Proceedings of the ASME 2009 International Manufacturing Science and Engineering Conference
MSEC2009
October 4-7, 2009, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA
Proceedings of the ASME 2009 International Manufacturing Science and Engineering Conference
October 4-7, 2009, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA
AN RFID-BASED SHOPPING SERVICE SYSTEM FOR RETAILERS
Jiang-LiangHou
DepartmentofIndustrialEngineeringand
EngineeringManagement
NationalTsingHuaUniversity
Hsinchu(300),Taiwan
ABSTRACT
With the rapid development of global economy and great
improvement on life quality of consumers, the consumer
shopping behaviors have been changed significantly. Modern
retailers have put intensive effort on merchandise arrangement
in order to satisfy the consumer demands on merchandise
shopping. However, most retailers do not provide satisfactory
shopping services to customers. For instance, without a
customized shopping recommendation for each individual
customer, consumers have to spend a lot of time for
merchandise selection. Furthermore, most large-spaced
retailers merely utilize signs in front the aisles of specific
merchandise areas to direct consumers, which cannot provide
an accurate guidance for merchandise search. Therefore,
regarding the shopping services of a modern retailer, this
research develops a customized merchandise recommendation
algorithm (CMRA) and a shopping route determination and
guidance algorithm (SRDGA). Based on the proposed
algorithms, a Shopping Service System (3S-System) is
established by integrating the RFID technology. Considering
the consumer demands, consumer shopping preferences and
market promotion plans, this research proposes an integrated,
heuristic methodology to provide a customized shopping list,
route recommendation and real-time direction guidance for
consumer shopping. Moreover, based on the proposed
methodology, a Shopping Service System (3S-System) is
established, and a simulated market is created in order to
verify the feasibility of the proposed model. The verification
results show that the system can offer customers appropriate
shopping route recommendation in a short time and could
achieve real-time guidance. As a whole, this research provides
a methodology and system to provide effective shopping
services for consumers and as a result the shopping service
quality of modern retailers can be enhanced and the sales
volume of merchandises can be increased.
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MSEC2009
MSEC2009-84305
MSEC2009-84305
Ting-GinChen
DepartmentofIndustrialEngineeringand
NationalTsingHuaUniversity
Hsinchu(300),Taiwan
1.BACKGROUND
In the customer-oriented era, the customers have higher r
demand for retailer service quality. The new-style retailers e
(including wholesalers) should provide not only a wide c
selection of usable and value-added merchandises for o
customers, but also a diversified, user-friendly shopping m
environment with wide exhibition space. Traditionally, the m
retailers provide paper-based promotional catalogs to support e
customers to browse and select merchandises. However, such n
promotional approach is not designed on the basis of d
individual preferences. Thus, the promotional information a
cannot completely meet the shopping demands of distinct t
customers. As a result, it is difficult for the retailers to i
increase their sales volumes owing to the in-effective o
shopping assistance. In the broad space of the retailer, n
categorization signs are affixed on the shelves to assist the .
customers to find the merchandises they intend to purchase.
As the scale of the retailers is increased further (e.g., the
shopping space is expanded to several floors), it might be
difficult for customers to find the locations of the
merchandises via the signs. Customers have to identify the
floors that their target merchandises are stored via the map
and then find the detailed shelf locations through the signs.
The existing shopping model is inconvenient and inefficient.
As customers want to buy merchandises of various types and
the shopping route is not provided, they have to plan the route
according to their experience. The method for shopping route
planning is time-consuming and optimality of the result
cannot be guaranteed.
The issues regarding the absence of a shopping service system
in a retailer can be summarized into the following three
points:
(1) Shopping list determination: The traditional shopping
assistance service lacks customized merchandise
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(2) Shopping route planning: Customers have to spend time
on planning the shopping route based on their experience and
optimalityof the planning result cannot be guaranteed.
(3) Shopping route guidance: The real-time guidance service
for the merchandise locations is not provided in a traditional
retailer.
2.LITERATUREREVIEW
The research subjects included applications of the RFID
technology, route planning, and guidance and tracking via the
RFID technology. The literature related to these subjects is
reviewed as follows.
Development of the RFID technology has matured gradually
and the scope of its applications has been extended. For
example, Chow et al. (2005) employed the RFID technology
to improve the warehouse management efficiency. McCoy et
al. (2005) used the RFID technology to establish the airport
passenger tracking and tracing system to improve the
efficiency of the security management. Gandino et al. (2007)
applied the RFID technology to a distributing center of
