JP2023089899A - shopping basket - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a shopping basket that can prevent fraudulence and correctly perform settlement of a commodity purchase price.SOLUTION: A shopping basket 10 includes: a basket body 11 with an opening 111 provided in an upper surface; a lid 12 that opens/closes the opening 111; a lid opening/closing control unit 101 that controls opening/closing of the lid 12; and a reading device 14 that reads a commodity identification code for identifying a commodity. The lid opening/closing control unit 101 controls the lid 12 to open the opening 111 when the commodity identification code is read by the reading device 14 in a state where the opening 111 is closed.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

The present invention relates to shopping baskets.

Conventionally, when a customer goes shopping at a retail store such as a supermarket, a clothing store, or a general store, he/she carries the product he/she wants to purchase by hand or puts it in a shopping basket and carries it to a cash register where a POS terminal or the like is installed. The cash register staff scans the product barcodes, QR codes (registered trademark), etc., and the POS terminal etc. calculates the total amount of the product, and the customer pays the calculated amount in cash or credit card. . At this time, it takes time for the person in charge of the cash register to scan the bar codes of the products all at once, and a long line of people waiting for the payment may form in front of the cash register.

In order to solve such problems, for example, Patent Document 1 discloses a weight sensor installed in a shopping cart when a customer puts products in the shopping cart instead of scanning the products collectively at the register. detects a change in weight and reads an RFID tag attached to a product with an RFID reader.

Japanese Patent Publication No. 2015-524947

However, the technology described in Patent Document 1 relies on the detection function of the weight sensor and the scanning function of the RFID reader. There is a possibility that the product purchase price cannot be settled quickly.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a shopping basket that enables accurate settlement of merchandise purchases in a short period of time.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a shopping basket that prevents fraud and enables accurate settlement of the purchase price of merchandise.

In order to achieve the above object, the shopping settlement system of the present invention includes:
A shopping settlement system that settles the purchase price of products put in a shopping cart at a store,
product information storage means for storing a product identification code for identifying a product, the price of the product, and the weight of the product in association with each other;
product identification code acquisition means for acquiring the product identification code of the product read when the product to be purchased is placed in the shopping cart;
Registered weight acquisition means for acquiring the weight of the product stored in advance in the product information storage means in association with the product identification code acquired by the product identification code acquisition means;
a measured weight acquisition means for acquiring a measured value of the weight of the product contained in the shopping basket;
product price settlement means for performing settlement processing for the purchase price of the product when the weight of the product acquired by the registered weight acquisition means and the measured value of the product acquired by the measured weight acquisition means match;
and warning output means for outputting a warning message when the weight of the product acquired by the registered weight acquisition means and the measured value of the product acquired by the measured weight acquisition means do not match. .

According to this invention, since the commodity identification code of the commodity read when the commodity to be purchased is put into the shopping basket is obtained, it is not necessary to read the commodity collectively at the cash register, and the settlement can be completed in a short time. be able to.
If the weight of the product acquired by the registered weight acquisition means and the measured value of the product acquired by the measured weight acquisition means match, the product purchase price is settled, and if they do not match, a warning message is output. Therefore, it is possible to perform the settlement process accurately.

In the above invention,
A weight sensor is provided in the shopping basket and the register table of the store,
The measured weight acquisition means acquires measured values of the weight of the product placed in the shopping basket from weight sensors provided on the shopping basket and the register stand, respectively, and the acquired measured weight values do not match each other. In this case, the warning output means outputs a warning message.

According to this invention, the weights of the products put in the shopping basket are obtained from the weight sensors provided in the shopping basket and the register, respectively, and in order to check that the weights match each other, settlement of the product purchase price is performed. can be done accurately.

Moreover, the shopping basket according to the present invention is
A shopping basket for storing products to be purchased at a store,
a basket body having an opening on the top;
a lid that opens and closes the opening;
lid opening/closing control means for controlling opening/closing of the lid;
A reading device that reads a product identification code that identifies a product,
The lid opening/closing control means includes:
The lid is controlled to open the opening when the product identification code is read by the reader while the opening is closed.

According to this invention, when the opening of the basket body is closed, unless the product identification code is read by the reader, the opening does not open and the product cannot be put into the basket body, thereby preventing fraud. Therefore, it is possible to accurately settle the product purchase price.

In the above invention,
The lid opening/closing control means includes:
The lid is controlled to close the opening when the lid remains open for a predetermined period of time without the commodity identification code being read by the reader.

