JP5738453B2 - Checkout terminal and checkout method - Google Patents

Description

Embodiments of the present invention relates to Chi checkout terminal and check out process involving weight check processing of the product.

  Currently, self-checkout terminals equipped with a scale device are known. This terminal performs a weight check by a scale device during a so-called product registration process.

  When this terminal is used, the customer himself / herself performs a scanning operation for each purchased product using a barcode scanner or manually inputs the product code, thereby executing the product registration process.

JP 2007-293663 A

  However, the self-checkout terminal takes time for the product registration processing because the customer needs to read the barcode of each purchased product one by one. This is particularly noticeable when used by customers unfamiliar with the operation of the self-checkout terminal or when the number of purchased products is large. For this reason, there is a desire to reduce the time required for the product registration process.

Chi checkout terminal of the embodiment, a wireless reader-writer for reading the tag information stored in the wireless tag from the wireless tag attached to goods, when reading the tag information and the wireless tag number counter for counting up the number of tags , weighing an acquisition unit that acquires the product weight associated with the tag information read by the wireless reader-writer, before Symbol product has placeable mounting table, the weight of the goods placed on the mounting table a scale unit for the determining whether or not weight determination unit the scale unit and the weight value the acquisition unit and the metering value weighed acquired matches, and pre-Symbol weight value and the weight value matches If determined, a payment unit that outputs the total amount of the purchased product and executes a payment process, and a notification unit that notifies that the weights do not match if the measured value and the weight value do not match It comprises, before at the weighing unit Only when a product is placed on a placement table, the wireless reader / writer repeatedly reads tag information from the wireless tag, and the wireless tag number counter uses the tag until there is no response from the wireless tag. counting up the number, if there are no responses from the wireless tag, the obtaining unit we get the total weight of the product weight.

The perspective view of the self-checkout terminal of this embodiment. The block diagram which shows the electrical connection of the self-checkout terminal of this embodiment. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a data structure of a memory of the wireless tag according to the present embodiment. The figure which shows the PLU file memorize | stored in HDD of this embodiment. The flowchart which shows the flow of the weight check process and merchandise sales registration process which CPU of the self-checkout terminal of this embodiment performs. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a wireless tag reading process executed by the wireless tag reader / writer according to the present embodiment. The figure which shows the tag number table formed in the memory in a wireless reader / writer. The figure which shows the tag information table formed in the memory in a wireless reader / writer.

  Hereinafter, a self-checkout terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an appearance of a self-checkout terminal. The self-checkout terminal 1 includes a main body base 1a installed on the floor and a main body upper portion 1b extending above the base 1a. The front surface of the main body base portion 1a has an inclined shape as it approaches the floor surface. The main body base 1a includes a scale 103 (see FIG. 2) and a printer 104 (see FIG. 2).

  A commodity basket mounting table 105 that is a weighing pan of the weighing unit 103 is disposed on the main body base 1a. The product basket mounting table 105 is configured in a shape and size on which a basket 107 containing one or a plurality of products 106 to be purchased by a customer can be placed. That is, the product basket mounting table 105 is configured to be able to place a plurality of products 106. The scale unit 103 is located below the product basket mounting table 105 and is built in the main body base 1a.

  An issue port 108 for issuing a receipt R is disposed on the front side of the main body base 1a. Therefore, the printer 104 is built in the main body base 1a so as to be located on the back side of the receipt issuing port 108.

  The upper body 1b includes a wireless reader / writer 109, an LCD 102 that is a display unit, and a touch panel 113 that is stacked on the display unit.

  The wireless reader / writer 109 has an antenna, and detects the wireless tag 30 attached to the product 106 existing within the communication area range of this antenna. That is, radio waves are transmitted from the antenna to the surrounding wireless tag 30. When receiving the radio wave from the antenna, the wireless tag 30 transmits a response signal to the wireless reader / writer 109. The wireless reader / writer 109 receives the response signal from the wireless tag 30 and reads tag information (tag ID, product code, product name, product weight) stored in the memory 301 of the wireless tag 30. A method called anti-collision (collision prevention) is used for communication control between the wireless reader / writer 109 and the wireless tag 30. As a result, when there are a plurality of wireless tags 30 within the antenna communicable area, the wireless reader / writer 109 reads the data of each wireless tag 30 at a time.

  Here, a data structure of the memory 301 included in the wireless tag 30 will be described with reference to FIG. The wireless tag 30 has a non-volatile memory 301 therein. In this memory 301, an ID area 301a for storing a unique ID assigned and set by the manufacturer at the manufacturing stage of the wireless tag 30 and a user area 301b in which a user can write arbitrary data are formed. .

  In this embodiment, tag information of a product code, a product name, a unit price, and a product weight is included in the user area 301b of the wireless tag 30 attached to each product 106 as information related to the product to which the wireless tag 30 is attached. Has been written. Accordingly, the product data of the purchased product 106 can be registered by reading the tag information stored in the user area 301b from the wireless tag 30 attached to the product purchased by the customer. The tag information may be a unique ID stored in the ID area 106a.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing electrical connection of the self-checkout terminal 1 of the present embodiment. A ROM 21, RAM 22, HDD 23, LCD 102, touch panel 113, wireless reader / writer 109, scale unit 103, and printer 104 are connected to the CPU 20 via a system bus 25. The CPU 20 controls these units.

