JPH06215264A - Self-scanning commodity sales processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To quickly and smoothly execute a transaction by automatically storing a registered commodity in a cart and to prevent the commodity from being damaged by reducing shock to be applied to the commodity as less as possible at the time of storing it. CONSTITUTION:The connection of a cart 39 to the connection part of a check- out lane 20 is detected by a cart connection sensor 50 and a commodity drop preventing member 43 in the cart is rotated up to its horizontal position. In each commodity sales registration executed by scanning a bar code attached to the commodity by a commodity data input part, the commodity is carried to the downstream side end of the lane 20 by a conveyer, and when a carrying conveyer sensor 51 judges the passage of the commodity, the member 43 of the cart is slowly rotated from the horizontal position to the home position, so that the commodity on the memory 43 is gradually slided and stored in the cart.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a self-scanning merchandise sales processing apparatus for causing a customer to read a bar code attached to a merchandise and performing merchandise sales registration processing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a self-scanning commodity sales processing apparatus of this type, one shown in FIG. 7 is known. That is, the money transfer unit 2 is arranged at a substantially central portion between a pair of checkout lanes 1 which are spaced apart from each other and arranged in parallel.

Each checkout lane 1 is provided with a product data input section 3, a weighing and conveying section 4, a conveying section 5 and a stock section 6 from the upstream side to the downstream side. The operation unit 7 is provided.

The product data input unit 3 is configured to read the barcode attached to the product 8 by scanning and input product data. The weighing / conveying unit 4 is configured to convey the product 8 toward the conveying unit 5 and measure the weight of the product 8 during the conveyance. The transport unit 5 is configured to transport the products 8 transported from the weighing and transporting unit 4 to the stock unit 6. The stock section 6 is configured to stock the products 8 transported from the transport section 5.

Further, the customer operation unit 7 is provided with a start key 9 for declaring the start of the merchandise registration process and an end key 10 for declaring the end of the merchandise registration process.

The money transfer unit 2 is provided with an electronic cash register (hereinafter referred to as ECR) 11, and this E
The CR 11 performs a product sales registration process based on the product data input from the product data input unit 3 until the end key 10 is operated after the start key 9 is operated in the customer operation unit 7. It has become.

Further, the ECR 11 uses the weight value corresponding to the product data input from the product data input unit 3 and the weight value obtained as the weighing result of the weighing and conveying unit 4 to input the product data input unit 3
It judges the identity between the barcode-scanned product and the product conveyed in the weighing and conveying section 4, and if the two products are not identified, an error is made and the sale registration process of the product is prohibited. There is.

In the apparatus having such a configuration, the cart 12 accommodating the product 8 to be purchased by the customer is conveyed to the upstream side end of the checkout lane 1, that is, the starting end, and the start key 9 of the customer operation unit 7 is used. To operate. Then, the product 8 is taken out of the cart 12 and the barcode attached to the product is scanned by the product data input unit 3, and the scanned product 8 is placed on the weighing and conveying unit 4. When the scanning of the barcode is completed for all the products, the end key 10 of the customer operation unit 7 is operated to move to the money transfer unit 2.

On the other hand, the ECR 11 is a product data input unit 3
Unit price, weight, etc. are read from the PLU (ply slook up) file provided internally based on the product data input from, and the weight value is compared with the weight value obtained by weighing in the weighing and conveying section 4. When the two weight values match within the allowable range, the identity of the product is determined and the sales registration process of the product is performed.

When the end key 10 is operated on the customer operation unit 7, the total amount of money of the customer is calculated and displayed on the display, and when the money is received from the customer and the closing key operation for registration is performed, the change is made. Calculate and display, open the drawer again,
Further, the receipt is issued.

The articles 8 placed on the weighing and conveying section 4 are further conveyed by the conveying section 5 and stocked in the stock section 6. All the products for which sales registration processing has been completed in this way are in stock section 6.
Stocked in. Then, the goods in the stock section 6 are transferred to the customer by being transferred to an empty cart 12 arranged in the vicinity of the stock section 6 after the transfer of money is completed in the money transfer section 2.

[0012]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In such a device,
When there are many registered products, there is a problem that it takes a long time to transfer the products in the stock section 6 to the cart 6. While the products in the stock section 6 are being transferred to the cart 6, the sales registration process for the products of the next customer cannot be performed, which is an obstacle to speeding up and facilitating transactions.

For this reason, another operator is arranged at the installation position of the stock section 6, and this operator exclusively carries out the work of moving the goods of the stock section 6 to the cart 12 to speed up and facilitate transactions. Can be considered,
However, in this case, it is necessary to arrange an operator separately, and there is a problem in terms of economical efficiency such as labor cost.

Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to automatically store a commodity, which has been sold and registered, in a commodity storage portion of the cart, thereby speeding up and facilitating a transaction, and further, to the cart. An object of the present invention is to provide a self-scanning product sales processing device capable of preventing the product from being damaged by minimizing the impact on the product during storage.

[0015]

According to the present invention, a product data input section for reading a bar code attached to a product and inputting product data, and a product for which a bar code is read by the product data input section are installed from upstream. A checkout lane in which the transport units that transport downstream are arranged side by side, and a checkout lane that is placed adjacent to this checkout lane, performs product sales registration processing based on the product data input from the product data input unit, and registers it. In a self-scanning product sales processing device provided with a money transfer unit for transferring money to and from a customer based on a processing result, a product drop prevention member is provided at the tip of the product storage unit so as to be rotatable with respect to the storage unit. The cart, the connection part at the end of the product storage part of the cart provided at the downstream end of the transport part of the checkout lane, and the connection part provided at this connection part. And products fall preventing member rotating mechanism rotated to a substantially horizontal position from the home position of the connected basket products fall preventing member in the product storage portion to the connection portion,
When the sensor provided at the downstream end of the transport section of the checkout lane and detecting the passage of the product and the tip of the product storage section of the cart are connected to the connection section, the product drop prevention member rotation mechanism is driven to drop the product. The prevention member is rotated from the home position to a substantially horizontal position, and thereafter, every time the sensor detects passage of a product, the product fall prevention member rotating mechanism is driven to move the product fall prevention member from the substantially horizontal position to the home position. The control means is provided for controlling the rotation from the home position to the substantially horizontal position after the rotation relatively slowly.

[0016]

In the present invention having such a structure, the tip of the commodity storage portion of the cart is connected to the connection portion provided at the downstream end of the checkout lane. As a result, the commodity fall prevention member of the cart rotates from the home position to a substantially horizontal position.

In this state, when the customer takes out the product from the cart carried to the upstream end of the checkout lane and scans the bar code attached to the product in the product data input section, the product data is input from the product data input section and sold. Registration is processed.

On the other hand, the merchandise with the scanned barcode is placed on the conveying section and conveyed. The product transported by the transport unit eventually passes through the sensor position and is placed on the product fall prevention member. When the sensor detects the passage of the product, the product fall prevention member is slowly rotated from the substantially horizontal position to the home position. Then, during this rotation, the product slips gradually on the product fall prevention member and is stored in the product storage portion of the cart. After that, the commodity fall prevention member returns to the substantially horizontal position again.

In this way, the product conveyed from the transfer unit is stored in the product storage unit of the cart to the extent that a small impact is given by the rotation of the product fall prevention member.

[0020]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 are views showing the entire appearance, and a pair of checkout lanes 20 are arranged in parallel and spaced from each other. A money transfer unit 21 is arranged approximately in the center between the checkout lanes 20.

Each of the checkout lanes 20 is provided with a product data input section 22, a weighing and conveying section 23 and a conveying section 24, which are conveying sections, from the upstream side to the downstream side.
A customer operation unit 25 is provided near the product data input unit 22.
Are arranged.

The product data input section 22 is composed of, for example, a stationary bar code scanner, and reads the bar code attached to the product 26 by scanning to input the product data.

The weighing and conveying section 23 is formed of a weighing section 27 and a weighing conveyor 28 composed of a belt conveyor connected to the weighing section 27, and the weight of a product placed on the weighing conveyor 28 is measured by the weighing section. Weighing with 27.

The transfer section 24 is composed of a transfer conveyor 29 having a start end connected to the end of the metering transfer section 23. The transport conveyor 29 is arranged such that its end portion is located near the downstream end of the checkout lane 20.

The weighing conveyor 28 and the transfer conveyor 2
The upper surface of 9 is set to have the same height as the upper surface of the checkout lane 20.

The customer operation unit 25 is provided with a start key 30 for declaring the start of the merchandise registration process, an end key 31 for declaring the end of the merchandise registration process, a help key 32 and a customer display 33.

The money transfer unit 21 is provided with an ECR 34. The ECR 34 is used to input the product data until the end key 31 is operated after the start key 30 is operated in the customer operation unit 25. The product sales registration process is performed based on the product data input from the unit 22. The ECR 34 has a drawer 35,
An input unit 36 such as a keyboard and a display unit 37 are provided,
Further, a printer 38 for printing a receipt or a journal to issue a receipt is built in.

Carts 39 for transporting the products 26 are arranged at the upstream and downstream ends of each checkout lane 20.

