GB1563998A - Digital electric data processing system - Google Patents

Description

(54) DIGITAL ELECTRIC DATA PROCESSING SYSTEM (71) We, RTC (REAL TIME CONTROL) LIMITED, a British Company of Kebbell House, Carpenders Park, Watford, Hertfordshire WD1 5BE and NURDIN & PEACOCK LIMITED, a British Company of Bushey Road, Raynes Park SW20 OJJ, do hereby declare the invention, for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement: This invention relates to a digital electric data processing system which has particular, though not exclusive, application to the control of a commodity, for example stock in a warehouse.

It is a particular advanlage of the system according to the invention that information relating to the commodity is processed by the sys em each time that a change relating to the commodity occurs so that an accurate and up-to-date record is maintained.

In a particular embodiment, goods for a warehouse are ordered via the data processing system and, upon receipt of the goods at the warehouse, information relating to the goods received is fed into the system and checked against the order. Labels are then printed at the point of receipt of the goods, under the control of the system, for immediate application to the goods before they are put into stock. Labels produced in this way can take into account any variations in the stock received from that ordered and the lastest position regarding price and tax codes, for example Value Added Tax (VAT) codes, and the likelihood of the labels being applied to the wrong goods is less than with other methods.

Furthermore, the system enables customers at the warehouse to be provided with an upto-date record of their purchase, as well as enabling management information in the form, for example, of financial and stock level reports and other statistics to be obtained.

In a preferred embodiment, the details of a customer's purchases are made visible on a display to the customer as the transaction is being recorded by the computer, so that he can check easily that the information being entered on his record is correct.

It will be appreciated that, although the invention will be described by way of example in its application to the control of stock in a warehouse, a system in accordance with the invention can be applied to the control of other commodities, for example books in a lending library or the sale of airline tickets.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Fig. 1 is a flow chart illustrating the flow of information in block schematic form, Fig. 2 is a block schematic diagram indicating the electrical connections between equipment employed to obtain the information flow shown in Fig. 1, Fig. 3 is a representation of the information displayed to a customer at a check-out, Fig. 4 is a block diagram of the circuit used to provide the display of Fig. 3 and Figs. 5 and 6 are representations of labels produced for application to goods.

Referring to Fig. 1, there is shown a flow diagram illustrating the way in which information passes within a warehouse and between the various offices and parts of the warehouse, the head office of the firm operating the warehouse and the suppliers of the goods to the warehouse.

It will be seen that goods are supplied by suppliers indicated at 1 to a goods-in area of the warehouse, indicated at 2. Information regarding the goods received at the goods-in area 2 is passed to a goods suspense area 3, together with the goods, and information concerning the goods received in the suspense area 3 is fed to a goods control office 4 and to a warehouse log maintained at a head office 5. Goods are passed, as required, from the suspense area 3 to a goods display area 6 and information regarding the stock levels in the goods display area 6 is fed to a buying office 7. Goods selected by purchasers are removed from the display area 6 and taken to a check-out 8, from which information regarding the goods selected by the customer is passed to a cash collection area 9, at which sales invoices are prepared, a manager's office 10 and a warehouse log maintained at the head office 5. This information is also used to maintain a sales log.

Furthermore, any information regarding credit notes is passed from the check-out area 8 to the manager's office 10. The goods selected, together with any credit notes, are taken by the customer, who may visit other display areas and their associated check-out areas en route, to the cash collection area 9, where the cash is collected and from which the goods are taken away after payment has been made by the purchaser. Information regarding the cash colected is fed to the manager's office 10, to which the cash is taken, as convenient. A customer control office 11, to which customers report on their arrival at the warehouse, issues credit notes, where applicable. The credit notes are taken by the customer to the goods display area 6 and the check-out area 8. A customer identity check is also passed directly from the customer control office 11 to the cash collection area 9 while the customer is in the warehouse. The cash from the manager's office 10 is passed from time to time to a bank 12, from which statements are sent to the head office 5, which is able to reconcile them with reports from the manager's office 10 and to pass statistics to the manager's office 10. The head office 5 also receives the supplier's invoices from the goods control office 4, which has received copies of the invoices from the suppliers 1. From the information received by the goods control office 4, the buying office 7 is ale to pass information to the goods-in area 2 related to the pricing of the goods to give the required profit margin. The buying office 7 initiates the purchase orders which it passes to the suppliers 1, thus causing the goods to be sent from the suppliers to the goods-in area 2 of the warehouse. Information re garding price changes and special promotions are passed from the suppliers 1 to the head office 5 which passes any information necessary to cause the goods received to be repriced to the buying office 7 and the manager's office 10 by a route, not indicated.

