which are not shown in Figure 1 , may be provided within the refrigerated sales spaces 5a-5e for accommodating and supporting the products 20 to be stored.

The skilled person, however, will easily understand that the invention may be applied to other types of refrigerated sales furnitures 2 as well, for example to refrigerated sales islands or refrigerated sales chests, in which the products 20 to be presented therein are stored on a bottom portion thereof and in which the access area providing access to the refrigerated sales space is formed by the upper horizontal portion of the refrigerated sales island or chest, which is located above the refrigerated sales space.

The refrigerated sales furniture 2 shown in Figure 1 has a furniture body and comprises a plurality of compartments 4a-4e positioned adjacent to each other. Each of the plurality of compartments 4a-4e defines at least one refrigerated sales space 5a-5e. The refrigerated sales spaces 5a-5e may be equipped with a plurality of shelves or racks 10a, 10b, which are not shown in Figure 1. The shelves 10a, 10b may be arranged on top of each other in the refrigerated sales space 5a-5e for receiving and supporting products 20, which are to be stored within the refrigerated sales furniture 2.

Each of the compartments 4a-4e may be provided with at least one door 15a-15e, 17a-17e at the access area 3. The at least one door 15a-15e, 17a-17e may be at last partially transparent. In an alternative embodiment, the open access area 3 may provide free access to the products 20 provided in the respective refrigerated sales space 5a-5e, without doors.

Figure 1 further depicts an embodiment of an identification device 13 which includes a plurality of cameras 6a, 6b, 6c directed onto the access areas 3 of the compartments 4a-4e for taking pictures of products 20 which are put into or taken out of the refrigerated sales spaces 5a-5e of the compartments 4a-4e. The cameras 6a, 6b, 6c of the identification device 13 may be mounted to the compartments 4a-4e, in particular to upper portions of the compartments 4a-4e. Alternatively, the cameras 6a, 6b, 6c may be mounted to the ceiling or to walls/pillars of a room housing the refrigerated sales furniture 2.

Each of the cameras 6a, 6b, 6c has a corresponding image capturing area 8a, 8b, 8c covering a part of the front portion of the refrigerated sales furniture 2. Each image capturing area 8a, 8b, 8c may be associated with one of the compartments 4a-4e. An image capturing area 8a, 8b, 8c also may encompass a plurality of compartments 4a-4e. Adjacent image capturing areas 8a, 8b, 8c may overlap, as it is illustrated in Figure 1 .

The identification device 13 further comprises an identification unit 9 connected with the cameras 6a, 6b, 6c. The identification unit 9 is configured for evaluating the pictures provided by the cameras 6a, 6b, 6c for identifying products 20 passing the access area 3 of the compartments 4a-4e and determining which products 20 are put into and/or taken out of the refrigerated sales furniture 2. The connection between the cameras 6a, 6b, 6c and the identification unit 9 may be provided by cables 25a, 25b, 25c or by wireless data connections.

The identification unit 9 is coupled with a tracking unit 21 , which is configured for keeping track of the products 20 put into and/or taken out of the refrigerated sales furniture 2. This allows the tracking unit 21 to always provide up-to-date information about the products 20 being present within the the refrigerated sales spaces 5a-5e of the refrigerated sales furniture 2. The tracking unit 21 may be provided integrated with or separated from the identification unit 9.

The identification unit 9 and the tracking unit 21 may be located in at least one of the compartments 4a-4e. Alternatively, the identification unit 9 and the tracking unit 21 may be provided in some distance from the refrigerated sales furniture 2, e.g. in a separate room (not shown). In an embodiment, one central identification unit 9, which is connected to all cameras 6a, 6b, 6c within a store may be provided. Similarly, a central tracking unit 21 , which is connected to a central identification unit 9 or to a plurality of distributed identification units 9, may be provided.

