JP2003030747A - Automated shopping system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To shorten liquidation time of costs of articles. SOLUTION: When transfer of the articles from an article rack to a basket of a shopping cart carried by a customer and the number of articles are detected by an article transfer identifier 2, identification codes and the number of the detected articles are associated with the customer and stored in a customer information data base 5.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automated shopping system for automatically detecting a product purchased by a customer from a product shelf.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when a customer purchases a product in a supermarket or the like, the customer takes out the product from a product shelf, puts it in a basket, and then pays the price at a cash register. Since the bar code is written on the product, the clerk uses the bar code reader to read the product name code and the product price written on the bar code in the form of the code. The read product code and product price are input to the POS terminal. The POS terminal sums up the commodity prices read for each commodity and displays them on the display of the POS terminal. When the customer pays the price corresponding to the displayed total amount, the clerk instructs the POS terminal to issue a receipt. The POS terminal prints out the input product name and price and the total amount of money obtained by the calculation.
Further, the POS terminal transfers sales information such as the product name, number of products, and product price purchased by the customer to the host device. The host device collects sales information sent from a plurality of POS terminals and uses it as a material for business analysis.

[0003]

As described above, the conventional method for paying for the price of a product requires the clerk to read the bar code on the product. The more it takes, the longer it will take to settle the payment. Therefore, the conventional technology has a problem to be solved that a customer queue is formed in front of the POS terminal (cash register).

Therefore, in view of the above points, an object of the present invention is to provide an automated shopping system capable of shortening the time required for a customer to settle a payment.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide an automated shopping system having added value in connection with reduction of payment settlement time.

[0006]

In order to achieve such an object, the invention of claim 1 determines the type and number of products moved from a product shelf to a storage container (a basket of a shopping cart) carried by a customer. Movement detection means (article position sensor 1 and article movement identification device 2) for detecting, storage means (customer information database 5) for storing the type and number of products detected by the movement detection means, and the storage means The information processing means (charging device 6) for reading out the price, the type and the number of products stored in (1) for liquidation.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the automated shopping system according to the first aspect, the movement detecting means can detect movement of a commodity from the storage container to the commodity shelf or another commodity shelf, In response to the detection, the information processing unit erases the type and the number of products stored in the storage unit.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the automated shopping system according to the first aspect, an inventory in which inventory information including at least the number of products placed on a plurality of product shelves is stored in association with each product shelf. Storage means (article information database 4) is further provided, and the information processing means updates the number of stock information stored in the stock storage means in response to the detection of the movement of the goods by the movement detection means. Characterize.

According to a fourth aspect of the invention, in the automated shopping system according to the third aspect, the movement detecting means can detect movement of the merchandise to another merchandise shelf.
In response to the detection, the information processing unit also updates the number of pieces of inventory information stored in the inventory storage unit regarding the destination product shelf.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the automated shopping system according to the first aspect, a customer detection means (customer position sensor 3) for detecting the position of the customer is further provided.
The detected position of the customer is stored in the storage means.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the automated shopping system according to the first aspect, there is further provided a means (charging means 6) for instructing the end of payment of the price, and the storage means has the type and number of products. In addition to the time is stored,
Warning means (theft prevention device 11) for issuing a warning when the instruction means does not indicate that the payment for the product stored in the storage device has been made even after a certain time has elapsed from the time. It is characterized by having.

The above () shows the corresponding parts of the embodiment for facilitating the understanding of the invention, and the present invention is not limited to the embodiment.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the functional configuration of the automated shopping system. In FIG. 1, 1 is an article position sensor, which is composed of a weight sensor and a communication device. The article position sensor 1 is provided on a plurality of product shelves and an inner bottom portion of a car in which a customer puts and carries products. The weight detected by the weight sensor of the article position sensor 1 is notified to the article movement identifying apparatus 2 to be described later at regular intervals via the communication device. In addition,
The article position sensor 1 is used in various well-known position detections such as position detection using a laser, position detection using an image captured by a video camera, position detection using a position tag such as a wireless transmitter held by a customer, and the like. A position detection device can be used.