In order to enable the information flow system shown in Figure 1 to be implemented, the present invention proposes the use of an arrangement, which will now be described with reference to Figure 2, which shows a central computer unit 20 storing information fed to it on a magnetic tape unit 21 via a tape control 22. Communicating with the central computer unit 20 are a keyboard 23 and a display 24 in the manager's office 10, a plurality (1 to n) of check-out displays 25 in each check-out area 8, a plurality (1 to n) of label printers 27 in the goods suspense area 3, together with a goodsreceived-note printer 28, a label display 29 and a label keyboard 30, which are all in the goods-in area 2. At the cash collection area 9 there are provided a plurality (1 to n) of invoice printers 31, a cashier's keyboard 32 and a printer 33, which produces a sales day book record. Information is fed between the equipment at the area 8, at the area 3 and at the area 9 and the central computer unit 20 via respective asynchronous multiplexers 34, 35 and 36. A paper tape reader 37, providing an input to the central computer unit 20, is used for routine maintenance tests.

It will be appreciated that there are three main factors with which the system shown in Figs. 1 and 2 is concerned, namely the detailing of information concerning goods selected and purchased by customers, so that accurate records can be maintained by the merchant and the customer can be kept informed of the position, the ordering of goods to replace those purchased and the financial control of the operation, which ensures that goods are so priced that an adequate profit margin is obtained.

Consider first the operations initiated by a customer passing through the warehouse.

On entering the warehouse, the customer reports to the customer control office 11, where he hands over an identity card and negotiates any credits due to him. An internal payment card, which contains a record of his past transactions, is updated with any credits accorded to him. He takes this card with him as he goes into the goods display area 6 to select his goods. At the same time his identity card is passed from the office 11 to the cashier in the cash collection area 9, which for convenience is situated close to the customer control office 11.

When the customer has selected his goods he goes to a check-out area 8. It will be appreciated that there may be a plurality of goods display areas 6, each with its own check-out area, and each dealing with a particular range of goods. An operator at the check-out area 8 reads the customer's number on his internal payment card and enters this number into the central computer unit 20 by means of the keyboard 26 (Figure 2). The goods which the customer has selected and placed in a trolley are transferred by a member of the staff to another trolley. As the goods are transferred, the member of the staff calls out either a code related, for example, to the VAT code and the price or the actual VAT code and the price given on a label on the goods and the operator enters the information called-out into the central computer unit 20 by means of the keyboard 26. Where more than one item of the same commodity has been purchased, the quantity is also called out and entered by means of the keyboard 26 into the central computer unit 20. The information entered into the central computer unit 20 is subjected to a check to detect errors that may have been made, either in calling out the information or entering it into the central computer unit. In one particular embodiment, to be described later, the VAT code includes a check digit generated by the central computer unit 20. Any errors that might be detected by the central computer unit 20 are signalled to the operator by means of a light on the keyboard and/or an audible indicator. Provision may be made for the check digit test to be overridden, if required. A particular advantage of the particular arrangement being described is that a display is provided, at the check-out area, which is visible to the customer and over a wide area generally and which displays information directly related to what is being entered into the central computer unit 20 by the operator. An example of a display is shown in Figure 3 from which it can be seen that the customer is able to see at 40 the VAT rate, at 41 a code for the goods that have been purchased, at 42 the quantity of goods purchased, at 43 the price to be paid for the given quantity of goods and at 44 the total, including VAT, value of goods that the purchaser has selected up to that point. Should a customer query any item, it is possible to recall information from the central computer unit 20 about any of the sets of figures displayed by backspacing one at a time until the particular set of figures is reached. At the end of the complete entry of a particular customer's purchases a key is operated on the keyboard 26 which causes information to be fed from the central computer unit 20 to one of the invoice printers 31 in the cash collection area 9 to enable full VAT invoices to be printed in duplicate at the cash collection area 9. The first copy of the invoice is for the customer, while the second copy is retained for audit purposes. This sales invoice gives ful details of the transaction including the VAT amounts, any credits, and the total of the purchases made. At the same time, the sales day book printer 33 in the cash collection area 9 is fed with information related to the account of the particular customer, giving the folio number, the invoice number, the number of each of the goods purchased and the total amount of tax for each purchase, the total amount of credit and the cost of the purchase of each type of goods as well as the total number of all times purchased and a full summary of the transaction. Thus, upon arrival at the cash collection area 9 the customer presents his internal payment card to the cashier who enters the customer number on the keyboard 32 and causes the sales day book summary invoice to be printed. The cashier then retrieves from a pending file the invoices, which have been printed on the printers 31 during the customer's passage through the warehouse, together with the customer's identity card. The cashier checks the details that have been invoiced against the sales day book entry, records the total payment and places any money received in a cash drawer. Upon the completion of the transaction, the customer's internal payment card is returned to the file while the customer's purchases and identity card are released to him. The customer's copy of the invoice is stamped as having been paid and any check of the goods being removed by the customer can be made. Periodically, the cashier is required to cash up and a request to the cashier to do this is printed on the sales day book, when the handling of a customer has been completed.

