JP2006113629A - Merchandise fare adjustment system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an economical merchandise fare adjustment system for easily, quickly, surely and accurately executing the fare adjustment of a merchandise price from a remote place by minimizing labors without being affected by any adverse influence of electric waves. <P>SOLUTION: An RFID tag (2) mounted on merchandise and readers/writers (3) are made to communicate with each other by an electromagnetic induction system, and when fare adjustment is executed, the plurality of readers/writers (3) installed in the outward cirvumference of merchandise are made to communicate with the RFID tag (2) in the neighborhood of a fare adjustment region, and merchandise information such as merchandise ID to be acquired by the plurality of readers/writers (3) is successively compared with each other, and the merchandise information being the maximum merchandise ID number is calculated, and fare adjustment is executed based on this. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a payment system that can accurately and quickly settle the price of a product at a store such as a mass retailer.

Conventionally, in a mass retailer, a bar code in which product information such as a price is input is usually displayed for each product. This bar code is read by a cashier when the merchandise is settled, and the price of the merchandise is totaled based on the read, and the result is displayed in a register and settled.
When reading a bar code with a reader, if the bar code cannot be read correctly, a reading error occurs, which requires reading again.
In this way, it is necessary to read each product with a sequential reader and to read it again if a reading error occurs, so a mass retailer handling a large amount of products takes a considerable amount of time to read it. There is a situation where people waiting for checkout form a line.
The cashier also takes a lot of time and labor because he picks up each product, checks the position of the bar code each time and makes the reader read it.

For this reason, recently, an IC chip into which product information has been input is used instead of a barcode, and the product information from this IC chip is read by a reader / writer via wireless communication, and tabulated based on the read data. A method of settlement is considered.
However, since such a wireless system is used in a state where the IC chip and the reader / writer are considerably separated, for example, a metal part such as a shopping car, an umbrella, a baby carriage, etc. that a customer brings into the store, or a store It is easy to be affected by noise or radio waves generated from the radio wave using equipment or this equipment, etc., thereby transmitting wrong information, making it impossible to make an accurate settlement by making a counting mistake.
In general, mass merchandise stores usually move the products that customers want to purchase in the basket (sometimes carrying them in a cart). IC chips attached to products do not always point in a certain direction in the basket so that they can be put in the basket in a casual manner, and the same or different types of products may be placed on top of each other. Even when reading product information using a reader / writer having an anti-collision function (collision prevention function) at the time of payment, the product information may be missed.
JP 2003-132427 A

  The present invention eliminates the above-mentioned conventional problems, can be adjusted easily and quickly, and accurately and accurately, with no adverse effects of radio waves, easily and quickly. It is intended to provide an economical product checkout system.

The present invention communicates between an RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tag attached to a product and a reader / writer by an electromagnetic induction method, and at the time of settlement, a plurality of readers provided in the vicinity of the settlement area in the outer direction of the product. / Writer communicates with RFID tag, product information such as product IDs obtained from these multiple readers / writers is sequentially compared with the controller, and the product information for the maximum number of product IDs is calculated. This is calculated and settled.
Note that the power of the RFID tag is supplied by electromagnetic induction when communicating with the reader / writer.

  In addition, a gate is provided in the vicinity of the settlement area, and readers / writers are attached to the four sides of the gate so that the plurality of readers / writers communicate with the RFID tag provided on the product.

  In addition, the controller is connected to a register and a POS (Point Of Sales) device to settle and manage the product.

According to the present invention, the product can be settled quickly, the waiting for cash register as in the prior art is eliminated, and there is no settlement or double settlement. In addition, the labor and labor of the cashier can be reduced and obtained economically.
In addition, the RFID tag and reader / writer communicate with each other by electromagnetic induction, eliminating the need for a battery to operate the RFID tag, eliminating the adverse effects of radio wave communication, having directivity, a wide communication range, and its permeability. Therefore, good communication can be obtained without being obstructed by the human body, glass, paper, plastic, wood and the like.

This apparatus can be suitably used in mass merchandising stores such as supermarkets, department stores, and large stores.
For each product (1) displayed on the product shelf in the store, a chip or a sheet-like RFID tag (2) in which product information such as an ID (product number) for identifying the product is input is appropriately used. It is attached by sticking or embedding it at a position.

