SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR AUTOMATED MONITORINGAND REPORTING OF VISUAL MERCHANDISING ELEMENTSFIELD OF THE INVENTIONEmbodiments of the present invention generally relate to the field ofautomated monitoring and reporting, and, more particularly, to systems and methods for automated monitoring and reporting of visual merchandising elements.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Conventionally, corporations are fully aware that market perception ofany of their product offerings may be influenced by marketing elements such as the brand, packaging, advertising (TV or any other media), events, promotions and more. Marketing elements, including visual merchandising elements, are intended to generate a response from consumers that will (hopefully) eventually lead to sales of the product.It is well known that significant amount of money, resources and time are being spent by brands, companies andcorporates to put their marketing materials in places where potential customers or employees are likely to see these. In use, such efforts and activities are aimed at increasing brand awareness and brand recall among potential consumers.Industry experts agree that marketing is a process of communicating the value of a product or service to consumers, for the purpose of influencing consumers to result in sale of the product or service. At the same time, marketing can be a major expense for manufacturers and retailers,and often entails a large number of marketing media channels such as, for example, printed media,
3radio, outdoor billboards, television, etc. Recently, new and unique visual marketing media channels have been used to communicate the value of products or services to consumers. Those of ordinary skills in the art will appreciate thatthe purpose of innovative marketing solutions is to allow the brand owners and companies to effectively implement marketing solutions that can target consumersdirectly withoutany disadvantages. In operation, various branding, marketing and merchandising activities require power supply that is usually provided via an electricity source to ensure proper functioning of the element. As an example,such activities include installing a Glow Sign Board where bulbs, LED lights or tubelights are used to illuminate the branding. Moreover, execution of such branding, marketing and merchandising activities can also requireinstallation of an element havingan electrically powered motor that allows movement of some components in such marketing, visual signage elements. However, due to numerous reasons, such element’s component stops working, mostly due toelectrical or mechanical fault or due to humanintervention (like someone switching off the device). Consequently,it causes huge problem the brand owners as there exists no direct mechanism to monitor such faulty elements in real time. Only method available at present to solve such problems involve ahigh degree of human intervention, whereby someone spots such faulty elements and reports the same to concerned persons. This process is highly unreliable, time-consuming and inefficient.
4Accordingly, there remains a need in the art for innovative, novel, collaborative and interactive solutions providing systems and methods for automated monitoring and reporting of visual merchandising elements.SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe embodiments of the present disclosure have several features, no single one of which is solely responsible for their desirable attributes. Without limiting the scope of the present embodiments as expressed by the claims that follow, their more prominent features will now be discussed briefly. After considering this discussion, and particularly after reading the section entitled “Detailed Description”, one will understand how the features of the present embodiments provide advantages, which include providing systems and methods for automated monitoring and reporting of visual merchandising elements.DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTIONVarious embodiments of the present invention are disclosed herein below, which relate to systems and methods for automated monitoring and reporting of visual merchandising elements.Fig. 1 illustrates workflow on the present invention. Those of ordinary skills in the art will appreciate that multiple embodiments of the present invention may be embodied under the brand name of MarQ Monitor (MM).In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, MarQMonitor is embodied as a signage monitoring device.In use, the MarQ monitor is configured to be installed with multiple marketing elementsformeasuring and relayingvarioushealth parametersof the marketing element to a designated Web URL or any other such location.In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, various health parameters include, for example, but not limited to, electricity current passing through various components, luminosity, movement of components, and the like. In operation, based on parameter values and other configurable rules,the relay of parameter values can be automatically routed to different people, entities, web urls, applications, APIs, Servers, andthe like.Specifically, embodiments of the present invention are aimed at providing users with an Internet of Things (IoT) based marketing element health reporting systems, devices, methodsand applications. In use, the instant invention relates to “Visual Merchandising” or “Branding”, “Signages” activities, wherein brand or product promotion materials are put up by brands at various locations like dealer outlets, billboards, company outlets, retail counters, Out of Home Media locations etc. In accordance with alternate embodiments of the present invention, systems and methods as discussed herein may further find applicability in non-marketing domains as well, such as,for example, but not limited to,defence industry, public services, security services, and the like.Embodiments of the present invention are aimed at providing systems and methods to be employed with marketing elementsformeasuringand relayingthe health parameters of the element to a designated Web URL or any other such location. In use, the health parameters of the element could be electricity current passing through various components, luminosity or movement of components, and the like.