Of course, there are various security provisions that have not been mentioned, including the use of signing-on and signing-off codes related to a particular operator which are entered into the central computer unit 20 before the equipment becomes available to the operator.

Referring to Figure 4, there is shown a block schematic diagram ilustrating the check-out display circuit. Data for display in the way shown in Fig. 3 is received in serial form from the central computer unit 20 on a line 50 as binary coded digits. The data is in blocks, which are normally of 19 or 20 characters. At the end of each block there is a carriage return code. The signals relating to each charcter to be displayed are converted from the serial to parallel form in a converter 51 and fed as parallel data on a line 52 to a valid code detector 53, a carriage return decode circuit 54 and a memory 55. If a valid code is detected a write one character detector circuit 56 causes a read/write control circuit 57 to switch a flip-flop 58 to the position indicated by a dotted line 59 and an output from the control circuit 57 to pass to a memory address counter 60. According to the position of the character in the block, the memory address counter 60 causes the data on the line 52 to be fed to a respective position in the memory 55. The address counter 60 steps one count for each character until the 19 or 20 characters of the block are all entered into respective positions in the memory 55.

At the end of a block, the carriage return decode circuit 54 detects a carriage return code and sets the flip-flop 58 to the display position in which a scanning clock 61 is coupled to the address counter 60. The read/ write control circuit 57 which has been restored to its normal write or display mode allows the flip-flop 58 to change to the display position and the scanning clock 61 thus drives the address counter 60 to cause the information that has been stored in the memory 55 to be read out into a seven segment decoder circuit 62 and thence to a light emitting diode display 63. If there is an error in the output from the memory address counter 60, for example if the scanning clock fails, if either a parity or framing error is detected as a result of a signal fed from the serial to parallel converter 51, or if there is an error in the carriage return code detected by the circuit 54, for example if the carriage return code is received after a block of less than 19 or 20 characters, a blanking signal is fed to the seven segment decoder circuit 62 from an error check circuit 64. It wil be understood that by using a light emitting diode display it is possible to change the information being displayed very rapidly compared with a mechanical display, for example. In fact, the display 63 is organised into two rings of ten, each with its own decoder and memory so that four lines go from the memory address counter 60 via a coupling block 65 to one-of-ten decode circuits. In the display mode the rings are driven in parallel with two LED chips (one from each ring) being lit at the same time. When the read/write control circuit 57 places the display flip-flop 58 in the read in mode, the display memories are connected in series and the first ten characters enter the first memory while the second ten characters enter the second memory under the control of the fifth bit of a scan counter.

Let us now consider what happens when goods are received from a supplier. The goods will be delivered to the goods-in area 2, together with a delivery note. The goodsin area 2 will also receive from the buying office two copies of the purchase orders on which the goods have been ordered.

Upon their receipt, the quantities of goods are checked and any discrepancies between the goods ordered and those received are noted on a copy of the purchase order which is passed with the goods received from the goods-in area 2 to the suspense area 3.

At the goods suspense area 3, information fed from the label keyboard 30 to the central computer unit 20 results in labels for the goods being printed in the area 3. This step includes two important error checking features. Firstly, a batch control total, which is entered into the central computer unit 20, enables effective security checks to be made on the goods and purchase orders received from the area 2, at which the goods have been checked-in by the goods-in staff, right through to a check-out area 8. Secondly, either a check digit, or some coding of information to be recorded on the label, is generated by the central computer unit 20 according to the information entered and a predetermined formula. This check digit or code enables attention to be drawn to any data entry by the check out operator that could result in incorrect charging.

Thus, at the goods suspense area 3, the operator first enters, on the keyboard 30, the purchase order number and the total number of goods in the batch concerned. This information is stored in the computer and used for stock control purposes. The operator then enters a request for labels to be printed.

The information necessary for printing the labels includes the type of label, for example layout, size or colour, whether the VAT rate and price are to be readable directly or whether this information is to be shown in coded form, whether a check digit to be included is to be related to both the VAT rate and the price or to one of these items, whether the goods are of the type whose price changes so frequently that a code related to a daily price list is to be included and whether the label order is in respect of a new batch of goods, part of a batch or for the relabelling of a previously labelled batch.