According to this invention, since the time during which the opening is open can be shortened as much as possible, it is possible to reduce the probability that the product is put into the basket body without reading the product identification code, thereby preventing fraudulent product purchase. Payment can be made accurately.
The above invention is characterized in that the predetermined time can be set by an input operation from the outside.
According to this invention, the predetermined time can be set by an input operation from the outside, so that the time during which the opening is open can be shortened as much as possible, so that the product can be put into the shopping cart without being scanned. The probability can be lowered, fraud can be prevented, and the settlement of the commodity purchase price can be performed accurately.

In the above invention,
A warning message is output when the measured value of the weight of the product put in the basket body does not match the weight of the product registered in advance in association with the product identification code for identifying the product. It is characterized by further comprising warning output means.

According to this invention, when the measured value of the weight of the product placed in the basket main body and the weight of the product registered in advance in association with the product identification code for identifying the product do not match, , to output a warning message, it is possible to prevent fraud and accurately perform settlement processing for the purchase price of the product.

1 is an overall configuration diagram of a shopping settlement system according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. It is a perspective view of a shopping basket according to the same embodiment. 3 is a functional configuration diagram of the shopping basket control device according to the same embodiment; FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a POS system arranged in a checkout area; FIG. 1 is a functional configuration diagram of a POS terminal included in a POS system; FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing a settlement procedure of the shopping settlement system according to the same embodiment;

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a shopping settlement system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The shopping settlement system 1 communicates with a shopping basket 10 used by a customer to put products in a store such as a retail store or a supermarket, and a POS system 20 for settlement of the product price installed at the cash register of the store. and a communication network 30 such as a wireless communication, the Internet, a block chain network, etc. that can be connected.
The shopping basket 10 may be a cart mounted on a wheelbarrow.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the shopping basket 10. FIG. The shopping basket 10 includes a basket body 11 having a rectangular opening 111 on a part of its upper surface. A lid 12 is rotatably attached to one side of the opening 111 by a hinge or the like (not shown), and the lid 12 opens and closes the opening 111 .

A reader 14 for reading the QR code is attached to the side of the opening 111 opposite to the side where the hinges and the like are provided. In this embodiment, a QR code is attached to the product, and the QR code represents the product identification code for identifying the product, the price of the product, the weight of the product, and the like.

Note that what is read by the reader 14 is not limited to the QR code, and may be, for example, an RFID tag or a bar code. Further, the reader 14 is not limited to a QR code reader, and may be an RFID reader or a bar code reader.

A weight sensor 15 for measuring the weight of the products put in the shopping basket 10 is provided on the bottom surface of the shopping basket 10, and a camera 17 for photographing the inside of the shopping basket 10 is provided on the side surface of the shopping basket 10. installed.

The shopping basket 10 is also provided with a control device 18 . The control device 18 includes, as hardware, a CPU, a memory, a motor, a speaker, an input/output interface, a wireless communication interface, and the like. Various data and programs for controlling the shopping basket 10 are stored in the memory of the control device 18 . The programs stored in the memory include a program for controlling the operation of the lid 12, a program for outputting a warning sound, and a program for communicating with the reader 14, weight sensor 15, camera 17, POS system 20, and the like. and a program for

The functions shown in FIG. 3 are implemented in the control device 18 of the shopping basket 10 by the CPU executing the program stored in the memory.
The lid opening/closing control unit 101 controls the lid 12 to open the opening 111 when the QR code is read by the reader 14 while the opening 111 is closed. As a result, it is possible to prevent the product from entering the shopping basket 10 before the QR code is read, thereby preventing fraud and accurately performing settlement of the purchase price of the product.

Further, the lid opening/closing control unit 101 controls the lid 12 to close the opening 11 when the lid 12 remains open for a predetermined time without the QR code being read by the reader 14 . The “predetermined time” can be set by operating an operation button provided on the control device 18, for example. As a result, the time during which the opening 111 is open can be shortened as much as possible, so the probability that the product is put into the shopping basket without being scanned can be reduced, fraud can be prevented, and the product purchase price can be settled accurately. can be done.

The product identification code acquisition unit 102 analyzes the QR code read by the reader 14 of the shopping basket 10 when the product to be purchased is placed in the basket 10, and acquires the product identification code of the product from the QR code.

The registered weight acquisition unit 103 acquires the pre-registered weight of the product identified by the product identification code acquired by the product identification code acquisition unit 201 . In this embodiment, the weight of the product is included in the QR code of the product read by the reading device 14, so the registered weight acquisition unit 103 analyzes the QR code and acquires the weight of the product from the QR code. If the QR code does not include the product weight, the registered weight acquisition unit 103 may acquire the product weight from the product database 40, which will be described later.

