JP2010039962A - Label printer and merchandise sales system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a label printer which prevents the reliability of all customers including elderly persons from being reduced by allowing the customers to easily recognize discount information, and to provide a merchandise sales system. <P>SOLUTION: In a package printer, merchandise information of a merchandise master is included in information 620, and merchandise discount rate databased on merchandise expiration date is included in information 610. A CPU causes the printer to print the information 610 using characters or symbols larger than those for the information 620. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a label printing apparatus and a product sales system for printing a label to be attached to a product in a product sales store that provides products to customers.

  In supermarkets, which are an example of merchandise stores, etc., sales promotion of products is done by manually attaching discount stickers to products using a printing device for products whose expiry date is approaching. A product sales system is in place to reduce inventory in stock. When products are provided to customers in this way, various devices and systems are used in merchandise sales stores.

  For example, Patent Document 1 discloses an electronic balance device. In the electronic balance device described in Patent Document 1, the electronic weighing device that measures the weight of a product and calculates and displays a price corresponding to the weight, a printing unit that prints and issues characters on a shelf label, and a time Time keeping means, product information storage means for storing the product name, normal unit price, and service unit price for each product, operation means for outputting an instruction signal for instructing to create a shelf label, and the operation means for outputting the instruction signal In such a case, the storage contents of the product information storage means and the service period information storage means are read out, and a command for printing the product name, normal unit price, and service unit price at the start of the service and at the end of the service is output to the printing means. Means and a judging means for judging whether the time is between the service start time and the service end time, and if the judgment result of the judgment means is affirmative, , In the case of negative, and is characterized in that performed with reference to the calculation of the price of goods normally bid.

Japanese Patent No. 5-85848

  However, in the electronic balance device disclosed in Patent Document 1, since the service unit price is changed to the normal unit price at the end of the service, even when the customer puts the product in the shopping basket just before the end of the service, In addition, since the price of the product is calculated at the normal unit price, the customer may lose the difference between the service unit price and the normal unit price. As a result, the customer loses the trust in the store and the customer The problem that a repeat rate falls arises.

  In addition, the expiration date is usually printed in small letters compared to the product name, and it is difficult for the elderly and other customers to visually recognize, and customers who purchase the store with confidence in the sales store. Is almost.

  Furthermore, manually attaching the discount sticker to each product takes time and effort, and forgets to apply the discount sticker on products that originally need to be pasted. There was also the problem that pasting and complaints from customers occurred.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a label printing apparatus and a merchandise sales system that can easily recognize discount information and do not reduce the reliability of the entire customer including the elderly.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a label printing apparatus and a merchandise sales system capable of easily recognizing discount information, not reducing the trust of the entire customer including the elderly, and reducing the work man-hours of the workers in the sales store. Is to provide.

(1)
The label printing apparatus according to the present invention includes a printing unit that prints on a medium, and a control unit that operates the printing unit. The control unit uses the first information that indicates the product information of the product to the printing unit. Also, the second information indicating the discount rate information based on the expiration date of the product is printed on the medium with at least one of a large character and a large symbol.

In the label printing apparatus according to the present invention, the first information includes the product information of the product, and the second information includes the discount rate information based on the expiration date of the product. The control unit causes the printing unit to print the second information with characters or symbols larger than the first information.
At this time, the control unit determines whether the discount is based on the expiration date in order to distinguish the product from which the discount is not based on the expiration date or to make the second information to be printed more noticeable. Select the print contents, print layout, print section, and media size and switch automatically. Note that the switching-destination printing unit does not necessarily have to be built in the label printing apparatus, and may be an external printing apparatus.

  In this case, since the second information is printed by a character or a larger symbol than the first information by the control unit, the customer can easily read the second information by visually recognizing the medium. As a result, even the elderly can easily recognize the second information, improve the satisfaction of purchase willingness, and improve the repeat rate to the store. Note that a large character means increasing the thickness of a line constituting a character or symbol, changing the typeface constituting the character or symbol, increasing the height constituting the character or symbol, or character or symbol. Means to increase the width of the.

