JP4191751B2 - Product sales data processing device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a merchandise sales data processing apparatus, and more particularly to a merchandise sales data processing apparatus such as a cash register that reads and processes information code symbols such as barcodes attached to merchandise.

  Conventionally, in a store such as a supermarket, a product label on which a barcode, which is an information code symbol representing a product code, is attached to a product, or a product code is printed on the surface of the product during the product shipping process and the store is used. Delivered. The bar code is read by a bar code reading device of a cash register, which is a merchandise sales data processing device, and the merchandise code is recognized and used for production of purchased merchandise and management of sales.

  When managing merchandise with such a cash register, inventory and sales may not match. Such an inconsistency may be caused by, for example, a reading failure such as double barcode reading.

  Here, the double reading of the barcode is because the same product is read twice by the barcode reader, or the barcode that has been read once is rotated and the barcode is read again. Arise.

  Conventionally, the following merchandise sales data processing apparatus has been proposed as an apparatus for confirming an erroneous input with an image after inputting merchandise sales data, although it is not for confirming that a reading failure such as double reading has occurred ( Patent Document 1).

  FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a conventional merchandise sales data processing apparatus.

  As shown in FIG. 7, this merchandise sales data processing apparatus includes a video camera 702, a mixing device 703, a video tape recorder 704, and a monitor TV 705 in a POS terminal 701 which is a merchandise sales data processing apparatus. . In this merchandise sales data processing apparatus, a video camera 702 captures an image together with an input operation of a commodity read by the POS terminal 701, and a video captured by the video camera 702 and a display screen registered and displayed by the POS terminal 701 are displayed by the mixing apparatus 703. It is synthesized and recorded by the video tape recorder 704. In this merchandise sales data processing apparatus, processing is performed as follows.

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing of the merchandise sales data processing apparatus shown in FIG. In this example, the video camera 702 captures a product together with its input operation. When the PLU key is input to input the product code, the POS terminal 701 searches the PLU file (step S11) and reads the sales information corresponding to the product code input by the PLU (step S12). Next, the POS terminal 701 performs a registration process (step S13), prints the product name and price (step S14), and displays them on the display device (step S15). The POS terminal 701 then combines the display image on the display device with the video image taken by the video camera 702 and outputs it to the video tape recorder 704 by the mixing device 703.

  In this way, the video tape recorder 704 records the video of the video camera 702 and the display image representing the product name and price.

  As a result, the video information of the purchased product can be confirmed, and the registered contents such as the product name and price of the product by the operator can be confirmed on the same screen.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-230496

  However, in the thing of patent document 1, since the image | video of the goods image | photographed during input operation and the registered merchandise information (brand name, money amount) are only recorded on the video tape recorder, In order to associate the product registered in the POS terminal with the product information, it is necessary for the operator to check the product appearing on the video and the displayed product information one by one. At the time of this confirmation, it is left to the operator's judgment as to whether or not a barcode has been input for the photographed product.

  Therefore, in the merchandise sales data processing apparatus described in Patent Document 1, it takes time and effort to perform the double reading confirmation work, and the determination may be uncertain.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a merchandise sales data processing apparatus capable of easily and reliably confirming reading defects such as double reading.

  Means for solving the above-described problems in the present invention includes a two-dimensional area sensor in a merchandise sales data processing apparatus that reads and processes an information code symbol attached to a merchandise, and provides a reading range of the information code symbol. Means for picking up an image including a range and outputting video information; means for extracting the information code symbol from the video information to obtain and output information code symbol position information in the imaging range; and an information code for the video information A product code extracting device for extracting and outputting a product code from a symbol; means for combining the position information with the image information and outputting the image as a combined image; and the combined image information and position information with position information And a means for storing as a product sales data processing device.

  According to the present invention, the merchandise sales data processing apparatus synthesizes the position information of the code symbol read into the video in which the product on which the code symbol is actually recognized is captured as the video information with position information. Since the recorded video is stored, the product image to be read and the position information of the code symbol can be easily associated one-to-one. For this reason, it is possible to efficiently and reliably verify reading defects such as double reading.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of a POS terminal which is a merchandise sales data processing apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

  1A and 1B are diagrams showing a POS terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention, wherein FIG. 1A is a perspective view showing a state before barcode reading, and FIG. 1B is a perspective view showing a state during barcode reading. .

  In this example, the POS terminal 100 includes an imaging window 107 of the camera 501 (see FIG. 2), an operator display unit 108, and a data input key 109 on the POS terminal body 106. Placed on top.

  In this example, as shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, the products 102 and 103 with the barcodes 102a and 103a are sequentially moved from the product basket 101 before settlement to the product basket 104 after settlement. Thus, the barcodes 102a and 103a are directed to the imaging window 107, and the barcodes 102a and 103a are read.

