CH676045A5 - - Google Patents

Description

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description

The invention relates to an electronic price calculation scale, and in particular to a scale for use in weighing weighing goods whose sales price includes a tax.

Such an electronic price calculation scale, which can automatically calculate the price of the goods to be weighed (hereinafter referred to as the "net price") at the same time with the weighing of the goods and the display and / or printout of the goods with the weight of the goods if the price is a unit weight of the Weighing goods (hereinafter referred to as "unit price") previously registered in it are well known in the art and are described, for example, in Japanese Publication Nos. 54-1664 and 55-166 012. However, there are often certain types of weighing goods which are subject to tax at a predetermined tax rate in relation to the above-mentioned net price and in this case it is necessary to calculate the "selling price" of the weighing goods by adding the tax to the above-mentioned net price. However, these known pricing scales mentioned above are inconvenient in that they cannot perform such a tax calculation and it requires a separate desktop calculator or the like. to use.

The object of the present invention is therefore in particular to create an easy-to-use electronic price calculation scale which simultaneously controls the tax amount with the weighing of the goods and the display and / or the printout of the weight, the unit price, the net price, the tax rate, the tax amount and the sales price of the goods to be weighed if the prescribed tax rate was previously registered in addition to the unit price.

This object is achieved with an electronic price calculation scale of the type mentioned at the outset according to the characterizing part of patent claim 1.

The invention is explained in more detail below with reference to the drawing, for example. It shows:

1 shows a perspective view of an exemplary embodiment of an electronic price calculation scale according to the invention;

Figure 2 is a front view of a display panel of the scale shown in Figure 1;

3 is a front view of the input keypad of the scale shown in FIG. 1;

4 is a block diagram of the electronic data processing system of the scale shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an operating program of the scale shown in FIG. 1;

6 schematically, on an enlarged scale, an example of a receipt issued by the printer unit of the scale shown in FIG. 1;

7 shows a front view analogous to FIG. 2, illustrating the display panel of a second exemplary embodiment of a balance according to the invention;

8 shows a front view analogous to FIG. 3, illustrating the input keypad of the second exemplary embodiment of a balance according to the invention;

9 shows a flowchart to illustrate an operating program of the second exemplary embodiment of a balance according to the invention; and

10 on an enlarged scale, analogously to FIG. 6, schematically shows an example of a receipt issued by the second exemplary embodiment of a balance according to the invention.

As can be seen from FIG. 1, the illustrated embodiment of an electronic price calculation scale according to the invention has on the top of its housing 1 a weighing plate 2, which is connected to a weighing unit 3 (FIG. 4) explained below, and on its front end a display field 4 of a description below Display unit 15 (FIG. 4) and an input keypad 5. A window 6 for outputting a receipt 7 printed in a printer unit 16 (FIG. 4) explained below is likewise arranged on the front end face of the housing 1 and a changeover button 8 of a key switch 9 (FIG. 4) is arranged on a side end face thereof. As can be seen from FIG. 2, the display field 4 has a plurality of display areas 4a, 4b, 4c, 4d, 4e and 4f for the corresponding display of the weight, the unit price, the net price, the tax rate, the tax amount and the sales price, one on the figure 1 apparent weighing plate 2 located weighing goods, as well as another area 4g for displaying the name of the weighing goods. The input keypad 5 has ten conventional numeric keys 5a, accompanied by a tare cancel key T and a delete key E, mode selection keys 5b consisting of day, tax rate and unit price keys, data processing command keys 5c consisting of plus, minus and sum keys, and 32 price call keys (hereinafter referred to as "PLU keys") 5d, used to access memory locations of a price call memory (hereinafter referred to as "PLU memory") 13 (FIG. 4). The function of these buttons is described below.

With reference to FIG. 4, it should be noted that the weighing unit 3 connected to the weighing plate 2 (FIG. 1) is of known design and generates an analog weight signal which is characteristic of the weight of the weighing object placed on the weighing plate 2, and the analog Weight signal is converted into a digital signal by means of an analog-digital (A / D) converter 10, which is fed to a central processing unit (CPU) 11. The CPU 11 is also supplied with an input signal from the keypad 5 and a read / write select signal from the key switch 9.