In a further embodiment, the cameras 6a, 6b, 6c may be connected to a remote identification unit 9, which is configured for evaluating the pictures provided from cameras 6a, 6b, 6c, which are located in a plurality of stores. The remote identification unit 9 may be integrated with or connected to a corresponding remote tracking unit 21. With such a configuration, the stock of a plurality of stores may be monitored employing only a single identification unit 9 and a single tracking unit 21 .

The cameras 6a, 6b, 6c and the identification unit 9 further may be configured for detecting whether the doors 15a-15e, 17a-17e are completely closed. This allows the identification unit 9, the tracking unit 21 or an additional door monitoring unit 23, which is connected with the identification unit 9, to issue an alarm signal in case at least one of the doors 15a-15e, 17a-17e is not completely closed for more than a predetermined period of time.

The identification device 13 may further include at least one illumination device 7, which is configured for illuminating the access area 3 of the refrigerated sales furniture 2. By illuminating the access area 3, the reliability of identifying products 20 passing through the access area 3 based on their optical properties may be improved. The at least one illumination device 7 in particular may provide white light comprising all colors of the spectrum in order to facilitate the identification of the products 20 based on their respective color(s). Optionally, the at least one illumination device 7 may provide IR-light or UV-light, which may be reflected by corresponding labels 24 attached to at least some of the products 20. The illumination device 7 also may comprise a laser light source, which might be beneficial for detecting optical codes such as bar codes.

The at least one illumination device 7 may be mounted to the compartments 4a-4e, in particular to a top portion of each of the compartments 4a-4e, or to the ceiling and/or to walls/pillars of the room housing the refrigerated sales furniture 2.

Figure 2 depicts a schematic perspective view of a compartment 4a of a refrigerated sales furniture 2 according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention. The compartment 4a may be one of a plurality of adjacent compartments 4a-4e, as illustrated in Figure 1 , or it may be a single compartment 4a constituting a complete refrigerated sales furniture 2 on its own.

The compartment 4a may comprise components of a refrigeration circuit, i.e. an evaporator, a compressor, a condenser and an expansion device, which are not shown in Figure 2. The compressor and the condenser may also be located outside the compartment 4a, e.g. in a machine room or on the outside/on the roof of the building housing the refrigerated sales furniture 2, respectively.

The compartment 4a is provided with a plurality of horizontally extending shelves 10a, 10b, which are arranged on top of each other. Depending on the kind of products 20 to be stored within the refrigerated sales furniture 2, other types of storage means, e.g. inclined shelves, chests, trays etc. may be provided as well.

In the embodiment shown in Figure 2, cameras 6a, 6b, 6c and/or RFID readers 6d, 6e, 6f, which are not visible in Figure 2, are provided inside a product reader bar 12, which is provided at the front edge of an upper shelf 10a. In such a configuration, cameras 6a, 6b, 6c, which are provided inside the product reader bar 12, are configured for taking pictures of products 20 passing an upright middle portion 3b of the access area 3 when being placed onto or taken from a lower shelf 10b, which is provided below the upper shelf 10a.

Alternatively or additionally, RFID readers 6d, 6e, 6f are provided inside the product reader bar 12, and they are configured for receiving signals from RFID tags comprised in labels 24 which are attached to products 20 passing an upright middle portion 3b of the access area 3 when being placed onto or taken from a lower shelf 10b. The RFID readers 6d, 6e, 6f associated with the middle portion 3b of the access area 3 in particular are configured not to receive signals from RFID tags attached to products 20 passing the upper or lower portions 3a, 3c of the access area 3.

An additional product reader bar 12 (not shown) comprising additional cameras 6a, 6b, 6c and/or RFID readers 6d, 6e, 6f may be provided at an upper ceiling 11 of the compartment 4a for detecting products 20 passing an upright upper portion 3a of the access area when being placed onto or taken from the upper shelf 10a.