agricultural merchandises for the production history tracking
and quality control. In addition to the applications for
inventory control and passenger management, the RFID
technology has been widely applied to the object positioning.
Goodrum et al. (2006) attached the active RFID tags to small
tools in a plant where the RFID reader was installed to
identify the locations of various small tools in real time. Patil
et al. (2005) established a positioning system for buildings
with usage of technologies such as RFID and Wireless
Fidelity(Wi-Fi).
The route planning can be classified into the two types,
including the optimal route planning and approximate optimal
route planning. In the optimal route planning, the exhaustion
method and the dynamic programming are often used for a
small number of candidate routes to achieve the optimal route
solution. Chang (2007) used dynamic programming to derive
the shortest path for the plane passes through multiple
locations. Determination of the optimal solution via dynamic
programming is time-consuming. In addition to the full length
of the route, some other domain-specific constraints should
also be concerned for routes selection. Lee and Kardaras
(1997) planned the optimal route where the distance from the
starting point to the destination is the shortest and the number
of obstacles within the route is also minimized. In the
approximate optimal route planning, the approximate optimal
solution is often determined via search algorithms. For
instance, the genetic algorithm (GA), ant colony system
(ACS) and Tabu search algorithm have been widely used to
derive the distribution route of merchandises for logistics
suppliers (Chen, 2006;Tsai, 2004; Chiou, 2002).
Previous studies have discussed the improvement of visit
service quality of the exhibition hall or efficiency of
merchandise delivery tracking for suppliers. Ishizuka et al.
(2005) established the guiding system of a research center in
the University of Tokyo via the RFID technology. The system
classified the visitors according to their scientific education
levels in order to provide different explanations for the
visitors. Baum et al. (2007) used the RFID technology to
establish the positioning system of an automated guided
vehicle (AGV). Besides the guidance application, the RFID
technology can be applied to track people and objects. Mori et
al. (2004) developed a tracing system for indoor people
localization with floor pressure sensors and the RFID
technology. Other applications can be seen in the hospital
adopted the RFID Tag function of the thermometer to control
the SARS spread in the hospitalWang et al. (2006).
3. METHODOLOGY FOR SHOPPING ROUTE
DETERMINATIONANDGUIDANCE
In this research, based on the shopping demands and
preferences of the target customer and with the sales
promotion, amethodology for shopping route planning and
guidance is developed to provide the shopping route
suggestions for the target customer. In addition, the RFID
technology is employed to provide the real-time route
guidance according to the location of the target customer. The
methodology focuses on providing recommendation lists for
shopping and real-time shopping route guidance based on the
shopping preference of each individual customer. As a result,
the shopping efficiency and sales can be increased via the
customized shopping services. In the proposed methodology,
several assumptions are made as follows:
 The entrance and the exit of a retailer are the starting
and
ending points for shopping route planning.
 The shopping history of each customer has been
recorded.
 The walking speed of a customer is stable and thus a
specified value can be given to represent the customer
walking speed for the entire shopping process.
 The time for distinct customers to browse the identical
merchandise is equal and can be assigned a definite value.
 The RFID readability is not concerned in the proposed
methodology.
Based on the above assumptions, a two-phase methodology
with shopping route determination and shopping route
guidance is developed. The algorithm for shopping route
determination can be further classified into two types, i.e., the
shopping route determination with a definite shopping list and
shopping route determination without a definite shopping list.
As a definite shopping list can be obtained, the shopping route
can be determined according to the merchandises identified by
the target customer. The shopping route determination model
can assist the target customer to browse the merchandises to
be purchased via the shortest route. On the other hand, if the
definite shopping list cannot be acquired, the recommended
merchandises to be browsed can be determined based on the
shopping history of the customer and the sales promotion
strategies of the retailer. According to the shopping criteria
specified by the target customer, the merchandises with higher
recommendation are identified and the shortest shopping route
for browsing the recommended merchandises can be derived
in order to assist the target customer to efficiently browse their
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preferred merchandises within the scheduled shopping time. merchandises to be browsed are SL and SL
i j
The conceptual model of the proposed methodology is shown
respectively,
in
Figure 1. The two subjects (i.e., shopping route determination *
The shortest distance for browsing rest of the
SL
f n merchandises if the n’th merchandise to be
and guidance) of the proposed methodology are i