As shown in FIG. 3, the cart 39 comprises a cart 41 provided with wheels 40 and an inverted triangular basket-type product storage section 42 attached to the cart 39. Is provided with a merchandise fall prevention member 43 which is rotatable with respect to the inside of the storage portion. A handle 44 is provided at the rear end of the product storage section 42.

As shown in FIG. 4, a connecting portion 45 for connecting the tip of the cart 39 is provided at the downstream end of each of the checkout lanes 20, and a product of the cart 39 is provided in the connecting portion 45. The fall prevention member 43 is placed in the home position inside the product storage section 42 (the position indicated by a solid line in the figure).
To a substantially horizontal position (position b indicated by a dotted line in the figure) is provided with a commodity fall prevention member rotating mechanism 46.

The merchandise drop prevention member rotating mechanism 46 is formed on a rack member 47 having one end formed with an engaging portion for engaging the tip of the merchandise fall prevention member 43 and the other end of the rack member 47. The gear 48 that engages with the teeth and the gear 48
And a commodity fall prevention member motor 49 that drives the rotation of the. And this commodity fall prevention member rotating mechanism 46
Normally, the rack member 47 is placed at the position shown by the solid line in the figure so that the tip of the cart 39 can be inserted. When the tip of the cart 39 is connected, the gear 49 is rotated by the motor 49 and the rack The member 47 is moved downward so that the commodity fall prevention member 43 of the cart 39 is moved.
Is rotated from the home position to a substantially horizontal position.

The connecting portion 45 is also provided with a cart connection sensor 50 for detecting whether or not the tip of the commodity fall prevention member 43 of the cart 39 is connected.

A transport conveyor sensor 51 for detecting the passage of the product 26 is provided at the downstream end of the transport conveyor 29 in each of the checkout lanes 20. That is, the conveyer sensor 51 is turned on when the product 26 is present immediately before, and turned off when the product 26 is not present.

At the downstream end of each checkout lane 20, the product 2 conveyed from the conveyer 29
A moving roller 52 is provided to move 6 onto the commodity fall prevention member 43 of the cart 39.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration of a main part.
The ECR 34 is a CPU (central processing unit) 61 that constitutes a main body of a control unit that controls each unit, and a ROM that stores program data for the CPU 61 to control each unit.
(Read-only memory) 62, RAM that stores a product code, unit price, weight, and product name of each product, and a PLU file 63 that has a cumulative area that stores the total sales points and total sales amount of each product A (random access memory) 64 is provided. And the CPU 6
1, the ROM 62 and the RAM 63 are directly connected, and the input unit 36, the display unit 37, the printer 38, and the drawer 35 are connected via an I / O port (not shown).
Further, an interface 65 for transmitting / receiving data to / from a host device is connected to the CPU 61.

The input section 36 is provided with a deposit / cash total key 36a for closing registration work for customers.

The CPU 61 of the ECR 34 has an I / O
The customer operation unit 25 via an O port (not shown),
The product data input unit 22, the weighing unit 27, the weighing conveyor 2
8 is connected to the weighing conveyor motor 66 that drives the conveyor 8, the conveyor conveyor motor 67 that drives the conveyor 29, the cart connection sensor 50, the conveyor conveyor sensor 51, and the commodity drop prevention member motor 49.

The CPU 61 of the ECR 34 performs the control shown in FIG. 6 at the time of sale registration of a product.

That is, at S1, the commodity drop preventing member 4 of the cart 39 is connected to the connecting portion 45 of the checkout lane 20.
It is checked whether or not the cart connection sensor 50 is turned on whether or not the tip end portion of No. 3 is connected.

The tip of the commodity drop prevention member 43 of the cart 39 is connected to the connecting portion 45, and the cart connecting sensor 50 is connected.
Is turned on, the motor 49 for the commodity fall prevention member is driven to rotate in the normal direction at S2, and the commodity fall prevention member rotating mechanism 46
The rack member 47 is moved downward to rotate the commodity fall prevention member 43 of the cart 39 from the home position a to the horizontal position b.

In this state, when the start key 30 is operated on the customer operation unit 25, the process waits for the start of the product registration process.

In this state, when the barcode attached to the product 26 is scanned by the product data input unit 22 and product data is input, the PLU of the RAM 64 is entered in S3.
The unit price, weight, and product name of the corresponding product are read from the file 63. Further, when the scanned product is placed on the weighing conveyor 28, the weighing unit 27 performs the weighing, and the weight data is input from the weighing unit 27.