(2)
The label printing apparatus further includes a weighing unit for weighing the product and a packaging unit for packaging the product and attaching the medium, and the control unit is printed by the printing unit based on the measured value from the weighing unit. The medium may be attached to the product packaged by the packaging unit.

  In this case, the medium printed on the packaged product is pasted by the control unit. As a result, it is possible to reduce the work of manually attaching the medium to the product by the worker.

(3)
The label printing apparatus further includes a bar code reader capable of reading the first information, and the control unit receives the first information of the medium read by the bar code reader and uses the printing unit as a supplementary medium for the second information. It may be printed.

  In this case, the second information can be printed on the supplementary medium based on the first information of the product read by the barcode reader. As a result, even if the product on which the medium on which the second information is not printed is affixed without using the label printing device according to the present invention, the worker can use the label printing device according to the present invention. By using it, it is possible to easily attach the supplementary medium on which the second information is printed to the product. Therefore, the merchandise information including the second information can be surely provided to the customer.

(4)
The second information may include one or a plurality of discount rate information corresponding to the price of the product for each predetermined time until the expiration date of the product.

  In this case, since the second information includes one or a plurality of discount rate information corresponding to the price of the product every predetermined time until the expiration date of the product, the customer can easily store the medium pasted on the product. By visually recognizing, one or a plurality of discount rates can be recognized.

(5)
The merchandise sales system according to the present invention is recorded in the merchandise information recording apparatus for recording the first information indicating the merchandise information of the merchandise and the second information indicating the discount rate information based on the expiration date of the merchandise, and the merchandise information recording apparatus. 5. The label printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first information and the second information are received and printed on a medium, and the first information and the second information recorded in the commodity information recording apparatus. And a merchandise sales management device for setting the price of the merchandise sold.

  In the merchandise sales system according to the present invention, the merchandise information recording apparatus records the first information indicating the merchandise information of the merchandise and the second information indicating the discount rate information based on the expiration date of the merchandise, and the label printing apparatus records the merchandise information. The first information and the second information recorded on the device are printed on a medium and attached to the packaged product. In addition, the product sales management device sets the price of the product sold based on the first information and the second information recorded in the product information recording device.

  In this case, since the product price information is managed by the product information recording device and the discount rate is set in advance by the second information, it is not necessary to reset the product price in the product sales management device. As a result, when the operator operates the product sales management device, it is not necessary to operate the setting of price information, and the product is stored in the backyard in order to operate the price setting of the product sales management device. Save time and effort. Therefore, it is possible to improve the satisfaction of the customer's willingness to purchase and improve the repeat rate to the sales store.

  Embodiments according to the present invention will be described below. In the present embodiment, description will be made using a packaging printing apparatus incorporating a packaging mechanism as a label printing apparatus. In addition, this invention is not limited to a packaging printing apparatus, It can apply also to the other arbitrary label printing apparatuses which do not have a packaging mechanism.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic external view showing an example of the packaging printing apparatus according to the present embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an example of the configuration of the packaging printing apparatus of FIG.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the packaging printing apparatus 300 includes a central processing unit (hereinafter referred to as a CPU) 301, a read-only memory (hereinafter referred to as a ROM) 302 that stores a basic program, and an operation process. Random Access Memory (hereinafter referred to as RAM) 303, a storage processing unit 304 for storing programs and various data files, a display unit 305 including a display (touch panel), an input unit 306 including a keyboard, A packaging device 307 that performs packaging processing such as wrapping on the product, a printing device 308 that prints product information of the product on a label or a seal, an interface (hereinafter referred to as I / F) 320, and an external device having a data communication function. It consists of communication 330.

  2 is connected to a ROM 302, a RAM 303, a storage processing unit 304, a display unit 305, an input unit 306, a packaging device 307, a printing device 308, an I / F 320, and an external communication 330. Each of the RAM 303, the storage processing unit 304, the display unit 305, the input unit 306, the packaging device 307, the printing device 308, the I / F 320, and the external communication 330 is controlled.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the storage processing unit 304 records product discount rate data 350, a product master 351, and a production performance management recording medium 352. Details of the product discount rate data 350, the product master 351, and the production performance management recording medium 352 will be described later. The product discount rate data 350 and the product master 351 are stored in the storage processing unit 304 via the external communication 330 and the I / F 320 from the store controller 200 (see FIG. 7), which will be described later, when the packaging printing apparatus 300 is turned on. It may be stored.