A customer position sensor 3 detects the customer's position. As a method of detecting the position of the customer, it is used in various position detection such as position detection by laser, position detection by image captured by video camera, position detection using position tag of wireless transmitter etc. held by the customer. A known position detecting device can be used. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that the identification number transmitted by the wireless transmitter is received by the wireless receiver to detect the position of the customer.

Reference numeral 2 denotes an article movement identification device, which identifies the movement of a commodity and the positions of the movement source and the movement destination based on the weights detected by the plurality of article position sensors 1 and the changes in the weights detected so far. . Further, the position information detected by the customer position sensor 3, the position information of the identified product, and other related information (for example, calendar information such as date and time when the information is stored) are described later in the article information database 4 and the customer information database. Stored in 5.

Reference numeral 4 denotes an article information database, which stores inventory information including a commodity shelf name (or position information), a commodity name placed, a quantity to be placed, and a weight per piece. In the article information database 4, the article movement identification device 2
When the movement of the article from the commodity shelf is detected by the, the number-of-places information and the like are updated.

Reference numeral 5 denotes a customer information database, which stores in advance customer names, addresses, telephone numbers, customer identification codes, credit card information and the like. In addition, the customer information database 5 is provided with a storage area for each customer identification code. In this storage area, position information indicating the position where the customer has moved in shopping, the product name placed in the car,
Information related to held articles such as the number and price is written.
This storage area will be generically referred to as purchase information storage area, and the information stored in the purchase storage information storage area will be collectively referred to as purchase information. The information stored in the purchase storage information storage area is saved in the history information storage area after the payment settlement (the instruction for the charging device 6 to end the charging processing), and the information in the purchase information storage area is erased (cleared). It In the history information storage area, the readers are restricted to keep the information confidential.

Information exchange may have a function between the article position sensor 1 and the article information database 4, for example, the article placed on the article shelf on which the article position sensor 1 is installed is changed, The article position sensor 1 and the article information database 4 may be configured such that when the article name information held by the position sensor 1 changes, the placement article name on the article shelf in the article information database changes.

Similarly, an information exchange function may be provided between the customer position sensor 3 and the customer information database 5.

6 is a billing device, which is a cash register
It can be used for POS terminals. The billing device 6 charges the product price paid by the customer based on the purchase information stored in the purchase information storage area of the customer information database 5 when the customer passes nearby. As a charging method, a conventionally known method, for example, a charging method such as a credit card, a prepaid card, or an electronic cash may be used. It goes without saying that the payment may be made in cash. When the billing device 6 completes the billing (clearing the price), an instruction to that effect is sent to the customer information database 5.

Reference numeral 7 denotes a personal information database, which stores various information related to the customer such as the customer's name, address, telephone number, credit card information and the like. If necessary, the information in the personal information database 7 is used as the customer information database 5
Downloaded to.

The article information providing device 8 can use a terminal such as a general-purpose computer and is installed in a plurality of product shelves. The article information providing device 8 is a customer information database 5
Of the customer near the self is detected based on the position information of the customer in the purchase information of, and what kind of product has been purchased through the display device of the article information providing device 8, that is, whether the product has been put in the car. The guide information corresponding to the attribute information and the personal information accumulated in the personal information database 7 is provided.
For example, personal information such as age, gender, preference, etc. and information to be guided are prepared in advance in the form of a correspondence table, and guidance (should) information corresponding to the personal information of a nearby customer is displayed on the display device. .

Reference numeral 9 denotes a customer information exchanging device, and a plurality of information exchanging devices are installed at arbitrary places in the store. The plurality of information exchange devices are connected by a communication network, messages are exchanged between the plurality of information exchange devices, and the exchanged messages are displayed on the display device of the information exchange device. Further, a server may be provided, a bulletin board may be installed in the server, a message may be registered in the bulletin board from the information exchange device, and another information exchange device may display the message registered in the bulletin board.

For example, when a customer needs information about the dock food, the customer himself or a clerk inputs a message to that effect to the information exchange device. The other customer who sees the inquiry message on the other information exchange apparatus inputs the reply on the other information exchange apparatus.