described as follows. browsed is SL

Set of the merchandises to be browsed in the
LSL n’th
n
Input Shoppingroute
determination
Shortestshopping
route
Shoppingroute
guidance browsing    sequence    (including    the    n’th
Shoppinglist
ID
Items
merchandise)
Item 1
A
Withdefinite
Seq SL n Merchandise to be browsed in the (n+1)’th
,
shoppinglist 2 3 BC Locat ions i
sequence when SL he n’th sequence
… …

Distance iisint
… …
*
The total length of the route where the target
Seq. Item
D
ShoppingCondition
customer browses all the listed merchandises in
1 D
2 A
Type Preference
Preferences
1 63 C

the optimal shopping

2 4
Withoutdefinite 3 7 Promation … …
shoppinglist strategies … …

… …
* route
… …Seqi The i'th merchandise to be browsed by the target
Time 80 mins Recommendation
customer in the optimal shopping route
Speed 60 m/min

Figure 1. Framework for shopping route determination and
guidance
4.SHOPPINGROUTEDETERMINATION
Shopping route suggestions for customers can be made based
on their shopping preferences. The corresponding algorithm
can be divided into the algorithm with a definite shopping list
and the algorithm without a definite shopping list. Details of
the shopping route determination model are described as
follows.
4.1 SHOPPING ROUTE DETERMINATION WITH A
DEFINITESHOPPINGLIST
Most customers have their own shopping lists as they go
shopping in a retailer. In this algorithm, the optimal shopping
route can be determined for customers based on their
shopping lists. The conceptual procedure of this algorithm can
be revealed in Figure 4. Firstly, after acquiring the shopping
list assigned by the customer, locations of the identified
merchandises can be obtained. Furthermore, the relative
distance of the merchandise locations is checked. In order to save shopping time
for the target customer and to reduce the
total length of the shopping route, the dynamic programming
The designed aisle arrangement is shown in Figure 2. It is
assumed that each merchandise is placed on the single shelf
(as shown in Figure 2(A)). The shelf towards the same aisle
and at the same side of the aisle can be defined as the single
shelf (as shown in Figure 2(B)). The shelves at the aisles are
arranged in parallel, and the customers cannot pass through
the physical shelves. In addition, each merchandise in the
shelf has their corresponding aisle turning points. The turning
points corresponding to each merchandise are the intersection
points of the aisles adjacent to the merchandise (as shown in
Figure 2(C)). Merchandises with the shelves towards the same
aisle are defined that the merchandises are placed in the same
shelf area (as shown in Figure 2(D)). That is, customers can
browse merchandises in the same shelf area without passing
through anyaisle turning points.
(B) Single shelf
(D) Shelf area The i'th merchandise
(A) Single shelf

The X co
A
method is used to determine the shortest shopping route, and the i
s

customer is advised to take the shopping route. of locatio

l
e

The symbols used in this algorithm are defined as follows: x(SLi)

i
(C) Turning points corresponding to the i'th merchandise

SL L
The i'th merchandise in the shopping list of the TheYcoo
i location S
target customer
Figure 2. The shelf layout in a retailer L
y(SLi) i For shopping route determination with a definite
shopping
D(SLi,SLj) The relative distance between locations SL an
d
i list, the shopping list should be acquired first. According to
the
SL list, the coordinates of the specified merchandises can be
j
 AWL(SL Set of the turning points of all the aisles adjacent obtained and the relative distance of the merchandises can be
i) to SL derived. The dynamic programming is used to determine the
i
NWL(SL browse sequence with the shortest route. The suggested
The number of the turning points of the aisles
i) sequence can be provided for the target customer to improve
adjacent to SL the shopping efficiency. The details of the proposed algorithm
mf i
n(SLi,SL j) The distance for browsing rest of the are described as follows.
merchandises    if    the    n’th and (n+1)’th
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 Step (A1)-Acquisition of the shopping list from the target three parts are totalized as the relative distance between SL i
custome location and SLj location. The several aisle turning points
r exist
The shopping list of the target customer is required before at the shelves of the adjacent merchandises, and the relative
deriving the optimal shopping route. The shopping list distance between and the SL is changed with the selection
includes SL j
i
the itemnumber i and the corresponding item i. of the aisle turning points. Thus, the shortest distance between
SL
Step (A2)-Acquisition of location coordinates of the SL and SL is selected from the arrangement and combination
i j
specified items of the available aisle turning points, and value represents thei,SLj)between
j.Amongthem,
The geographic coordinates of the specified items can be relative distance D (SL
acquired according to the shopping list and WMS (warehouse the walkway turning point Out (SL j) apartf
i
,
fromr
S SL o
L im