Similarly, an additional reader bar 12 (not shown) comprising cameras 6a, 6b, 6c and/or RFID readers 6d, 6e, 6f may be provided at the front edge of the lower shelf 10b for detecting products 20 passing an upright lower portion 3c of the access area 3 when being put into or taken from a bottom refrigerated sales space 19, which is provided below the lower shelf 10b at the bottom of the compartment 4a.

By providing the product reader bar 12 at the front edge of the shelves 10a, 10b or at the front edge of the ceiling 11 , respectively, it is accomplished that all products 20 passing the access area 3 are reliably detected by at least one of the cameras 6a, 6b, 6c and/or RFID readers 6d, 6e, 6f when being placed onto or taken out of one of the shelves 10a, 10b or the lower refrigerated sales space 19, respectively. In consequence, no products 20 can be taken from or put into the refrigerated sales space 5a, 19 of the compartment 14a without being detected by the identification device 13.

At least one illumination device 7, which is not visible in Figure 2, may be additionally provided within or next to the product reader bar 12 for illuminating the products 20 when passing the access area 3. The at least one illumination device 7 may be activated based on the intensity of ambient light within the access area 3 and/or only when at least one product 20 is detected within the access area 3. Figure 3 shows an enlarged view of a product reader bar 12, as it is provided at the front edge of the upper shelf 0a shown in Figure 2.

The product reader bar 12 comprises a cap 14 formed by half of a tube which has been cut along its longitudinal direction. The cap 14 is attached to the lower side of the shelf 10a by means of an appropriate adhesive 18 providing a cavity extending along the front edge of the shelf 10a and being defined by the cap 14 and the shelf 10a. The lateral end sides of the cavity are closed by means of end plates 16 provided at each lateral end of the product reader bar 12.

Alternatively or additionally to fixing the cap 14 by means of an adhesive 18, the cap 14 may be fixed to the shelf 10a by means of one or more mechanical fixtures 22, which are configured for fixing the cap 14 removably or permanently to the shelf 10a. The fixtures 22 in particular may include bolts, screws and clips.

Cameras 6a, 6b, 6c and/or RFID readers 6d, 6e, 6f are provided inside the cavity formed by the cap 14 and the shelf 10a. At least one illumination device 7 (not shown in Figure 3), may be provided within said cavity, as well.

At least in case cameras 6a, 6b, 6c are provided inside the cap 14, the cap 14 is at least partially formed from a transparent material, e.g. plexi-glass. The cap 14 protects the at least one camera 6a, 6b, 6c, RFID readers 6d, 6e, 6f and/or the at least on illumination device 7 from adverse effects, in particular from being hit and damaged by products 20 placed into or taken out of the refrigerated sales furniture 2.

A number of optional features are set out in the following. These features may be realized in particular embodiments, alone or in combination with any of the other features.

In an embodiment, the at least one identification device comprises at least one camera, which is configured for capturing pictures of products passing the at least one access area, and at least one identification unit, which is configured for identifying the products passing through the at least one access area from the pictures captured by the at least one camera, based on the optical properties of said products. Said optical properties in particular may include the size/volume, the shape, and/or the color of the product or its packing, respectively. This allows to identify each product by its inherent properties. In consequence, there is no need to add additional markers such as barcodes, QR-codes etc. to the product. When using such optical properties for identifying the products passing through the at least one access area, appropriate image processing techniques and appropriate comparison techniques of such processed images with reference images stored for each product in one or more appropriate data bases may be used.

In an embodiment, the identification device is configured for identifying the products based on an optical code provided on the respective product. The code may be a usual barcode (e.g. one of the EAN, UPC, IAN and JAN codes), which already is provided on almost every product intended for sale. The code also may be an additional/new code, in particular a two-dimensional code, e.g. a QR-code, which is configured to be identified faster, more easily and/or more reliably than a barcode. An optical code allows a very reliable and unique identification of the products.

When using such optical code provided on the respective product for identifying the products passing through the at least one access area, the captured codes may be associated to reference codes stored for each product in one or more appropriate data bases.

