JP4255964B2 - 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 that collectively reads electronic tag information including an electronic tag ID from electronic tag-attached products arranged in a product information reading area.

  There is a POS terminal as a merchandise sales data processing apparatus, and such a POS terminal reads a bar code, which is an information code symbol attached to a merchandise, acquires merchandise data, and manages merchandise sales.

  In recent years, a system using an electronic tag using RFID (Radio frequency identification) instead of the bar code has become widespread. In a system using such an electronic tag, product tag information is exchanged by radio waves from an electronic tag in which product tag information including an electronic tag ID is embedded.

  An electronic tag using such an RFID can store a larger amount of information than a system using a barcode.

By the way, in some merchandise sales data processing apparatuses using RFID, each merchandise tag information can be collectively read from a plurality of electronic tags attached to a plurality of merchandise. In such a system, frequency bands of 13.56 MHz, 950 MHz, and 2.4 GHz are used as radio waves exchanged with the electronic tag. As described above, when reading a plurality of electronic tags, a plurality of products are arranged together in the reading area of the electronic tag, so that reading failure of the electronic tag information may occur. Such a reading failure occurs when a metal foil is used for packaging the product and the radio wave is shielded or the product has a high moisture content and the radio wave is absorbed. Thus reading of the electronic tag failure occurs, the problem that there is no resulting enter the correct product data is performed.

  Corresponding to such a defect, in Patent Document 1, image data of an object is stored in an image memory in association with an electronic tag ID, and the image of the article is linked with reading of electronic tag information. The captured image and the image data in the image memory are collated, and the electronic tag information having the electronic tag ID corresponding to the image data determined to be the image for the same object is determined as the electronic tag information of the article. Are disclosed.

JP 2005-267252 A

  However, in the above-mentioned patent document 1, it is necessary to store product image data in association with an electronic tag ID, and a huge storage area must be provided to store image data of all products. There is a problem.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a merchandise sales data processing apparatus that can determine whether or not all merchandise has been read with an electronic tag without storing a large amount of image data.

Means for solving the above-described problems in the present invention is the product sales data processing apparatus that collectively reads the electronic tag information including the electronic tag ID from the electronic tag-attached product arranged in the product information reading area. In conjunction with an electronic tag information reading device that reads electronic tag information of a plurality of products arranged in a reading area, and reading processing of the electronic tag information, the product arrangement area is imaged from a plurality of different directions and image data is output. An imaging device; a number calculating unit that calculates the number of products arranged in the product arrangement area from the image data; a number of products obtained from the electronic tag information; and a number of products obtained from the number calculating unit. and means for comparing the number of items from the image data is calculated on the basis of the extracted contour lines and color of the obtained product items and wherein Rukoto That is a commodity sales data processing apparatus.

  According to the product sales data processing device of the present invention, the number of products based on the electronic tag information read by the electronic tag information reader is compared with the number of products based on the image data obtained by the imaging device. If they do not match, error processing is performed, so that it is possible to easily detect defective reading of a product from the electronic tag without storing a large amount of product image data.

  An embodiment of a merchandise sales data processing apparatus according to the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. Hereinafter, a POS terminal will be described as an example of the product sales data processing apparatus.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a POS terminal according to an embodiment.

  In this example, the POS terminal 1 includes a counter 15, and a merchandise placement area 15 a for placing merchandise is set in the counter 15 as a merchandise information input area. The POS terminal 1 has a function of taking in merchandise information using an electronic tag adopting RFID (Radio frequency identification), in addition to a merchandise sales data processing function normally possessed by the POS terminal.

  The POS terminal 1 communicates radio waves with a control unit 10, a display unit 11 connected to the control unit 10 to display product sales data to an operator, a printer 12 for printing receipts, etc., and an electronic tag attached to the product. The electronic tag information reading device 13 for sending the electronic tag information to 10 and the imaging device 14 for taking an image of the product arrangement area 15a are provided. A store server 18 is connected to the control unit 10.

The electronic tag information reader 13 exchanges radio waves with electronic tags that are arranged at the lower part of the product arrangement area 15a provided in the counter 15 and attached to a plurality of products 30 (for example, products 31, 32, 33). In this example, the electronic tag information reading device 13 is to obtain the electronic tag information collectively from a plurality of electronic tags attached to a plurality of items 31, 32, 33, 13.56 MHz, 950 MHz, 2. It uses radio waves in the 4 GHz frequency band.

  The imaging device 14 includes a CCD area sensor, and is arranged above the counter 15 to photograph an area including the product arrangement area 15a. And the imaging device 14 outputs the image data which imaged the goods 31,32,33 arrange | positioned in the goods arrangement | positioning area | region 15a from upper direction to the control part 10. FIG.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an electrical connection state of the POS terminal, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the control unit.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the control unit 10 is connected to the electronic tag information reading device 13, and is an electronic device that collectively extracts electronic tag IDs, product information, etc. from a plurality of electronic tag information read from a plurality of electronic tags. A tag information processing unit 21 and a first product number calculation unit 22 that calculates the number (N) of products read in a batch based on information from the electronic tag information processing unit 21 are provided.

  The control unit 10 also processes an image processing unit 23 that processes image data captured by the imaging device 14, and a second product number calculation unit 24 that calculates the number (M) of products captured from the image data that has undergone image processing. With. The control unit 10 compares the number of products (N) calculated by the first product number calculation unit 22 with the number of products (M) calculated by the second product number calculation unit 24. 2 product number calculation unit 25 and an error processing unit 26 that determines subsequent processing of POS terminal 1 based on the result.