management system) of the retailer. Taking as an example, SL SL defined as the walkway turning point WL (SL i,h)
SL ito jis
i
the X coordinate L and the Y coordinate L making the distance shortest in relative distance between two
x
(
y(SLi)
merchandises; and the walkway turning point In(SL
S
L
i
)
corresponding to SL
icanbeacquiredinthisstep. i,SLj)toSL j
Step (A3)-Calculation of the relative distance of the from SL to SL is defined as the walkway turning point
i j
specified W making the distance shortest in relative distance
items L
In this method, the relative distance between between two merchandises. The equation for calculating the
merchandises
can be derived based on the shelf locations to determine the relative distance is as follows
shortest route for browsing the merchandises in the target list. Step (A4)-Inference of the optimal shopping route of the
The shelves are placed in parallel in the retailer and it should target customers
be considered that whether a shelf obstructs the direct channel Based on the shopping list, shelf location and the relative
between two merchandises during calculation of the distance distance of these merchandises above, the dynamic
between different merchandise shelves. The aisle turning programming is used to determine the shopping route
points of the different merchandises can be used to determine planning which the target customers can finish the browsing
whether the different merchandises are in the same shelf area. of all the intended merchandises in the shortest route.
If in the same shelf area, it means that there is direct In the dynamic programming used to calculate the shortest
connection between the two merchandises, no shelf obstructs route, the merchandises to be purchased in the last shopping
the customer to walk. Thus, the distance between the two sequence as the starting point is used to calculate the length of
merchandises can be calculated by linear distance. If the two route needed for purchase of the rest of merchandises, and
merchandises are not in the same shelf area, it means that then the good in the preceding sequence as the starting point is
there is a shelf in the direction connection between the used to calculate the length of route needed for purchase of
merchandises, and it may obstruct the customers to walk. the rest of merchandises.
Thus, the distance should be calculated by
segments. The method for calculation of the distance between * *
for SL
f 
SL

min SL, 
 f

D SL
ni
SL jLSLn-SL i

i j  1j
n
merchandises is as follows: The concept that merchandises in the last sequence are
 Merchandises placed in the same
shelf area
It is assumed that SL and SL placed in the same shelf selected can be used to infer that the target customers buy the
i jare SL in the n sequence and SL (and SL in the next
i j jLSLn-SL i)
area, and it means there is no shelf in the direct connection sequence till the rest of merchandises are purchased in the
between SLiand SL target customers can get
 j.Furthermore,the needed route .The different merchandises can be S
m L
f
  SL,
the SL n i j

any aisle turning point.

iandSLjwithoutpassingthrough
Thus, the relative distance D(SL between SL selected from the rest of merchandises as the one to be
i,SLj) i and SL is
j
the linear distance of geographical coordinates of the two purchased in the next sequence. The minimum value should be
taken for the total length of the route mf  from
SL
merchandises. n SLi SL, j ito
 Merchandises placed in the different shelf areas the rest of merchandises SL j, and the value is defined
as the
If the SL and SL placed in the different shelf areas *
i jare shortest route f  which the rest of merchandises are
n SLi
(different aisle turning points of the two merchandises), the purchased with SL i in the n sequence as the starting
point. In
actual walking distance which the target customers intends to addition, the SL j which makes the total length of the route
continuously get SL i and SL should be j

