GB2162349A - Customer control system - Google Patents

Abstract

An indicating system, for use with customer serving positions, eg. Bank tills, has an indicator which indicates that a particular service position is "free", in response to a manual switch at the respective service position, or a sensor which senses the exiting of a preceding customer from that service position. A timer may switch off the indicator after a predetermined period. Where the sensor senses the exiting of the preceding customer from the service position, another timer may provide a predetermined delay before the next "free" indication. Number of times of occupancy may be recorded. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Customer control system This invention relates to the indicating, to customers waiting for attention of when a service position, manned by an operative, is free to accept a customer. Whilst not restricted to such use, the invention is of particular advantage in the handling of customers passing to cashier's till positions in Banks, and to customers passing to check-out positions in retail outlets.

The main object of the invention is to provide a system which, under the control of an operative at the position, provides an indication, to one or more customers waiting near or approaching at least one service position, of when the or a selected position is free.

A second object of the invention is to provide such a system wherein the provision of the indication is triggered automatically by the exiting of a previous customer from the selected position.

According to the present invention a system for providing to one or more customers an indication that a service position is free to accept a customer, comprises an indicator adapted, when operating, to convey to a customer an indication of that position being free, a control means associated with the indicator and arranged to place the indicator into operated state, and switch means connected to the control means and activatable by the operative or by a sensor sensing the exiting of a customer from the position.

In a first form, the control means is arranged to maintain the indicator normally in a non-operated state, and there is provided a switch for actuation by an operative at the, or each, position and connected to the control means for placing the indicator in its operated state to indicate that the position is free. The control means may include timing means which terminate the indication after a predetermined period has elapsed since actuation of the switch by the operative.

In a second form, the control means is arranged to maintain the indicator in a nonoperated state as a result of a customer approaching or entering the position and actuating a sensor connected to the control means, and when the sensor senses that the customer has exited from the position, the control means places the indicator in its operated state to show that the position is free to accept a customer. The control means may include timing means serving to cause a predetermined delay between sensing of the exiting of the customer, and placing of the display into its operated state.

The indicator may further include individual means at each of a plurality of positions for indicating that the respective position is free, the operation of those individual means being coordinated with the indication of free positions by a collective indicator.

The indicator may include means for both visual and audible indication, and the audible indication means may be operable at each time of modification of the indication of the visual indication.

The system may further include switch means, actuatable at or in respect of a selected position, e.g. an "express till", connected to the control means, with the control means being arranged to maintain, by the indicator, for so long as the switch means is "on", an indication that the selected position is available generally for service.

The system may further include recording means connected to the control and arranged to count and record the number of times of occupancy of a position by a customer in a selected period of time, and may repeat the counting and recording during succeeding periods of time, and may have provision for totalising the number of occupancies of the or each position during one or more periods, and may include provision for recording date and/or time of day.

In order that the nature of the invention may be readily ascertained, two embodiments of customer control system in accordance therewith are hereinafter particularly described with reference to the figures of the accompanying drawing, wherein: Figure 1 is a block schematic diagram of a manually controlled system; Figure 2 is a block schematic diagram of an automatically controlled system.

The following description is made for convenience in the context of control of customers approaching the cashiers' till positions in a Bank, but as will be apparent the system could be utilised in other situations where individuals are dealt with one at a time by a number of operatives at different positions.

In the general customer area of the Bank there is placed an indicator 1 which is positioned so that it can readily be seen by all the customers in the customer area. The indicator is adapted to display information at certain times, under the control of a control unit 2 fed by a power unit 3.

A number of cashier's push switches 4 are positioned one at each cashier's till position, for operation manually by the cashier when a position is clear and the next customer can approach for serving.

Where there is an "express till" position in the Bank, there may optionally be provided an on-off switch 5.

Where it is desired to keep a record of the operation of the system, there may optionally be provided a printer 6 fed from the control 2.

In summary, the operation is as follows: MANUAL SYSTEM Whenever a cashier's position is free, the cashier pushes the respective switch 4 and the indicator 1 then shows a message indicating that the respective cashier's position is "free", and indicating the number of the position. Optionally each cashier's position may have an illuminable number sign 7 which is illuminated when the respective number is presented on the indicator. Optionally also, there may be provided a buzzer 8 which operates whenever a new position number is indicated as "free". The control 2 is arranged so that the indicator 1, and optionally the position light 7, will remain actuated for a short period of time, say 5 seconds, which is preferably adjustable, and will then cease to indicate.The control is also preferably arranged to actuate the buzzer 8 for a short period of time, say 1 seconds, which again is preferably adjustable.

If the cashier at the "express till" operates the switch 5, the indicator 1 will carry a message "express till" continuously until such time as that switch is switched off. Similar, a light 7 or a name sign may be provided at the express till position, to remain illuminated whilst the switch remains operated.

When the cashier has dealt with a customer, and the customer leaves the till position, the cashier again presses the push switch, and the number of the free position is indicated and the position number and buzzer operated as described above.

AUTOMATIC SYSTEM The components of the system are as described for the manual system, with the exceptions that: (i) the cashiers' push buttons 4 are replaced by sensor bars 9, arranged one adjacent each cashier's position; (ii) each sensor bar can be brought into and out of operation by a respective sensor switch 10 on the control 2a; (iii) the internal circuitry of the control is modified to have the following sequence: To put the system into operation, a selected number of the sensor switches 10 are placed in the "on" condition, according to the number of positions each manned by a respective cashier. The indicator then immediately lists the numbers of all of those manned positions, and the position lights 7 are illuminated for those positions.

