FR2644266A1 - AUTOMATIC INSTALLATION OF POINTS OF SALES PROCESSING REDUCTION TICKETS - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to an automatic point of sale installation. It relates to an automatic point-of-sale installation capable of reading the codes of articles purchased and transmitting the articles to a security tunnel, before totalization. According to the invention, a device 44 receives the reduction tickets entered by the customer and, when they actually apply to an item purchased by this customer, they are taken into account by a validation circuit 62 which controls the modification of the totalizer 74. The reduction tickets which are not taken into account are returned to the customer by a particular device 70. The tickets taken into account are degraded. Application to automatic point of sale installations.

Description

The present invention relates generally to the processing of tickets

  in the sale of retail items and more specifically in terms of automatic verification facilities and processes used in supermarkets and similar facilities and for the processing of discount coupons. United States Patents No. 4,676,343

  and 4,792,018 describe automated sales facilities.

  tick of items chosen by a customer at a point of sale in supermarkets and similar facilities. The

  the first of the above-mentioned patents concerns a set of

  wise of articles that carry the "universal code of products"

  (UPC), usually in the form of a barcode

  unambiguous sense of the identity of the article bearing the code. This code, for each item to be purchased, is scanned or read, and a signal representative of the identity of the article is created and arrives at a central processing unit which has, in an associated memory, UPC codes of all the items that can be sold and

  which are coded, these codes being correlated with characteristics

  price ticks or other items, for example their weight. The articles are placed on a carrier after the reading of the UPC code and are transmitted to a "security tunnel" which is protected against customer fraud by various light curtains which are in the form of light sources and associated photocells. During the transport of the articles, the weight of each article is measured physically and a signal representative of the

measure is formed.

  The stored signal representative of the weight and the

  physically measured signal are compared. When the

  reason does not give a satisfactory result, and is thus representative of a potential fraud by the customer, the

  processing of the article is interrupted and various

  can be performed, one of which is the moving of the conveyor in the opposite direction. Moreover, when the result of the comparison is positive, the

  customer's request is taken into consideration and the total-

  pricing is made from stored signals that are representative of prices. In the aforementioned second patent, a number of other security measures are taken to

  the customer and the lack of reading are taken into account.

  eration. For example, in an additional operation, the configuration of the article is detected, for example by

  the light curtain placed at the entrance of the security tunnel.

  The memory associated with the central processing unit

  holds, with the code identifying the article, data

  cross-correlation relating to the configuration of the

  cle. This compilation is advantageously made to

  using the installation itself, for example by memorizing

  the detected configuration of the article in the learning mode of the installation, by using the

  output signals from the light curtain.

  A second additional precaution is the repeated reading of the article code inside the tunnel of

  security, and its comparison with the code read by the reader.

  A defect exists when the comparison does not give a

positive result.

  A third additional precaution is the introduction of

  the production of electronic surveillance practices

  ticles inside the security tunnel. In that case,

  the central processing unit has an indi-

  as to whether the article thus encoded has such a surveillance label or not. If the item is detected as having such a tag and the memory indicates that it should not

  not include, as is the case, for example, when

  a customer fraudulently attempts to pass an expensive wine for a cheaper wine when reading the code, a

  recognition fault still appears.

  Independently of these facilities, various efforts have been made to automate the processing of discount coupons on items available for sale. Thus, attempts have been made to code the tickets with a UPC identification code and to ensure the reception and automatic reading of the tickets by means of this identification code. The known independent reduction ticket processing facilities and those which are coordinated with the current automated processing facilities do not possess the necessary properties. The invention relates to an improved installation

  reduction ticket processing.

  It concerns in particular an excellent coordination

  nation between the automatic point-of-sale installations and the automatic reduction ticket processing units that must be used in cooperation.

