JPH0773380A - Pos system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make a customer possible to confirm a cumulative amount at any time in the middle of shopping by eliminating a queue waiting for the settlement of account at the time of congestion observed at a register installing the POS terminal of a superstore. CONSTITUTION:This system is provided with a registration totalizing device 41 equipped with a radio part, bar code reader part and purchased merchandise detail and cumulative amount display part at a cart 4, data are exchanged through a radio repeater 3 installed inside the store between the cart 4 in the middle of shopping and a host computer 1 at a head office, and the list of registered purchased commodities and the cumulative amount are displayed. When shopping is finished and the account of cash is settled by performing account settlement processing from the registration totalizer 41 of the cart 4 through a radio line to an account settling device 2 while stopping the cart 4 at the side of the account settling device 2, the receipt is issued, a gate 28 is opened, and the customer can pass through it.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a POS system (point of sales system) used in convenience stores operating in a large number of chain stores, supermarkets, restaurants, etc. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a POS system, various store counters of a number of stores are online connected to a management department of a head office which controls the stores, and at the same time when a product is sold, the product name, quantity, price, etc. are managed from the store registers. Send to the department's host computer and record it as data. Also,
You can also call the records in the host computer of the management department from the sales floor register to know the stock status. This facilitates product management, cash management, and inventory management. OCR (optical chracter r) can be used to read the bar code displaying the product code and manufacturer code.
eader: A bar code reader such as an optical character reader) is used. In this case, the information input device installed in the sales floor register is called a POS terminal device or a POS terminal.

[0003]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] For example, in superstores and convenience stores, the number of shoppers increases and decreases depending on the day of the week and the time of day. People put various kinds of products in baskets and carts (shopping carts), form a line at the register (hereinafter referred to as the cash register), and wait for the payment. At a plurality of cash registers arranged in parallel, the clerk reads the bar code attached or printed on the purchased product one by one, inputs the data into the POS terminal, and prints out the total price on the receipt for cash settlement. Although it is done, there is a problem that the customer is made to wait at the time of congestion as described above. In order to deal with this, it is sufficient to add cashiers for POS terminals and increase the number of store employees, but since the congestion time is shorter than the total business hours, it costs a lot of money and the business balance deteriorates, resulting in poor management. The problem arises.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a POS system which solves the above-mentioned problems and can alleviate congestion without increasing the number of POS terminals and clerk.

[0005]

According to the POS system of the present invention, terminal devices provided in a large number of stores and a host computer of the main store are connected online, and product sales information input from the terminal devices is stored in the host computer. In the POS system configured to manage the sales information sent to the customer at the time of sale, a registration aggregation device that is equipped with a wireless unit as the terminal device and that registers a shopping item by the operation of the shopper is implemented. A mobile cart having a storage unit for shopping products is connected to the host computer provided online in the store and a wireless line is formed between the cart and the shopping information is transmitted and received during shopping. A relay device provided with a wireless unit, and arranged in the store and connected to the host computer online. In addition, a wireless unit that forms a wireless line with the cart when the cart stops at a predetermined position near the cart is provided, and the registered aggregate data of the shopping products from the cart obtained through the wireless unit is stored in the wireless unit. A payment device configured to open the opening / closing switch at the outlet of the store by a signal from the host computer after storing the price to the host computer and allowing the cart to enter. is there.