The measured weight acquisition unit 104 acquires from the weight sensor 15 the measured weight of the product in the shopping basket 10 .

The warning output unit 105 outputs a warning message from the speaker when the measured value of the weight of the product placed in the shopping cart 10 does not match the weight of the product registered in advance in association with the product identification code. Output. Whether or not they match can be determined by considering a certain amount of measurement error and an error due to the weight of a package other than the product.

Specifically, if the user scans one piece of tofu weighing 100 grams and puts it in the shopping basket 10 , but puts another piece of tofu in the shopping basket 10 without scanning it, the tofu is put in the shopping basket 10 . The measured weight of the tofu is 200 grams, and the weight registered in advance in the QR code for one scanned piece of tofu is 100 grams. It determines that there are products that have not been scanned, and outputs a warning message to notify the user. If the user misunderstands, he/she can rescan another tofu that has not been scanned.

The "warning message" may be a warning sound from a speaker, a warning mark, a warning lamp, or the like.
Also, if items continue to be put into the shopping basket 10 without being scanned, the control device 18 may determine that there is a possibility of shoplifting, and notify the security company of the information as security crime prevention information.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of the POS system 20 arranged in the checkout area. As shown in the figure, the POS system 20 includes a POS terminal 21 and a register stand 22 for placing the shopping basket 10 thereon. A weight sensor 23 is provided on the upper surface of the register table 22 . A camera 24 is installed around the cash register table 22 to image the cash register area and monitor fraud.

The POS terminal 21 includes, as hardware, a CPU, storage devices such as RAM and ROM, a communication interface, a display, and a settlement card reader. The storage device stores software such as various data and programs. As data stored in the storage device of the POS terminal 21, there is a product database 40 that manages the products sold at the store where the POS terminal 21 is installed.
The product database 40 associates and stores a product identification code for identifying a product, the price of the product, and the weight of the product. Note that the product database 40 may be managed by another server.

The programs stored in the storage device of the POS terminal 21 include a program for acquiring various information from the control device 18 of the shopping basket 10, and a weight sensor for measuring the weight of the products in the shopping basket 10. 23, a program for performing settlement processing for the purchase price of a product, a program for outputting a warning message, and the like.

The POS terminal 21 implements the functions shown in FIG.
The product identification code acquisition unit 201 acquires from the reader 14 the product identification code of the product read by the reader 14 of the shopping basket 10 when the product to be purchased is placed in the basket 10 .

The registered weight acquisition unit 202 acquires the weight stored in the product database 40 in association with the product identification code acquired by the product identification code acquisition unit 201 .
When the shopping basket 10 is placed on the cash register table 22, the measured weight acquisition unit 203 acquires the measured value of the weight of the product put in the shopping basket 10 from the weight sensor 23 provided on the cash register table 22. - 特許庁
Note that the measured weight acquisition unit 203 may acquire the measured value of the weight of the product put in the shopping basket 10 from the weight sensor 15 of the shopping basket 10 .

If the weight of the product acquired by the registered weight acquisition unit 202 and the measured value of the product acquired by the measured weight acquisition unit 203 match, the product price settlement unit 204 performs the product price settlement process.
Note that when the measured weight acquisition unit 203 acquires both the weight measurement value by the weight sensor 23 of the cash register table 22 and the weight measurement value by the weight sensor 15 of the shopping basket 10, the product price settlement unit 204 If the measured values of the two match each other, the payment processing for the product price is performed.
Any settlement means such as cash, credit card, electronic money, and cryptocurrency may be used as settlement means.

The warning output unit 205 outputs a warning message when the weight of the pre-registered product acquired by the registered weight acquisition unit 202 and the measured value of the product acquired by the measured weight acquisition unit 203 do not match.
In addition, when the measured weight acquisition unit 203 acquires both the measured value by the weight sensor 15 of the shopping basket 10 and the measured value by the weight sensor 23 of the register table 22, if the measured values do not match each other, a warning is output. Unit 205 outputs a warning message.

Next, with reference to FIG. 6, a description will be given of a procedure in which the user puts the product in the shopping basket 10 at the store and settles the purchase price of the product in the shopping settlement system 1 configured as described above.

First, the user carries the shopping basket 10 in the store and goes to the display shelf where the desired product is displayed. Next, the user picks up the item from the display shelf and scans the QR code of the item with the reader 14 of the shopping basket 10 . Thereby, the reading device 14 reads the QR code (step S101). The lid opening/closing control unit 101 that has detected the reading controls the lid 12 to open the opening 111 (step S102). The user puts the scanned product into the basket body 11 through the opened opening 111 .