6In addition to the above, embodiments of the present invention are aimed at providing systems and methods that are further capable of automatically updating multiple people and entities about such faults. In use, based on parameter values and other configurable rules,the relay of parameter values isautomatically routed to different people, entities, web URLs, applications, APIs, servers, and the like. Those of ordinary skills in the art will appreciate that embodiments of the present invention are novel and inventive as it creates an automated way of managing a workflow that was exclusively being done manuallytill now. Consequently, all the advantages of moving from manual to automated workflow management are brought to the userswherever the present inventionis deployed. In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, systems and methods for automated monitoring and reporting of visual merchandising elementsare implemented by employing a plurality of components, including, but not limited to:(a)a plurality of sensors or other health parameter measuring devices(b)one or more data transmission components(c)one or more communication components (GSM Connectivity, Wifi Connectivity, Bluetooth connectivity,NFC connectivity)(d)one or more application resources (such as, Mobile Apps)to manage the connected devices(e)Web Portal to manage connected devices(f)Assorted Connectors, wires, battery, chargersetc.(g)APIs
7In operation, the sensors record or measure values of pre-defined parameters, and by using the data transmission component, either the entire value set or a deviation on pre-defined benchmark of such value (depending on how the particular device is configured) is transmitted to a location like a Web URL, Server, Application, API, Data table or other such entity or device or location. Thereafter, such data is then usable (not mandatory) to initiate or integrate with other workflows. In use, configurability of device is performed through mobile application.Those of ordinary skills in the art will appreciate thatembodiments of the present invention disclose multiple innovative features, including, but not limited to, use of sensors to record or measure values of pre-defined parameters, using the data transmission component torelay either the entire value set or a deviation on pre-defined benchmark of such value (depending on how the particular device is configured) to a location like a Web URL, Server, Application, API, Data table or other such entity or device or location, ensuring that such data is then usable (not mandatory) to initiate or integrate with other workflows, and providing configurability of device through mobile app, web app, and the like.In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, asystem for automated monitoring and reporting of visual merchandising elementsincludes, at least one sensor for measuring multiple health parameters of the visual merchandising elements; a data transmission componentconnected to the at least one sensor, the data transmission component being configured to transmit data related to the multiple health parameters of the visual merchandising
8elements; and, at least one mobile application for managing the at least one sensor, the data transmission component, and other connected devices.In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the data transmission component is configured to transmit data over a communication network. In use, the communication network includes Internet, Cloud Computing, GSM, WiFi, Bluetooth, Near Field Communication (NFC), and the like.In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the system further includes a web Portal to manage the connected devices.In use, the system further includes multiple assorted Connectors, wires, battery, chargers, and the like.Additionally, the system further includes multiple APIs.In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the system further includes:a GSM Moduleincluding ofa SIM card which is used for data transfer to the server;a relayconfigured to operateas aDigital switches;a microprocessorwith a memory capable of executing a plurality of instructions, the microprocessor being aRaspberry Pi microprocessor;an energy monitorformonitoringthe power of asignage board; and,a monitoring interface provided to the user.In use, the monitoring interface includes the at least one mobile application and at least one web application.Operationally, the mobile application is used to set the benchmark by connecting it at the time of deployment, to relay the benchmark to server, to set timer instruction on the central server, to get alerts if any issue arises on the signage, etc. In addition, the web application provides electric health visibility of signage, allows editing On/Off time of signage,
9provides alert monitoring for faulty signage, provides daily reporting, and the like.In some embodiments, the systems of the present inventionmay include transducers and signal acquisition filters. The transducers may beconfigured to receive sensor data from the sensors through the sensor interface and to convert the sensor data from analog to digital. The signal acquisition filters are configured to receive sensor data from the transducers, to filter out noise and extraneous signals, and to pass the filtered sensor data to one or moreprocessors. In other embodiments, the functions provided by the transducers and signal acquisition filters are provided by devices external to the systems as disclosed by the present invention. In some embodiments, the systems of the present invention may furtherincludeone or moreuser controls. The user controls are configured to accept instructions from a user and transfer the instructions to the processors. Other embodiments may omit the user controls and instead receive instructions during manufacture of the systems of the present inventionor receive instructions through acomputer interface. In some embodiments, the systems of the present inventionmay further includea graphics controller and a graphics user interface. The graphics user interface may beconfigured to display information