JP4877949B2 - Checkout equipment - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a checkout device.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is a checkout device (see, for example, Patent Document 1) that enables self-checkout by a customer and has been introduced in a store such as a supermarket.

Such a checkout device generally includes a housing provided with a barcode scanner, an LCD with a touch panel, and the like. The checkout device allows the customer himself to read the barcode attached to the product using a barcode scanner, and to carry out the subsequent settlement. Also, the housing stores the product on its side. It is often provided with a bag placing portion for placing the product bag.

  When performing self-checkout, first, the product basket is placed on the basket mounting portion. Then, at the position in front of the housing, the customer takes out the product from the product bag placed on the bag mounting unit, and holds the product in front of the barcode scanner to read the product code.

JP-A-10-208149

  When taking out a product at a position far from the bottom of the product basket placed on the bag placing unit in a state of being positioned in front of the housing, it is necessary to extend the arm greatly to pick up the product. This places a heavy burden on the body such as the waist.

  Therefore, when performing self-checkout, it is desirable that the commodity bag placed on the bag placing unit is inclined toward the user (customer) whose bottom surface is located in front of the housing.

  This is because by tilting the bottom surface of the product basket, the difference between the customer and the product due to the position of the bottom surface of the product basket is reduced, and therefore the physical burden in the posture of reaching the product is also equal. . That is, it is excluded that the physical burden at the time of taking out the commodity is locally increased, and the physical burden is relatively smaller than that when the bottom surface of the commodity basket is horizontal.

  Therefore, in order to incline the bottom surface of the commodity bag, it is conceivable to incline the bag mounting portion itself. However, in the case of such a bag mounting unit, if the customer places the product basket on the inclined bag mounting unit, the customer feels anxiety that the loaded product basket will slide down. There is a fear. In other words, there is a possibility that the customer is hesitant about placing the product basket.

  An object of the present invention is to allow a product basket to be placed on the bag placing portion with a small physical burden when taking out the product from the placed product basket without hesitation.

The checkout device according to the present embodiment includes a housing having a product information input unit for inputting product information , a display unit for displaying information to the user, and a saddle placement unit provided on a side of the housing. , wherein the cage placement portion includes a support stand support surface goods basket Ru is placed is formed on the upper surface, the support base, and a horizontal state in which the supporting surface is horizontal, the said support surface A holding mechanism that holds the user side so as to be movable between an inclined state that is lower than the position of the support surface in the horizontal state, and urges the support base from the inclined state toward the horizontal state. It includes a biasing unit.

  According to the present invention, when the commodity basket is placed on the support surface, the support base that has been urged in the horizontal state is inclined. Thereby, since the bottom face of the product basket is also inclined, the physical burden when taking out the product from the product basket is reduced. Since the support surface is not inclined before the product basket is placed, the customer can place the product basket without hesitation without feeling uneasy about the slipping of the product basket.

  An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the checkout device 101. The checkout device 101 includes a settlement terminal 201. Further, the checkout device 101 is provided on the right side of the settlement terminal 201 and includes a scale device 301 as a bag holding unit. The left side of the settlement terminal 201 is provided with a bag placing unit 401 for placing a product basket 501 (see FIG. 3). Note that, when the checkout device 101 is viewed from above, the basket placing unit 401, the settlement terminal 201, and the scale device 301 are arranged in a fan shape in order from the left.

  The settlement terminal 201 includes a housing 202, and includes a base housing 202a that is installed on the floor surface and a small upper housing 202b that is placed on the upper surface thereof.

  On the left side of the upper housing 202b, a barcode scanner 203 is provided as a product information input unit. The barcode scanner 203 reads and inputs a product code specifying a product (not shown) as product information. On the right side, a printer cover 204 having a receipt issuing port 208 is provided. A receipt printer (not shown) is built in the back side of the printer cover 204, and a receipt (not shown) printed by the receipt printer is issued from a receipt issuing port 208. A card insertion port 212 is provided between the barcode scanner 203 and the printer cover 204, and a card reader / writer (not shown) as a settlement unit is built in the back of the card insertion port 212. . The card reader / writer reads information recorded on a magnetic card such as a credit card, for example, a card number or a password. The upper housing 202b incorporates a speaker (not shown) for notifying audio information.