  Next, the operation of the packaging printing apparatus 300 will be described. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the CPU 301 of the packaging printing apparatus 300.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the CPU 301 links the product master 351 and the product discount rate data 350 (step S1). FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a link between the product discount rate data 350 and the product master 351.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the product master 351 is tabular data, and the product master 351 records the product code, product name, unit price per weight (g), expiration date, etc. for each product. Yes. On the other hand, the product discount rate data 350 is data in a table format, and the product name, the discount rate (○ hour before), the discount rate (2 hours before), and the like are recorded in the product discount rate data 350. The product master 351 is not limited to the example shown in FIG. 4, but is a product code, product name, price information, location information and shelf position information at a store, and a unique hardware ID of an electronic shelf label. May include other optional information such as shelf label code, order quantity information, sales quantity, sale period, expiration date, expiry date, remarks, etc. Product discount rate data 350 is limited to the example of FIG. Alternatively, information of an arbitrary time such as a discount rate (one hour before) may be included.

Then, as shown in FIG. 4, the CPU 301 links the product discount rate data 350 and the product code of the product master 351 in association with each other.
For example, product code “120001-001”, product name “Kobe beef fillet steak”, unit price per weight (g) “¥ 700-”, expiry date “2 days” of product master 351 and product code “120001- The product code “120001-001” of the product discount rate data 350 of “001”, product name “Kobe beef fillet steak”, discount rate (○ hour ago) “10%”, discount rate (2 hours ago) “50%” Link them together because they are common.

Similarly, the product code “120001-002”, the product name “Kobe beef loin”, the unit price “¥ 650-” per weight (g), the data of the product master 351 with the expiration date “2 days”, and the product code “120001- Product code “120001-002” of product discount rate data 350 of “002”, product name “Kobe beef loin”, discount rate (○ hour ago) “10%”, discount rate (2 hours ago) “50%” Therefore, these are linked, and the data of the product master 351 with the product code “220056-001”, the product name “mackerel salt grilled”, the unit price “¥ 250-” per weight (g), and the expiration date “2 days” Product code “2200” of product discount rate data 350 of product code “220056-001”, product name “mackerel salt grilled”, discount rate (○ hour ago) “15%”, discount rate (2 hours ago) “60%” For 6-001 "it is common, to put link these.
The CPU 301 repeats these linkings, and also links the product codes “220056-002” and “3000025-001” of the product master 351 and the product discount rate data 350.

Next, as illustrated in FIG. 3, the CPU 301 determines whether or not there has been an input for selecting a product from the input unit 306 by the operator (step S <b> 2). The CPU 301 determines whether a product code has been input from the input unit 306. Here, if the CPU 301 determines that there is no input for selecting a product from the input unit 306 by the operator, the process of step S2 is repeated again. On the other hand, if it is determined that the operator has input from the input unit 306 to select a product, the process proceeds to the next process.
In this embodiment, the worker inputs the product code. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the operator configures the input unit 306 with a configuration in which the tag to which the product is delivered is read by a barcode reader. You may employ | adopt the method of using and selecting final goods.

Subsequently, the CPU 301 measures the weight of the product placed on the tray (step S3). Here, the operator places the product input on the tray and places it on the product insertion port 307a (see FIG. 1) of the packaging device 307 of the packaging printing apparatus 300.
The packaging device 307 measures the weight of the product placed on the tray using the built-in electronic scale device. That is, since the unit price per weight is defined, the price of the product is determined based on the weight value.

  The CPU 301 issues a product packaging instruction (step S4), calculates the price of the product, and instructs the printing device 308 to print the label (step S5). In this case, the packaging device 307 wraps the product placed on the tray and discharges the product packaged in the product takeout port 307b. Further, the printing device 308 prints product information corresponding to the product master 351 and the product discount rate data 350 instructed from the CPU 301 on the label.

  Here, a label printed by the printing device 308 will be described. FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a label printed by the printing device 308.

On the label 600 shown in FIG. 5, information 620 by the product master 351 and information 610 by the product discount rate data 350 are printed.
For example, the information 620 includes a product name 601, an expiration date 602, a processing date 603, a sales price 604, a weight value 605, barcode data 606, and the like.
On the other hand, the information 610 includes a 10% discount from 4 o'clock on July 17 and a half price and a symbol from 6 o'clock on July 17.

  Specifically, the product name 601 of the information 620 includes “Kobe beef fillet steak”, the expiration date 602 “08.07.17”, the processing date 603 “08.07.15 AM11”, and the selling price 604. Is “2114”, the weight value 605 is “279 g” and the barcode data 606 is a two-dimensional barcode. Here, the date printed on the processing date 603 indicates the date when the product was processed and packaged, the expiration date is calculated from that point, and “08.8.017” of the expiration date 602 is printed. ing.

  In addition, “10% discount from 4 o'clock on July 17” of the information 610 is calculated from the discount rate of the product discount rate data 350, and “half price from 6 o'clock on July 17” is It is calculated from the discount rate 2 hours before the product discount rate data 350.

Here, as shown in FIG. 5, the information 610 is printed in a region (eye catch portion) above the information 620, and the character width and the character height are more prominent than the characters of the information 620. All the thicknesses of the lines constituting the characters are printed large. In addition, the typeface of the character is printed with a typeface different from the information 620.
In the present embodiment, the information 610 is printed in the upper area (eye catch portion) of the label 600. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the information 610 is printed conspicuously in any other area. The information 610 may be printed so that at least one of the width of the character, the height of the character, and the thickness of the line constituting the character is more conspicuous than the information 620. Further, the CPU 301 may record the production record of the product in the production record management recording medium 352 every time the product is packaged.

  Subsequently, the operator attaches a label 600 printed by the printing device 308 to the product discharged to the product take-out port 307b. In this embodiment, the label 600 is affixed to the product manually by the operator. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the packaging device 307 receives the label from the printing device 308 and automatically The structure which affixes on a predetermined place may be sufficient.

  Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 3, the CPU 301 determines whether or not there is an instruction to manufacture the same product (step S6). Here, when the worker produces the same product, an instruction is given using the input unit 306. Then, the CPU 301 determines whether or not to wrap the same product according to an instruction from the input unit 306. If the CPU 301 determines again that the same product is to be packaged, the process returns to step S3 and the process is repeated. On the other hand, when it determines with not wrapping the same goods, the following process is performed.

The CPU 301 determines whether to wrap other products (step S7). Here, when the worker produces other products, an instruction is given using the input unit 306. Then, the CPU 301 determines whether or not to wrap another product according to an instruction from the input unit 306. If the CPU 301 determines that other products are to be packaged, the process returns to step S2 to wait for selection of other products. On the other hand, if the CPU 301 determines that no other product is to be packaged, the process ends.
Finally, the operator collects the products with the label 600 attached and arranges them on the display shelf of the sales store.

  Next, FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing another example of the label 600 shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 6, information 610 a is printed in the area (eye catch portion) above the information 620 of the label 600 instead of the information 610. This information 610a is printed with "symbol indicating 17th day" and "product subject to time limit allocation". As a result, the customer can easily visually recognize the symbols printed larger than the characters, and since the expiration date of the product comes on the 17th, the customer can easily determine that the discount has been made.

  Subsequently, FIG. 7 is a schematic schematic diagram illustrating an example of a product sales system according to the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 7, the merchandise sales system 100 includes a store controller 200, a POS (Point of sale) system 210, the packaging printing apparatus 300, the transmission / reception apparatus 400, the barcode reader 450, and the printing apparatus shown in FIGS. 451 etc. are included.

  One or a plurality of packaging printing apparatuses 300 of the commodity sales system 100 are mainly arranged in the backyard, and the commodity is processed and packaged in the backyard. Based on the flow shown in FIG. The price information (labels 600 and 600a) of the product corresponding to the weight of the product is created and pasted.

  In the merchandise sales system 100, the store controller 200, the POS system 210, the packaging printing apparatus 300, and the transmission / reception apparatus 400 are connected via a network.

  Here, an example of the configuration of the store controller 200 of FIG. 7 will be described. FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a schematic configuration of the store controller 200.

  As shown in FIG. 8, the store controller 200 includes a central processing unit (hereinafter referred to as a CPU) 201, a read-only memory (hereinafter referred to as a ROM) 202 that stores a basic program, and a random area that is a work area for arithmetic processing. Access Memory (hereinafter referred to as RAM) 203, a storage processing unit 204 for storing programs and various data files, a display unit 205 including a display, an input unit 206 including a keyboard and a mouse, an interface (hereinafter referred to as I) / F) 220, and external communication 230 having a data communication function. For example, the CPU 201 of the store controller 200 communicates with the packaging printing apparatus 300 via the external communication 230, or communicates with the head office computer via the external network when the merchandise sales store is an affiliated store.

  As shown in FIG. 8, the storage processing unit 204 stores discount rate data 250, a product master 251 and a sales performance management recording medium 252.

  For example, table data similar to the product discount rate data 350 shown in FIG. 4 is recorded in the discount rate data 250, and the product of the product delivered to the product sales system 100 is stored in the sales performance management recording medium 252. Information, product information produced by the backyard packaging and printing apparatus 300, product information of products sold by the POS system 210, and product information of stock products in the product sales system 100 are recorded.

  Further, the product master 251 records the same table data as the product master 251 shown in FIG.

  Next, the barcode reader 450 and the printing apparatus 451 shown in FIG. 7 will be described. FIG. 9 is a schematic perspective view for explaining a state in which the barcode reader 450 and the printing apparatus 451 are used, and FIG. 10 is a schematic plan view showing an example of a label printed by the printing apparatus 451. .

As shown in FIG. 9, the operator uses the barcode reader 450 to read the barcode data 606 printed on the product labels 600 and 600a.
The barcode reader 450 transmits the read product information to the store controller 200 via the transmission / reception device 400. The store controller 200 selects the product information transmitted from the product master 251 and the discount rate data 250 stored therein, and transmits the discount rate data 250. The barcode reader 450 transmits the received discount rate data 250 to the printing apparatus 451. The printing apparatus 451 prints the discount rate data 250 on the labels 600b and 600c as shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 10A, the label 600b is printed with “symbol indicating 17th day” and “product subject to due date allocation”, and as shown in FIG. 10B, the label 600c is “July 17”. "10% discount from 4 o'clock on the day" and "Half price from 6 o'clock on July 17" are printed. The label display of the product can be compensated by the operator attaching the labels 600b and 600c to the product.

  As described above, according to the packaging printing apparatus 300, the product discount rate data 350 is printed by the CPU 301 with characters or symbols larger than the product master 351, so that the customer can visually recognize the labels 600 and 600a. The product discount rate can be easily read. As a result, it is possible to easily recognize the product discount rate even for elderly customers, to improve the satisfaction of purchase willingness, and to improve the repeat rate to the sales store.

  Further, since labels 600 and 600a printed on the packaged products are affixed before the products are displayed, the labels 600 and 600a are manually affixed to the products displayed by the workers every predetermined time. Work can be reduced. Also, the customer can easily recognize when the product is discounted.

  Further, in the merchandise sales system 100, the merchandise master 251 of the merchandise is managed by the store controller 200 and the discount rate is set in advance by the discount rate data 250. Therefore, it is necessary to reset the price of the merchandise in the POS system 210. There is no. As a result, when the operator operates the POS system 210, it is not necessary to operate the price information setting. In order to operate the price setting of the POS system 210, the product is once stored in the backyard, and the price is set. After the setting is completed, it is possible to save the trouble of displaying the product again in the sales store. Therefore, it is possible to improve the satisfaction of the customer's willingness to purchase and improve the repeat rate to the sales store. In addition, since the cooperation between the POS system 210 and the merchandise sales system 100 (packaging printing apparatus 300) is known in advance, the occurrence of complaints about prices from customers is suppressed. That is, since it is determined in advance how to set the price of the product before the expiration date, the POS system 210 can easily set the price of the product over time.