PossibIe types of label are shown in Fig.

5 and 6. In Figure 5, the figures 123 are a code for a VAT rate of 1, the figure 0.42 represents a price of 42p and the code 422 is a code based on the price of 42p plus a check digit 2 which is generated automatically by the computer according to a predetermined formula.

In Fig. 6, the figures 092 are based on a VAT rate of 0 and they are used to generate a pseudo VAT code of 345. A check digit 0, generated on the basis of this information, is added in the centre of the upper line on the label and a price of 30p is shown in the bottom right hand corner of the label.

It will be apreciated that these are very simple examples of label coding and that, in practice, the check digits and price codes are calculated acording to confidential formulae that are not readily decipherable. The information presented to the customer at the check-out display 25 in the area 8 will be in an uncoded form readily understood by him.

On the basis of this information, not only are the required number of labels printed by one of the printers 27, but the information entered by the operator on the keyboard 30 results in suitable information being fed by the central computer unit 20 to the printer 28 to enable a goods received note to be printed in the area 3. This goods received note includes details of the goods received and labelled and various control totals and is sent after checking from the area 3 to the goods control office 4. On the basis of this information, the goods control office 4 is able to reconcile the supplier's credits and debits and send to the head office 5 all of the information necessary to enab!e payment to the suppliers to be authorised.

It will be noted that a display of a label being printed is visible to the staff at 29 in the area 3, so that the information can be easily checked.

Information regarding stock levels from the goods display area 6 is continuously available to the buying office 7. At the buying office 7. the buyer initiates a purchase by means of a purchase order which is sent to the supplier. Copies of this purchase order bearing additional information, for example the price to be charged for each item, the details of the VAT rate or of an internal VAT code, and whether the item is the subject of a special offer, are sent to the goods-in area 2 and to a file of orders placed.

This additional information is determined by the buyer, partly on profit margin information relating either to particular goods or on total orders, which is fed to the buying office 7 both from the goods control office 4 and the head office 5.

The manager's office 10 has available to it from the check-out areas 8 details of the operator's totals and of the credit notes, from the cash collection area 9 details of the cash and cheques received, the entries in the sales day book and copies of sales invoices, from the goods suspense area 3 details of the goods being placed in the area from a summary of the labels, from the information store details of the up-tothe-minute stock position and from the bank 12 statements of account. The manager's office 10 keeps up to date a file of paid invoices and supplies the head office 5 with information concerning credit notes. the sales day book, cash in hand and stock reports.

Information on any of these items can be totalled and obtained at any time during the day and used in controlling the operation.

It will thus be seen that arrangements in accordance with the invention enable a complete control of stock to be maintained from the time that it is received in the warehouse to the time that it is taken away.

Furthermore, the receipt of the stock is readily checked against orders placed. The risk of losses at the point of receipt is minimised by the check made as a result of immediate labelling in the area 3 under the direct control of the computer.

The use of codes and check digits enables operator error to be checked and minimised during the removal of stock and the collection of cash.

The use of a clear light emitting diode display 25, measuring overall some 8 by 18 inches and having characters almost an inch high, provides the customer and any other viewer over a wide area with the opportunity of checking the entries being made on the sales invoice.

Management is provided by the system with up to date information to enable the stock and profit margin position to be maintained, as well as enabling, by the use of codes, prices to be adjusted over a wide range of goods on a day to day basis.

It will be appreciated that, although the invention has been described, by way of example, with reference to a particular embodiment, variations and modifications can be made within the scope of the invention.

The information can be stored in other well known ways than on magnetic tape, for example on discs. Some information can be stored on one medium and other information on another medium. In the particular embodiment described the magnetic tape stores details of every operation in the warehouse in such a way that it is available later for record and analysis purposes.

It will be appreciated that the encoding of information by the central computer unit 20 for use in printing the labels at the goods suspense area 3 in real time, and for use by the operator at a check out area 8 and the provision in the area 8 of a display of the true information for both customers and staff to read are important features of the present invention.

Although only one of each type of area has been shown in the particular embodiment described, there can be more than one of many of these area, for example there can be more than one goods suspense area and more than one check out area.

It will be particularly appreciated that the use of codes enables the price of goods whose value changes from day to day to be adjusted easily.

WHAT WE CLAIM IS:- 1. A digital electric data processing system comprising a central processing unit.

a data storage device coupled to the central processing unit, key operated input means at a first station for feeding to the central processing unit information related to goods received, means at the first station to print data on labels to be applied to the goods the data printed on the labels including coded data and being generated in accordance with the information fed to the central processing unit and information stored in the data storage device, key operated means at a second station to feed data from the

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims (6)

1. **WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **.

   received note includes details of the goods received and labelled and various control totals and is sent after checking from the area 3 to the goods control office 4. On the basis of this information, the goods control office 4 is able to reconcile the supplier's credits and debits and send to the head office 5 all of the information necessary to enab!e payment to the suppliers to be authorised.

