GB2124810A - Cash registers - Google Patents

Abstract

A cash register installation at a retail selling point, in particular a bar involves a thin keypad 3 mounted in, and preferably flush with, the surface of the bar counter 1 and physically separate from the cash till or drawer 4 and from a VDU 5, controlled by the keypad, which displays the details of the purchases keyed in on the keypad, the VDU being placed behind the bartender and visible to customer. The keypad is waterproof and may have an LED or similar display visible to the bartender. Several such installations can be controlled from a central computer in which information on prices is stored, and this information can be on continuous display on the VDUs. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Cash registers This invention relates to cash register installations at points of sale, especially though by no means exclusively to bars of licensed premises.

The traditional mechanical cash register in which the operator presses mechanical keys to key in the amount of money paid in for a purchase, and in which the information is displayed by mechanically raised flags visible to the customer, has long been largely replaced by electrical units in which the display is by means of LEDs or similar electrical means, again placed at the top of the machine to be readily visible to the customer. As in the mechanical machines, the cash drawer is below the array of keys, all in one unit with the display.

In recent times the idea has been introduced of marking certain keys not with digits but with the names of certain individiual frequently selling fixed-price items, so that the user only has to press a single key, for example marked "Gin" and the appropriate price is automatically added to the register and displayed to the customer. The prices can be changed when necessary by re-programming the appropriate memory in the machine.

Still more recently proposals have been made for using a commercially available form of microcomputer at the point of sale, receiving signals from magnetic sensors on the associated spirit dispensers and having a keyboard and video display unit (VDU) to record the transaction and display information on it to the customer. Provision is made for transmitting the information to a central computer.

The aim of the invention is to develop further this trend in facilities for retail selling, especially on licensed premises and to improve the flexibility and the security of the system whilst reducing installation costs.

According to the invention theses aims are achieved by making the keyboard or keypad and the VDU physically entirely separate from the cash drawer or till and from each other.

This opens up the way towards a further important feature of the invention which is to make the keyboard in the form of a thin printed circuit keypad of the touch-key type, made moisture proof and incorporated in the top surface of the bar at any convenient point.

The associated VDU may be above and behind the bartender, facing the customer.

All the keypads and VDU's of a given installation are connected to a common central computer which controls them, receiving information on the sales made at the individual points and also providing information on prices and availability of stocks. Thus, by using a single central 'intelligence', common to all the sales points, we are able to produce a flexible system at a much lower cost than the previously proposed arrangement with individual local microcomputers at each sales point. The keypad according to the invention can be produced at a fraction of the cost of a comparable electronic cash register.

The invention will now be further described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a plan view of a portion of a typical bar incorporating an installation according to the invention; Figure 2 is a block circuit diagram illustrating the invention; Figure 3 is a plan view of the keypad itself; Figure 4 is a plan view of the printed circuit board within the keypad; and Figure 5 is a section, to a larger scale, through a portion of the keypad.

Fig. 1 illustrates how the cash register system according to the invention could be installed in a typical bar. The bar counter 1 has the usual beer pump handles 2, and at any suitable point in the surface of the bar counter, conveniently adjacent the rear edge, is a rectangular pad 3 of keys, to be described later in more detail, having basically the same function as the normal keys of a cash register.

However this keypad is connected to the rest of the cash registering system only by a multicore cable, and its position is selected solely as a matter of convenience to the bartender, without reference to other factors. It may be mounted on top of the existing surface of the bar counter, and makes little protrusion as it is only a few millimetres thick, but preferably it is slightly recessed into the counter so that its upper surface is exactly flush with the remainder of the counter.

The till can be at any other convenient point, and is indicated by way of example at 4, under the rear edge of the counter at the other side of the beer pumps from the keypad 3. The display of cash registered by the pad 3 is not on the bar at all, but is in the form a visual display unit (VDU) 5 positioned behind the bartender and facing the customer, for example set in the shelves among the usual spirit dispensers 6, at a level substantially above that of the counter 1.

The keypad 3 and VDU are connected, along with those in any other bars, and/or those at other points along the same bar, to a common central computer 7, as indicated diagrammatically in Fig. 2. This computer may he situated in the manager's office, the cellar, storeroom or wherever is most conve nient. It receives information from all the keypads and controls the associated VDUs. In addition it may receive information on the quantities of drinks dispensed, in the form of electrical signals from transducers or sensors on the beer pump and/or spirit dispensers and, in order to keep the wiring simple, the signals may be multiplexed as disclosed in our patent application No. 8 212 585 (Publication No. 2 097 975A).

This single central computer can contain information on the prices of all the different drinks (and other products) available and the prices (which may well be different in different bars) are preferably permanently displayed on the VDU's 5. Altering the price of a given item is only a matter of keying in new instructions on the central computer. The computer can also contain information on the availability of stocks, this information being continuously updated automatically by the signals received from the dispensers.

