I helped build that system and the first rollout for Metro in was in a store in Aachen back in 1997.
The labels and the infrastructure for Metro was the first installation of the second generation of a system by Pricer, (http://www.pricer.com/). Sharp is off by more than ten years here.
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I'm with Alex, I've seen these all over the world, as early as 1999 in German Metro cash and carry stores.
They received their prices from IR transmitters in the ceiling. What is new I'm guessing is the use of e-ink as the tags I saw were LCD.
I helped build that system and the first rollout for Metro in was in a store in Aachen back in 1997.
The labels and the infrastructure for Metro was the first installation of the second generation of a system by Pricer, (http://www.pricer.com/). Sharp is off by more than ten years here.