Patent Application
20090019743
The present disclosure relates to Electronic Shelf Labels (ESL) and, more particularly, to systems and methods that facilitate installment and removal of ESLs to and from retail store shelves.
Electronic Shelf Labels are becoming increasingly popular amongst large retail stores. These ESLs are replacing the traditional paper and plastic labels. Most current display shelves are of the C-Channel type where the traditional paper and plastic tags can snap into. ESLs are larger and heavier than the paper and plastic labels that they replace and therefore require a different attachment mechanism. Prior attachment mechanisms for ESLs have been expensive, unreliable, or difficult to install or remove. In light of those disadvantages, there is a need for an inexpensive and reliable device for mounting ESLs to existing C-Channel shelves that is easy to both install and remove.
The following describe systems and methods that facilitate the attachment and removal of Electronic Shelf Labels to the common C-Channel type shelves present in retail stores in a manner that is economical, universal, reliable, and easy to install and remove. In a preferred embodiment, a spring clip clamps securely onto the rear of the shelf C-Channel. An adapter attaches onto the spring clip with a spring catch. An ESL attaches to the front of the adapter with a spring catch. An included tool facilitates both the removal of the ESL from the adapter and the removal of the adapter from the spring clip.
Other aspects and features of this preferred embodiment of the invention will become apparent with consideration of the following description along with the accompanying drawings.
a is front oriented perspective view of the adapter mounted onto the spring clip without the C-Channel type shelf present.
b is a front oriented perspective view of the adapter aligned with the spring clip before being mounted on the clip.
a is a rear oriented perspective view of the adapter mounted onto the spring clip and the ESL mounted onto the adapter.
b is a rear oriented perspective view of an exploded assembly of the adapter aligned with the spring clip before being mounted on the clip.
Note that the figures are not drawn to scale and that elements of similar structures or functions are generally represented by like reference numerals for illustrative purposes throughout the figures. Also note that the figures are only intended to facilitate the description of the preferred embodiments. The figures do not describe every aspect of the present invention and do not limit the scope of the invention.
Each of the additional features and teachings disclosed below can be utilized separately or in conjunction with other features and teachings to provide an attachment mechanism for a C-Channel shelf. Representative examples of the present invention, which examples utilize many of these additional features and teachings both separately and in combination, will now be described in further detail with reference to the attached drawings. This detailed description is merely intended to teach a person of skill in the art further details for practicing preferred aspects of the present teachings and is not intended to limit the scope of the invention. Therefore, combinations of features and steps disclosed in the following detail description may not be necessary to practice the invention in the broadest sense, and are instead taught merely to particularly describe representative examples of the present teachings.
Moreover, the various features of the representative examples and the dependent claims may be combined in ways that are not specifically and explicitly enumerated in order to provide additional useful embodiments of the present teachings. In addition, it is expressly noted that all features disclosed in the description and/or the claims are intended to be disclosed separately and independently from each other for the purpose of original disclosure, as well as for the purpose of restricting the claimed subject matter independent of the compositions of the features in the embodiments and/or the claims. It is also expressly noted that all value ranges or indications of groups of entities disclose every possible intermediate value or intermediate entity for the purpose of original disclosure, as well as for the purpose of restricting the claimed subject matter.
Turning to the figures, an exemplary embodiment of a C-channel shelf attachment mechanism will now be described. As depicted, the attachment mechanism includes an adapter 2 and spring clip 3 for mounting an Electronic Shelf Label (ESL 1) 1 onto a typical C-Channel type shelf 4. The spring clip 3, as shown in
The attachment mechanism is preferably designed to fit onto most conventional C-Channel type store shelves 4. The C-Channel store shelves 4 commonly comprise a horizontal plane 4d on which products are placed for customer viewing. The C-Channel shelf 4 has a shallow “C” shaped holder or channel 4a, as shown in
The spring clip 3 is preferably formed from a rectangular strip of metal bent into a generally “G” shape. Alternately, the clip 3 can be formed from plastic or other materials having appropriate strength using conventional technology, such as extrusion, injection molding, and the like. The material should be flexible with spring like properties that allow the jaws, i.e., the top end 3a and bottom end 3c of the clip 3 to stretch open for installation or removal and tighten or clamp down once in position. Referring to
Installation of the spring clip 3 onto the C-Channel shelf 4: Referring to
Referring to
Two cams 2e lie to each side of those spring latches to guide the removal tool 5 as it slides under the removal tabs 2k of the spring latches 2c to draw the latches outward to disengage the spring latches 2c from the catches 3d on the spring clip 3. Two keyways 2b are cut into the front of the base 2j that are slidably engaged by two corresponding ESL keys 1a. Two pillars or mounting arms 2d extend up from the bottom-front of the side panels 2f. A pair of latches 2a extending from and facing forward on each pillar 2d facilitate attachment of the ESL 1 to the adapter 2. The pillars 2d are flexible enough to allow them to bend slightly to releasably lock their latches 2a in place on to the ESL 1.
Installation of the adapter 2 onto the spring clip 3: First, the channel or keyway 2g on the adapter 2 is aligned with the spring clip body 3b as depicted in
The ESL 1 unit comprises a body with a display device. Toward the bottom of the back of the ESL 1, two mounting keys 1a extend out from the body. The mounting keys 1a are preferably cross-shaped when viewed from below. The mounting keys 1a slide through the correspondingly shaped keyways 2b on the adapter 2. When the keys 1a on the ESL 1 are inside the keyways on the adapter 2, the ESL 1's motion is limited to only slide up or down. To lock the ESL 1 to the adapter 2, the ESL 1 includes two indentations or catches 1b that correspond to the two latches 2a on the two pillars or mounting arms 2d of the adapter 2. Slightly above each of those indentations 1b are two ramp features 1d. During removal of the ESL 1, these ramps 1d allow the removal tool 5 to slide down on them from above to push the pillar latches 2a on the adapter 2 out of the indentations 1b on the ESL 1.
Installation of the ESL 1 onto the adapter 2: Referring to
The removal tool 5 is a square “Y” shaped plate made preferably of either plastic or metal. It consists of two narrow prongs 5b on one end and a wider prong 5a on the other end. The two-pronged end is used to separate the ESL 1 from the adapter 2. The single-pronged end is used to separate the spring clip 3 from the adapter 2.
The mechanism must withstand vertical Fy and horizontal Fx forces as depicted in
Since only the spring clip 3 makes contact with the shelf 4, all forces placed on any part of the attachment mechanism are transferred to the points of contact where the top 3a of the clip 3 meets the top of 4b of the “C” shaped holder 4a and where the detent 3e of the bottom 3c of the clip 3 meets the bottom 4e of the “C” shaped holder 4a. Fx and Fy forces are therefore transferred to Fx31, Fy31, Fx32 and Fy32 at the points of shelf contact in
Removal of the ESL 1 attachment mechanism:
Referring to
Referring to
Remove the spring clip 3 from the shelf 4 by reversing the installation steps of attaching the spring clip 3 to the shelf 4.
The embodiment disclosed above is only one of many functional forms. Other embodiments might join the ESL 1 to the adapter 2 and the adapter 2 to the metal clip via other methods. Latches, springs, and catches on the ESL 1, adapter 2 and the spring clip 3 may be substituted by other devices for the function of joining two pieces together. The adapter 2 may take different materials, shapes, and sizes to implement those other devices. Also, it is possible to forego the adapter 2 completely by attaching the ESL 1 directly to the spring clip 3 without the adapter 2.
Those skilled in the art will recognize that the embodiments disclosed herein are susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, and specific examples thereof have been shown by way of example in the drawings and are herein described in detail.