The CPU 11 is designed to be based on ei5

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NEM operating program, stored in a program memory 12 consisting of a read-only memory (ROM) and a random access memory (RAM) to work for processing the input signals. The CPU 11 is also equipped with a price call memory (PLU) 13, which is used to store a large number of weighing goods designations and predetermined unit prices and tax rates of the weighing goods in the form of a call table, an accumulation memory 14 with corresponding storage locations for the net price, the tax amount and the weight for accumulating storage of these values, a display unit 15 for displaying the processing result on the display panel 4 (FIG. 1) and a printer unit 16 for printing and outputting the result.

An example of operation of the electronic price calculation scale according to the invention is described in more detail below with reference to the flow chart shown in FIG. When the power supply to the scale is switched on, the entire electronic system is first initialized (step A1). Assuming that a list of weighing goods designations, tax rates and unit prices has not yet been registered in the PLU memory 13 of the balance, then the first process is to register this information. For this purpose, the key switch 9 (FIG. 4) is brought into the storage position in order to effect a write command. This state is read in step A2 and it is asked whether the state is normal (read command) or not (step A3). If the answer is “No”, then in the next step A4 it is asked whether the registration of the above-mentioned details has been completed or not. If the answer is "no", then the next step A5 must be carried out. After the key switch has been set, a user presses any of the PLU keys 5d of the keypad 5. A signal from this key is read in a step A5 and a corresponding memory location in the PLU memory 13 is defined. After pressing the PLU key, the user inputs a predetermined reference number of the desired weighing item designation by means of the number keys 5a. The user also presses the number keys 5a after pressing the control key. the unit price key of the operation selection keys 5b, the predetermined tax rate and unit price corresponding to the weighing goods name.

The signals coming from these keys are read in step A6 and stored in the previously defined memory location of the PLU memory 13. In this way, the answer of step A4 becomes "YES" and the program returns to step A2. If another PLU key is pressed while the key switch is in the same position and the same process is repeated, the tax rates and unit prices corresponding to a large number of weighing goods names are registered. As a reminder, the PLU key numbers and weigh label names can be listed on separate paper or label with the weigh label assigned to the PLU buttons.

For normal use of this pricing scale after completion of the aforementioned registration operations, the key switch is turned to its normal position to effect a read command, and then the PLU key corresponding to the designation of the goods to be weighed is pressed. The answer of step A3 becomes "YES" and it is asked whether any other key is pressed or not (step A7). If the answer is "YES", it is asked whether the key is a PLU key or not (step A8). If the answer is also “YES”, then the desired information, such as the name of the weighing goods, tax rate and unit price, is read out from a corresponding memory location of the PLU memory 13 in the next step A9 and sent to a CPU 11, and the program returns to step A2. If desired, the date key and the numeric keys can be pressed to enter the date to enable the date to be displayed and / or printed out. When the plus, minus and sum keys of the data processing command keys 5c are pressed, the plus, minus and sum programs in the CPU 11 are set to "ON", respectively, to obtain corresponding operations as described below. If such a key other than the PLU key is pressed and the answer of step A8 is "NO", the program returns to step A2 after actuation of this key.

Then steps A2, A3 and A7 are carried out. However, since the answer of step A7 is "NO" at this point in time, in the next step A11 a weight signal is read from the weighing unit 3 into the CPU11 and the net price, tax amount and sales price are calculated from the weight signal and the tax rate stored in the PLU memory 13 and unit price calculated (step A12). Of course, the net price is a product of the unit price and weight, the tax amount is a product of the net price and tax rate, and the sales price is the sum of the net price and tax amount. These calculated data are accordingly stored in the weight, net price and selling price storage locations of the accumulation memory 14. In the next step A13, it is asked whether the total program is set to "ON" or not, and only if the answer is "YES" the calculated data is added to the content of the accumulation memory (step A14). At the next step A15, it is asked whether or not the minus program is set to "ON", and only if the answer is "YES" will the corresponding data be subtracted from the content of the accumulation memory 14 (step A16). In other words, the current data is added to the previous data when the plus key is pressed, and the former is subtracted from the latter when the minus key is pressed. The next step A15 asks whether the total program is set to "ON" or

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not, and weight, unit price, net price, tax rate, tax amount and sales price of the weighed goods are displayed if the answer is "NO" (step A18), while the contents of the accumulation memory 14, that is the total weight, the total net price, the total tax amount and the total sales price, read out, displayed and printed out if the answer is "YES" (step A19). An example of such a printout is shown in FIG. 6. The program then returns to step A2.

While the embodiment described above is useful when the tax rate differs from weighed goods to weighed goods, the formation and operation of the scale can be greatly simplified in the event that only weighed goods are to be weighed which are not subject to a tax or a tax with a fixed rate .