  In other words, in this example, when reading the product data, the product 102 is moved along the movement path 201 from the pre-settlement product basket 101 and moved to the post-settlement product basket 104. In this movement path 201, the commodity 102 is photographed from the imaging window 107. At this time, the camera 501 shoots a product within a predetermined shooting range from the imaging window 107. Then, an image of the barcode 102a is extracted from the video photographed by the camera 501, and the product code is read. In this example, the camera 501 captures an image in the shooting range during the movement path of the product 102.

  Similarly, the next product 103 is also moved from the product basket 101 before settlement to the product basket 104 after settlement via the movement path 202, the barcode 103a is photographed by the camera 501, the image of the barcode 103a is extracted, and the product code Is read.

  In this procedure, the operator sequentially takes out the products to be purchased placed in the pre-payment product basket 101 and passes them in front of the imaging window 107 while moving to the post-settlement product basket 104 to read the product code. Then, after the last product is moved to the product basket 104 after payment, a tightening process for instructing the end of the reading operation is performed. As a result, the series of merchandise sales data processing ends.

  Next, the configuration of the POS terminal according to this example will be described.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the processing system of the POS terminal.

  In this example, the POS terminal 100 includes a camera 501, a product code recognition device 502, a video recording control device 503, a barcode position information recording device 504, a video storage device 505, a POS terminal function unit 506, A video display device 507.

  The camera 501 is a video camera including a CCD image pickup device that is a two-dimensional area sensor that takes an image of a product with a barcode attached thereto from the above-described image pickup window 107. The video shot by the camera 501 is sent to the product code recognition device 502, the barcode position information recording device 504, and the video recording control device 503.

  The product code recognizing device 502 extracts the video of the barcode from the video captured by the camera 501 and sends the barcode position information to the barcode position information appending device 504, and the POS terminal function To the unit 506.

  In this example, the barcode position information is video information that displays a rectangular frame obtained by extracting a video of the barcode to be recognized as a video.

  The video recording control device 503 receives the video signal from the camera 501 and the product code information from the POS terminal function unit 506 and controls the barcode position information recording device 504. Here, the product code information includes a product code received by the POS terminal function unit 506 from the product code recognition device 502, and time information t when the POS terminal function unit 506 reads the product code from the product code recognition device 502. It is out.

  The video recording control apparatus 503 reads a series of product codes from the product code information from the POS terminal function unit 506, and each product code reading start time Ts and reading end time from the product code time information t in a series of processing. Te is set and the barcode position information recording device 504 is controlled.

  Under the control of the video recording control device 503, the barcode position information recording / recording device 504 adds the barcode position information from the product code recognition device 502 to the video from the camera 501 between the reading start time Ts and the reading end time Te. In addition to creating the added composite video, the product code from the video recording control device 503 and the reading start time Ts and the reading end time Te of each product code are stored. In other words, in this example, the barcode position information appending device 504 outputs the composite image, the product code, the reading start time Ts, and the reading end time Te for the product read by a series of input processes to the video storage device 505.

  The video storage device 505 includes, for example, a hard disk as a video storage device, and sequentially stores the files created by the barcode position information recording device 504.

  The POS terminal function unit 506 performs product registration based on the product code from the product code recognition device 502. The POS terminal function unit 506 includes a product data management function, a money registration function, and a communication function provided in a normal POS terminal, a time control signal to the video recording control device 503, and a video output control signal of the video storage device 505. The control signal of the video display device 507 is output.

  The video display device 507 is composed of a CRT or LCD, and displays the composite video stored in the video storage device 505. That is, the video display device 507 displays the recorded video from the video storage device 505 in response to an instruction from the POS terminal function unit 506 to the video display device 507.

  In this example, the product code recognition device 502 recognizes a barcode from the video as described below, and creates and sends barcode position information.

  FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a photographed image at the time of product code recognition.

  In this example, the photographed image 401 includes a product 402 with a price tag 403 attached as an image, and a barcode 404 is displayed on the price tag 403.

  The product code recognition device 502 extracts an area 405 including the barcode 404 from the photographed image 401 and determines the position and the barcode image that is the product code recognition target. Then, the product code recognition device 502 generates a product code from the image of the barcode 404 extracted from the confirmed barcode image by a predetermined method and sends it to the POS terminal function unit 506. Further, the product code recognition device 502 outputs an image including the outline 406 of the determined area 405 as barcode position information.

  In this example, this barcode position information holds information about the arrangement position in the photographed image 401. By combining this position information with the photographed image 401, the area around the barcode 404 in the photographed image 401 is stored. A frame 406 is displayed on the screen, and a synthesized image can be obtained.

  Next, processing of the POS terminal according to this example will be described.

  FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a composite image storage state of the video storage device of the product sales data processing apparatus according to the embodiment, and FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the product sales data processing apparatus according to the embodiment.

