GOODS PRESENTATON SYSTEM WITH AT LEAST ONE SEPARATING ELEMENT

Abstract

A goods presentation system includes a storage area on which a row of articles is to be arranged one behind the other. The storage area extends towards a removal position at which a foremost article of the row is to be removed from the storage area. A separating element that is displaceable between first and second positions includes front and back parts spaced apart from one another. The front part hinders removal of the foremost article from the storage area when the separating element is in the first position and permits removal thereof when the separating element is in the second position. The back part hinders another article of the row arranged on the storage area behind the foremost article from moving towards the removal position when the separating element is in the second position.

Claims

1. A goods presentation system, comprising: a storage area on which a row of articles is to be arranged one behind the other, the storage area extending towards a removal position at which a foremost article of the row of articles is to be removed from the storage area; and a separating element which is displaceable between a first position and a second position, wherein the separating element comprises at least one front part, which is displaceable between a regular position and a refill position at the separating element, and at least one back part spaced apart from the front part, wherein in the regular position the at least one front part is configured to hinder removal of the foremost article from the storage area when the separating element is in the first position and to permit removal of the foremost article from the storage area when the separating element is in the second position, wherein the at least one back part is configured to hinder a further article of the row of articles arranged on the storage area behind the foremost article from moving towards the removal position when the separating element is in the second position, and wherein the at least one front part is displaceable from the regular position into the refill position when the separating element is in the first position to permit refilling of the goods presentation system with new articles.

2. The goods presentation system of claim 1, wherein the at least one front part is configured to block the foremost article from being grabbed by a person and removed from the goods presentation system, when the separating element is in the first position and the at least one front part is in the regular position.

3. The goods presentation system of claim 2, wherein the separating element is configured to be displaced from the first position to the second position before a person can manually grab the foremost article for removal from the removal position.

4. The goods presentation system of claim 1, wherein the separating element is configured to be displaced from the first position towards the second position upon a person, having manually grabbed the foremost article, removing the foremost article from the removal position.

5. The goods presentation system of claim 1, wherein the separating element is pivotable between the first and second positions.

6. The goods presentation system of claim 1, wherein the at least one front part is pivotably mounted at the separating element to be pivotable between the regular and refill position.

7. The goods presentation system of claim 6, wherein the at least one front part is pivotably mounted at the separating element about a front pivot axis running parallel to a further pivot axis about which the separating element is pivotable between the first and second positions.

8. The goods presentation system of claim 7, wherein the at least one front part is configured to be pivoted about the front pivot axis in a counter-clockwise direction to displace the at least one front part from the regular position towards the refill position while the separating element is configured to be pivot about the further pivot axis in a clockwise direction to displace the separating element from the first position towards the second position.

9. The goods presentation system of claim 1, wherein the at least one back part is configured to block the further article from reaching the removal position when the foremost good is removed from the goods presentation system while the separating element maintains the second position.

10. The goods presentation system of claim 1, wherein the articles are beverage cans and the at least one back part is spaced from the front part at a distance so as to block in the row of beverage cans the further beverage can from reaching the removal position when the foremost beverage can is removed from the goods presentation system while the separating element maintains the second position.

11. The goods presentation system of claim 10, wherein the at least one back part is configured to reach beyond a protruding ring portion surrounding a top of the further beverage can while the separating element maintains the second position.

12. The goods presentation system of claim 1, wherein the at least one back part is at least partially flexible.

13. The goods presentation system of claim 1, wherein at least two back parts are provided spaced apart from each other at the separating element.

14. The goods presentation system of claim 1, further comprising at least one of: a driven pusher device at the storage area for pushing the articles of the row of articles towards the removal position; a sliding surface at the storage area configured to permit sliding of articles of the row of articles disposed on the sliding surface towards the removal position; and one or more rolling elements at the storage area configured to permit sliding of articles of the row of articles disposed on the one or more rolling surface towards the removal position.

15. The goods presentation system of claim 1, wherein the goods presentation system comprises at least one return element for automatically adjusting the separating element to the first position or the separating element is configured to be automatically adjusted from the second position from the second position to the first position under the effect of gravity when a person no longer holds the separating element in the second position.

