JP4492565B2 - POP printing system - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a POP printing system to be issued by printing a POP ads posted in the store such as a supermarket.

  In a retail store such as a supermarket, a POP (Point of Purchase) sheet that is posted near the product and guides the customer about the name of the product, the price, and the sale is used. The POP sheet is created by using an apparatus such as a PC (personal computer) and a dedicated printer at an office in the store, and then posted at a predetermined position on the sales floor. The operator uses the advertisement printing application software installed in the PC and inputs the product name and the price of the product and issues a POP sheet (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

By the way, when performing a sale sale or the like, a POP sheet for sale sale is usually printed and prepared in advance as a preparation for sale before the sale period.
JP 2005-135180 A

  However, since the product is sold at a normal price different from the special sale price during the sale preparation period, two prices, the special sale price and the normal price, exist for the same product when the POP sheet is created. For this reason, when creating a POP sheet for sale sale, an operator in charge of POP issue needs to proceed while confirming the sale price for each item, and as a result, it takes time and effort. There has been a problem that an input error may occur.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points. The object of the present invention is to easily confirm the correct product sales price according to the sales period and to print the POP sheet at the correct sales price. It is to provide a POP printing system as possible.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and the invention according to claim 1 is a POP printing system that issues a POP sheet by printing an in-store advertisement in a retail store. A storage unit for storing the sales period in association with print information to be printed on the POP sheet in the sales period, a specifying unit for specifying a product stored in the storage unit, and a future of the specified product Input means for inputting data for designating a sales date; search means for retrieving print information on the sales date from the storage means based on the specified product and the designated sales date; And a printing unit that prints the printed information on a POP sheet.

  The invention according to claim 2 is the POP printing system according to claim 1, wherein the storage means stores a normal price and a sale price of a product as items of the print information. .

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the POP printing system according to the first or second aspect, the character number determining means for determining the number of print characters of the print information obtained by the search, and the print information It is characterized by comprising display means for displaying a print image of a POP sheet, and display control means for causing the display means to perform display according to the number of print characters.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the POP printing system according to the third aspect, the display control means does not display the print image when the number of print characters is within a predetermined range. In this case, control is performed so as to display a print image.

  The invention according to claim 5 is the POP printing system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the sales date specified by the input data is compared with the current date. And a print control means for prohibiting printing by the printing means when the sale date is in the past.

According to the present invention, the sales period of the product and the predetermined print information are stored in association with each other, and the POP sheet is printed by searching for the print information that matches the input sales date. It is possible to issue a POP sheet with print information.
According to the second aspect of the present invention, when a plurality of special sales periods and special sales prices are set for the same product, it is possible to print the correct product price corresponding to the period simply by inputting the sales date. This eliminates the need for the operator to work while confirming the price one by one when creating the POP sheet, reducing mistakes and improving efficiency.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the display of the print image of the POP sheet is controlled according to the number of characters of the print information to be printed, the printing can be performed when the print content changes due to the sale period changing. It is possible to confirm the image reliably prior to. This reduces errors such as printing with an inappropriate layout.
According to the invention described in claim 4, since the print image is displayed only when the number of characters becomes inappropriate, the operator can surely understand that there is a problem with the print data, and there is no problem. Is not displayed and confirmation is not required, so work efficiency is improved.
According to the invention described in claim 5, it is possible to prevent a POP sheet based on past print information from being issued by mistake.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a POP printing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. This system includes a store controller 1 that stores various files related to printing of a POP sheet, a POP-PC 2 in which advertisement printing application software for instructing printing of a POP sheet is installed in a general configuration PC, The printer 3 is configured to receive a POP sheet issuance instruction from the POP-PC 2 and print the POP sheet, and a POS (Point of Sales) register 4 that performs settlement of products purchased by the customer. These components can communicate with each other via a communication line such as a LAN. The store controller 1, the POP-PC 2, and the printer 3 are placed in the office in the store, and the POS register 4 is placed in the checkout area of the store in the store.

  Here, the POP sheet refers to a sheet that is printed with POP font characters, for example, to announce a sale item. A POP font is an outline font with a special design and a character size that is considerably larger than a standard size, which is used in a simple printing system called a POP system. However, not only a POP sheet using a POP font but also an advertisement sheet using a standard character font may be used.

  In FIG. 1, the store controller 1 stores a product file in which basic data of products to be sold is recorded and a sale file in which data used in a sale is recorded. In addition, a record file for managing the sales record of the product registered in the POS register 4 is also stored. The merchandise file and the sale file are transmitted from the store controller 1 to the POP-PC 2 and the POS register 4 when the system is started, for example, and each has common data. When a new product is added to the product file or the sale price of the sale file is changed while the system is operating, the latest file is transmitted from the store controller 1 to the POP-PC 2 and the POS register 4 as needed. In addition, sales results are transmitted from the POS register 4 and totaled in the results file periodically or in daily system stop processing.

  FIG. 2 shows an example of a product file stored in the store controller 1. In the product file, a product code, a product name, a price, a print format number, a title name, a product content, and the like are recorded for each product. The product code is an identification number unique to one product allocated according to a predetermined rule. The price represents the price for the product in the sales unit. For example, a product that sells one beer at a time is one price, and a product that is sold in a case is the price for one case. The print format number is a series of numbers assigned to each of a plurality of POP sheet print formats defined in advance. In the print format, it is determined at which position on the sheet and in which size the data of each item such as product name and price is printed, and is stored in the store controller 1 as a format file (described later). The title name is an advertising phrase that describes, for example, the contents of the sale printed on the top of the POP sheet. The product internal capacity represents the internal capacity included in the sales unit product. For example, in the case of a commodity selling a single beer, the capacity is equivalent to one bottle (160 ml, etc.), and in the case selling, the capacity is equivalent to one case (160 ml × 24 bottles, etc.) The product name, price, title name, and product content are handled as character data and printed on the POP sheet.

  FIG. 3 shows an example of a special sale file stored in the store controller 1. In the sale file, for each product, a product code, a sale condition 1, a sale condition 2,... Are recorded, and each sale condition includes a sale period and a sale price. The product code is the same as that recorded in the product file of FIG. 2, and the product is specified by this product code. The special sale period and the special sale price define how much special sale price the special sale period will have, and a plurality of special sale conditions can be set. It should be noted that for a period not corresponding to any special sale period, processing is performed so that the normal price recorded in the product file is applied.

  FIG. 4 shows an example of the format file described above. In the format file, the print start coordinates x and y and the font size of each print item (product name, price, title name, product content) are defined for each print format number. In the work of editing and printing the POP sheet, for example, when the number of characters to be printed changes due to changes in the printing contents such as the price, etc., in real time during the work regardless of the above parameters defined in the format file. The font size and the like can be adjusted (details will be described later).

  Next, the operation of the POP printing system will be described with reference to the sequence diagram shown in FIG. 5 and the flowchart shown in FIG. FIG. 5 shows a schematic process of the entire system, and FIG. 6 shows a POP sheet issuance process in the POP-PC 2.

  In FIG. 5, first, the power of each of the store controller 1, the POP-PC 2, the printer 3, and the POS register 4 is turned on to start the system (step S1). Then, the store controller 1 transmits the product file and the special sale file to the POP-PC 2 and the POS register 4 (step S2). The POP-PC 2 and the POS register 4 store each received file in a built-in storage unit (RAM (random access memory), HDD (hard disk drive), etc.) (step S3) and use it in the subsequent processing.

  Next, an operator in charge of POP printing operates the POP-PC 2 to call up a POP sheet for a necessary product, confirm the content, and edit the print content if necessary. In response to these operations, the POP-PC 2 performs predetermined processing (step S4), and prepares data for the POP sheet to be issued. In the processing, the product file and the sale file data stored in step S3 are used. When the preparation is completed and the operator instructs the POP-sheet printing POP-PC2, the POP-PC2 sends print data to the printer 3 (step S5) to print the POP sheet (step S6).

  Subsequently, the worker or the person in charge in the sales floor posts the issued POP sheet on the display shelf of the product. Customers who come to the store select products with reference to those POP sheets and proceed to the checkout area. The store clerk in charge of check-out operates the POS register 4, and the POS register 4 executes a product registration process (step S7).

Next, the POP sheet issuance process shown in FIG. 6 will be described in detail.
The operator in charge of POP printing first operates the POP-PC 2 to activate the advertisement print application software. Then, the “search menu” is selected from the initial screen after activation, and the POP sheet issuance process is started.

  Then, the POP-PC 2 displays the search screen shown in FIG. 7 and waits for input of various information such as products for which POP sheets are issued and sales dates. The search screen of FIG. 7 includes input items such as sales date, barcode, and product name. The sales date is input by directly entering a number using a numeric keypad or selecting a date from a calendar appearing from a pull-down menu. Alternatively, a method may be used in which a regular sale period such as “Children's Day Sale” or “Christmas Sale” is set in advance and selected. Note that the current date and time may be input as initial values. In addition, the item of the barcode is input by directly inputting the barcode number of the product from the numeric keypad or by reading the barcode using a barcode reader. In the item of the product name, the name of the product is directly input by characters, but when the barcode is input, the input of the product name can be omitted.

  The POP-PC 2 specifies a product for which a POP sheet is issued from the product name or barcode input as described above (step S11). When only the product name is input, the corresponding barcode is acquired with reference to the product file. Next, the input sales date is specified (step S12). This sale date may be a day within a special sale period or a normal day, and the following processing varies depending on which one is in effect.

  When the product and the sales date are specified, the POP-PC 2 refers to the sale file stored in the storage unit in step S3 of FIG. 5 and first searches for the corresponding product (step S13). At this time, the special sale file is searched using the barcode as a key. When the target product is found, the POP-PC 2 selects, from the sale file, the sale conditions for the sale period including the specified sale date for the product (step S14). Then, the selected sale price under the sale conditions is set as the sale price for printing on the POP sheet (step S15). On the other hand, if the matching sale conditions are not recorded in the sale file, the process proceeds to step S16, and the normal price in the product file is set as the sale price.

  Specifically, for example, if the product “XXXXX beer” with the product code “45363638880624” is specified and the sale date is specified as December 15, 2005, the sale file in FIG. The price is 80 yen. If the sale date is December 14, 2005, the sale price is 120 yen for the product file in FIG. 2 because there is no corresponding sale period.

  Next, the POP-PC 2 refers to the product file stored in the storage unit in step S3 in FIG. 5 and prints the data of the corresponding product, that is, the product name, price (only when the sale price is not selected in step S15), and printing. Each data of format number, title name, and product content is read (step S16). Then, the format parameters (coordinates x, y, font size of each print item) corresponding to the read print format number are read from the format file of FIG. 4, and the product print screen shown in FIG. 8 is displayed on the display of the POP-PC2. Prepare to do (step S17).

  Further, the POP-PC 2 calculates the number of print characters for each print item of the read product name, price (sale price or normal price), title name, and product content. Then, by comparing this number of characters with the number of characters predetermined for each print format number, it is determined whether there are too many or too few characters to be printed (step S18). For example, for the price item, it is determined whether or not the number of digits of the sale price is different from the number of digits of the normal price on the basis of the number of digits of the normal price.

  As a result of the determination, if the number of characters to be printed is not appropriate (the number of digits in the price has changed), the POP-PC 2 displays the product printing screen of FIG. 8 on the display, and the operator can print the printed contents of the POP sheet. It can be confirmed (step S19). In this case, in order to edit the POP sheet on the product print screen, the operator calls up an edit menu or the like to change the font size or enlarge or reduce the print area. Changes made to the POP sheet are immediately reflected on the product print screen. On the other hand, if the number of characters is appropriate, the step proceeds to the next without displaying the product print screen.

  Subsequently, the POP-PC 2 transmits print data of the POP sheet to the printer 3 (step S20). Then, the POP sheet is printed from the printer 3.

  Thus, according to the present embodiment, the product file and the sale file are stored in the store controller 1 and the POP-PC 2, and the sale period and sale price are recorded in the sale file. When printing the POP sheet, if the sales date of the product is entered by the operator, it is determined whether the sales date is included in the special sale period. If the special sale period, the special sale price is not obtained from the special sale file. The normal price is read from the product file, and the print data of the POP sheet is generated. At this time, the number of characters to be printed is determined, and if the number of characters is inappropriate, a print preview screen is displayed. This makes it possible to easily create a POP sheet that reflects the correct price simply by specifying the sales date. Since the screen display is performed according to the number of characters, it is only necessary to check the screen when necessary, and work efficiency is improved.

As described above, the embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the specific configuration is not limited to the above, and various design changes and the like can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. It is possible to
For example, the product file and the sale file may be provided as one file instead of being provided separately.

  In addition, when a privilege file as shown in FIG. 9 is introduced and the privilege is changed for each period of the special sale, a comment corresponding to the input sale date (description of the content of the privilege) is selected. It can also be done. Note that the process of selecting a comment from the sales date is the same as the process of steps S14 and S15.

  In the above embodiment, the product file is fetched from the store controller 1 in advance by the POP-PC 2 when the system is started. However, the POP-PC 2 itself does not store the file, and the processing of step S13 and the like is performed. The data may be inquired to the store controller 1 each time using a communication line, and the store controller 1 may execute a search and pass the result to the POP-PC 2.

Furthermore, after the determination in step S18, the product print screen is always displayed, and only when the number of characters is inappropriate, an alarm display for alerting the operator may be displayed on the screen. .
In step S12 for specifying the sales date, the specified sales date is compared with the current date, and if the sales date is in the past, an alarm is displayed on the display, for example, or thereafter. Processing may be stopped.

  In the above embodiment, the store controller 1 and the POP-PC 2 are communicable. However, the POP-PC 2 is configured as a single unit without providing the store controller, and the POP-PC 2 has a product. A mode of storing a file or a special sale file may be used. In this case, the POP-PC 2 and the POS register 4 may be communicable to synchronize files between them.

1 is a configuration diagram of a POP printing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. It is an example of a product file. It is an example of a sale file. It is an example of a format file. It is a sequence diagram which shows operation | movement of the POP printing system of FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the process of POP sheet issuance in POP-PC. It is an example of a search screen used in POP sheet issue processing. It is an example of the product print screen used in the POP sheet issue process. It is an example of a privilege file.

Explanation of symbols

1 ... Store controller 2 ... POP-PC 3 ... Printer 4 ... POS register

Claims (5)

In a POP printing system that prints advertisements for retail stores and issues POP sheets,
Storage means for storing a predetermined sales period for each product in association with print information to be printed on the POP sheet in the sales period;
A specifying means for specifying the product stored in the storage means;
Input means for inputting data for designating a future sale date of the identified product;
Search means for searching print information on the sales date from the storage means based on the specified product and the specified sales date;
Printing means for printing the printing information obtained by the search on a POP sheet;
A POP printing system comprising: The POP printing system according to claim 1, wherein the storage unit stores a normal price and a sale price of a product as items of the print information. Character number judging means for judging the number of print characters of the print information obtained by the search;
Display means for displaying a print image of the POP sheet based on the print information;
Display control means for causing the display means to perform display according to the number of print characters;
The POP printing system according to claim 1, further comprising: The display control means performs control so that the print image is not displayed when the number of print characters is within a predetermined range, and the print image is displayed otherwise. POP printing system. 2. A print control unit that compares a sales date specified by the input data with a current date and prohibits printing by the printing unit when the sales date is in the past. The POP printing system according to claim 4.

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