  When reading the product code of the product at the POS terminal 100 according to the present example, as shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, the products 102 and 103 are sequentially taken out from the product basket 101 before settlement, and the barcodes 102a and 103a are read out. It moves along the movement route 201 and the movement route 202 while moving toward the imaging window 107 and moves to the product basket 104 after payment.

  In this example, the POS terminal function unit 506 determines the reading start time Ts and the reading end time Te of each product code when recognizing a series of product barcodes as follows. As shown in FIG. 4, the barcode position information recording / recording device 504 stores the composite image, the product code, the reading start time Ts and the reading end time Te of each product code in a series of product reading processing in the video storage device 505. To do.

  In other words, as shown in FIG. 5, when the barcode is read by the product code recognition device 502 (step S1), the barcode position information appending device 504 determines whether or not this product is the first reading (step S1). S2). If it is the first reading, the POS reading work start time is set as the reading start time Ts (step S3). If it is not the first reading, the reading time of the previous product is set as the reading start time Ts (step S7).

  Next, the reading time of the current product is updated as Te (step S4), and the video between Ts and Te is recorded in the video recording device (step S5).

  Thereafter, the closing process is performed, and the POS reading operation is finished when the final product reading is performed (step S6).

  In this process, the barcode position information recording device 504 receives the barcode position information from the product code recognition device 502, receives the video from the camera 501, and also receives the video from the video recording control device 503. The product code, the reading start time Ts of the product code, and the reading end time Te are input.

  In this way, from the reading of the first product to the reading of the last product, the barcode position information appending device 504 positions the product code, Ts, Te, and video for each product. A composite video with additional information is recorded, and information from the first product (product 1) to the last product (product N) is stored as one file (see FIG. 4).

  Therefore, according to the POS terminal 100 according to the present example, when there is a suspicion of double reading, the composite image of the video storage device 505 is displayed on the video display device 507 to easily and reliably verify the double reading. Can do. That is, at the time of verification of double reading, the video storage device 505 designates the product code and the reading time as search information from the POS terminal function unit 506 to the video storage device 505, so that the video storage device 505 is based on this search information. The stored data can be retrieved and the synthesized video can be easily displayed on the video display device 507.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 6, the double reading is performed without the product 103 being moved through the movement path 301, the product code being read from the imaging window 107, and then loaded in the product basket 104 after the settlement. Occurs when moving to the front of the imaging window 107 again through the abnormal movement path 302 and reading for the second time, and further moving through the movement path 303 and loaded in the product basket 104 after payment.

  When the composite video in this state is reproduced, it can be confirmed that one product 103 has been read again through the abnormal movement path 302 after reading the first product code.

  At this time, since a frame indicating the read barcode is displayed on the displayed image, it is possible to clearly verify which part of which product has recognized the product code. Therefore, by confirming the position information of the product code and the movement path of the product, it is possible to easily and reliably verify which product has caused the double reading.

  In addition, even when the product is rotated in front of the imaging window as the double reading, it is possible to easily and reliably verify in which product the double reading has occurred.

  As described above, in this example, the composite image stored in the video storage device 505 can be searched based on the reading start time Ts, the reading end time Te, and the product code. Can be verified more quickly.

It is a figure which shows the POS terminal which concerns on embodiment of this invention, (a) is a perspective view which shows the state before barcode reading, (b) is a perspective view which shows the state in barcode reading. It is a block diagram which shows the processing system of the POS terminal shown in FIG. It is a schematic diagram which shows the picked-up image at the time of merchandise code recognition. It is a schematic diagram which shows the storage state of the synthesized image of the image | video preservation | save apparatus of the goods sales data processing apparatus which concerns on embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the action | operation of the merchandise sales data processing apparatus which concerns on embodiment. It is a perspective view of the POS terminal which shows the state of double reading of a barcode. It is a block diagram which shows the electric constitution of the conventional merchandise sales data processing apparatus. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the merchandise sales data processing apparatus shown in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

100 POS terminal, 102, 103 product, 102a, 103a barcode, 501 camera, 502 product code recognition device, 503 video recording control device, 503 image recording control device, 504 barcode position information recording device, 505 video storage device, 507 Video display device

Claims (4)

In a product sales data processing device that reads and processes an information code symbol attached to a product,
Means for providing a two-dimensional area sensor, imaging a range including a reading range of the information code symbol, and outputting video information;
Means for extracting and outputting information code symbol position information in an imaging range by extracting the information code symbol image from the image information;
Means for extracting and outputting a product code from an information code symbol of the video information;
Means for combining the position information with the image information and outputting the combined image as a combined image;
Means for storing the composite video;
A product sales data processing apparatus characterized by comprising:   2. The merchandise sales data processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the position information is an image of a frame surrounding an information code symbol.   3. The product sales data processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for adding at least one of the time data indicating the time when the product code is extracted and the product code to the composite video. 4. The product sales data processing apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising means for searching for the composite image based on the time data or product code.

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