When a customer approaches a "free" position, and thus approaches closely to the sensor bar at that position, the sensor bar operates the control to cause that number to be extinguished on the indicator, and the position light to go out. When the customer has been served, and walks away from that position, his exiting is sensed by the sensor, and: (a) after a delay of, say, four seconds the number of that position again appears on the indicator, and the position light comes on; and (b) the buzzer 8 sounds for a short period, say 13 > seconds, to draw the attention of any waiting customers to the fact that a position has become free.

With the automatic system, the control of the number of persons invited, by the indicator, to approach each till position is governed by the delay periods incorporated in the system, and not by the cashier manually operating a button to indicate that the position is free.

With both the manual system and the automatic system, there may be incorporated further a printer (or other permanent record) device 6 which is connected to the control 2 and which may, for example, provide a record of the number of times that the sensor bar of each position has operated the control, e.g. a body count, and this may be taken over a period, such as each 1 5 minutes, and for each position individually, and the whole number of operations of all till positions may be summated.

The printer may be arranged so that it counts and prints for each position, unless there have been no counts-at any position. It may have a totaliser control, e.g. a push button switch to provide a grand total output, and each count is reset. Date and time of day may likewise be incorporated on the print-out, so that an accurate picture of till position usage and the manner in which it varies during the working day may be obtained.

Where the Bank or other user has a main computer, the information may be passed to it, for storage, or transmission to a central office, etc.

The sensor bars are preferably arranged to be actuated by the approaching of a customer to within a short distance, say 9-10 inches, so as to be selective only of persons approaching its respective till position. One convenient form uses infra-red detection, but it will be within the skill of the man in the art to use alternatively ultrasonic or micro-wave sensor means.

The indicator panel may be any convenient form of display, but preferably is an L.E.D.

display, or T.V. screen or liquid crystal, or plasma type display.

The control 2a of the automatic system advantageously has small individual lights adjacent to each sensor switch 10 to indicate which sensor circuits are currently switched on.

The power unit 3 is arranged to provide sufficient D.C. power to operate the other components of the system.

For ''quick service" purposes, the control 2 of the manual system, or the control 2a of the automatic system, may have plug-in modules, one for each till position.

The print-out of the printer may conveniently have, at each time of counting, two columns one of which lists the till position numbers, and the other of which lists the number of operations (during a selected period, say 1 5 minutes), followed optionally by a total of the operation count if the totalising button has been operated. Between each such listing there is printed the date and the time of day of counting.

The systems preferably include circuitry to provide, at the time of first switching on, an internal check that each position indication is in good order.

It will be appreciated that the number of position push buttons 4 of the manual system, and the sensors 9 of the automatic system, and the associated indicators, may be present in any desired number.

It will be appreciated, also, that the invention is not restricted to the particular details described above and that numerous modifications and variations can be made without departing from the scope of the invention.

Claims (14)

1. An indicating system, for use in association with at least one position for the servicing of customers, comprising an indicator having a non-operated state and an operated state, said indicator being adapted when in its operated state to indicate to a customer that a service position is free, a control means associated with said indicator and arranged to place the indicator in its non-operated and operated states, and switch means connected to the control means and actuatable by an operative at the service position, or by a sensor sensing the exiting of a preceding customer from the service position, to cause the indicator to indicate that the service position is free.

2. An indicating system, as claimed in Claim 1, wherein said control means includes timing means arranged to cause changing of the indicator from operated to non-operated state after a predetermined period has elapsed after actuation of the switch means.

3. An indicating system, for use in association with at least one position for the servicing of customers, comprising an indicator having a non-operated state and an operated state, said indicator being adapted when in its operated state to indicate to a customer that a service position is free, a control means associated with said indicator and arranged to place the indicator in its non-operated and operated states, and sensor means connected to the control means for operating the control means, such that when the sensor means senses that a customer has approached or entered the service position the control means is operated to maintain the indicator in its non-operated state, and when the sensor means senses that a customer has exited from the service position the control means is operated to place the indicator in its operated state.

4. An indicating system, as claimed in Claim 3, wherein the control means includes timing means serving to provide a predetermined delay between sensing of the exiting of the customer and placing of the indicator in its operated state.

5. An indicating system, as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 4, wherein the indicator includes a plurality of individual indicating means each for a respective one of a plurality of service positions, and means for displaying which of those individual indicating means are in their operated state.

6. An indicating system, as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 5, wherein the indicator is visual.

7. An indicating system, as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 6, wherein the indicator is aural.

8. An indicating system, as claimed in Claim 7, wherein the indicator gives an aural indication of each time of change of visual indication.

9. An indicating system, as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 8, comprising switch means for a selected service position connected to the control means for maintaining the indicator in its operated state for so long as said switch means is on

10. An indicating system, as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 9, comprising recording means connected to the control means and arranged to record the number of times of occupancy of a service position by a customer during a period of time.

11. An indicating system, as claimed in Claim 10, wherein the recording means repeats the recording during successive periods of time.

1 2. An indicating system, as claimed in either of Claims 10 and 11, wherein the recording means totalizes the occupances of a position or a plurality of positions during one or more periods of time.

1 3. An indicating system, as claimed in any one of Claims 10 to 12, wherein the recording means records date and/or time of day.

14. An indicating system substantially as described herein with reference to Fig. 1 of the accompanying drawings.

1 5. An indicating system substantially as described herein with reference to Fig. 2 of the accompanying drawings.