  The ROM 21 stores fixed data in a fixed manner. The RAM 22 stores variable data in a rewritable manner.

  The HDD 23 stores and saves various display frames, various files, and the like (not shown) in addition to various programs including a computer program for merchandise sales data processing. Examples of the various files include a PLU file, a product identification file, an image file, and a sales file.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the PLU file stored in the HDD 23 of the present embodiment stores the unit price, the product weight, and the tag ID of the wireless tag 30 in association with the product code that specifies each product 106. Information stored in the PLU file is stored in a rewritable manner.

  The communication interface 25 is connected to, for example, a local communication network and performs data communication with a store controller installed outside and various external devices (not shown) of the server.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the flow of the weight check process, the merchandise registration process, and the settlement process executed by the CPU 20 of the self-checkout terminal 1. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a wireless tag reading process executed by the wireless tag reader / writer. The subsequent description will be described with reference to FIGS.

  First, when a basket 107 containing a product is placed on the product basket mounting table 105, the CPU 20 detects the weight of the product 106 in the basket 107 via the scale 103 (Act 501). Here, the weight of the basket 107 is stored in advance in a storage unit such as the ROM 21, and the weight of the basket 107 is not included in the product weight. The following description will be made on the assumption that two or more products 106 are stored in the basket 107.

  When the CPU 20 detects the product weight via the scale unit 103 (Act 501), the CPU 20 temporarily stores the measured value, which is the product weight of all the products 106 in the basket 107, in the RAM 22 (Act 502). Next, the CPU 20 notifies the wireless tag reader / writer 109 built in the self-checkout terminal 1 of an execution command of the wireless tag reading process (Act 503). That is, the self-checkout terminal 1 of the present embodiment loads the product list. When the basket 107 is placed on the table 105 and the scale unit 103 detects that the weight has increased, the wireless tag reading process of the wireless tag 30 attached to the product 106 in the basket 107 is executed. For this reason, it is not necessary for the wireless reader / writer 109 to always output a reading radio wave for reading the wireless tag.

  The wireless tag reader / writer 109 that has received the execution instruction of the wireless tag reading process from the CPU 20 executes the wireless tag reading process according to the flowchart of the wireless tag reading process shown in FIG.

  Here, the wireless tag reading process will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The wireless reader / writer 109 first initializes a memory in the wireless reader / writer 109 provided separately from the storage unit such as the ROM 21 and RAM 22 of the self-checkout terminal 1 (Act 601). In this memory, a tag number table 701 (see FIG. 7) for temporarily storing the tag number A of the wireless tag 30 that has actually read the wireless tag 30 and a tag information table 801 (FIG. 8) for temporarily storing the read tag information. Reference) is formed.

  In Act 601, after the initialization of the memory in the wireless tag 30 is performed, the wireless reader / writer 109 transmits a wireless tag reading command, whereby the tag of the wireless tag 30 existing in the communication area range via the antenna is transmitted. Information is read (Act 602). That is, the wireless reader / writer 109 outputs a read radio wave to the wireless tag 30 attached to the product 106 stored in the bag 107. The wireless reader / writer 109 waits to receive a response radio wave from the wireless tag 30 (Act 603). When the response radio wave is received from the wireless tag 30 (Yes in Act 603), the tag number A of the wireless tag number counter 701 in the memory in the wireless reader / writer 109 is incremented by 1 (Act 604). Then, the tag information (tag ID, product code, product name, product weight) read along with the increment of the tag number A of the wireless tag number counter 701 is temporarily stored in the tag information table 801 (Act 605).

  Next, the wireless reader / writer 109 waits to receive a response radio wave from the next wireless tag 30 (Act 606). When the response radio wave is received (Yes in Act 606), the tag number A of the wireless tag number counter 701 is again incremented by 1 (Act 604). The read tag information is temporarily stored in the tag information table 801 (Act 605). Then, it waits again to receive a response radio wave from the next wireless tag 30 (Act 606). In this way, the wireless reader / writer 109 repeatedly performs wireless tag reading, thereby performing wireless tag reading processing of the wireless tag 30 attached to the product 106 stored in the bag 107.

  When it is confirmed in Act 606 that there is no response radio wave from the next wireless tag 30 (No in Act 606), the wireless reader / writer 109 has a request for transmitting tag information of the wireless tag 30 read from the self-checkout terminal 1. (Act 607). The request for transmitting tag information of the wireless tag 30 in Act 607 relates to the processing of Act 504 in FIG.

  When the wireless reader / writer 109 receives the tag information transmission request for the wireless tag 30 (Yes in Act 607), the wireless reader / writer 109 transmits the tag ID of the read wireless tag to the self-checkout terminal 1 (Act 608).