calculated by the shortest can be defined as the merchandises Seq

to be
SL ? n,
i
segments. The distance which the target customers walk from
the SL      location to SL purchased in the next sequence after iinthensequence.
ij location can be dividedSL
into three parts
At last, the minimum value is taken for the total length of
to be calculated. It is calculated that first part of the distance
the route formed by all the merchandises
m SL
f
0
SEntry, SL ii
.
from SL i location to the turning point of the adjacent aisle
The value can be defined as the shortest length of the route *
D
WL(SLi,h) (the h aisle turning point of the adjacent good SL i);

it is calculated the second part of the distance from the aisle where the target customer purchases all the merchandises in
the
turning point WL(SL shopping list. The SL total length of the route
of SL iwhichmakesthe

to the aisle turning point

i,h)
i
WL(SLj,k) of the SL (the k aisle turning point of the adjacent                                mf shortest can defined as the
good SL *
j);itiscalculatedthethirdpartofthedistancefromthe                                                   Seq to be purchased in the first sequence.

SL turning point 1

location to the adjacent aisle WL(SL

j j,k); the
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D min *
The total time when the target customers browse

mf 0
SEntry, SL T
i i
the merchandises recommended to be browsed in
* *
Seq 
A SL

fa  in SL
 m
  
SL mf SEntry,
0 the optimal shopping route
a

i
0i  
1
A
*
In addition, based on to be
* purchased in the first Seq
The number of the good types recommended to
1
be browsed in the optimal shopping route
sequence, it is inferred the merchandises item ( *
)which the
Seq
n
The data related to shopping preference of the target
target customer can purchases in the optimal sequence (n). The
optimal shopping route planning result can be achieved by customers and the retailer sales promotion degree is required ind
connecting the merchandises in shopping list of the target the shopping route suggestion inference model without thea
customers with their corresponding aisle turning points definite shopping list. The recommendation degree of browset
can be calculated according to the shopping preference anda
according to the optimal shopping sequence. related to the retailer sales promotion degree; then the shortest
Seq*  * n  shopping route with the number of different good types can be
, 1 inferred by sequence according to the browse recommendation
Seq 
Seq
n

1n
4.2 SHOPPING ROUTE INFERENCE MODEL degree of all merchandises, and the time target customers spend
WITHOUTDEFINITESHOPPINGLIST in browsing the retailer in the shortest shopping route with
Some customers go to the retailers without intended or definite different merchandise types can be inferred by sequence
shopping lists, and they just want to spend time on viewing new according to the browse recommendation degree. The
merchandises (shopping is not their main purpose).The comparison between the inferred time above and the scheduled
shopping list is replaced with customer preference and sales time is made. The time close to and not greater than the
promotion to infer the optimal shopping rote in this inference scheduled time will be selected and defined as the optimal
model. The symbols for the shopping route inference model shopping route for the target customers. The detailed steps of
without definite shopping list are defined as follows: this model are described as follows.
SK Step (B1)-Acquisition of the preference degree of the target
The i-th good types in retailers customers for the merchandises
i In this method, the previous shopping behavior of the target
CSK customers is defined as the shopping preference degree value
The number of the merchandises of the i type of the target customers. Namely, the shopping preference
i
purchased bythe target customers in the historical degree
data
Cus(SK
The preference degree of the target customers for
i)
good of SK i value (Cus(SKi))ofthetargetcustomersforsomegoodtypecan
DisSK The total value of the discounted price for the be represented by the ratio between (CSK of
i i),thetotalnumber
merchandises of SK i the merchandises of some type purchased by the target
OriSK NSK
), total number of
CSK
The total value of the original price for the
i 
customers in the historical data and ( merchandises of SK j
i 
1j
Sel(SK The sales promotion degree for the merchandises
i)
the all purchased merchandises.-
of SK i NSK
 
Cus SK CSK / CSK ij
α  for i=1,2,3,…,NSK
Weight of the customers’ preference for the j1

merchandises during calculation of browse 

Step (B2)-Acquisition of the sales promotion degree for each

recommendation degree
β Weight of the retailer promotion during product in the retailer
calculation of browse recommendation degree In the method, the discount rate of all the merchandises in
Pro(SK Browse recommendation degree of the the retailer is defined as their sales promotion degree value.
i. merchandise of SKi Namely, (Sel(SK i)), the sales promotion degree of some
L Xcoordinate value of the shelf location of merchandise type can be defined as the ratio between (OriSK i),
x(SKi) merchandise of SKi total value of the original price of all merchandises of this type
and (DisSK total value of the discounted price of all the
L Ycoordinate value of the shelf location of i),
y(SKi) merchandise of SKi merchandises of this type.
Sel SK  
Ori SK
Dis/ SK
T(SK erage time for
i i i