More specifically, the above-mentioned host computer has a memory in which product codes of a large number of products to be sold and prices corresponding to the product codes are stored in advance, and from the cart via the relay device. When the price inquiry information for each product is input, the corresponding price is read out and returned by referring to the memory, and the settlement sales information from the settlement device is stored and when the signal indicating the settlement completion is received, the settlement is performed. A control unit that controls to output a signal to open the switch of the device is provided, and the registration and aggregation device mounted on the above-mentioned cart is a barcode reading unit that reads a barcode of a product and converts it into a product code. A first wireless unit for forming a wireless line with the relay device,
A second wireless unit for forming a wireless line with the settlement device; a product number price storage unit for storing the product code of the product read by the bar code reading unit, its price, and its accumulated amount; From the display unit that displays the content of the product number price storage unit, the seal discharge unit that discharges the registered seal each time the product and price are stored in the product number price storage unit, the switch unit, and the barcode reading unit. Each time a product code is output, price inquiry information of the product code is sent from the first wireless unit to the relay device, and a price returned from the host computer is received by the first wireless unit. The product code, price, price, and total of the product are calculated, written in the product number price storage unit, displayed on the display unit, and the registered sticker is discharged from the sticker discharge unit. When the settlement switch of the switch unit is pressed after stopping at a predetermined position in the vicinity of the settlement device, the settlement request signal and the contents of the product number price storage unit are transmitted from the second wireless unit to the settlement device. And a control unit for controlling.

Further, the above-mentioned settlement device is the I of the cart.
A cart ID reading unit for reading the D number, a display unit for displaying the total price calculated from the contents of the product number price storage unit when the settlement request signal and the contents of the product number price storage unit are input from the wireless unit, A cash settlement unit that confirms the amount of money when the price is stored, a receipt issuing unit that issues a receipt for the total price, an opening / closing device that blocks or permits the passage of the cart, and a gate that controls the operation of the opening / closing device. When the control unit and the wireless unit receive a settlement request signal from the cart, the cart ID reading unit reads the ID number of the cart, calculates the total price from the contents of the product number price storage unit, and displays the display unit. When the cash settlement unit outputs the settlement completion information, the contents of the product number price storage unit and the total price are sent from the wireless unit to the host computer as sales information. Both include a control unit for issuing a receipt from the receipt issuing unit and controlling the gate control unit to give a control signal for opening the switch when the cart passage permission information is received from the host computer. It is a feature.

[0008]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing an embodiment of the present invention,
(A) is an overall explanatory view of the POS system of the present invention, (B)
Is a front view of the partial structure, and (C) is a side view of the partial structure. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 is a host computer installed in the management department of the head office. Reference numeral 2 denotes a settlement device arranged in each of the plurality of stores # 1 to #n, and the host computer 1
Is connected to the public line or a private line. 3 is a relay device, 4 is a cart, and two wireless antennas are provided in the installed registration and aggregation device, one is connected to the host computer 1 of the head office via the relay device 3, and the other one is for payment. It is connected to the host computer 1 of the head office via the device 2. FIG. 1 (B) is a front view of the settlement device 2, and an opening / closing device (gate) 28 is provided in the passage of the cart 4 at the outlet of the sales floor, and when the settlement process is performed wirelessly to the settlement device 2, the gate is paid. 28 can be opened and passed. FIG. 1C is a side view of the cart 4, on which a shopping product registration / aggregation device 41 is mounted. 56 is cart 4
Is an ID card provided on the side surface of the.

FIG. 2 is a partial detailed block diagram of the present invention, which is a block diagram of the host computer 1 of the main store and the settlement device 2 and relay device 3 of each store. In the figure, 11 is a price memory in which a correspondence table (table) of product codes and prices of a large number of products for sale in each store is written. Reference numeral 12 is a settlement sales memory in which details of settlement sales and the amount of money when the shopper pays are written. Reference numeral 13 is a control unit. Reference numeral 31 is a wireless unit provided in the relay device 3, which wirelessly connects the cart 4 being purchased and the host computer 1 to transmit and receive data. 21 is a wireless unit, and is a cart 4
Send and receive wireless data to and from. 22 is the cart I
A cart ID reading unit that reads the D card number. Two
Reference numeral 3 is a cash settlement unit, which stores and confirms cash and makes change payments. 24 is a receipt issuing unit. A gate control unit 25 opens the opening / closing device 28 to allow the cart to pass when the receipt is issued after the settlement, and closes the opening / closing device 28 by detecting the passage of the cart with a sensor. A display unit 26 displays the amount of money and processing guidance for the shopper of the cart 4 to facilitate the operation of the cart 4 and the settlement device 2. Reference numeral 27 is a control unit that performs the above control.