  The reader / writer (R / W) (3) that communicates with the RFID tag and inputs / outputs product information and the like has an anti-collision (4), and even when a plurality of RFID tags exist together, It is possible to communicate with individual RFID tags at the same time.

A communication state between the RFID tag (2) and the reader / writer (3) will be described with reference to FIG.
The RFID tag (2) and the reader / writer (3) communicate with each other using an electromagnetic induction method in this apparatus.
The RFID tag (2) includes a loop coil (5), a demodulator (6), a modulator (7), a rectifier (8), a main controller (9) as an IC chip, and a memory (10). .
On the other hand, the reader / writer (3) includes a loop coil (11), an oscillating unit (12), a modulating unit (13), a demodulating unit (14), and an anti-collision (4).

  In the embodiment, a main controller (15) for controlling each member included in the reader / writer (3) is provided in the controller (16) described later. This main controller (15) You may make it provide in a reader / writer (3). The anti-collision (4) is provided in the reader / writer (3) in this case, but may be provided in the controller (16).

A signal oscillated from the oscillating unit (12) of the reader / writer (3) and a signal from the control unit (15) by the command signal issued from the main control unit (15) of the controller (16) are transmitted by the modulating unit (13). The modulated signal is transmitted from the loop coil (11) of the reader / writer (3).
This transmitted signal is received by the loop coil (5) of the RFID tag (2) by electromagnetic induction, and the received signal is demodulated by the demodulator (6) and sent to the main controller (9).

Under the control of the main control unit (9), the product information is read from the memory (10) in which product information such as an ID for identifying the product is previously stored in the RFID tag (2), and this product information is read by the modulation unit (7). Modulate and transmit from the loop coil (5).
The transmitted information signal is received by the loop coil (11) of the reader / writer (3), and this information signal is demodulated by the demodulator (14) and sent to the controller (16).

  The power source of the RFID tag (2) induces an electromotive force in the loop coil (5) of the RFID tag (2) by electromagnetic induction by a signal transmitted from the reader / writer (3). It is used after being rectified by the rectification unit (8). This eliminates the need for a separate power supply.

  In the electromagnetic induction system, one having a wavelength of 13.56 MHz is used. However, other wavelengths may be used, and information transmission is transmitted in a digital format of 0 and 1, and the modulation system is an ASK modulation system ( (Amplitude Shift Keying), but other modulation schemes may be used.

  In the RFID tag (2), a capacitor (17) is used to stabilize the power supply.

Next, a case where a customer (18) selects and purchases a plurality of products (1) in a store and then pays them at a cash register will be described.
The customer puts the purchased product in a basket (usually arranged at the entrance of the store) (19) and holds the basket in his hand or puts the cart in the cart (20) arranged in the store. Move through the store and head to the cash register to settle after purchase.
A gate (22) as shown in FIG. 1 is provided in the vicinity of the checkout area where the cashier counter (21) is arranged, and the customer passes through this gate.

  As shown in FIG. 2, a reader / writer (3) is mounted on the four sides of the frame at the gate (22) (in the case of illustration, four readers / writers No. 1 to No. 4 are provided). And a controller (16) to which each reader / writer (3) is connected.

  In the illustrated example, the reader / writer (3) has an electromagnetic induction effective range of 1 m to 2 m. However, other types of readers / writers (3) may be used as long as they can communicate with the RFID tag (2). Things can be used. As for the arrangement of the RFID tag (2), a plurality of RFID tags may be used at appropriate positions such as a plurality of the RFID tags (2) above and below the left and right frames of the gate (22) or only in one of the top and bottom directions. it can.

  In the embodiment, the reader / writer (3) is provided in the gate (22). However, the gate may be a tunnel type or a doorway type, and the reader / writer (3) may be provided on the side of the cashier counter (21). Further, it may be provided on the support surface suspended from the floor and ceiling.

  When the basket (19) containing the product (1) passes through the gate (22), the RFID tag (2) attached to each product and the above No. 1 provided on the four sides of the gate. 1-No. The four reader / writers (3) communicate with each other, and each reader / writer (3) receives product information from the RFID tag of each product in the basket.

  Since each reader / writer (3) is provided with an anti-collision (4), product information can be read out to some extent even if each product is cluttered in the basket. If there are multiple items or items are present in a direction that is difficult to read, the items may be missed.