  Further, the upper housing 202b is provided with an LCD 210 having a liquid crystal display panel as a display unit for displaying information. A touch panel 211 is provided on the display surface.

  The base housing 202a is provided with a deposit / withdrawal device 213 as a settlement unit. As a part of the deposit / withdrawal device 213, a coin insertion slot 213a and a coin payout slot 213b are provided on the central upper surface of the base housing 202a and on the left side thereof.

  Further, on the right front side of the base housing 202a, a bill input port 213c and a bill payout port 213d are provided as a part of the deposit / withdrawal device 213.

  The depositing / withdrawing apparatus 213 has a mechanism that enables handling of coins and banknotes and a controller that controls the mechanism (not shown). About the structure of such a mechanism part, the process procedure in a control part, etc., since the content is known, description is abbreviate | omitted.

  By arranging the parts such as the barcode scanner 203 and the LCD 210 as described above, a customer (not shown) as a user who uses the checkout device 101 can operate these parts while being positioned in front of the housing 202. It has become.

  Further, a display pole 217 for displaying the current state of the checkout device 101 is erected from the back surface of the base housing 202a. The display pole 217 has a light emitting portion 218 that selectively emits blue and red light at the tip.

  A saddle placement unit 401 is attached to the left side surface of the base housing 202a. The saddle placement unit 401 is separate from the settlement terminal 201 and has an independent saddle placement unit housing 402. The saddle placement unit housing 402 and the base housing 202a are fixed to each other via the bridge 103, and the saddle placement unit 401 is not changed in position relative to the payment terminal 201. In addition, the basket placing unit 401 includes a support base 403 having a support surface 404 that supports the product basket 501 formed on the upper surface. The details of such a saddle placement unit 401 will be described later with reference to FIGS.

  Returning to the description of the payment terminal 201. The settlement terminal 201 includes a control unit (not shown) inside. The control unit executes a processing process for executing merchandise sales data processing including calculation of a settlement amount according to the read commodity code, and a processing process for enabling settlement processing for the calculated settlement amount.

  In the product sales data processing, basically, when the product code attached to the product is read by the barcode scanner 203, product information including information such as unit price and product weight is stored in association with the product code. The retrieved PLU file is searched, and product information corresponding to the read product code is acquired. Then, the sales total amount calculation is executed by a tightening operation on the touch panel 211 to calculate the settlement amount, and the settlement amount is provisionally registered or registered in the sales file. In the settlement process, settlement using a magnetic card such as cash or a credit card is enabled for the settlement amount calculated in the merchandise sales data process. The handling of cash is executed by the deposit / withdrawal device 213, and the handling of the magnetic card is executed by the card reader / writer.

  FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the scale device 301. The scale device 301 arranged on the right side of the payment terminal 201 is a separate body independent of the payment terminal 201 and has a scale housing 302. A weighing pan 303 is provided on the upper portion of the weighing housing 302, and a bag holder 304 is attached to the weighing pan 303. The weighing pan 303 has a mounting table 303a on its upper surface. The bag holder 304 is attached to the mounting table 303a. Therefore, when viewed from the bag holder 304, the weighing pan 303 constitutes a pedestal. That is, a pole-shaped arm support portion 305 is erected at the rear center portion of the mounting table 303a, and a temporary mounting table 306 for mounting an article is fixed to the upper end of the arm support unit 305. The temporary placement table 306 is a table that has a flat upper surface and is used for temporarily placing products after the barcode is read by the barcode scanner 203 of the payment terminal 201. A pair of holding arms 307 and a hook 308 are attached to the lower surface of such a temporary placing table 306. The holding arm 307 holds a pair of grips included in a plastic bag (not shown) such as a plastic bag in a skewered state. The shopping bag is held in an open state by the holding arm 307. In addition, the plastic bag has an ear portion that can be removed by a perforation between a pair of handles and a hook hole is formed, and the hook 308 is inserted through the hook hole to attach the plastic bag. Hold together with the holding arm 307. The scale housing 302 incorporates a load cell unit (not shown) that converts a load of a product placed on the placement table 303a into an electric signal. The output signal of the load cell unit is output to the settlement terminal 201. Accordingly, the settlement terminal 201 and the scale device 301 are connected to each other via a communication cable (not shown) so that data can be transmitted and received.

  FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the product basket 501. The product basket 501 is generally used in stores such as supermarkets.

  The product basket 501 has a rectangular main body 511 that has a rectangular bottom surface in one direction and stores a product (not shown), and a pair of handles 515 that are gripped when the product basket 501 is transported. A mounting portion 513 formed integrally with the upper edge portion 512 is provided at a position opposite to the upper edge portion 512 of the bag main body 511. A shaft hole 514 is further formed in the attachment portion 513, and a handle 515 is rotatably fitted in the shaft hole 514.

  Next, the saddle placement unit 401 will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIGS. 4A and 4B show the saddle placement unit 401 in which the support base 403 is in a horizontal state, where FIG. 4A is a perspective view and FIG.

  As described above, the saddle placement unit 401 includes the saddle placement unit housing 402. A recess 405 having a larger upper surface than the support surface 404 and having an upper surface opened is formed in the basket mounting portion housing 402. And the support stand 403 is hold | maintained in the position which plugs the recessed part 405 with the holding mechanism mentioned later.

  The flat support surface 404 supports the product basket 501 to be placed. The support surface 404 is provided with a right-angle L-shaped convex portion 411. The convex portion 411 is in contact with the bottom portion of the product basket 501 supported by the support surface 404 to prevent the product basket 501 from skidding.

  In addition, the support base 403 has a protruding portion 422 that protrudes obliquely at a position diagonal to the right angle portion of the convex portion 411. And as shown in FIG.4 (b), the rotating shaft 421 has penetrated this protrusion part 422. As shown in FIG. Here, the rotation shaft 421 is rotatably fitted in a shaft hole (not shown) formed in the saddle placement unit housing 402. As a result, the support base 403 has a horizontal state where the support surface 404 is horizontal at a position where the upper surface opening portion of the recess 405 as shown in FIG. 4 is blocked, and the support surface 404 is inclined as described in FIG. It is freely displaceable to the inclined state that is the state. The height of the eaves mounting portion housing 402 is the same as the support surface 404 of the support base 403 in the horizontal state.

  As shown in FIG. 4B, the concave portion 405 is provided with a block-like stopper 423 at a position below the protruding portion 422 of the support base 403. The stopper 423 prevents the support base 403 from being displaced from a horizontal state to a further open state by contacting the back surface of the protruding portion 422 with the upper surface thereof.

  5A and 5B show the saddle placement unit 401 in which the support base 403 is in an inclined state. FIG. 5A is a perspective view, and FIG.

  In the inclined state, the height of the front corner of the support surface 404 on the payment terminal 201 side (the right angle portion side of the convex portion 411) is lower than the height of the rear corner portion on the diagonal side (the protruding portion 422 side). It is. That is, the support base 403 in the inclined state is a state in which the support surface 404 is inclined toward the customer located in front of the housing 202.

As shown in FIG. 5B, the support base 403 is maintained in an inclined state by the protrusion 422 and the bottom surface portion on the diagonal side coming into contact with the bottom surface of the recess 405. Therefore, the holding mechanism that holds the support base 403 in a horizontal state and an inclined state is slidable, and the rotation shaft 421, the shaft hole (not shown) formed in the saddle placement unit housing 402, the stopper 423, and the bottom surface of the recess 405 . It is constituted by.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 4B or FIG. 5B, the concave portion 405 is provided with an urging portion 451 and a shock absorber 452. One end side of the urging portion 451 and the shock absorber 452 is attached to the bottom surface of the recess 405, and the other end side is attached to the back surface of the support base 403.

  The urging unit 451 urges the support base 403 from the inclined state toward the horizontal state, and is, for example, a compression spring. And the support stand 403 is supported by the urging | biasing part 451, and the horizontal state is maintained.

  The shock absorber 452 absorbs an impact when a load is applied to the support surface 404.

  When a load is applied to the support surface 404 of the support base 403 that is in a horizontal state (see FIG. 4), the biasing portion 451 that is a compression spring is compressed, and the support base 403 is in an inclined state.

  In the present embodiment, the urging unit 451 attaches the support base 403 with a force that causes the support base 403 to be inclined when an empty product basket 501 that does not store a product is placed on the support surface 404. It is fast.

  Therefore, at the time of self-checkout, even if the product is taken out from the product basket 501 placed on the support surface 404 and the product basket 501 is empty, the support base 403 is maintained in an inclined state and kept in a horizontal state. Will not be restored.

  In addition, the shape of the recessed part 405 is not restricted to a rectangular parallelepiped shape. For example, if a space for the urging portion 451 and the shock absorber 452 is secured, the shape other than the space is inclined so that the bottom surface portion of the recess 405 is in contact with the back surface side of the support base 403 in an inclined state. The shape may be sufficient.

  FIG. 6 is a plan view schematically showing the support base 403. As described above, the support base 403 has the protruding portion 422 through which the rotation shaft 421 passes. Further, an L-shaped convex portion 411 is formed on the support surface 404.

  Here, a rectangle formed by the right-angled L-shaped convex portion 411 is defined as a rectangular frame 431. In FIG. 6, a part of the rectangular frame 431 is indicated by a broken line. The bottom surface of the product basket 501 is substantially the same size as the rectangular frame 431 or a shape smaller than the rectangular frame 431.

  Further, in the rectangular frame 431, the corner through which the rotation shaft 421 passes is the point A, the corner of the point A on the payment terminal 201 side (right side in FIG. 6) is the point B, and the corner on the near side of the point B is the point C. And That is, the point C is located diagonally to the point A.

  Further, in the rectangular frame 431, the length of the point A-the point B is set as the length x, and the length of the point B-the point C is set as the length y.

  When the angle formed by the extension line of the rotation shaft 421 and the line formed by the points A and B is an angle θ, the support base 403 is displaced with the rotation shaft 421 as the rotation center to be in an inclined state. In this case, the angle θ for the point B to be h1 lower in the vertical direction than the point A and the point C to be h2 lower in the vertical direction than the point A is expressed by the following equation.

  FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing the checkout device 101 in a state where the commodity basket 501 is placed on the basket placing section 401. Here, the flow of self-checkout will be described. As described above, since the basket placing unit 401, the settlement terminal 201, and the scale device 301 are arranged in a fan shape in order, the customer can perform a series of operations at the position in front of the housing 202.

  First, the customer puts a product desired to be purchased into the product basket 501 and brings it to the checkout device 101 to place the product basket 501 on the bag placement unit 401. At this time, initially, the support base 403 of the basket placing portion 401 before the commodity basket 501 is placed is in a horizontal state.

  When the product basket 501 is placed on the horizontal support base 403, the support base 403 is inclined toward the customer located in front of the housing 202. As shown in FIG. 7, the product basket 501 is also inclined. Therefore, the bottom surface of the product basket 501 supported by the support surface 404 is also inclined toward the customer located in front of the housing 202.

  At this time, the convex portion 411 of the support surface 404 regulates the side slip of the product basket 501 that is inclined in contact with the product basket 501. Even when the product basket 501 is about to fall down, the basket mounting portion housing 402 that is the same height as the support surface 404 in the horizontal state and does not change its position contacts the bag body 511 of the product basket 501. Prevents the trough 501 from falling off.

  Here, when viewed from a three-dimensional viewpoint, the product near the point C (see FIG. 6) on the bottom surface of the product basket 501 and the product near the point A (see FIG. 6) are positioned in front of the housing 202. For customers standing in, there will be no significant difference in distance from the customer.

  Therefore, even when taking out the product at any position on the bottom surface of the product basket 501 including the point A and the point C, the physical burden on the customer in a posture in which the hand is extended from the state in front of the housing 202 Are almost equal. That is, it is excluded that the physical burden at the time of taking out the product is locally increased. Therefore, the physical burden is relatively smaller than when the bottom surface of the product basket 501 is horizontal.

  What is important here is that the support surface 404 of the support table 403 is horizontal before the product basket 501 is placed on the support table 403. Therefore, in the case where the support surface 404 is inclined toward the customer from the beginning, the customer feels that the product bag 501 will slide down if the product bag 501 is placed on the support surface 404, and the customer Can avoid the situation where he / she hesitates to place the product basket 501 on the support surface 404.

  Further, according to the present embodiment, since the bottom surface of the product basket 501 is inclined toward the customer, the product on the bottom surface of the product basket 501 is easy for the customer to see, and the workability of self-checkout is improved. Will be better.

  The effect of reducing the burden on the body by tilting the bottom surface of the product basket 501 is the same not only when the customer performs the operation, but also when the store clerk performs the operation.

  Explain the continuation of the flow of self-checkout. If the product basket 501 is placed, the customer takes out the product from the product basket 501 as a product take-out operation. Subsequently, the product code is read by holding the taken product in front of the barcode scanner 203. Thereby, the payment terminal 201 executes merchandise sales data processing. At this time, the control unit of the settlement terminal 201 displays an operation method on the LCD 210 to assist the customer in order to support the merchandise sales data processing. In addition, a button for allowing the customer to perform a tightening operation is displayed, and the tightening operation using the touch panel 211 is enabled.

  When the customer completes the reading of the product code, the customer packs the product in the plastic bag of the scale device 301. At this time, the product packed in the plastic bag applies a load to the weighing pan 303 of the weighing apparatus 301, and the load is measured by the load cell unit. The measurement result by the load cell unit is output to the settlement terminal 201 as described above.

  When the customer performs a closing operation using the touch panel 211, the control unit of the payment terminal 201 executes a payment process.

  Here, the checkout device 101 determines the consistency between the weight of the product included in the product information acquired from the PLU file and the weight measured by the scale device 301. If there is no consistency, it means that some operation mistake or fraud has been made. In that case, the control unit changes the emission color of the light emitting unit 218 at the tip of the display pole 217 from blue to red, and notifies that some operation error or fraud has been performed. If there is consistency, the customer makes a payment. The customer then takes the shopping bag filled with the merchandise and finishes the self-checkout.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the product basket 501 is placed without hesitation on the basket placement unit 401 with a small physical burden when taking out the product from the placed product basket 501. Can do.

It is a perspective view which shows a self-checkout apparatus. It is a perspective view which shows a scale apparatus. It is a perspective view which shows a goods basket. The support | carrier mounting part whose support stand is a horizontal state is shown, (a) is a perspective view, (b) is the sectional view on the AA line. The support stand in which the support base is in an inclined state is shown, (a) is a perspective view, and (b) is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA. It is a top view which shows a support stand typically. It is a perspective view which shows the self-checkout apparatus of the state by which the product bag was mounted in the bag mounting part.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 101 ... Checkout apparatus, 202 ... Housing, 203 ... Bar code scanner (product information input part), 210 ... LCD (display part), 301 ... Scale apparatus (bag holding part), 401 ... Saddle mounting part, 402 ... Placement part housing, 403 ... support base, 404 ... support surface, 405 ... concave part, 451 ... biasing part, 501 ... commodity basket

Claims (3)

A housing having a product information input unit for inputting product information, and a display unit for displaying information to the user ;
An eaves mounting portion provided on a side portion of the housing ,
The saddle placement portion is
A support base supporting surface the goods basket is Ru is placed is formed on the upper surface,
Holding in which the support base, wherein a horizontal state in which the support surface is horizontal, the said user side of the support surface is held movable between an inclined state in which the lower than the position of said support surface in said horizontal state Mechanism,
A biasing portion that biases the support base from the inclined state toward the horizontal state ;
A checkout device comprising: The support surface is larger than the bottom surface of the product basket,
The checkout device according to claim 1 , wherein the basket placing portion includes a recess that can receive at least a part of a bottom portion of the commodity basket placed on the support table in the inclined state . A bag holding part for holding a plastic bag in an open state on a side opposite to the bag placing part of the payment terminal ,
The bag placing portion, the housing, and the bag holding portion are sequentially arranged in a fan shape that requires the user.
The checkout device according to claim 1 or 2.

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