(Modification) Since the position of the customer is detected in this embodiment, when the respondent appears, the answer message of the respondent is displayed only on the information exchange device near the customer who made the inquiry. May be. Also, the position information of the respondent is automatically added to the reply message of the respondent by the information exchange device, and the reply message and the current position of the respondent are displayed to the inquirer via the display of the information exchange device. You may notify.

Reference numeral 10 denotes a sales information collecting device, which stores a plurality of pieces of position information of the customer stored in the customer information database 5, that is, the movement trajectory of the customer and the product information purchased by the customer (information stored in the purchase information storage area). , Collect information necessary for marketing analysis from past purchase history. Further, the sales information collecting device 10 also collects information required for inventory / distribution management / planning.

Reference numeral 11 denotes an anti-theft device which monitors the purchase information stored in the purchase information storage area of the customer information database 5 and the time of writing the information, and when the payment is not made even after a certain time has elapsed. Will generate a warning. Whether or not the price has been settled within a predetermined time is calculated by calculating the difference between the current time and the writing time accompanied by the product name information in the purchase information storage area in the customer information database 5, and the difference is predetermined. It may be determined whether it is within the time. Further, it is determined whether or not the information in the purchase information storage area is erased, and if it is erased, it can be determined that the price settlement has been performed.

The warning may be displayed on the display device of the anti-theft device, or may be displayed on the display device of the terminal by connecting the anti-theft device and a plurality of terminals. The terminal may be installed at a cashier or guard station.

FIG. 2 shows a specific structural example for realizing the system described above. In FIG. 2, 100 is a server. The server 100 includes a CPU 101, a system memory 102, an input device 103, a display device 104, communication interfaces 108 to 110, and a mass storage device 1.
Have 11.

The CPU 101 executes a program loaded in the system memory to execute information processing related to shopping. The system memory 102 is the CPU 10
The data which 1 processes information and the information processing result are temporarily stored. Further, a boot program and the like when the CPU 101 is activated are also stored and stored in the system memory 102.

The input device 103 has a pointing device such as a keyboard and a mouse, and has a CPU 101.
Enter information for. The display device 104 is the CPU 1
The input information for 01 and the information processing result of the CPU 101 are displayed.

Reference numeral 105 denotes a sensor group composed of the plurality of article position sensors 1 and the customer position sensor 3 described in FIG. The sensor group 105 is connected to the communication interface 108 by wireless or infrared.

Reference numeral 106 is a terminal group. A POS terminal is used as a part of the terminal group. Terminals used for the purpose of exchanging customer information are installed in cafeterias and rest areas in the store. Terminal group 1
06 is wired and connected to the communication interface 109.

Reference numeral 107 denotes a guide display device group having a communication function. The guide display device group 107 is installed at a predetermined place in the store according to the product shelves and the guide purpose. The guide display device group 107 is connected to the communication interface 110 by wire.

The communication interfaces 108 to 110 transfer information between the connected device and the CPU 101.

Mass storage device (hard disk) 111
1 includes a program that functions as the article movement identification device 2, the billing device 6, the item information providing device 8, the customer information exchange device 9, the sales information collection device 10 and the theft prevention device 11 of FIG. , A program for OS and communication and a program for reading / writing data from / into the article information database 4, the customer information database 5, and the personal information database 7 are installed. Also, the article information database 4, the customer information database 5, and the personal information database 7
Is also built on the mass storage device 111.

The processing executed in such a system configuration will be described below. In this form, the article position sensor 1
Detects the weight, and the basket where the customer puts the product is provided in the shopping cart, and the item position sensor 1 is attached to the basket.
(Weight sensor and communication device) shall be installed. The communication device of the article position sensor 1 has a fixed cycle,
It is assumed that the identification code indicating the installation location (car or product shelf) and the weight value detected by the weight sensor are wirelessly (or infrared) transmitted to the communication interface 108. It is assumed that a small wireless transmitter is used to detect the customer's position, and the receiving device provided at a plurality of locations in the store detects the identification code and the position of the small wireless transmitter owned by the customer.