16. The goods presentation system of claim 15, wherein the at least one return element provides for a force biasing the separating element towards the first position.

17. The goods presentation system of claim 15, wherein the at least one return element is configured to automatically adjust the separating element to the first position a predetermined time after the separating element reached the second position.

18. The goods presentation system of claim 1, wherein the goods presentation device comprises at least one sensor element for detecting a displacement of the separating element from the first position towards the second position.

19. The goods presentation system of claim 18, wherein the at least one sensor element includes at least one of an acceleration sensor, an inertial measurement unit or a vibration sensor.

20. A goods presentation system, comprising: a storage area on which a row of beverage cans is to be arranged one behind the other, the storage area extending towards a removal position at which a foremost beverage can of the row of beverage cans is to be removed from the storage area and configured for a gravity-driven sliding of the beverage cans towards the removal position; and a separating element which is displaceable between a first position and a second position, wherein the separating element comprises at least one front part and at least one back part spaced apart from the front part, wherein the at least one front part is configured to hinder removal of the foremost beverage can from the storage area when the separating element is in the first position and to permit removal of the foremost beverage can from the storage area when the separating element is in the second position, wherein the at least one back part is configured to hinder a further beverage can of the row of beverage cans arranged on the storage area behind the foremost beverage can from moving towards the removal position when the separating element is in the second position.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0035] The previously mentioned and other advantages of the present solution will be apparent to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the following specification and the attached drawings.

[0036] FIG. 1A shows a side view of an embodiment of the proposed goods presentation system comprising a separating element for allowing removal of one article at a time from a storage area of the goods presentation system with an inclined sliding surfaces for our row of articles.

[0037] FIG. 1B shows the side view of FIG. 1A with the separating element displaced from a first position shown in FIG. 1A to a second position.

[0038] FIG. 2 shows the goods presentation system of FIGS. 1A and 1B illustrating adjustability of a front part of the separating element for refilling purposes.

[0039] FIG. 3 shows an enlarged view of a further embodiment having a separating element with two back parts.

[0040] FIG. 4A shows an enlarged view of a further embodiment with a sensor element at the separating element for electronically detecting movement of the separating element and/or the front part of the separating element.

[0041] FIG. 4B shows the embodiment of FIG. 4A with the separating element displaced into its second position.

[0042] FIG. 5 shows a side view of a further embodiment of a proposed goods presentation system including a driven pusher device for actively pushing articles at the storage area towards a front of the goods presentation system where a removal position is defined.

[0043] FIG. 6A shows a further embodiment of a proposed goods presentation system on whose storage area rows of beverage cans are arranged, with the separating element in its first position.

[0044] FIG. 6B shows the goods presentation system of FIG. 6A with the separating element in its second position for removal of a foremost beverage can from the goods presentation system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0045] FIG. 1A shows a side view of a goods presentation system 1 to be arranged for example on a shelf of a display rack at a point-of-sale, such as in a supermarket or drugstore. The goods presentation system 1 comprises a storage area 10 for accommodating at least one row of goods/articles of which two articles G1 and G2 are depicted in FIG. 1A. The articles G1 and G2, which may for example be cans, bottles, flacons, blister packs, cardboard boxes, packets, or the like, are arranged on a sliding surface 100 of the storage area 10 of the goods presentation system 1. The sliding surface 100 defines a plain area inclined with respect to a horizontal axis by an inclination angle . For example, the inclination angle is in the range of 5 to 10. Due to the inclination of the sliding surface, the articles G1, G2, under a resulting gravitational force F, slide towards a front portion 11 of the goods presentation system 1. To facilitate a sliding movement under the resulting gravitational force F acting on each article G1, G2, the sliding surface 100 may be made of a friction-reducing material or it may be coated with a friction-reducing material, such as polyoxymethylene (POM).

[0046] The front portion 11 of the goods presentation system 1 stops a sliding movement of the foremost article G1 of the row of articles and thereby defines a removal position for the foremost article G1 where the foremost article G1 is accessible for a customer and from where the customer may remove the foremost article G1 from the storage area 10. The front portion 11 further defines an opening 110 through which an upper part of the foremost article G1 may be accessed by a customer and manually pulled out from the storage area 10. A lower part of the front portion 11 below the opening 110 may for example carry a tag with product information on the articles G1, G2 and/or a product price.