In this case, it is not necessary to save different tax rates for different weighing goods names, and it is sufficient to save the fixed single tax rate beforehand and to enter the unit price for each weighing goods. Accordingly, it is possible to omit the button switch button 8 shown in FIG. 1 and the button switch 9 shown in FIG. 4, and to replace the PLU memory 13 shown in FIG. 4 by a control approach memory for storing only the control approach, as a result of which the product designation display area 4g is Scoreboard 4 can be omitted, as can be seen in FIG. 7, and the PUL keys 5d can also be omitted from keypad 5, as can be seen in FIG.

The modified keypad 5 is, however, supplemented with a tax approach memory key 5bt and the printout keys 5e and 5f for printing out receipts without tax or with tax. The other keys are the same as in FIG. 3. An exemplary operation of this second embodiment of a scale is described below with reference to the flow chart shown in FIG.

When the system power is turned on, it is initialized first (step B1) and then asked if any key has been pressed or not (step B2). Assuming that the control approach key is entered using the control approach memory key 5bi and the number keys 5a (Figure 8), it is then asked whether the control approach memory key is pressed or not (step B3) since the answer of step B2 is "YES". If the answer of step B3 is also “YES”, then the input tax approach is read into the tax approach memory (step B4) and step B2 is carried out again. Also assuming that the date and / or the unit price have been input, in steps B5 and B6 it is asked whether the receipt printout keys 5f and 5e are pressed accordingly or not, since the answer of step B2 is "YES". If none of the buttons are pressed, the answers to these steps are «NO» and the program returns to step B2,

after the date and unit price are entered (step B7). Since the answer of step B2 is now "NO", the weight signal is read into the CPU 11 by the weighing unit (step B8) and the unit price previously entered is multiplied by it to calculate the net price (step B9). Then it is asked whether the plus program is "ON" or not (step B10), and only if the answer is "YES" does the present weight and the calculated net price be added to the corresponding data in the accumulation memory (step B11). Then it is asked whether the minus program is "ON" or not (step B12), and only if the answer is "YES" does the present weight and the calculated net price be subtracted from the corresponding data in the accumulation memory (step B13). The previously calculated net price is displayed with the present weight (step B14) and the program returns to step B2.

If the button 5e for printing a tax-free receipt is pressed in step B6, the answer is "YES", so that the total net price and the total weight are read out from the accumulation memory and displayed (step B15), and a receipt with the individual net prices and weights, the total net price sum and the total weight and the date are printed out (step B16). If the button 5f for printing out a tax receipt is pressed, the answer of step B5 is "YES", so that the total tax amount and the total sales price are calculated from the total net price in the accumulation memory and the tax rate in the tax rate memory (step B17) and together with the total net price, the total weight and the tax rate are displayed (step B18), printed out and issued in the form of a receipt as shown in FIG. 10 (step B16).

The above-described embodiments are only for the purpose of describing the invention and do not limit the latter. These embodiments can be modified in various ways without leaving the scope of this invention as defined in the claims. For example, while the above-described embodiments are configured to display and print out individual weighing good names, weights, unit prices, net prices, tax amounts, sales prices and the date, only a part of this information can be displayed and / or printed out, as desired, and additional words such as a thank you can be added.

Claims (3)

Claims 1. Electronic price caiculation scale, characterized by a weighing unit for generating a weight signal serving to display the weight of a weighing object weighed by this weighing unit, by means for generating a unit price to display this weighing unit. 5 10th 15 20th 25th 30th 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 4th 7 CH 676 045 A5 tes serving unit price signal, by means for generating a tax rate signal serving to display the tax rate of this item, by means of receiving the weight signal, the unit price signal and the tax rate signal and for calculating at least the sales price and the tax amount of the item, and by means for delivering the invoice amount in a visible manner. 2. Scales according to claim 1, characterized in that the means for generating the control approach signal consist of a memory for storing the control approach signal in order to enable the latter to be read out as a result of a read command signal. 3. Scales according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the receiving and calculation means first calculation means for accepting the current weight signal and corresponding unit price signal and the tax rate signal of the goods to be weighed when the latter is weighed, and for calculating the sales price and / or Tax amount of the goods to be weighed, and second means of calculation for the accumulative accumulation of the sales prices and / or tax amounts. 5 10th 15 20th 25th 30th 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 5