  Note that the information transmitted to the self-checkout terminal 1 is not limited to the tag ID, and may be a case where a product code, a product name, and a product weight stored in the user area 301b are transmitted.

  Returning to the description of the flowchart of FIG. After the RFID tag reading process is executed in Act 503, the CPU 20 of the self-checkout terminal 1 transmits an acquisition command for the tag information read in the RFID tag reading process (Act 504). This tag information acquisition command corresponds to a request for transmitting tag information of the wireless tag 30 in Act 607 of FIG.

  When the CPU 20 acquires the tag ID that is the tag information read from the wireless tag 30 by the tag information acquisition command, the CPU 20 searches the PLU file for the product code and the product weight associated with the acquired tag ID. . And CPU20 acquires a goods code and goods weight by this search (Yes of Act505).

  Next, the CPU 20 searches for the corresponding product code and product weight from the PLU file stored in the HDD 23 one by one for the tag information of all the wireless tags 30 read by the wireless tag reading process. To do. When the acquisition of the product code and the product weight is completed as a result of the search, the CPU 20 acquires the total weight value by summing all the product weights of the products 106 (Act 506).

  The CPU 20 determines whether or not the measurement value measured by the scale unit 103 matches the total weight value acquired in Act 506 (Act 507). If the weights match, product registration processing is executed (Act 508). Here, the product registration process is a process of temporarily storing the product code and the product information of the product unit price in the storage unit such as the RAM 21 among the tag information read from the wireless tag 30 in the wireless tag reading process of Act 503. On the other hand, if the weights do not match, for example, an error process such as outputting sound or turning on the light is performed to notify that the weights do not match (Act 510).

  Next, the product registration process is executed, the CPU 20 calculates the total amount of all the products temporarily stored in the RAM 22, and executes the settlement process (Act 509). The payment process means a process of calculating the total price based on the unit price of each product temporarily stored in the RAM 22 and executing the payment for the total price.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, a plurality of products stored in the bag are collectively read by the wireless reader / writer, and the product weight of each product is acquired based on the read tag information, and the total weight value of all the products is obtained. Then, the coincidence between the total weight value and the measured value measured by the weighing unit is determined. As a result, the product registration process can be executed for the purchased products in a lump while the products are stored in the bag, and the time required for the settlement process can be shortened.

  In addition, since a radio wave is read from the wireless reader / writer to the wireless tag in the bag only when the bag is placed on the scale unit, the radio wave is not always emitted.

  Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described, this embodiment is presented as an example and is not intended to limit the scope of the invention. The novel embodiment can be implemented in various other forms, and various omissions, replacements, and changes can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. This embodiment is included in the scope and gist of the invention, and is also included in the invention described in the claims and the equivalent scope thereof.

1 Self-Checkout Terminal 1a Main Body Base 1b Upper Body 102 Display (LCD)
106 Commodities 105 Commodities 籠 Place 107 籠 109 Wireless tag reader / writer 20 CPU
21 ROM
22 RAM
30 Wireless tag 701 Tag number counter 801 Tag information table

Claims (6)

A wireless reader / writer that reads tag information stored in the wireless tag from a wireless tag attached to the product;
A wireless tag number counter that counts up the number of tags when tag information is read,
An acquisition unit for acquiring the product weight associated with the tag information read by the wireless reader / writer;
A weighing unit having a mounting table on which the product can be placed; and a weighing unit for weighing the product placed on the mounting table;
A weight determination unit that determines whether the measurement value weighed by the scale unit matches the weight value acquired by the acquisition unit;
When it is determined that the measured value and the weight value match, a payment unit that outputs a total amount of purchased products and executes a payment process;
An informing unit for informing that the weight does not match if the measured value and the weight value do not match,
Only when a product is placed on the mounting table in the scale unit, the wireless reader / writer repeatedly reads tag information from the wireless tag until there is no response from the wireless tag. A checkout terminal, wherein the number of tags is counted up by a number counter, and the acquisition unit acquires the total weight of the product weight when there is no response from the wireless tag.   2. The checkout terminal according to claim 1, wherein information on counting up the number of tags of the wireless tag number counter and read tag information are stored. Tag information the wireless tag is stored, checkout terminal according to claim 2, characterized in that the commodity code.   The checkout terminal according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the tag information stored in the wireless tag is identification information for identifying the wireless tag.   The checkout terminal according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the tag information stored in the wireless tag is identification information for identifying a product code and the wireless tag. The tag information stored in the wireless tag is read from the wireless tag attached to the product. When the tag information is read, the number of tags is counted up.
Get the product weight associated with the read tag information,
Weigh the product placed on the mounting table,
Determine whether the weighed weight value and the acquired weight value match,
If it is determined that the measured value and the weight value match, the total amount of the purchased product is output and a settlement process is executed,
If the measured value and the weight value do not match, notify that the weight does not match,
Only when a product is placed on the mounting table, the tag information is repeatedly read from the wireless tag, the number of tags is counted up until there is no response from the wireless tag, and the response from the wireless tag If there is no more, obtain the total weight of the product weight associated with the read tag information ,
Checkout method characterized by that.

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