FIG. 3 is a detailed block diagram and external perspective view of the cart 4 of the present invention. Registration and aggregation devices 41 are distributed and mounted on the cart 4 so as to be integrated. Ie 2
The two radio units 44 and 46 are provided with antennas 43 and 45, respectively.
Is provided, one of which sends and receives data to and from the relay device 3 during shopping, and the other one of which sends and receives data to and from the settlement device. The two radio units 44 and 46 can be shared by one antenna and the radio unit if a radio frequency band or channel is selected. A weighing scale 49 and a bar code reading unit 42 are mounted on the handle portion of the cart, and two wireless units 44 and 46, a display unit 48, a seal discharging unit 51, a switch unit 52, and a buzzer 55 are mounted thereon. A housing is provided. The switch unit 52 includes a settlement switch 53, a cancel button 54, and the like. 50 is a scale. Reference numeral 56 is an ID card, which is a display tag of the ID number given to each of a large number of carts. Reference numeral 47 is a product number / price storage unit, and 40 is a control unit for controlling the overall operation of the registration / aggregation device 41 of the cart 4. The barcode reading unit 42 may be a handle-held barcode reader or a pencil barcode reader.

As shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 above, which shows the main configuration of the embodiment of the present invention, the gist of the present invention is that when the shopper pushes the cart 4 to shop, the product is displayed on the shelf. Whenever a desired product is taken out and put in the cart 4, the bar code of the product is read by the bar code reading unit 42 each time. Items sold on a weight basis are weighed with a weight scale 49. The products whose barcodes are read are sequentially added up and displayed on the display unit 48. When the shopping is finished in this way, the cart 4 is pushed and stopped at the side of the settlement device 2 to perform the settlement. When the receipt is issued with payment, the switch 28
It is characterized by the fact that it is opened and allowed to go out.

Next, the detailed operation of the present invention will be described. FIG. 4 is an operation flowchart of the cart 4.
Indicates the step number. The shopper causes the bar code reading unit 42 to read the bar code of the product (step),
The barcode data is transmitted from the wireless unit 44 to the wireless unit 31 of the relay device 3 (step), and the data is sent to the control unit 13 of the host computer 1 at the head office. The control unit 13 reads the price corresponding to the product code (product number) of the received data from the price memory 11 and returns it to the cart 4.
The control unit 40 of the cart 4 determines whether or not it is the bar code price information at the step. If the price information is the price information, the sticker is discharged at the step and the information is stored in the product number / price storage unit (memory) 47. The shopper attaches the discharged sticker to the product and stores it in the basket of the cart. In the step, the product name and price of the purchased article that has been stored up to that point and the total thereof are calculated and displayed on the display unit 48. When the desired product is accommodated in the cart 4, the cart 4 is horizontally mounted in front of the switch 28 on the side of the settlement device 2 and the settlement switch 53 of the switch unit 52 is pressed (step). At the step, the settlement request signal is sent from the other wireless unit 50 of the cart 4 to the settlement device 2
Is transmitted to the wireless unit 21. When the settlement request signal is input to the cash settlement unit 23 via the wireless unit 21, the cash settlement unit 23 reads the ID card number of the cart 4, and then the cash settlement unit 23 is input following the settlement request signal from the cart 4. The details and totals of the products are displayed on the display unit 26. The shopper puts the displayed charge in the charge storage unit, and when the change is made, the change is discharged, and the payment statement data is written in the payment sales memory 12 of the host computer 1.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing the operation of the host computer 1 and the settlement apparatus 2 of the present invention. (1)
(9) indicates step numbers. First, step (1)
It is determined whether or not the data received from the cart 4 via the relay device 3 is bar code information. When the data is bar code information, the table of the price memory 11 is searched in step (2), and the corresponding information is processed in step (3). The price is read and a transmission process for the cart 4 is performed. Next, in step (4), it is identified whether the ID number sent from the settlement device 2 is correct,
In step (5), it is judged whether or not the amount is the amount following the settlement request signal, and in step (6), the settlement details are settled to the settlement sales memory 12
Write in. When a cash settlement completion signal is sent from the settlement device 2, a command for opening the switch (gate) of the settlement device 2 is sent in step (7), and the cart 4 is opened in step (8).
When the sensor confirms the passage, the step (9) sends a command to close the switch.