Therefore, in this apparatus, in such a case, product information is not read over by the controller (16) as shown below.
For example, as shown in FIG. 1 (23) ID for identifying the product read, that is, A (A-1, A-2), B, C to R, S, T, reader / writer No. The ID read in 2 (24), that is, A (A-1), B, C to S, T, U is compared by the ID comparison calculation unit A (25) in the controller (16), and is the maximum number. ID (the ID read by reader / writer No. 1 and the ID read by reader / writer No. 2 are subtracted to calculate a non-common ID, and the common ID is added to the non-common ID to obtain the maximum number. The following calculation is performed in the same manner.), That is, A (A-1, A-2), B, C to R, S, T, U are calculated.

  On the other hand, the leader / writer No. 3 (26), that is, A (A-1), B, C to V, X, Y, and the reader / writer No. 4 (27), that is, IDs A (A-1), B, C to Z, P, and Q are compared by the ID comparison calculation unit B (28), and the maximum ID, that is, A (A -1), B, C to P, Q, V, X, Y, Z are calculated.

  Next, the maximum number of IDs calculated by the ID comparison calculation unit A (25) and the ID comparison calculation unit B (28) is compared by the ID comparison calculation unit C (29), which is the maximum number. IDs, that is, A (A-1, A-2), B, C to P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, X, Y, Z are calculated. Here, A-1 and A-2 indicating the IDs indicate the same type of products, and A, B, C to X, Y, and Z indicate different types of products.

  These IDs are compared and calculated using a suitable PC (personal computer) software, a controller having a PC function including a CPU (Central Processing Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), and a ROM (Read Only Memory). This is performed by the main controller (15) of (16), and the information is stored temporarily or for a certain period in the memory (30).

As shown in FIG. 4, the ID information compared and calculated by the ID comparison calculation unit C is received by the information receiving unit (32) in the POS device (31), and is sent via the product information unit (33). It is transmitted to the settlement information section (34), and is calculated and totaled by the settlement section (36) based on the unit price data obtained from each ID and the unit price table (35). These totals may be performed by the controller (16).
The aggregated data is displayed in the register (37) where it is settled by the cashier (38).

  A card reader (not shown) or the like can be placed near the register (37), and can be used when paying with a card or processing a point card.

  In this device, product information such as product name, supplier, date of purchase, weight, size, quality, date of data entry, etc., as well as the product ID read by the reader / writer (3) by the controller (16). The product is transmitted to the product information section (33) of the POS device (31), and product management (including inventory management) is performed.

In the POS device (31), the tabulated data is recorded in the sales table (39).
The sales data and the like can be transmitted to the headquarters in a chain store, for example, via a communication network as appropriate, and can be constructed so as to communicate with the headquarters based on this.

It is a schematic plan view which shows the condition at the time of goods checkout. It is a perspective view which shows the state which communicates between the RFID tag with which the goods were mounted | worn by the gate part, and a reader / writer. It is the schematic which shows the communication condition of a RFID tag and a reader / writer. It is the schematic which shows the state which connected the reader / writer to the POS apparatus and the register | resistor via the controller. It is the schematic which shows the condition which compares and calculates ID information read with the reader / writer, and obtains the ID maximum number of goods.

Explanation of symbols

1 Product 2 RFID Tag 3 Reader / Writer
4 Anti-collision 16 Controller 22 Gate
33 POS device 39 Register

Claims (3)

  An RFID tag equipped with an IC chip that exchanges product information such as an ID that is attached to a product and identifies the product, and a reader / writer that supplies power and exchanges product information using this RFID tag and an electromagnetic induction method, When paying for the price of the product, a plurality of readers / writers are provided in the outer peripheral area of the product so that the RFID tag attached to the product can be transmitted and received from a plurality of directions in the vicinity of the checkout area. Comparing product information obtained from multiple readers / writers in order to calculate product information to obtain the maximum number of product IDs, calculate based on the product information that has the maximum number of product IDs and settle the price A product checkout system characterized by the fact that   2. The commodity settlement system according to claim 1, wherein a gate is provided in the vicinity of the commodity settlement area, and a reader / writer is mounted on all sides of the gate.   3. The product settlement system according to claim 1, wherein the controller is connected to the register and the POS device.

Images