  In the present embodiment, a case has been described in which the discount of the rate (percentage) is implemented as the product discount rate data 350. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and data that discounts a certain amount based on the expiration date is used. May be. Moreover, although the expiration date has been described, the present invention is not limited to this, and the expiration date, expiration time, and consumption time may be used.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, the labels 600 and 600a correspond to the medium, the packaging printing device 300 corresponds to the label printing device, the printing device 308 corresponds to the printing unit, and the CPU 301 corresponds to the control unit. The product master 351 corresponds to the product information of the product, the information of the product master 351 corresponds to the first information, the product discount rate data 350 corresponds to the discount rate information based on the expiration date of the product, and the product discount rate data The information 350 corresponds to the second information, the packaging device 307 corresponds to the weighing unit and the packaging unit, the barcode reader 450 corresponds to the barcode reader, the labels 600b and 600c correspond to the supplementary media, and the discount. The rate (○ hour ago) and the discount rate (2 hours ago) correspond to one or more discount rate information, and the store controller 200 and the storage processing unit 204 are included in the product information recording device Those were, POS system 210 is equivalent to the product sales management device, product sales system 100 is equivalent to the product sales system.

  A preferred embodiment of the present invention is as described above, but the present invention is not limited thereto. It will be understood that various other embodiments may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Furthermore, in this embodiment, although the effect | action and effect by the structure of this invention are described, these effect | actions and effects are examples and do not limit this invention.

Schematic external view showing an example of a packaging printing apparatus according to the present embodiment Schematic configuration diagram showing an example of the configuration of the packaging printing apparatus of FIG. Flow chart showing an example of the operation of the CPU of the packaging printing apparatus Schematic diagram showing an example of product discount data and product master links Schematic diagram showing an example of a label printed on a printing apparatus Schematic diagram showing another example of the label shown in FIG. Schematic schematic diagram showing an example of a product sales system according to the present invention Schematic diagram showing an example of the schematic configuration of the store controller Schematic perspective view for explaining a state in which the barcode reader and the printing apparatus are used Schematic plan view showing an example of a label printed by a printing apparatus

Explanation of symbols

200 Store Controller 204 Storage Processing Unit 210 POS System 252 Sales Performance Management Recording Medium 300 Packaging and Printing Device 301 CPU
307 Packaging device 308 Printing device 351 Product master 350 Product discount rate data 450 Bar code reader 600, 600a Label 600b, 600c Label

Claims (5)

A label printing device that prints on a medium displaying the price of a product,
A printing unit for printing on the medium;
A control unit for operating the printing unit,
The control unit displays at least one of a large character and a large symbol with respect to the printing unit, the second information indicating discount rate information based on the expiration date of the product, rather than the first information indicating the product information of the product. A label printing apparatus for printing on the medium. A weighing unit for weighing the product;
A packaging unit for packaging the product and affixing the medium; and
2. The label according to claim 1, wherein the control unit controls the medium printed by the printing unit based on a measurement value from the weighing unit to be attached to a product packaged by the packaging unit. Printing device. A bar code reader capable of reading the first information;
The label according to claim 2, wherein the control unit receives the first information of the medium read by the bar code reader, and causes the printing unit to print the second information on a supplementary medium. Printing device.   The said 2nd information contains the 1 or several discount rate information according to the price of the said goods for every predetermined time until the expiration date of the said goods, The any one of Claims 1-3 characterized by the above-mentioned. The label printing device according to item. A product information recording device for recording first information indicating product information of a product and second information indicating discount rate information based on the expiration date of the product;
The label printing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the first information and the second information recorded in the commodity information recording apparatus are received and printed on a medium.
A product sales system comprising: a product sales management device that sets a price of the product sold based on the first information and the second information recorded in the product information recording device.