   It will be noted that a display of a label being printed is visible to the staff at 29 in the area 3, so that the information can be easily checked.

   Information regarding stock levels from the goods display area 6 is continuously available to the buying office 7. At the buying office 7. the buyer initiates a purchase by means of a purchase order which is sent to the supplier. Copies of this purchase order bearing additional information, for example the price to be charged for each item, the details of the VAT rate or of an internal VAT code, and whether the item is the subject of a special offer, are sent to the goods-in area 2 and to a file of orders placed.

   This additional information is determined by the buyer, partly on profit margin information relating either to particular goods or on total orders, which is fed to the buying office 7 both from the goods control office 4 and the head office 5.

   The manager's office 10 has available to it from the check-out areas 8 details of the operator's totals and of the credit notes, from the cash collection area 9 details of the cash and cheques received, the entries in the sales day book and copies of sales invoices, from the goods suspense area 3 details of the goods being placed in the area from a summary of the labels, from the information store details of the up-tothe-minute stock position and from the bank

   12 statements of account. The manager's office 10 keeps up to date a file of paid invoices and supplies the head office 5 with information concerning credit notes. the sales day book, cash in hand and stock reports.

   Information on any of these items can be totalled and obtained at any time during the day and used in controlling the operation.

   It will thus be seen that arrangements in accordance with the invention enable a complete control of stock to be maintained from the time that it is received in the warehouse to the time that it is taken away.

   Furthermore, the receipt of the stock is readily checked against orders placed. The risk of losses at the point of receipt is minimised by the check made as a result of immediate labelling in the area 3 under the direct control of the computer.

   The use of codes and check digits enables operator error to be checked and minimised during the removal of stock and the collection of cash.

   The use of a clear light emitting diode display 25, measuring overall some 8 by 18 inches and having characters almost an inch high, provides the customer and any other viewer over a wide area with the opportunity of checking the entries being made on the sales invoice.

   Management is provided by the system with up to date information to enable the stock and profit margin position to be maintained, as well as enabling, by the use of codes, prices to be adjusted over a wide range of goods on a day to day basis.

   It will be appreciated that, although the invention has been described, by way of example, with reference to a particular embodiment, variations and modifications can be made within the scope of the invention.

   The information can be stored in other well known ways than on magnetic tape, for example on discs. Some information can be stored on one medium and other information on another medium. In the particular embodiment described the magnetic tape stores details of every operation in the warehouse in such a way that it is available later for record and analysis purposes.

   It will be appreciated that the encoding of information by the central computer unit 20 for use in printing the labels at the goods suspense area 3 in real time, and for use by the operator at a check out area 8 and the provision in the area 8 of a display of the true information for both customers and staff to read are important features of the present invention.

   Although only one of each type of area has been shown in the particular embodiment described, there can be more than one of many of these area, for example there can be more than one goods suspense area and more than one check out area.

   It will be particularly appreciated that the use of codes enables the price of goods whose value changes from day to day to be adjusted easily.

   WHAT WE CLAIM IS:- 1. A digital electric data processing system comprising a central processing unit.

   a data storage device coupled to the central processing unit, key operated input means at a first station for feeding to the central processing unit information related to goods received, means at the first station to print data on labels to be applied to the goods the data printed on the labels including coded data and being generated in accordance with the information fed to the central processing unit and information stored in the data storage device, key operated means at a second station to feed data from the

   labels on those of the goods that have been selected for purchase to the central processing unit, and means at a third station to print an invoice, information printed on the invoice being generated in accordance with the data fed in at the second station and information stored in the data storage device.
2. 2. A system according to claim 1 including means to provide at the third station a printed summary of all of the transactions of any particular purchaser.
3. 3. A system according to claim 1 wherein the data printed on the lab.els includes a check digit generated by the central processing unit.
4. 4. A system according to claim 1 including visual display means at the second station, the display means being connected to the information generated by the computer unit in accordance with the data on a label and information in the storage device to provide a visual uncoded display of true information.
5. 5. A system according to claim 4 including a serial to parallel converter at the input of the display means, means to check the validity of signals at the output of the serial to parallel converter, means upon the receipt of a valid code to pass the signals to a memory and means upon the receipt of a carriage return code to cause information stored in the memory to be passed to the display means.
6. 6. A digital electric data processing system substantially as described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings.