Lighted Display System and Apparatus

Abstract

The present invention is a lighted display system which interacts with its environment. Sensors and product and consumer databases feed information to a central processing unit which then selects a given lighting pattern to control illumination of a product display. Relevant information could include consumer profiles, product sale data, discount data, product location and consumer presence. Lighting is then used to draw a consumer's attention to product in which the consumer may have more interest.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A lighted display system comprising:
 a computer processor;   at least one database;   a lighting processor operatively connected to the computer processor;   at least one lighting module operatively connected to the lighting processor, said lighting module being mounted upon a merchandise display;   wherein the computer processor instructs the lighting processor to activate the at least one lighting module in according to a pattern determined to attract consumer attention to individual products displayed on the merchandise display based upon information contained in the at least one database.   
     
     
         2 . The display system of  claim 1 , the at least one database including product information. 
     
     
         3 . The display system of  claim 1 , the at least one database including customer data. 
     
     
         4 . The display system of  claim 1 , further comprising at least one auxiliary input. 
     
     
         5 . The display system of  claim 4 , the at least one auxiliary input being chosen from the set of auxiliary inputs consisting of: environmental sensors, card readers, RFID chip sensors and readers, and customer input devices. 
     
     
         6 . The display system of  claim 1 , the pattern being selected from a set of patterns consisting of: highlighting customer favorite products, highlighting featured products, and highlighting discounted products. 
     
     
         7 . The display system of  claim 1 , the computer processor and the lighting control processor being the same processor. 
     
     
         8 . A method of attracting customer attention to a specified product on a merchandizer, the method comprising:
 operatively coupling at least one lighting module, mounted upon the merchandizer in a manner to shine light on displayed product, to a lighting control processor and the lighting control processor in turn to a computer processor;   providing at least one database of information accessible to the computer processor;   the computer processor accessing the at least one database in order to determine a selected lighting pattern;   the computer processor communicating the selected lighting pattern to the lighting control processor; and   the lighting control processor executing the selected pattern by activating the at least one lighting module according to the selected pattern.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising the steps of providing at least one auxiliary input operatively connected to the computer processor and data from the at least one auxiliary input is used to determine the selected pattern. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , the at least one auxiliary input being chosen from the set of auxiliary inputs consisting of: environmental sensors, card readers, RFID chip sensors and readers, and customer input devices. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 8 , the at least one database including product information. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 8 , the at least one database including customer data. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 8 , the selected pattern being selected from a set of patterns consisting of: highlighting customer favorite products, highlighting featured products, and highlighting discounted products. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 8 , the computer processor and the lighting control processor being the same processor.