As a result, the CPU 61 causes the PLU file 6
The weight value read from 3 is compared with the weight value from the weighing section 27, and if the both agree within the allowable range, the product data input section 2
Item scanned by barcode in 2 and weighing conveyor 28
It is determined that the product is the same as the product that carries the product, and the total sales points and the total sales amount are accumulated in the PLU file 63 for the product. That is, sales registration processing is performed.

At this time, if the weight values of the both products deviate from each other by exceeding the allowable range, it is determined that the two products are different, an error is made, and the product sales registration process is prohibited.

When the product sales registration process is normally performed,
In S4, the measuring conveyor motor 66 is driven to operate the measuring conveyor 28, and the carrying conveyor motor 67 is driven to operate the carrying conveyor 29. As a result, the product 26 is conveyed by the weighing conveyor 28, and further from the weighing conveyor 28 to the conveying conveyor 29.
And is transported to the downstream end of the checkout lane 20.

At S5, the conveyor sensor 51 is turned off.
When switching from N to OFF, it is determined that the product 26 has passed, and S
At 6, the metering conveyor motor 66 is stopped to stop the operation of the metering conveyor 28, and the transfer conveyor motor 67 is stopped to stop the operation of the transfer conveyor 29.

Subsequently, in S7, the commodity fall prevention member motor 49 is reversely driven to move the rack member 47 of the commodity fall prevention member rotating mechanism 46 upward, that is, to the first position to drop the commodity in the cart 39. The prevention member 43 is rotated from the horizontal position b to the home position a. At this time, the rotation speed of the motor 49 is slowed down so that the commodity fall prevention member 43
It is designed to slowly rotate.

When the commodity fall prevention member 43 is rotated to the home position a, the commodity fall prevention member motor 49 is driven in the normal direction in S8, and the rack member 47 of the commodity fall prevention member rotating mechanism 46 is moved downward. Move to cart 3
The commodity fall prevention member 43 of 9 is again rotated from the home position a to the horizontal position b.

The control of S3 to S8 is repeated every time product data is input from the product data input section 22.

After that, when the end key 31 is operated by the customer operation unit 25 and the deposit / cash total key 36a is operated by the input unit 36, the deposit / cash total key 36a is operated at S9. In step S10, the product fall prevention member motor 49 is reversely driven to move the rack member 47 of the product fall prevention member rotating mechanism 46 upward to move the cart 3
The commodity fall prevention member 43 of 9 is rotated from the horizontal position b to the home position a, and a series of control is ended.

The S2, S7 and S8 constitute a control means.

In the embodiment having such a structure, the customer first puts the cart 39 in which the product 26 to be purchased is stored in the product storage 42 as shown in FIG. 1A at the upstream end of the checkout lane 20. Then, the start key 30 of the customer operation unit 25 is operated. At this time, the cart 39, which has been emptied by the previous customer's product registration, is already connected to the connecting portion 45 at the downstream end of the checkout lane 20.

The customer takes out the product 26 from the cart 39,
The barcode attached to the product 26 is scanned by the product data input unit 22 and then the product 26 is placed on the weighing conveyor 28.

As a result, the product data is input from the product data input unit 22, and the unit price, weight, and product name data of the corresponding product is read from the PLU file 63. On the other hand, the weight data is input from the weighing unit 27 as the product 26 is placed on the weighing conveyor 28. Then, the CPU 61 compares the weight data read from the PLU file 63 with the weight data from the weighing section 27 to determine the identity. If the difference between the two weight values is within the allowable range, it is determined that the two products are the same, and the total sales points and the total sales amount of the products are cumulatively processed.

When the sale registration process for one product is completed, the measuring conveyor motor 66 operates the measuring conveyor 28 and the carrying conveyor motor 67 operates the carrying conveyor 29. As a result, the product 26 is transferred from the weighing conveyor 28 to the transfer conveyor 29, and is moved by the moving roller 52 from the downstream end of the checkout lane 20.
As shown by the dotted line in FIG.

Then, the conveyer sensor 51 displays the product 26.
When it is determined that the sheet has passed, the operations of the weighing conveyor 28 and the transfer conveyor 29 are stopped. In addition, the commodity fall prevention member motor 49 is driven to operate the commodity fall prevention member rotating mechanism 46 to move the commodity fall prevention member 43 of the cart 39 connected to the downstream end of the checkout lane 20 to the horizontal position b.
To home position a slowly.

As a result, the product 26 becomes the product fall prevention member 4
The products are stored in the product storage unit 42 of the cart 39 by gradually sliding on the upper part 3. That is, the product 26 is stored in the product storage unit 42 at a slow speed with almost no acceleration by the product fall prevention member 43, and the impact given to the product is suppressed as small as possible.

When the commodity fall prevention member 43 rotates to the home position a, the commodity fall prevention member motor 4
9 is reversed, and the commodity fall prevention member 43 returns to the horizontal position b again.