A customers to
v browse the
i)
merchandise of SKi Step (B3)-Calculation of the browse recommendation
WT SK Time for the target customers to walk from the degree for each good type
i
SK j It is assumed that α, the weight of the browse b
, shelf of merchandise of SK i to the shelf of the recommendation degree for each merchandise type, can e
AT(n) m c t
e a h
e

w
e
i
g
h
t

o
f

t
h
e

b
r
o
w
s
e

r
e
c
o
m
m
e
n
d
a
t
i
o
n

d
egree for each
the merchandises of the n type with the higher merchandise type, can be calculated based on retailer sales
browse recommendation degree in the shortest promotion. Thus, the browse recommendation degree for SK
route i
can be defined as the weighted product obtained from two
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 weights of the customer merchandise preference degree time, the total time for browsing all the recommended
Cus(SK merchandise types and the planned time should be compared.
i)andtheretailersalespromotionSel(SKi).

Pro Only the total time closest to and not greater than the planned
SK

Cus  
SK Sel
  
ii
SK i

*
Step (B4)-Acquisition of geographic coordinates of shelf of time can be selected and defined as,the optimal browse
each merchandise type                                                                                                  *
time Tof target customers. The number of the merchandise
In this step, the mean value of the geographic types which can make the total browse closest to and not greater
coordinates can be calculated after the shelf location than the planned time is defined as *
coordinates of all n ,the optimal
merchandise types
number of
are obtained. The
merchandise types recommend to be browsed by the target
geographic
coordinate closest to customers.
n*
the mean value can
be defined as the 
representative shelf 
location of the good
type. Taking SK
i
i i  and AT  
A S 1i
T T 
as an example, after the geographic coordinate of this ST
merchandise type is acquired one by one according to the *
T *
AT n

merchandise item, the mean X coordinate value and the mean Step (B8)-Inference of optimal shopping route for target
Y coordinate value can be calculated. In addition, the shelf customers
location which coordinates closest to the mean X coordinate The optimal browsing sequence for the shortest shopping
value and the mean Y coordinate are defined as the route and the optimal number of merchandise types
representative shelf location of SK The coordinate data of the
i.
recommended to be browsed by the target customers has been
shelf location is indicated as the representative geographic recommended merchandise type in the shortest route d
coordinates of shelf location for SK has been inferred. In this step, the optimal number of e
i,i.e.,Lx(SK i)andL y(SK i).
merchandise type recommended to be browsed by t
Step (B5)-Calculation of relative distance of placement for
target customers is selected within the planned e
each good type
shopping time of the customers. r
This calculation method is the same with the method for the
The time needed by customers to browse them
optimal shopping route inference model with definite
merchandises in retailer can be divided into two parts,i
shopping list (see Step (A3)). which are browse timen
Step (B6)-Inference of browse sequence for the shortest
route with all recommended merchandise types e
In this step, the inference method is the same with the method d
for the optimal shopping route inference model with definite
shopping list (as shown in Step (A4)). However, this shopping i
model is limited by the planned shopping time of the target n
customers. It cannot let the target customers browse all the
merchandises in the retailer. Only the merchandise types with t
higher brow recommendation degree are provided for the h
target customers to browse. The inferred browse sequence for e
the shortest route with all recommended merchandises types
can be used as the basis for the subsequent route selection. p
Step (B7)-Selection of the optimal number of merchandise r
types recommended to be browsed by target customers e
In the previous step, browse sequence of the each v
ious steps. In this step, the merchandises recommend to be browsed
are connected with their aisle turning points according to the optimal
shopping sequence, and this is the optimal shopping route planning
result.
5.SHOPPINGROUTEGUIDANCE
The shopping route suggestion recommended for the target customers
can be inferred according to the definite shopping lists or the previous
preference of the target customers; the shopping route guidance is
created for the target customers in this phase, and it can provide the
shopping direction and the guidance of advance distance for the target
customers. It is hoped that the shopping route guidance model can
assist target customers to achieve the efficient shopping in the
recommended shopping route.
(T(SKi)) and time for location transfer ( ). In the
WT SK SK j
i
,
shortest shopping route where the n merchandise types with
higher browse recommendation are browsed, the total time
AT(n) (including browse time and the time for location
transfer).
AT * * *
n n  Seq
T 
i Seq,
 
