A self-powered electronic shelf label (ESL), comprising: a processing circuitry; a display communicatively coupled to the processing circuitry; a communication circuit communicatively coupled to the processing circuitry, wherein the communication circuit is configured to receive and transmit data from a control device; and a power manager connected to the processing circuitry, the display, an energy storage, and a plurality of photovoltaic (PV) cells, the power manager including a maximum power point tracker (MPPT) circuit, wherein the MPPT circuit is configured to continuously determine a maximum power point of the PV cells, wherein the power manager is configured to connect, based on the determined maximum power point, at least a portion of the plurality of PV cells to a load such that the plurality of PV cells produce a voltage equal to the continuously determined maximum power point.

A verifiable display is provided that enables the visual content of the display to be detected and confirmed in a variety of ambient lighting conditions, enviroments, and operational states. In particular, the verifiable display has a display layer that is capable of visually setting an intended message for human or machine reading, with the intendended message being set using pixels. Depending on the operational condition of the display and the ambient light, for example, the message that is actually displayed and perceivable may vary from the intended message. To detect what message is actually displayed, a light detection layer in the verifiable display detects the illumination state of the pixels, and in that way is able to detect what message is actually being presented by the display layer.

Briefly, a method for verifying the visual perceptibility of a display is provided. An intended message is written to a bistable display. Pixels that comprise portions of the message are measured and evaluated to determine if the message actually displayed on the bistable display was perceptible by a human or a machine. In some cases, information regarding the message actually perceivable from the display may be stored for later use. Responsive to determining that a message is perceivable or not perceivable, alarms may be set, one or more third parties notified, or additional display features may be set.

Briefly, a method for verifying the visual perceptibility of a display is provided. An intended message is written to a bistable display. Pixels that comprise portions of the message are measured and evaluated to determine if the message actually displayed on the bistable display was perceptible by a human or a machine. In some cases, information regarding the message actually perceivable from the display may be stored for later use. Responsive to determining that a message is perceivable or not perceivable, alarms may be set, one or more third parties notified, or additional display features may be set.

Provided herein are display systems and units, including those configured for dynamic communication in a physical location, such as in retail settings. Also included herein are methods for dynamically displaying product information in a physical location, such as a retail setting.

In some arrangements, product packaging is digitally watermarked over most of its extent to facilitate high-throughput item identification at retail checkouts. Imagery captured by conventional or plenoptic cameras can be processed (e.g., by GPUs) to derive several different perspective-transformed views—further minimizing the need to manually reposition items for identification. Crinkles and other deformations in product packaging can be optically sensed, allowing such surfaces to be virtually flattened to aid identification. Piles of items can be 3D-modelled and virtually segmented into geometric primitives to aid identification, and to discover locations of obscured items. Other data (e.g., including data from sensors in aisles, shelves and carts, and gaze tracking for clues about visual saliency) can be used in assessing identification hypotheses about an item. Logos may be identified and used—or ignored—in product identification. A great variety of other features and arrangements are also detailed.

An electronic price label system and an electronic price label, which include a communication device for receiving information related to a product. The electronic price label further includes a first display for displaying information related to the product, and a second display for displaying information related to the product. The first display and the second display are separate displays, and the first display and second display are adapted to be controlled separate from each other.

An information display device includes a display that displays information, a communication unit that contactlessly communicates with an information communication medium, a communication control unit including a transceiver and a power converter such that the transceiver receives the display information from the information communication medium through the communication unit and that the power converter converts an electromagnetic wave received by the communication unit into electric power, and a display control unit including a storage, a voltage monitor, and a display driver such that the storage stores the display information received by the transceiver, that the voltage monitor monitors a voltage of electric power supplied from the power converter, and that the display driver updates, based on the display information stored in the storage, the information displayed on the display.

Disclosed herein are electronic shelf-tag systems and methods thereof. For example, an electronic shelf-tag system includes, in some embodiments a fascia configured to mount to a shelf of a shelving unit and a light-emitting diode (“LED”) array coupled to the fascia. The LED array is configured to display product information in a shared electronic shelf tag for two or more products respectively stocked in two or more consecutive shelf slots when a horizontal resolution of a portion of the LED array corresponding to at least one shelf slot of the two or more consecutive shelf slots is insufficient for displaying the product information for the product stocked in the at least one shelf slot.

A method and apparatus for alerting an individual is described. A determination as to whether an individual is within a sensing area of a first device is made. The first device may be configured to provide information about a product on a shelf on which the first device is attached. In response to determining that the individual is within the sensing area, a determination as to whether to notify an occurrence of the determination that the individual is within the sensing area of the first device to at least one second device is made. In response to determining to notify, a notification may be transmitted to the at least one second device that the individual is within the sensing area of the first device. An alert may be triggered at the at least one second device based upon the transmitted notification.