The identification of an optical code attached to the product also may be used for confirming a previous identification, which has been made based on the size/volume, the shape and/or the color of the product or its packing. The optical code may be printed directly onto the product or its packing. Alternatively, the optical code may be printed on a label, which is attached to the product or its packing.

In an embodiment, the identification device is configured as a barcode reader which is configured for identifying the products based on a barcode, which is attached to each of the products.

In an embodiment, the identification device is configured as a QR-code reader for identifying the products based on a QR-code, which is attached to each of the products. In an embodiment, the identification device is further configured for identifying additional information provided by the identified product or its packing. Said additional information in particular may include the production date and/or the best before date of the respective product. Identifying and keeping track of such information allows to optimize the stock-keeping even further. In particular, products may be taken out of the refrigerated sales furniture just before or at the best before date or after the best before date has passed and new products replacing said products may be ordered automatically or manually in due time.

In an embodiment, the cameras and the identification unit are configured for detecting whether the doors are completely closed. This allows the identification unit, the tracking unit or a special door monitoring unit to issue an alarm signal in case at least one of the doors is not completely closed for more than a predetermined period of time and helps to avoid that energy is wasted by operating the refrigerated sales furniture with the doors not being completely closed for a substantial period of time.

In an embodiment, the refrigerated sales furniture comprises at least one illumination device, which is configured for illuminating the products passing through the at least one access area. By illuminating the products passing through the at least one access area the reliability of identifying products passing through the at least one access area based on their optical properties may be considerably enhanced. The illumination device in particular may provide white light comprising all colors of the spectrum in order to facilitate the identification of the products based on their respective color(s). Optionally, the illumination device may provide IR-light and/or UV-light, which may be reflected by corresponding reflectors attached to at least some of the products.

In an embodiment, the at least one identification device comprises at least one RFID reader and at least one identification unit, which is connected with the at least one RFID reader. In such an embodiment the products may be uniquely identified by means of RFID tags which are attached to the respective product. RFID tags allow a reliable and unique identification of the products.

In an embodiment, the at least one access area is an open access area providing free access to the refrigerated sales space. An open access area is very convenient for the costumers, as it does not require the costumers to open doors or flaps for accessing the products stored within the refrigerated sales space of the furniture.

In an embodiment, the refrigerated sales furniture comprises at least one door or flap, which allows for closing the access area. Providing a door or flap closing the access area reduces the energy needed for operating the refrigerated sales furniture, i.e. for cooling the refrigerated sales space, as warm air is prevented from entering into the refrigerated sales space and refrigerated air is prevented from flowing out of the refrigerated sales space when the at least one door or flap is closed. The at least one door or flap may be at least partially transparent for allowing customers to look into the refrigerated sales space without opening the at least one door or flap.

In an embodiment, the at least one identification device is configured to be activated when the at least one flap or door is opened, and to be deactivated when the at least one flap or door is closed. In such an embodiment, the at least one identification device is active only when the at least one door or flap has been opened for allowing products to be put into or taken out of the refrigerated sales space. As the at least one identification device is deactivated, when the at least one door or flap is closed, the amount of energy consumed by the at least one identification device is reduced. Additionally, the risk of a false identification of products is minimized as well.

In an embodiment, the refrigerated sales space comprises at least one shelf or rack which is configured for receiving and supporting products to be stored. At least one camera and/or at least one RFID reader may be mounted to said at least one shelf. Installing at least one camera and/or at least one RFID reader at a shelf provided within the refrigerated sales space allows to identify the products put onto and taken from said shelf or an adjacent shelf, which is arranged above or below the shelf the camera and/or the RFID reader is attached to. Such a configuration in particular allows to identify products based on the shelf they are taken from. It further allows to provide more detailed product movement and product stock statistics, which in particular may include information related to the location of the products within the furniture.