 n n
In order to let the target customers browse the retailer in
the recommended shopping route within their planned
shopping
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In the above case, the model planning uses RFID to obtain the
coordinates data of the target customer location. The retailer
staff offer the RFID Reader to the customers, and the
customers can carry with it or put it in the shopping cart. In
addition, the shelves are affixed with RFID Tags including the
shelves number. RFID Reader can read the information in
RFID Tags affixed to the shelves beside the target customers
the when they walk in the retailer. The coordinate data of the
target customer location can be inferred according to the read-
out coordinate data of the shelf location, and thus the optimal
shopping route guidance suggestion can be inferred. The route
is provided for the target customers. The RFID positioning
method for this model is different from the ordinary one. In
the application of
the ordinary RFID positioning method, the RFID Reader is
arranged in the positioning environment, the RFID Tag is
affixed to the object (such as customers), and the object
location is calculated through the triangulation location
method. Many RFID Readers will be needed to ensure the
correct positioning result, and furthermore the result is
provided for the
    
i Seq

D
 
i

/1
n
object through other medium (such as PDAmobile device)
after
the system completes the positioning. This positioning method
requires high cost and may violate individual privacy. Thus,
for
6 Copyright © 2009
byASME
 this model, the RFID Tag is affixed in the positioning The information in the affixed RFID Tag around the target
environment and RFID Reader with the PDAis provided for customers’position is obtained in the previous steps. The
the
customers. This complete positioning process is performed in f
is the occurrence frequency of the set of the

WLR

RT
i
PDA. The retailer staff cannot know the customer location if aisle turning points corresponding to the information in each
PDA is not connected with the back-end system of the retailer, RFID Tag read by RFID Reader. The highest frequency of
so the customer privacywill not be violated. occurrence of set of the aisle turning points is taken and is
The shopping route guidance algorithm includes the defined
the targetascustomer
the set ofposition,
the aisleAWLC
turning points corresponding to
shopping route suggestion and inference of advance direction where the i

LC LC, 
x
y
for the target customers, the detailed steps are described as
aisle turning point is WLC  ,the coordinates value
follows. LC x LC, y i, 
Step (C1)-Acquisition of shopping route suggestion of the turning point are L  and

WLC 
LC LC ,
, i
x x y
recommended for target customers
L WLC  .
In the previous steps (from Step (A1) to Step (B8)), the y LC x LC, y i,
optimal shopping route for the target customers have been If the target customer stands between the longitudinal shelves,
inferred according to the definite shopping list or the previous the X coordinate value of the turning point corresponding to
shopping preference of the target customers. In this step, the the target customer location is equal. After
shopping route planning result can be used as the basis for the *

subsequent inference of the route guidance. correction, the X coordinate value (

Step (C2)-Acquisition of affixed RFID Tag around the LC )of the target
location of target customers customer
x
In this method, the coordinate data of the location which location is equal to the X coordinate value of the
corresponding aisle turning point. Contrarily, if the target
customer stands between transverse shelves, Y coordinate
value of the turning point corresponding to the target customer
location is equal.
target customers can be determined through RFID. When target After correction, Y coordinate value (
customers walk in the retailer, the RFID Reader carried by
*
)is equal to the Y
LC
them y

can regularly read out the affixed RFID Tags around the coordinate value of the corresponding aisle turning point.
location of target customers. If RFID Reader reads out the Step (C5)-Inference of the shopping route guidance
information in the NR RFID Tags (number of RFID Tags read suggestion
The corrected geological coordinates ( * and *
LC
byRFID Reader may be different, because it may be affected LC ) of
by y
x the target customer have been determined in the previous step,
location of target customers), the geographical coordinates of
the affixed RFID Tag, i.e. ( and )and the set of the number of the locations the target customer pass through is
L L RT 
y
RT i
x
i
aisle turning points corresponding to the affixed RFID Tag, defined as NL, and thus, the next target location is the NL+1
( location in the optimal shopping route, the coordinate value is
WLR
RT