When the customer enters the store, for example, he presents a membership card for shopping and receives a shopping cart and a wireless transmitter. At this time, the clerk uses a card reader connected to the terminal (106) to read card information (user ID (customer identification code), name, birthday, etc.) from the membership card. In addition, the identification number of the basket of the shopping cart delivered to the customer is input from the keyboard of the terminal. The read membership card information, the input car identification code, and the wireless transmitter identification code are sent from the terminal to the CPU 101.

The CPU 101 stores the membership card information for shopping, the identification code of the car and the identification code of the small radio transmitter in the correspondence table storage area (hereinafter, abbreviated as a correspondence table) in the mass storage device by interrupt processing. In this way, the wireless transmitter is associated with the customer.

FIG. 3 shows an outline of the processing executed by the CPU 101. The processing procedure shown in FIG. 3 is installed in the mass storage device 111 in the form of a plurality of programs in a programming language that can be executed by the CPU 101, and a predetermined program is loaded into the system memory 102 in accordance with the processing content and C
It is executed by the PU 101. The processing procedure of FIG. 3 is repeatedly executed in a very short cycle of 1 second or less.

In FIG. 3, the CPU 101 is a sensor group 10
Input the detection signal from 5. From the sensor that detects movement from the product shelf, the weight value and the product shelf identification code are input as detection signals. The weight value and the car identification code are input from the sensor installed in the car. The position of the wireless transmitter, that is, the position of the customer and the identification number are input from the customer position sensor. The CPU 101 stores the weight value, the identification code, etc. in the storage area on the system memory 102 corresponding to each sensor (step S10).
0).

The CPU 101 uses the weight value and the identification code stored in the system memory 102 to identify the articles in which the movement has occurred, the number thereof, and the movement destination. This processing will be described later in detail with reference to FIG.

Next, the CPU 101 acquires the customer identification code based on the car identification number and the correspondence table. Furthermore, the identification code of the identified item, the movement source (product shelf or basket), the identification code indicating the movement destination (product shelf or basket), the quantity, and the current time are stored as one record in the customer in the mass storage device 111. It is stored in the purchase information storage area in the information database.

The customer code is acquired from the correspondence table based on the identification code indicated by the detection signal of the customer position sensor stored in the system memory 102. The position information indicated by the detection signal of the customer position sensor is stored in the position storage area in the purchase information storage area corresponding to the customer code.
The position information is stored in the position storage area even when the product is not moved.

In order to move the goods, in addition to the above-mentioned movement from the goods shelf to the basket of the shopping cart, movement from the goods shelf to another goods shelf, and movement from the car to the original goods shelf or another goods shelf Occurs, but these movements are also detected by the article identification process. When the movement of the product shelf from the product shelf is detected, the inventory information of the article information database in the mass storage device 111 is updated. Specifically, the number of articles in stock at the movement-source merchandise shelf is reduced by the number of movements, and the number of articles in stock at the movement-destination merchandise shelf (number of articles placed on the merchandise shelf) is increased by the movement number.

When the movement of the product shelves is detected from the car, the number of stocks of the corresponding product shelves in the article information database is increased by the number of movements, and the purchase information storage area corresponding to the customer (code) in the customer information database is stored. Delete the relevant article-related information that has already been stored. The above is the outline of the identification processing performed in step S110.

Next, in step 120, the CPU 101 performs the theft presence / absence determination and prevention processing.

The CPU 101 compares the time information of the purchase information of all the customers in the customer information database with the current time to detect the purchase information for which a predetermined time is warned.
Personal information such as name and the like in which the customer code of the detected purchase information is stored in the customer purchase information database is notified to the related terminal.

The CPU 101 performs an article information providing process in step 130.

On the basis of the customer's position information stored in the system memory 102, a product guide device group close to the customer's position is found. To do this, prepare a correspondence table of communication addresses and positions of the product guide device, calculate the distance between the customer's position and the position of the product guide device on the correspondence table, and obtain the shortest distance. You should find the communication address of the product information device.

