Spacer for a shelf support, comprising a light emitter

1 . A spacer used to segment products on a shelf support which extends substantially in a shelf support plane and is configured to receive articles placed on the shelf support, the spacer being adapted to extend substantially perpendicularly to the shelf support plane so as to delimit areas of the shelf support where articles are to be placed, wherein the spacer comprises a light-emitter integrated in the spacer and a communication module adapted to trigger the emission of a blinking sequence by the light emitter according to an order from a base station, wherein the blinking sequence is specific to said light emitter and allows identification, by a blinking sequence identification unit configured to decode an acquired blinking sequence using a correspondence table associating each one of a plurality of blinking sequences with a respective spacer, of the spacer in which the light emitter is integrated.

2 . The spacer according to claim 1 , further comprising:

a partition wall adapted to delimit two adjacent columns of the shelf support, the partition wall comprising two opposite side panels,

a front panel adapted to connect the two opposite side panels of the partition wall,

wherein the light emitter is integrated in the front panel of the spacer.

3 . The spacer according to claim 1 , wherein the light emitter is a LED.

4 . The spacer according to claim 1 , wherein the light emitter is configured to emit a visible light.

5 . The spacer according to claim 1 , wherein the light emitter is configured to emit an infrared light.

6 . The spacer according to claim 1 , further comprising a battery adapted to supply power to the light emitter.

7 . The spacer according to claim 1 , further comprising a person sensor adapted to detect an object or a person obstructing the light emitter, wherein the communication module is adapted to trigger a blinking sequence of the light emitter according to an output of the person sensor.

8 . The spacer according to claim 1 , further comprising a camera.

9 . The spacer according to claim 8 , wherein the camera comprises a motorized lens configured to change a viewing direction of the camera.

10 . The spacer according to claim 1 , further comprising an LCD screen.

11 . A set of spacers comprising a plurality of spacers, wherein each spacer is adapted to segment products on a a shelf support which extends substantially in a shelf support plane and is configured to receive articles placed on the shelf support, wherein each spacer is adapted to extend substantially perpendicularly to the shelf support plane so as to delimit areas of the shelf support where articles are to be placed, wherein each spacer comprises a light-emitter integrated in the spacer and a communication module adapted to trigger the emission of a blinking sequence by the light emitter of the spacer according to an order from a base station, wherein the blinking sequence is unique, specific to said light emitter and different from the blinking sequence(s) of the light emitter(s) of the other spacer(s) of the set of spacers, so that, for each spacer of the set of spacers, the blinking sequence of the light emitter of said spacer allows identification, by a blinking sequence identification unit configured to decode an acquired blinking sequence using a correspondence table associating each one of a plurality of blinking sequences with a respective spacer, of the spacer in which the light emitter is integrated.

12 . A shelf system comprising:

a set of spacers according to claim 11 ;

an identification unit, wherein the identification unit is adapted to receive a blinking sequence emitted by the light emitter of a spacer of the set of spacers, wherein the identification unit is further adapted to identify the spacer of the set of spacers corresponding to the acquired blinking sequence based on a correspondence table comprising a plurality of blinking sequences, wherein each blinking sequence is associated to a respective spacer of the set of spacers in said correspondence table; and

a shelf support and a camera, wherein a spacer of the set of spacers is fixed to the shelf support, and wherein the camera is configured to visually acquire the blinking sequence specific to the light emitter of the spacer fixed to the shelf support.

13 . The shelf system according to claim 12 , wherein the camera is integrated in a spacer adapted to segment products on the shelf support and extending substantially perpendicularly to the shelf support plane.

14 . A shelf system according to claim 12 , wherein the-blinking sequence identification unit is adapted to receive the blinking sequence emitted by the light emitter and acquired by the camera, and is further adapted to identify the spacer corresponding to the acquired blinking sequence based on the correspondence table.

15 . A method for spacer identification performed by a shelf system according to claim 14 , comprising the following steps:

S1: triggering a blinking sequence of a light emitter integrated in a spacer of the set of spacers by the communication module of the spacer;

S2: performing the blinking sequence by the light emitter of the spacer;

S3: visually acquiring the blinking sequence by the camera;

S4: receiving, by the blinking sequence identification unit, the blinking sequence acquired by the camera; and

S5: identifying, by the blinking sequence identification unit, the spacer of the set of spacers corresponding to the acquired blinking sequence, wherein said identification is performed based on a correspondence table comprising a plurality of blinking sequences, wherein each blinking sequence is associated to a respective spacer of the set of spacers in said correspondence table.