[0047] At an upper support structure 12 (e.g., an upper shelf, a cross bar or a wire hook) of the goods presentation system 1 a separating element in the form of a swivel lever 2 is pivotably mounted. The swivel lever 2 is arranged above the sliding surface 100 and may be swivelled about a pivot axis A2 running perpendicular to a direction of movement along which the articles G1, G2 slide along the sliding surface 100 towards the front portion 11. In the illustrated example, the pivot axis A2 of the swivel lever 2 runs also parallel to the sliding surface 100.

[0048] In FIG. 1A the swivel lever 2 is in a first position (also considered as a close or protection position herein). In this first position a front part of the swivel lever 2 in the form of a plate-like theft prevention member 20 at least partially covers the opening 110. Thereby, the theft prevention member 20 hinders access to the foremost article G1 and blocks removal of the foremost article G1 from the storage area 10. Before the foremost article G1 is sufficiently accessible and may be manually removed from the storage area 10, a person has thus to firstly swivel the swivel lever 2 about the pivot axis A2 into a second position as shown in FIG. 1B. In the second position of the swivel lever 2 (also considered as an open or access position herein), the theft prevention member 20 no longer extends in front of the opening 110 and thus makes the opening 110 fully accessible for a person. The foremost article G1 may thus be manually grabbed and pulled out from the storage area 10.

[0049] Under the resulting gravitational force F, the subsequent article G2 arranged behind the foremost article G1 would immediately replace the foremost article G1 after its removal from the storage area 10. In the illustrated goods presentation system 1 however the subsequent article G1 is blocked from moving towards the emptied removal position after the foremost article G1 has been removed from the storage area 10 by a back part 21 of the swivel lever 2. The back part is provided in the form of an arresting member or stopper 21 at the swivel lever 2. While the theft prevention member 20 is located at a first end of the swivel lever extending in a forward direction from the pivot axis A2, the stopper 21 is located at a second end of the swivel lever 2 extending in an opposite rearward direction from the pivot axis A2. The stopper 21 is thus spaced apart from the theft prevention member 20 but is configured to move together with the theft prevention member 20.

[0050] When the swivel lever 2 is displaced towards its second position by swivelling in a pivoting direction R1 the theft prevention member 20 at the front of the goods presentation system 1 moves upwards. At the same time the stopper 21 moves downwards within the storage area 10 so as to protrude into an adjustment path of the subsequent article G2. Thereby, the stopper 21 provides a stop the subsequent article G2 hits and cannot pass when moving towards the front portion. The downwardly pivoted stopper 21 may evenfor example depending on the size and/or position of the subsequent articleengage with the subsequent article G2 to block its movement towards the front portion 11 as long as the swivel lever 2 is located in the second position. In any event, the stopper 21 blocks the subsequent article G2 from moving beyond a spacer position within the storage area distanced to a removal position at a front of the goods presentation device 1 so as to prevent the subsequent article G2 from reaching a removal position at the front of the storage area 10 while the swivel lever 2 is in its second position and has not returned to the first position. The goods presentation system 1 of FIGS. 1A and 1B therefore merely allows removing one article at a time from the storage area 10.

[0051] For automatically returning the swivel lever 2 from its second position shown in FIG. 1B back to its first position shown in FIG. 1A a return element in the form of a return spring 23 may be provided biasing the swivel lever 2 towards the first position. Generally, the swivel lever 2 may be configured to be adjusted back to its first position from the second position just under the effect of gravity. In case a user no longer holds the swivel lever 2 in the second position the swivel lever 2 returns to its first position due to gravity acting on the displaced swivel lever 2. The return spring 23 may provide for an supplemental and more defined biasing towards the first position.