  More specifically, the invention relates to an installation

  for the automatic processing of selected articles

  for sale and allowing a reading of the codes worn by the articles and representative of the identity of the articles, the facility also ensuring the totalization of the price of the articles; a set of discount ticket processing comprising codes representing the identity of an article and a monetary value of reduction, comprises: (a) a receiver intended to receive the reduction tickets, to read the codes they carry and thereby creating first and second output signals for each read ticket, which signals are indicative of the item's identity and currency value, (b) a device for storing the signals

  received from the automatic treatment facility and

  identification of all items chosen for the transaction, (c) a discount ticket validation device for comparing the first signals obtained from the receiving device with the stored signals

  article identification and to create a validation signal.

  reduction ticket whenever the comparison gives a positive result, and (d) a reduction ticket totaling device for receiving those of the second signals of the

  receiving device for reduction tickets for

  which a ticket validation is created, and a signal representative of a total price from the automatic processing facility, so that it subtracts the value

  monetary value of each signal received from the monetary value

  indicated by the total price signal.

  Other features and advantages of the invention

  tion will become more apparent from the following description,

  with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a block diagram of an assembly according to the invention, combined with the block diagram of facilities described in the aforementioned patents; and

  FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating the operations

  rations implemented in the facility and during

the implementation of the invention.

  Referring to Figure 1; an installation 10 according to the invention comprises an upper channel 12 made of

  the manner indicated in the aforementioned United States Patents.

  United States, and a lower channel-14 made according to the invention. The upper channel 12 has a set 16 of product selection so that a customer can choose the items he wants to buy, the broken line 18

  indicating the mechanical passage of the individual articles selected

  dually to a UPC code scanner or reader.

  According to the first aforementioned patent, the output signal of the reader is transmitted via a line 22 to a circuit 24 for storing the price and the totalization, in which the memory of the installation is consulted so that the price of the selected item is obtained and in which the prices as well

obtained are totalized.

  Still as indicated by the first patent

  cited, the identification of the code read for the chosen article, -

  transmitted by the line 26, allows the weight of the article coming from a memory to be obtained when the article is introduced into the security tunnel 28. The comparison is made with a measurement of the actual weight of the selected item, in a weight memory assembly and comparison circuit, the result of the comparison (when negative) being transmitted by a line 32 to a set 34 indicating a defect, possibly due to a customer fraud. During the operations described in the second aforementioned patent, the UPC code identification signal of line 26 arrives at a configuration and comparison storage unit 36 which compares the shape characteristics of an article, stored in memory, to those obtained by the examination of the article, for example that can be obtained using the aforementioned light curtain entry of the security tunnel of the aforementioned patents. The UPC code identification signal may also be transmitted via line 26 to a second UPC code reading and comparison unit 38 in which the code of the article is read again, inside the security tunnel. , and is compared to that obtained with the aid of the reader 20. In addition, the signal from the line 26 can be applied to a set of electronic article monitoring and comparison memory 40 which operates from the as previously indicated. When the results of the comparisons of the sets 36, 38 and 40 are not satisfactory, an operating signal is transmitted via the line 32 to the assembly 34 which operates in case of

default.

  The lower channel 14 comprises a memory 42 of the UPC codes of the products which accumulates the transmitted signals

  line 44 from reader 20 and which are

  the codes of the items the customer has chosen for his purchases. The channel 14 further comprises a reduction ticket entry assembly 44 which can be implemented in the form of an automatic bank machine, intended to accept paper reduction tickets and to transmit them to a ticket reader 48. , for example by means of a mechanical device 46 of passage, the reader

  thus able to examine the UPC code and the indicated value.

  The reduction ticket codes, ie the indica-

  article code and the monetary value, are trans-

  put by the reader 48 first by the line 50 to a memory 52 discount coupons codes and then by a line 54 to

  a memory 56 of discount ticket values.

  The lower channel 14 further comprises lines

  58 and 60 which transmit the output signals of the en-

  42 which contains the product codes and indicates

  cations of the discount ticket reader codes to a device 62 for product validation-discount ticket

  which transmits via a line 64 a validation signal when

  that there is a correspondence between the signals of the lines 58 and 60. The signal representative of the value of the

  reduction ticket, from the memory 56, is transmitted

put by line 66.

  If the signals of the lines 58 and 60 are not in agreement, the assembly 62 transmits a signal via a line 68 to a set 70 of the reduction ticket return so that

the ticket is returned to the customer.