Referring now to Figs. 3, 4 and 5, the keypad 3 comprises an upper continuous, i.e.

imperforate, moisture-proof layer 8 of polycarbonate film onto which the images of the keys themselves and their labels are screen-printed, over an array of individual thin flexible domeshaped disc-like stainless steel contact members 9 (Fig. 5) located over a glass-fibre reinforced plastics board 10 carrying an array of contacts in its upper surface, conveniently printed by wel-known etching techniques and preferably of copper.As will be seen in Fig. 4, the outer ring contacts 11 are, generally speaking, connected together in rows and each row leads to a respective pin on a multipin connector plug 12; the centre contacts 1 3 are connected through to the underside of the board where they are joined together in columns (not shown), each leading to a respective pin on the connector, so as to form a matrix in a well-known manner, uniquely identifying each key in the output signal. Below the keypad is an encoder board (not shown) in which the signals from the individual keys are coded into a form suitable for transmitting to the central computer.

The overall thickness of the keypad is barely 3mm and it is completely waterproof. The contact members 9 are located by the provision of slightly domed shaped recesses in the polycarbonate layer 8. The force/deflection characteristic and total deflection of the stainless steel button may be pre-selected (it could be different for different buttons on the same pad) by cutting arcuate, e.g. semi-circular, notches of appropriate size in the peripheries of the selected buttons.

Other forms of pad, known in themselves may be used.

In the example illustrated there are 45 'dedicated' keys, that is to say, keys identifying specific items, so that for nearly all orders the bartender does not have to know the price of each item but simply depresses the appropriate key and it is automatically displayed and added in to the total. In addition, however, there is a standard array of ten digit keys, and there are fourteen other keys for various purposes, such as cancelling errors, adding up the total, or a sub-total, and so on.

The keypad also contains a window 1 4 for an LED display, or similar alphanumeric display, visible to the bartender, on which the price and/or identify of each item is displayed when a key is pressed at the same time as the item is displayed on the VDU, so that the bartender himself does not have to watch the VDU at all. There is preferably also an audible 'bleep', in the usual way, every time a key is pressed.

In a typical example the items ordered, each by name and price, appear on the VDU 5 as they are keyed in by the bartender. The chances of errors, deliberate or otherwise, are substantially reduced and the customer knows exactly what he has to pay; he can also see unmistakably that the price charged per each item is the standard price, and that the total is correct. In a modification the left hand side of the screen of the VDU could display permanently the prices of all the regularly sold items, whilst the items ordered appear on the right-hand side.

Colour may be used to make different items stand out; for example the items ordered may be displayed in a different colour from the fixed price list, and the total may be shown in a third colour.

When prices change, the alteration is keyed into the central computer and this information automatically reaches all the sales points. As there is interchange of information between the sales points and the central computer, and each sales point has its own identifying code, there is no problem in displaying different prices in the different bars.

The central computer can be programmed to control the individual keypads as desired.

For example each dedicated key can be arranged to be programmed at any one of up to five price levels, and the special keys can be used for facilities such as logging staff hours.

Provision may be made for certain sales, for example food, as opposed to drink, to be recorded separately, and an 'interrupt' facility allows two separate orders to be recorded simultaneously on the same keypad.

A printer can be connected to the keypad where there may be a need to provide receipts, but the position of the printer can be selected without regard to the placing of the keypad. The cash drawer or till may incorporate a solenoid-operated latch which keeps it closed until released by depression of one or more keys on the keypad.

Claims (11)

1. A cash register installation at a retail selling point, such as a bar, comprising a keypad, in which the amounts of the purchases are keyed by the seller, mounted in or on the surface of a sales counter, a physically separate cash till or drawer associated with the keypad, and an electronic visual display unit physically separate from the keypad and from a cash till or drawer; the display unit being so positioned as to be visible to a customer on the opposite side of the counter from the seller and being connected electrically to the keypad to display the value and or nature of each purchase keyed in by the seller.

2. A cash register installation according to claim 1 in which the visual display unit was placed above the level of the counter and behind the position occupied by a seller facing the counter.

3. A cash register installation according to claim 2 in which the keypad has adjacent to it an LED, alphanumeric or equivalent display visible to the seller, and displaying information on the value and/or nature of the purchase keyed in.

4. A cash register installation according to any one of claims 1 to 3 in which the keypad and visual display unit are controlled by a central computer common to two or more such installations.

5. A cash register installation according to any one of claims 1 to 4 in which the upper surface of the keypad is flush with that of the counter and is moisture-proof.

6. A cash register installation according to claim 5 in which the upper surface of the keypad is a substantially imperforate flexible electrically non-conducting film, with individual electric key contacts below it.

7. A cash register installation according to claim 6 in which symbols identifying the keys are printed on the film.

8. A cash register installation according to claim 6 or claim 7 in which the key contacts comprise flexible metal discs, depression of which complete an electric circuit between concentric contact members.

9. A cash register installation according to any one of claims 1 to 8 in which the visual display unit displays continuously, in use, the prices of a list of items available for sale.

10. A cash register installation according to any one of claims 1 to 9 in which the keypad includes a number of dedicated keys, that it to say, keys identifying particular items, and the prices of those items are automatically displayed on depression of the keys in question.

11. A cash register installation according to any one of the preceding claims in a bar of licensed premises.

1 2. A cash register installation according to claims 11 in which the bar includes drink dispensers which incorporate electrical sensors signalling the quantities dispensed, this information being fed to a computer together with that from the keypad.

1 3. A cash register installation according to any one of claims 1 to 1 2 in which the cash till or drawer has a latch that holdss it closed until released by actuation of a key on the keypad.

1 4. A cash register installation at a retail selling point, substantially as described with reference to the accompanying drawings.