[0052] As illustrated in the side view of FIG. 2, the goods presentation system 1 of FIGS. 1A and 1B allows for a convenient refilling of the storage area 10 with new articles. The theft prevention member 20 is pivotably mounted at the swivel lever 2 about a front part pivot axis A20. Thereby, the theft prevention member 20 may be displaced from a regular position shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B into a refill position at the swivel lever 2. When the swivel lever 2 is in its first position, the theft prevention member 20 may be swivelled into its refill position and thus folded backwards, thereby giving access to the opening 110 for refilling the storage area 10 with new articles via the front of the goods presentation system 1. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the theft prevention member 20 may be swivelled about the front part pivot axis A20 at the swivel lever 2 backwards in direction of the stopper 21 along a pivoting direction R2. This pivoting direction R2 for displacing the theft prevention member 20 from its regular position to its refill position is opposite to the pivoting direction R1 for displacing the swivel lever 2 from its first position to its second position. In the side views of FIGS. 1A, 1B and 2 the pivoting direction R1 for the swivel lever 2 thus runs clockwise while the pivoting direction R2 for the theft prevention member 20 runs counter-clockwise.

[0053] As illustrated in the enlarged view of FIG. 3 for a further embodiment, the swivel lever 2 may also be provided with multiple stoppers 21 and 22. Different stoppers 21, 22 spaced apart from each other may facilitate the use of the goods presentation system 1 with different types of articles G1, G2. Irrespective of the size of the articles arranged in the storage area 10, as long as the swivel lever 2 is in its second position, at least one of the stoppers 21, 22 blocks a subsequent from moving towards the removal position when the foremost article is removed.

[0054] As illustrated in FIGS. 4A and 4B, the goods presentation device 1 may furthermore include a sensor element in the form of the displacement sensor 3, e.g., including at least one of an acceleration sensor, an IMU, and vibration sensor. Such a displacement sensor 3 may detect movement of the swivel lever 2 into its second position and/or movement of the theft prevention member 20 from its regular position into its refill position. The displacement sensor 3 may for example be at least partially disposed on the swivel lever 2 or the support structure 12. For example, a vibration sensor of the displacement sensor 3 that is disposed on the support structure 12 may detect a characteristic vibration of the support structure 12, when the swivel lever 2 is adjusted from the first position into the second position without the need of having the displacement sensor directly mounted to the swivel lever 2. Via a single displacement senor 3 at the support structure 12 also a plurality of swivel levers 2, that is mounted to the support structure 12 for several rows of articles, may thus be monitored since every adjustment of a swivel lever 2 results in a characteristic vibration at the support structure 12.

[0055] Generally, on the basis of electronic signals S.sub.4, S.sub.5 of the displacement sensor 3 it may be detected when and how often an article is removed from the storage area 10 of the goods presentation system and/or when new articles are arranged in the storage area 10 for refilling the goods presentation system 1.

[0056] An electronic detection signal S.sub.4 may for example be generated to trigger generation of an audible tone and/or a visual notification at the goods presentation system 1 via and audio/light emitting device 4. In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 4A, 4B a corresponding device 4 is arranged at the front portion 11. Such a device 4 may for example comprise at least one of a speaker, a light emitting element and display element.

[0057] A further electronic detection signal S.sub.5 may also be generated by the displacement sensor 3 and sent to a remote alarm/monitoring device 5. Such an alarm/monitoring device 5 may for example be configured to determine a removal frequency resulting from consecutive movements of the swivel lever 2 from its first position into its second position over a certain time period. In case a determined removal frequency exceeds a threshold, an alarm is triggered indicating an atypical removal of a plurality of articles from the goods presentation system and thus is likely a potential theft of articles.

[0058] It is of course also possible that the displacement sensor 3 already includes an evaluation unit, for example provided by a microcontroller, for determining a removal frequency and comparing it with a threshold value to trigger generation of an alarm signal S.sub.4, S.sub.5 merely for indicating a potential theft. An audible tone and/or a visual notification is then for example only emitted at the audio/light emitting device 4 and/or the device 5 after the threshold value was exceeded and an alarm is to be output. A threshold value may for example be 3 detection signals in 5 seconds, 5 detection signals in 20 seconds, 7 detection signals in 30 seconds or 10 detection signals in 45 seconds.

[0059] FIG. 5 depicts an embodiment of the goods presentation system 1 including a driven pusher device 6. This pusher device 6 is arranged on the sliding surface 100 at the storage area 10. The pusher device 6 applies a pushing force F on the rearmost article of a row of articles G1, G2 arranged at the storage area 10. The pusher device 6 thus automatically pushes articles towards the front portion 11 if the foremost article G1 is removed from the storage areaas long as not blocked by the swivel lever 2 being in its second position.