  When the number N and the number M coincide with each other, the error processing unit 26 permits the continuation of the merchandise sales data processing such as the settlement at the POS terminal 1, while when the number N and the number M do not coincide with each other, the error processing unit 26 performs processing such as settlement processing. Error processing that prohibits

  As shown in FIG. 3, the control unit 10 includes a CPU 31. The CPU 31 includes a ROM (read-on memory) 32 that stores various control programs via a bus line 35, and a RAM (memory that stores various data). Random access memory) 33 and a hard disk drive 34 storing a processing program are connected, and when the CPU 31 executes the processing program, the electronic tag information processing unit 21, the first product number calculation unit 22, and the image processing unit 23 are connected. The second product number calculation unit 24 and the product number comparison unit 25 function. Note that these functions can be implemented by executing a program as in this example, and hardware that implements the corresponding functions can be implemented.

  Next, the image processing unit and the second product number calculation unit will be described. 4 and 5 are diagrams showing image data processing in the image processing unit.

  The image processing unit 23 extracts a closed contour for each product by extracting the product contour from the image data obtained by the imaging device 14. These processes can be performed by applying a predetermined filter to the image data and connecting change points of brightness and color. A differential filter or the like can be used as the filter.

  The second product number calculation unit 24 determines the number of products based on the image-processed data. As shown in FIG. 4, when the four products 41, 42, 43, 44 are extracted with a slight overlap, the second product quantity calculation unit 24 uses the products 41, 42, 43, Each of the outlines 44 is determined to be a product based on the brightness and color of the product. In addition, although the area 45 surrounded by each product is also recognized, the second product number calculation unit 24 compares the image data in the state where the product is not arranged with the image data in the state where the product is arranged. Since the area 45 matches the state in which no product is arranged, it is determined that no product is arranged, and these results are combined to calculate the number of products as four.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 5, when one product 55 is arranged below the four products 51, 52, 53, 54, the second product quantity calculation unit 24 displays each product 51, 52. , 53, 54 are judged to be products one by one from the brightness, color, etc. of the product. For the product 55, the second product quantity calculation unit 24 compares the image data in which the product is not arranged with the image data in which the product is arranged, and the background does not match. It is determined that there is a product 55, and these results are combined to calculate the number of products as 5.

  As described above, the image processing unit 23 and the second product number calculation unit 24 calculate the number of products from the image data.

  Next, the operation flow of the POS terminal 1 will be described. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operating state of the POS terminal.

  When a plurality of products are placed in the product placement area 15a (step ST11), the electronic tag information reading device 13 reads the electronic tag information (step ST12), and the electronic tag information processing unit 21 and the first product number calculation unit are read. 22, the number (N) of products is calculated (step ST13).

  In parallel with this, the imaging device 14 photographs the product on the product arrangement area 15a (step ST14), the image processing unit 23 performs image processing (step ST15), and the second product number calculation unit 24 The number (M) of products is calculated by the above process (step ST16).

Then, the number of products (N) and the number of products (M) are sent to the product number comparison unit 25 and compared (step ST17). When the number of products (N) and the number of products (M) do not match, it is determined that the reading of the electronic tag is incomplete, the checkout process is prohibited, error processing is performed, and that fact is displayed on the display unit 11. Or a warning sound is notified (step ST19) . Hand, subtotal amount on the display unit 11 of the POS terminal 1 when the number of (N) and number of products (M) match items are displayed.

  Then, in this state, when the product changes, that is, when the product is added or reduced (step ST18), the processing between the above-mentioned steps ST11 to ST18 is performed. If there is no change in the product, the process proceeds to the settlement process (step ST21).

  Therefore, in the POS terminal according to the present embodiment, it is possible to determine whether or not all commodities have been read with the electronic tag without storing a large amount of image data.

  In the above example, the number of products is calculated from the outline of the product, but the number of products can be calculated by extracting product labels and the like, and other known image processing can be used to calculate the number of products. The number can be calculated. In the above example, one imaging device 14 is provided above the product arrangement region 15a. However, in addition to the imaging device 14 arranged above, another imaging device is arranged on the side, and a plurality of imaging devices 14 are provided. The number of products can be calculated by arranging an imaging device. In this way, it is possible to calculate the number of a large number of products arranged in the shopping basket.

It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of the POS terminal which concerns on embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the electrical connection state of a POS terminal. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the control part of a POS terminal. It is a figure which shows the process of the image data in an image process part. It is a figure which shows the process of the image data in an image process part. It is a flowchart which shows the state of the action | operation of a POS terminal.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 POS terminal, 10 Control part, 13 Electronic tag information reader, 14 Imaging device, 15a Product arrangement | positioning area, 21 Electronic tag information processing part, 22 1st product number calculation part, 23 Image processing part, 24 2nd product Number calculation unit, 25 Product number comparison unit

Claims (2)

In the product sales data processing device that collectively reads the electronic tag information including the electronic tag ID from the electronic tag-attached product arranged in the product information reading area,
An electronic tag information reading device for reading electronic tag information of a plurality of products arranged in the product information reading area;
In conjunction with the reading process of the electronic tag information, an imaging device that images the product placement area from a plurality of different directions and outputs image data;
A number calculating means for calculating the number of products arranged in the product arrangement area from the image data;
Means for comparing the number of products obtained from the electronic tag information with the number of products obtained from the number calculation means ;
Equipped with a,
The number of items from the image data, merchandise sales data processing apparatus according to claim Rukoto is calculated based on the extracted contour line and color of the obtained product Product. The merchandise sales data processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the number calculating unit determines an overlap between commodities based on the contour line, and identifies individual commodities from the difference in color when it is determined that there is an overlap .

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