Such an operation is repeated every time the barcode attached to the product 26 is scanned by the product data input section 22, and when this work is performed for all the products to be purchased by the customer, the customer Finally, the end key 31 is operated to move to the money transfer unit 2 while carrying an empty cart 39 as shown in FIG. 1 (b).

In the money transfer section 2, the display section 37 of the ECR 34
The total amount of the customer is displayed in. The customer pays based on the total amount, and the operator performs the tightening operation based on the amount received from the customer. When the customer pays the same amount as the total amount, there is no change, so the deposit / cash total key 36a is immediately operated. If the customer pays more than the total amount, he / she has to make a change. Therefore, he inputs the deposit amount with the ten keys and operates the deposit / cash total key 36a to calculate the change.

When the deposit / cash total key 36a is operated, the commodity fall prevention member rotating mechanism 46 returns the commodity fall prevention member 43 to the home position a. In this way, the customer disconnects the cart containing the purchased product from the connecting portion 45 of the checkout lane 20 as shown in FIG. Connecting.

In this way, the products for which the sales registration processing has been completed are automatically stored in the product storage section 42 of the cart 39 connected to the downstream end of the checkout lane 20, so that the sales registration processing is performed again. The troublesome work of moving the finished product to the cart is eliminated, so that the sales registration work of the product to the next customer can be immediately started, and the transaction can be speeded up and facilitated. In addition, it is not necessary to use a dedicated operator to transfer the products to the cart as in the conventional case.

Then, the product is stored in the product storage section 42 of the cart 39.
When the product is stored in the product, the product fall prevention member 43 provided in the cart 39 slowly rotates with the product 26 placed thereon and slides the product gradually to store the product in the product storage portion. The impact is extremely small, and even if the product is easily damaged like a bottle, it can be stored without being damaged.

In the above embodiment, the product drop prevention member rotating mechanism includes a rack member having a locking portion for locking the tip of the product drop prevention member and a gear engaged with the teeth of the rack member 47. Although the motor configured to drive and rotate the gear has been described, the invention is not limited to this.

[0066]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, it is possible to directly store the goods for which the sales registration processing has been completed in the goods storage section of the cart, thereby speeding up and facilitating the transaction. It is possible to provide a self-scanning merchandise sale processing device which can prevent the damage of merchandise by minimizing the impact on the merchandise when it is stored in the cart.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall plan view showing an embodiment of the present invention, in which (a) is a plan view during product data input, (b) is a plan view immediately after the end of money transfer, and (c) is a downstream of a checkout lane. The top view after connecting the empty cart at the side edge.

FIG. 2 is an overall side view showing a vertical section of a portion of a weighing and conveying unit and a conveying unit in the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a configuration of a cart in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a partially enlarged view showing a configuration of a cart connecting portion in the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration of a main part of the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing main part control of the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a plan view showing a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 20 ... Check-out lane 21 ... Money transfer part 22 ... Product data input part 23, 24 ... Conveyor part 26 ... Product 39 ... Cart 43 ... Product drop prevention member 45 ... Connection part 46 ... Product drop prevention member rotating mechanism 50 ... Cart Connection sensor 51 ... Conveyor conveyor sensor 61 ... CPU (central processing unit)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A product data input unit for reading a bar code attached to a product and inputting product data, and a carrying unit for carrying a product whose bar code is read by the product data input unit from upstream to downstream. And a checkout lane arranged side by side, and the product sales registration process is performed based on the product data input from the product data input unit, which is disposed adjacent to the checkout lane, and the customer is based on the result of the registration process. In a self-scanning product sales processing device provided with a money transfer unit for transferring and receiving money, a cart having a product drop prevention member rotatably provided at the tip of the product storage unit with respect to the storage unit, and the checkout described above. A connection part at the tip of the product storage part of the cart provided at the downstream end of the transportation part of the lane and the connection part provided at this connection part. A merchandise fall prevention member rotating mechanism for rotating the connected merchandise fall prevention member from the home position in the merchandise storage section to a substantially horizontal position, and a downstream end of the transport section of the checkout lane. When a sensor for detecting the passage of a product and the tip of the product storage portion of the cart are connected to the connecting portion, the product fall prevention member rotating mechanism is driven to move the product fall prevention member from the home position to a substantially horizontal position. Each time the sensor detects passage of a product, the product fall prevention member rotating mechanism is driven to rotate the product fall prevention member relatively slowly from the substantially horizontal position toward the home position. A self-scanning product sales processing device comprising control means for controlling rotation from a rear home position to a substantially horizontal position.