The registered weight acquisition unit 103 of the shopping cart 10 analyzes the read QR code and acquires the product weight from the QR code. Also, the measured weight acquisition unit 104 acquires the measured weight value from the weight sensor 15 .
In addition, the controller 18 of the shopping cart 10 controls the weight of the scanned product acquired by the registered weight acquisition unit 103 and the It is determined whether or not the measured value of the product matches (step S103). In addition, the weight measurement value of the product put in this time can be obtained from the difference between the previous measurement value and the current measurement value. If the weights do not match (step S104: No), the control device 18 outputs a warning message from the speaker (step S105). When the warning message is output, the user checks the product identification code for missing reading, double scanning, etc., and redoes the reading operation.

On the other hand, if the weights match (step S104: Yes), the POS terminal 21 checks the weight when the user carries the shopping basket 10 to the register and places it on the register table 22 (step S106).

Specifically, the measured weight acquisition unit 203 of the POS terminal 21 acquires the product weight measured by the weight sensor 23 of the cash register table 22 . The registered weight acquisition unit 202 acquires the total weight of the products registered in advance in association with the product identification codes read by the reader 14 of the shopping basket 10 so far. Here, as the pre-registered product weight, the weight of the QR code read by the shopping cart reader 14 may be used, or the weight stored in the product database 40 may be used. Then, the POS terminal 21 determines whether or not the product weight acquired by the registered weight acquisition unit 202 and the product measurement value acquired by the measured weight acquisition unit 203 match.

If the weights do not match (step S107: No), the warning output unit 205 outputs a warning message (step S108). On the other hand, if the weights match (step S107: Yes), the product price settlement unit 204 settles the product price (step S109). When the user passes through the register, the camera 17, 24 takes a picture, and the shopping settlement system 1 verifies whether there is any illegality.

As described above, since the QR code is scanned and the product identification code is read when the product is put into the shopping cart 10, there is no need to scan the QR code of a large number of products at the cash register, which reduces mistakes. As a result, the waiting time at the cash register can be shortened, and the product price can be settled in a short time.
In addition, when the weight of the product registered in advance and the measured value of the product match, the product purchase price is settled. Therefore, the product purchase price can be settled accurately.

The above-described embodiment is merely an example, and the present invention can be modified in various ways without changing the gist of the invention described in the claims.
For example, the lid 12 of the shopping basket 10 is not limited to a rotating type, and may be a sliding type to open and close the opening 111 . Further, the reading device 14 of the shopping basket 10 may have the function of the control device 18 , or the POS terminal 20 may have the function of the control device 18 .

The communication method of the shopping settlement system 1 may be P2P (peer-to-peer) or client-server communication, communication using a distributed storage type block chain, or a communication method combining these. There may be.

When an RFID tag is used as the product identification code, an RFID reading gate or reading machine may be placed at the cash register to double-check. You can read the QR code again at the register and double check, but it is better not to do it because it takes time.

Also, information may be collected using IOT equipment at the store, and the collected information may be managed by a computer.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can be used when a user purchases a product at any real store such as a food supermarket, a clothing store, and a variety store.

1 Shopping Settlement System 10 Shopping Basket 101 Lid Opening/Closing Control Unit 102 Product Identification Code Acquisition Unit 103 Registered Weight Acquisition Unit 104 Measured Weight Acquisition Unit 105 Warning Output Unit 11 Basket Body 111 Opening 12 Lid 14 Reader 15 Weight Sensor 17 Camera 18 Control Device 20 POS system 201 Product identification code acquisition unit 202 Registered weight acquisition unit 203 Measured weight acquisition unit 204 Product payment unit 205 Warning output unit 21 POS terminal 22 Cash register 23 Weight sensor 24 Camera 30 Communication network

Claims (3)

A shopping basket for storing products to be purchased at a store,
a basket body having an opening on the top;
a lid that opens and closes the opening;
lid opening/closing control means for controlling opening/closing of the lid;
A reading device that reads a product identification code that identifies a product,
The lid opening/closing control means includes:
A shopping basket characterized by controlling the lid so as to open the opening when the commodity identification code is read by the reader while the opening is closed. The lid opening/closing control means includes:
2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the lid is controlled so as to close the opening when the lid remains open for a predetermined period of time without the commodity identification code being read by the reader. shopping basket. 3. The shopping basket according to claim 2, wherein the predetermined time can be set by an input operation from the outside.

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