[0060] FIGS. 6A and 6B illustrate a further embodiment of the proposed goods presentation system 1 which is configured for accommodating several rows of beverage cans G1, G2 at a storage area 10. The storage area 10 of the goods presentation system 1 illustrated in FIGS. 6A and 6B provides for several separate compartments for several rows of beverage cans G1, G2, where the compartments are respectively separated by a side wall 13 from each other.

[0061] Each row of beverage cans G1, G2 is to be arranged on a portion of an inclined sliding surface 100 of the storage area 10, wherein the sliding surface 100 of the goods presentation system 1 illustrated in FIGS. 6A and 6B is defined by a plurality of rolling elements in the form of roller bars 101. Each of these roller bars 101 is rotatably mounted about a rotation axis A101 running perpendicular to a sliding direction of the beverage cans G1, G2 within the storage area 10. Each beverage can G1, G2 thus slides towards the front portion 11 of the goods presentation system 1 of FIGS. 6A, 6B on the inclined sliding surface 100 under rotation of the roller bars 101 on which the beverage cans G1, G2 are disposed.

[0062] Like in the previously described embodiments of FIGS. 1A, 1B, 2, 3, 4A, 4B, and 5, the goods presentation system 1 of FIGS. 6A and 6B includes a swivel lever 2 for merely allowing one foremost beverage can G1 to be removed from the storage area 10 at a time. As in particular illustrated in FIG. 6B, a customer may reach the foremost beverage can G1 through an opening 110 provided between a bottom part of the front portion 11 and the theft prevention member 20 of the swivel lever 2 (when the swivel lever 2 is in its first position). The customer may thus reach with its hand H through the opening 110 to grab the foremost beverage can G1. However, pulling the foremost beverage can G1 out of the storage area 10 is merely possible when the swivel lever 2 is swivelled into its second position resulting in a swivel movement of the theft prevention member 20 upwards for increasing the size of the opening 110. Generally, the theft prevention member 20 may partially cover the opening 110 for hindering removal of a foremost beverage can G1 from one compartment or may be dimensioned and configured to partially cover the opening 110 for hindering removal of at least two foremost beverage cans G1 from two compartments next to one another.

[0063] With the swivel lever 2 being in its second position as illustrated in FIG. 6B a stopper 21 at the other end of the swivel lever 2 is moved downwards. With this downward movement the stopper 21 of the swivel lever 2 engages with a top G20 of a subsequent beverage can G2. In the shown embodiment, the stopper 21 extends into the recessed area at the top G20 of the subsequent beverage can G2 which surrounded by a ring portion G21. The stopper 21 thus blocks movement of the subsequent beverage can G2 from moving towards the removal position under the resulting gravitational force F when the foremost beverage can G1 is pulled out of the storage area 10. Merely after a return of the swivel lever 2 to its first position and the accompanying movement of the stopper 21 upwards the subsequent beverage can G2and any beverage cans behind itare allowed to move towards the front portion 11 under rotation of the roller bars 101. Thereby, the previous subsequent beverage can G2 becomes the new foremost beverage can of the rows of beverage cans arranged in the storage area 10.

[0064] The goods presentation system 1 of FIGS. 6A and 6B may also be provided with an additional stopper 22 at the second end of the swivel lever 2 and/or with a displacement sensor 3, as illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4A-4B. In the goods presentation system 1 of FIGS. 6A and 6B the theft prevention member 20 may also be pivotably mounted so as to be adjustable from a regular position (as shown in FIGS. 6A, 6B) and a refill position for facilitating refilling the goods presentation system 1 of FIGS. 6A and 6B with new beverage cans.

[0065] The foregoing description of the embodiments has been provided for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to limit the disclosure. Individual elements or features of a particular embodiment are generally not limited to that particular embodiment, but, where applicable, are interchangeable and can be implemented in another embodiment, even if not specifically shown or described. The same elements may also be varied in one or more ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the disclosure, and all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the disclosure.