retrieved from the memory for the user to view. The graphics controller may beconfigured to render the information retrieved from the memory into a format usable by the graphics user interface, as per the specific requirements. In particular embodiments, when a sensor of the present inventiontransmits sensor data, sensor may tag the sensor data or otherwise identify it as being related to a particular sensor parameter. As an example and not by way of limitation, a sensor may have one or more sensor identifiers (IDs) and generate only particular sensor data related to a particular sensor parameter. In operation for certain embodiments, one or more sensors may be connected to a network (such as for example an Internet Protocol (IP) network) that assigns unique identifiers to each terminal node. A network host may assign an IP address to each sensor, and the IP address assigned to sensor may provide a sensor ID for sensor. As another example, one or more sensors may each have a network interface with a unique ID (such as for example a Media Access Control (MAC) address, an Ethernet hardware address (EHA) or another hardware address, an adapter address, or a physical address) and the unique ID of the network interface may provide a sensor ID for sensor. As another example, geographic information about a sensor (such as for example the geographic location of sensor as identifiedby the Global Positioning System (GPS)) may provide a sensor ID for sensor. As another example, one or more properties of a sensor (such as for example its sensor type) may provide a sensor ID for sensor. When a sensor transmits sensor data that it has generated, sensor may transmit the sensor data along with one or more sensor IDs of sensor. The present disclosure contemplates any suitable sensor IDs containing any suitable information. As an example and not by way of limitation, a sensor ID
11for a sensor may be a combination of two or more of the sensor IDs described above, where appropriate. Moreover, the present disclosure contemplates any suitable tags for sensor data. Data-aggregator system (or another device in system of the present invention) may use one or more tags (such as for example sensor IDs) to determine that sensor data is related to a particular sensor parameter. In addition or as an alternative to sensor data being tagged or otherwise identified as being related to a particular sensor subject by sensor that generated the sensor data, another sensor, data-aggregator system, or other suitable equipment in sensor network may tag or otherwise identify the sensor data as being related to a particular sensor parameter. As an example and not by way of limitation, data-aggregator system may receive one or more data sets from one or more sensors. Sensor data in the data set may include or have associated with it tags identifying sensor IDs of sensors. Data-aggregator system may determine a sensor subject related to the data set by querying the sensor IDs to a suitable record (such as for example a lookup table or index) indicating the sensor subject associated with the sensor IDs. In particular embodiments, a sensor may have one or more resources for carrying out its functions. These resources may include but are not limited to processing capabilities, memory, and power. Sensor may have one or more processors and one or memory devices. In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the sensor may haveany suitable number of any suitable processors and memory devices. In use, the sensor may further have an internal power source (such as for example
12one or more rechargeable or replaceable batteries) or receive power from an external power source (such as for example an electrical grid). Also, the sensor may include one or more solar panels to provide power to it. This disclosure contemplates sensors having any suitable sources of power. Other resources of sensor may but need not in all cases include software, such as for example application software, middleware, system software, firmware, and device drivers. This disclosure further contemplates sensor including any suitable resources for carrying out its functions. All sensors in sensor network need not have the same resources; different sensors may have different resources. As an example and not by way of limitation, one or more first sensors may each have substantial processing capabilities, large amounts of memory, and almost unlimited power, while one or more second sensor nodes may each have very limited processing capabilities, memory, and power. As another example, one or more first sensors may each have software running on them enabling them to perform a variety of functions (including higher-level ones such as tagging sensor data), while oneor more second sensors may each have less or scaled-down software running on them enabling them to perform fewer functions (or only lower-level ones). This disclosure contemplates any suitable diversity in the resources available to sensors throughout thesystemsof the present invention.Those of ordinary skills in the art will appreciate thatvarious embodiments of the present invention may further be configured to provide additional applications to the users, such as, for example, but not limited to, monitoring of traffic lights. As it is well known, presently, whenever the traffic signal goes