i )can be obtained with the information ( RT )in i

LS
 and LS
 .Later, the comparison between


1 1
NL NL
 
RFIDTag ( 
x y

).
RT
WLR
S the corrected coordinate value of the target customer location
and the coordinate value of the next target location is made. If
the X coordinate difference is zero, it means current target
In the previous step, the information in the affixed RFID
customer location and his next target location is in the same Tag and the relevant geographical coordinates has been
obtained. In this method, the mean value of the geographical longitudinal aisle, and thus it is proposed that the customer
coordinates of RFID Tag can be defined as the coordinates moves along Y axis (DS=moving along Y axis
(i.e., LC* LS-  1 distance). On the other
hand, if the Y
yy NL 
LC and )of target customer location before correction.
LC
x
y
L RT coordinate difference is zero, it means the location of current
 

L RT y i target customers and his next target location is in the same
x i
i
, i

LC LC  transverse aisle, and thus it is proposed that the customer

 y
NR moves
x
NR
along X axis (DS= moving along X axis * LS
LC -
 1
Step (C4)-Correction of geographical coordinate of target N
6.SYSTEM
x
x
L
customer location
distance).
Limited by the read-out range and ability of the RFID Reader,
the mean value of the coordinates of RFID Tag read by
RFID Reader which is defined as the coordinate of the target This research established a Shopping Service System for the
customer location may have error. In order to reduce the error, shopping list inference, shopping route planning and guidance.
the inferred coordinate values of the target customer position This system establishment was based on Microsoft Pocket PC.
can be corrected based on the coordinates of the aisle turning VB.Net (Visual Basic.Net) was used to develop the various
point corresponding to the target customers’location in the system functions, and establish system operating interfaces. In
method. addition, Microsoft SQL Server CE was used for the back-end
system to store and manage the relevant data. This
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system can be divided into four modules, which are Shopping
Route Planning Module, Merchandise Data Maintenance
Module, Shelf Location Data Maintenance Module and User
Data Maintenance Module.
The Shopping Service System divides the system user into the
ordinary user and administrator through user identification.
The ordinary user can perform the shopping route planning
and guidance function when logging in the system. This
system can infer the shortest shopping route with the shopping
list or shopping condition input by the user. Furthermore, it
can estimate the total length of the route and total time needed
for shopping according to the browse sequence of the
merchandises. The information will be displayed on the
system page (Figure 3) to help the customer know the
recommended shopping route. Later, users can perform the
function of the shopping route guidance to obtain the real-time
shopping route guidance result (Figure 4). The shopping route
guidance information includes the next target location and the
direction and distance of it. In addition, the ordinary user can
perform the individual data maintenance function (Figure 5).
Besides the functions mentioned above, the administrator can
perform user data maintenance function (Figure 6),
merchandise data maintenance function (Figure 7) and shelf
location data maintenance function (Figure 8). In summary,
the function modules of this system are expected to help
customers the retailer better planning their shopping route and
achieve efficient shopping.
Figure 3. Shopping Figure 4. Figure 5.
route                    planning
result Shopping route Individual
guidance result maintenanc
e operation”,
Figure 6. User data
Figure 7.
Figure 8. Shelf
maintenanc Merchandise data location
e maintenance maintenanc
e and presents the optimal contents with RFID tags for a Super-
7.CONCLUSIONS
The proposed shopping route determination and guidance
methodology with RFID can provide the shopping assistance
services for customers. Among the services, the inference of
the individualized merchandises list recommended to be
browsed can provide the customers without definite shopping
list to quickly browse merchandises, so the customers do not
need to spend too much time browsing merchandises that they
do not need and are not interested in. The shopping route can
assist the customers without rich shopping experience or
better space awareness to plan the shortest shopping route, the
shopping route planning result can help the customers
reducing the moving time for browsing merchandises and can
greatly improve the efficiency of shopping, Lastly, the
shopping route guidance service can help the customers
moving quickly to the shelf of merchandises which they want
to find in a retailer with complex aisle arrangement. It can
reduce the time customers spent on finding merchandise
shelves and raise the satisfaction of the customers.
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