The CPU 101 uses the detected communication address to send guidance information to the product guidance device for display. For example, it provides guidance information according to the customer information accumulated in the personal information database 7. Guidance information corresponding to personal information such as age, sex, preference is retrieved from the guidance information file in the mass storage device 111 and displayed.

Next, the CPU 101 performs an article information providing process in step 130. The communication address of the terminal that provides the article information is predetermined. CPU 101
Performs message exchange processing between terminals using a conventionally known bulletin board processing or message exchange processing method.

The CPU 101 performs a sales information collecting process in step 150.

Among a plurality of customer position information accumulated in the customer information database 5, that is, the customer's movement track, the product information purchased by the customer (information stored in the purchase information storage area), the past purchase history, etc. The system memory 102 collects information necessary for marketing analysis.
Further, the sales collection device 10 also collects information necessary for management / planning of inventory and physical distribution.

The collected information is stored in the market information storage area of the mass storage device 111 and then displayed and output on the terminal of the manager or printed out by the printer.

The CPU 101 executes information processing other than the above in step S150. The processing executed in this step includes the aggregation processing. Each purchase information storage area of the customer information database contains the identification code, quantity, and product price of the article (product) that the customer put in the car. Therefore, the CPU 101 calculates the price up to the present for each customer based on the customer information collected in step 150.

The calculated amount of money to date is stored in the purchase information storage area of each customer of the customer information database. This process may be performed when the load on the CPU 101 is light. Further, when there is an instruction for payment from the POS terminal, payment is performed using the purchase information stored in the purchase information storage area.

The payment method may be the same as the conventional one, and detailed explanation will not be required.

Next, the movement of the article and the detection of the movement destination will be described with reference to FIG.

To facilitate understanding of the contents, the product shelf A,
An example between B, C, D and the car will be described.

The destination to which the product moves is any of the product shelves B, C, D and the car.

When the product A having the weight WW is moved from the product shelf, the total weight of the product shelf changes from WA1 to WA1-WW. On the other hand, the total weight of the destination of the movement of the article changes to WX + WW. Therefore, if you measure the total weight of products on each shelf and the weight of the products loaded in the car in a very short cycle and update and store them in the memory, the weight measurement result and the weight value stored in the memory will be compared. By doing so, it is possible to detect that the product has moved.

When the product does not move, the difference between the measured value and the stored value in the memory is zero.

When a movement occurs, the difference is the weight of the moved commodity. If the difference is minus, it indicates the movement to another, and if the difference is positive, it indicates that the product comes from another. If the weight of a single item is known,
If you divide the absolute value of the above difference by the weight of a single item,
It is the number of products moved. Gross weight of goods detected to move to another location, in this case WW and source information (goods shelf A)
Is stored in the memory.

The gun value stored in the memory is updated to the measurement result. While the product is being moved to the basket from the product shelves by repeating the above process, the difference between the memory value of the product in each product shelf and the measurement result is zero, but when the product is loaded into the car, It is detected that the total weight of the product has increased by + WW. The value of WW stored in the memory is compared with the value of WW detected this time, and when it is found that they match, the car can be identified as the destination of the commodity.

The processing procedure of FIG. 4 is such that the above processing is performed for all shelves and all cars.

In step S200, the measurement result (sensor output) of the total weight of all shelves and the measurement result of the total weight of the products in the car are stored in the first work area of the system memory 102. The previous measurement result is stored in the second work area.

In step S210, a shelf to be monitored is set. In the next step S220, the above-mentioned identification processing is executed. The total weight of the set shelves is compared with the previously measured total weight, and if the measurement result of this time is smaller than the previous time, the difference is calculated and the shelf identification number is stored in the +/- signed difference value memory. The article code and the time are stored in the storage area of the memory. When the measurement result of this time is larger than the measurement result of the previous time, a data set having a matching difference value is found in the storage area. Shelf identification number, article code, time, and destination shelf identification code in the found data set (shelf identification code set in step S210)
Use to update the database.

If the destination of the goods is a car, the purchase information in the customer information database is updated. If the destination of the article is another shelf, the article information database is updated. The above processing is repeated for all shelves and cars (steps S210 to S250 loop processing).