  Assuming that the line 64 has an indication confirming that the discount ticket corresponds to articles selected for the transaction, the reduction totalizer 74 is controlled by the indication of the line 64 indicating the correspondence and reduces the signal. of line 72 from the set 24 with a price memory and totalizer of a value corresponding to the indication of the reduction (ticket value) of line 66. At this point too, the reduction ticket is transmitted to a store in which the ticket received is suitably obliterated or otherwise degraded so that it can not be read by a machine but can be verified by

human inspection.

  The operation of the assembly 14 of Figure 1 can be easily understood on reading the flow chart

  of Figure 2 to which reference is now made.

  The set is put into operation at step 100. At

  not 102 (obtaining the codes of the articles chosen and

  price setting), the point-of-sale facility is implemented, for example, facility 12 of Figure 1, and the customer order is noted both as the total price of all selected items by the customer and

  in the form of UPC codes of all articles.

  At step 104 (discount ticket introduced?), The fact that a discount ticket has been introduced by the customer or not is determined and the ticket is checked, a positive response being transmitted by a line 106. If the answer is negative , a line 108 brings back the installation

  step 104 processing the ticket introduced next.

  Line 106 arrives at step 110 (read code of the reduction ticket and its monetary value), at which signals are created, these signals being representative of the code of the reduction ticket and the monetary value of the

  reduction that is applicable to the ticket.

  Step 112 (does the ticket code correspond to a code of a chosen article?) Then provides a comparison of the ticket code signal and signals representative of each of the codes obtained in step 102. If the comparison gives a result Negative, line 114 joins step 116 (make discount ticket to the customer), and the customer receives the discount ticket that he initially introduced, so that he can use it for future purchases. The

  line 118 returns the facility to step 104 for processing

a subsequent ticket.

  If the request of step 112 has a positive response, line 120 leads to step 122 (subtract the value of the ticket from the total price), the monetary value applicable to the ticket indicated in the corresponding signal created in step 112 being subtracted from the total price obtained in step 102. The result of this subtraction then replaces the total price obtained in step 102 which must be used in step 122 during the processing of the next reduction ticket which is introduced and which

  applies to a customer purchase order.

  In step 124 (degrade the ticket), the ticket whose reduction has been taken into account is processed, for example by marking a black line diagonally, so that it can no longer be read in a UPC code reader. The discount ticket thus degraded is then advantageously placed in a store. The program of the set then returns on line 126 to step 104 for processing the ticket of

reduction introduced next.

  At the end of the processing of all discount tickets

  The total price which has been progressively reduced and which is then available at step 122, is identified as the final price of the sale to the customer and is transmitted to the associated electronic point-of-sale device. The end of the discount coupons can come from the client

which tells it to the installation.

  Of course, various modifications may be made by the person skilled in the art to the installations which have just been described as examples only.

  limiting without departing from the scope of the invention.

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Claims (2)

  1; Automatic installation of treatment of selected articles for a sales transaction and allowing the reading of codes carried by the articles, these codes being representative of the identity of the items, the installation being intended to ensure the totalization of the prices of articles and comprising a reduction ticket processing set bearing codes representing the identity of an item and a monetary value, said facility being characterized in that said set of discount ticket processing comprises: (a) a device (44) intended to receive the reduction tickets, to read the codes they carry and to create first and second output signals for each ticket read, these signals respectively being representative of the identity of an article and of said monetary value, (b) a device (24) for storing   signals received from the automatic installation and   identity of all items selected for the transaction, (c) a discount ticket validation device (62) for comparing the first signals obtained   from the reception device to stored memory signals   of the items, and to create a ticket validation signal at each positive comparison, and (d) a reduction sum device (74) for receiving those of the second receiving device signals for which a ticket validation is   created, and a signal of the automatic installation of   representative of the total price from the   treatment system, this device for calculating reduc-   to subtract the monetary value of each second signal received from the indicated monetary value by the total price signal.   2. Installation according to claim 1, characterized   in that the device (44) for receiving reduction tickets is controlled by a signal for returning the ticket   to a customer, and the device (62) for validating   reduction ticket creates this command signal   when the comparison gives a negative result, and   puts the ticket at the discount ticket receiving device.