13down,the traffic police are informed about it manually either by phone or social media posts. The MarQ Monitor as provided by additional embodiments of the present invention will automatically update the control room (if any) or nearest traffic post of signal not working, thereby monitoring proper functioning of traffic lights.Those of ordinary skills in the art will appreciate thatas used herein, the term communication network refers to “Internet”, whichis a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to serve billions of users worldwide. It is a network of networks that consists of millions of private, public, academic, business, and government networks, of local to global scope, that are linked by a broad array of electronic, wireless and optical networking technologies. The Internet carries an extensive range of information resources and services, such as the inter-linked hypertext documents of the World Wide Web (WWW) and the infrastructure to support email. The communications infrastructure of the Internet consists of its hardware components and a system of software layers that control various aspects of the architecture, and can also include a mobile device network, e.g., a cellular network.Those of ordinary skills in the art will further appreciate thatas used herein a mobile device includes, but is not limited to, a cell phone, such as Apple'siPhone®, other portable electronic devices, such as Apple's iPod Touches®, Apple's iPads®, and mobile devices based on Google's Android® operating system, and any other portable electronic device that includes software, firmware, hardware, or a combination thereof that is capable of at least receiving the signal, decoding if needed, exchanging information with a server 14to verify information. Typical components of mobile device may include but are not limited to persistent memories like flash ROM, random access memory like SRAM, a camera, a battery, LCD driver, a display, a cellular antenna, a speaker, a Bluetooth® circuit, and WIFI circuitry, where the persistent memory may contain programs, applications, and/or an operating system for the mobile device.Working of the InventionIn accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, brands, companies or corporates put their marketing materials in places where potential customers or employees are likely to see these. In use, such elements are often connected to electricity to ensure proper functioning of the element, for example a Glow Sign Board where bulbs, LED lights or tubelights are used to illuminate the branding. Additionally, the element can havean electrically powered motor that allows movementof some components in such marketing, visual signage elements. However, there are times when such element’s component stops working either due to a electrical, mechanical fault or due to human intervention (like someone switching off the device). At times like this, the information that such an issue has arisen in the element is relayed to the central server through the embodiments of the present invention. Consequently, the moment the data received shows below benchmark information, alert is relayed to necessary stakeholders for corrective action.In operation, reports and dashboards on web provide data for analysis, and with the personalized Customer ID, customer can view specific site information.
15Conditional language used herein, such as, among others,“can,” “could,” “might,” “may,” “e.g.,” and the like, unless specifically stated otherwise, or otherwise understood within the context as used, is generally intended to convey that certain embodiments include, while other embodiments do not include, certain features, elements and/or steps. Thus, such conditional language is not generally intended to imply that features, elements and/or steps are in any way required for one or more embodiments or that one or more embodiments necessarily include logic for deciding, with or without author input or prompting, whether these features, elements and/or steps are included or are to be performed in any particular embodiment. The terms "comprising," "including," 'having," and the like are synonymous and are used inclusively, in an open-ended fashion, and do not exclude additional elements, features, acts, operations, and so forth. Also, the term "or" is used in its inclusive sense (and not in its exclusive sense) so that when used, for example, to connect a list of elements, the term "or" means one, some, or all of the elements in the list.While there has been shown and described the preferred embodiment of the instant invention it is to be appreciated that the invention may be embodied otherwise than is herein specifically shown and described and that, within said embodiment, certain changes may be made in the form and arrangement of the parts without departing from the underlying ideas or principles of this invention as set forth in the Claims appended herewith. Therefore, the appended claims are to be construed to cover all equivalents falling within the true scope and spirit of the invention.

We claim
1.A system for automated monitoring and reporting of visual merchandising elements, said system comprising:at least one sensor for measuring multiple health parameters of said visual merchandising elements;a data transmission componentconnected to said at least one sensor, said data transmission component being configured to transmit data related to said multiple health parameters of said visual merchandising elements;and,at least one mobile application for managing said at least one sensor, said data transmission component, and other connected devices.2.The system as claimed in Claim 1, wherein said data transmission component is configured to transmit data over a communication network.3.The system as claimed in Claim 2, wherein said communication network includes Internet, Cloud Computing, GSM, WiFi, Bluetooth, Near Field Communication (NFC), and the like.4.The system as claimed in Claim 1, wherein said system further comprises a web Portal to manage said connected devices.5.The system as claimed in Claim 1, wherein said system further comprises multiple assorted Connectors, wires, battery, chargers, and the like.
176.The system as claimed in Claim 1, wherein said system further comprises multiple APIs.7.The system as claimed in Claim 1, wherein said system further comprises:a GSM Modulecomprising ofa SIM card which is used for data transfer to the server;a relayconfigured to operateas aDigital switches;a microprocessorwith a memory capable of executing a plurality of instructions, said microprocessor being aRaspberry Pi microprocessor;an energy monitorformonitoringthe power of asignage board; and,a monitoring interface provided to the user.8.The system as claimed in Claim 7, wherein said monitoring interface includes said at least one mobile application and at least one web application.