If the difference between the previous measurement result and the current measurement result is zero, there is no weight change in the monitor target shelf, so the monitor target shelf is changed to the next shelf. (Steps S220 → S250 → 210).

In addition to the above embodiments, the following embodiments can be implemented. 1) In the above-described embodiment, the destination of each item is detected by measuring the weight of the item (item) placed on the shelf. However, other position measurement techniques are used to obtain the item information database and the customer information database. May be updated. 2) In the system example of FIG. 2, the functions of the article moving device, the billing device, the article information providing device, and the like are realized by one computer, but the distributed processing of the plurality of computers enables the functions of the plurality of devices in FIG. The function may be realized. 3) In the above-described embodiment, the customer's position is detected, but the customer's position detection is not essential. Since there are many customers in large-scale stores, there are cases where two types of products move at different locations at the same time. In this case, the location information of the customer may be referred to so as not to make a mistake with the customer who moved the product. In this case, the position of the customer who moved the product and the source and destination of the product are within a predetermined distance range. Therefore, by using this property, the position of the customer that can identify the customer and the moved product can be identified. When using the information and the destination of the product, the source information to associate the customer with the mobile product,
There is no need to associate the car identification number with the customer identification number. 4) The device for storing the product that the customer wants to purchase may be a single basket, or another storage device may be used.

[0073]

As described above, according to the present invention, the movement of a commodity from a commodity shelf to a storage container with a customer is automatically detected, and the type and number of the moved commodity are stored in the storage means. . As a result, the price is found based on the information stored in the storage means, so that the person at the store does not need to read the bar code of the purchased product at a cash register or the like as in the conventional case.

Further, by updating the inventory information on the product shelves in connection with the movement of the products, it is not necessary for humans to check the inventory.

Further, the presence or absence of theft can be determined based on the time information, and by issuing a warning, theft can be prevented.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a system configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a specific system configuration of the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a schematic processing procedure according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing details of identification processing according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Article position sensor 2 Article movement identification device 3 Customer position sensor 4 article information database 5 Customer information database 6 Billing device 7 Personal information database 8 Article information provision device 9 Customer information exchange device 10 Sales information collection device 11 Anti-theft device

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI theme code (reference) G06K 19/00 G06K 19/00 Q (72) Inventor Hideyuki Nakajima 2-41-6 Aomi, Koto-ku, Tokyo Independent National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology F-Term inside the coastal subcenter (reference) 3E042 AA01 CB03 CB07 CC02 CD04 EA01 5B035 BB09 BC00 CA23 5B058 CA15 KA08 YA01 YA20

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A movement detecting means for detecting the type and the number of articles moved from a product shelf to a storage container that a customer is accompanied by, and a storage means for storing the type and the number of articles detected by the movement detecting means. And an information processing unit for reading out the price, the type and the number of products stored in the storage unit for the purpose of clearing the price. 2. The automated shopping system according to claim 1, wherein the movement detection means can detect movement of a product from the storage container to the product shelf or another product shelf, and in response to the detection. The information processing means deletes the types and the number of products stored in the storage means. 3. The automated shopping system according to claim 1, further comprising inventory storage means for storing inventory information including at least the number of products placed on a plurality of product shelves in association with each product shelves. The information processing means updates the number of inventory information stored in the inventory storage means in response to the detection of the movement of the product by the movement detection means. 4. The automated shopping system according to claim 3, wherein the movement detecting means can detect movement of the merchandise to another merchandise shelf, and the information processing means moves according to the detection. An automated shopping system, characterized in that the number of inventory information stored in the inventory storage means regarding the above-mentioned product shelf is also updated. 5. The automated shopping system according to claim 1, further comprising a customer detection unit that detects a customer position, and the detected customer position is stored in the storage unit. Shopping system. 6. The automated shopping system according to claim 1, further comprising means for instructing the end of payment of the price, wherein the storage means stores time in addition to the type and number of products. And a warning means for issuing a warning when the instruction means does not indicate that the payment of the price of the product stored in the storage device has been made even after a certain time has elapsed Automated shopping system.