In an embodiment, the refrigerated sales space is provided with a plurality of regions which are cooled to different temperatures, e.g. cooling temperatures above 0 °C and freezing temperatures below 0 °C, in particular below -10 °C. In this configuration, providing an identification device at every shelf allows to verify whether each product is placed on a shelf in the correct temperature region.

In an embodiment, the refrigerated sales furniture is configured for determining the region or the shelf in/on which the product is placed, e.g. by determining the portion of the access area through which the product is passed.

In an embodiment, the refrigerated sales furniture is configured for triggering an alarm when a product is placed into a wrong temperature region or onto a wrong shelf within the refrigerated sales space. This helps to avoid products from being spoiled or damaged by being placed into a wrong area of the refrigerated sales space, in particular into an area, in which the temperatures are too high or too low for the respective product.

In an embodiment, at least one camera and/or at least one RFID reader is installed above at least one shelf and/or at least one camera and/or at least one RFID reader is installed at an edge of said shelf. Installing at least one camera and/or at least one RFID reader above and/or at the edge of the shelf allows the at least one identification device to reliably identify a product, which is put into and/or taken out of the refrigerated sales space.

In an embodiment, the at least one camera and/or at least one RFID reader is installed at a front portion of a shelf and being configured to identify products which are placed onto and/or are taken from said self. In such an embodiment the detection area of the at least one camera and/or at least one RFID reader is facing basically upwards. This provides a very compact configuration, which allows to reliably identify a product, which is put onto and/or taken from such a shelf.

In order to allow the identification device to identify each product based on its inherent properties, pictures of all products, which are intended to be placed into the refrigerated sales furniture, may be stored in a storage device of the identification device. The identification device then may be configured for comparing current pictures of a product, which are provided by at least one of the cameras, with the previously stored pictures. The identification device in particular may be provided with a self-learning functionality, which allows adding additional pictures of new and/or previously known products to the previously stored pictures. In an embodiment, the refrigerated sales furniture is configured for controlling the refrigeration based on the identified products, which have been put into the refrigerated sales space. This allows to operate the refrigerated sales furniture with high efficiency, as the actual (refrigerated) temperature is adjusted to the actual needs of the products stored within the refrigerated sales space. This securely avoids the products from being spoiled as a result from being stored at wrong, in particular too high, temperatures. It further avoids the refrigerated sales furniture from consuming too much energy by providing lower temperatures than needed for storing the respective products.

In an embodiment, the refrigerated sales furniture is configured for generating an order for new products based on the products which have been identified as having been taken out of the refrigerated sales space. Thus, new products for refilling the refrigerated sales furniture may be ordered automatically before the refrigerated sales furniture is completely empty. As a result, stock-keeping is facilitated, as it is not necessary to manually check the amount or number of products, which are still present within the refrigerated sales furniture, and to order new products as soon as the number or amount of products, which are still present within the refrigerated sales furniture, has reached a certain lower limit.

In summary, the stock-keeping of refrigerated products may be considerably facilitated by employing a refrigerated sales furniture and/or a method of operating such a refrigerated sales furniture according to exemplary embodiments of the invention.

While the invention has been described with reference to exemplary embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the scope of the invention. In addition many modifications may be made to adopt a particular situation or material to the teachings of the invention without departing from the essential scope thereof. Therefore, it is intended that the invention not be limited to the particular embodiment disclosed, but that the invention include all embodiments falling within the scope of the claims. Reference Numerals refrigerated sales furniture access area

a upper portion of the access areab middle portion of the access areac lower portion of the access areaa-4e compartments

a-5e refrigerated sales spaces

a, 6b, 6c cameras

d, 6e, 6f RFID readers

illumination device

a, 8b, 8c capturing areas

identification unit

0a, 10b shelves

1 ceiling of the refrigerated sales furniture2 product reader bar

3 identification device

4 cap

5a-15e doors

6 end plate

7a-17e doors

8 adhesive

9 bottom refrigerated sales space0 product

1 tracking unit

2 fixture

3 door monitoring unit

4 label

5a, 25b, 25c cables