FIG. 6 is a display example diagram of the display unit 48 of the cart 4. The display unit 48 is a flat panel display such as a liquid crystal display, and the triangular arrow keys on the right side are keys for moving the cursor. For example, when the user wants to cancel the product whose barcode is read, the cursor is moved to the corresponding product number with the arrow key and the cancel button 54 is pressed.

[0015]

As described above in detail, by practicing the present invention, the total amount of money accumulated until then can be viewed at any time during shopping. In addition, the time spent at the cash register at the time of congestion is shortened, and the efficiency of the time required for shopping is greatly improved. Further, for the store side as well, the service to the shopper is improved without increasing the number of POS terminals or the number of store staff, which is a great practical effect.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall system view, a partial front view, and a partial side view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partial detailed block diagram of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a partial detailed block diagram and perspective view of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a partial flowchart of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a partial flowchart of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a display example diagram of a display unit of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Host Computer 2 Settlement Device 3 Relay Device 4 Cart 11 Price Memory 12 Settlement Sales Memory 13 Control Section 21 Wireless Section 22 Car ID Reading Section 23 Cash Settlement Section 24 Receipt Issue Section 25 Gate Control Section 26 Display Section 27 Control Section 28 Switch 31 wireless unit 40 control unit 41 registration / aggregation device 42 bar code reading unit 43,45 antenna 44,46 wireless unit 47 product number, price storage unit 48 display unit 49,50 weight scale 51 seal discharge unit 52 switch unit 53 adjustment switch 54 cancel Button 55 Buzzer 56 ID card

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A terminal device provided in a number of stores and a host computer of a head office are connected online, and product sales information input from the terminal device is sent to the host computer to manage sales information at the time of sale. In the POS system configured to perform, a movable cart having a storage unit for a shopping product equipped with a registration unit that includes a wireless unit as the terminal device and that registers a shopping product by a shopper's operation. A relay device that is provided in the store and that is connected to the host computer online and that includes a wireless unit that forms a wireless line with the cart to send and receive sales information during shopping; It is located in the store and is connected to the host computer online, and the cart is stopped at a predetermined location near it. Then, a wireless unit that forms a wireless line with the cart is provided, and the registered aggregate data of the shopping products from the cart obtained via the wireless unit is transmitted to the host computer to store the price and then the host. A POS system, comprising: a settlement device configured to open a switch at an outlet of a sales section according to a signal from a computer to permit entry of the cart. 2. The host computer according to claim 1, wherein a product code of a large number of products to be sold and a memory in which prices corresponding to the product codes are stored in advance, and a product from the cart via the relay device. When the price inquiry information for each is input, the corresponding price is read out by referring to the memory and returned, and when the settlement sales information from the settlement device is stored and a signal indicating the settlement completion is received, the settlement device A control unit that controls to output a signal to open an opening / closing device is provided, and the registration aggregation device mounted on the cart according to claim 1 reads a barcode of a product and converts the barcode into a product code. Section, a first wireless section for forming a wireless line between the relay apparatus, a second wireless section for forming a wireless line between the settlement apparatus, and the bar. The product code and the price of the product read by the code reading unit, the product number price accumulating unit that stores the accumulated amount, the display unit that displays the content of the product number price accumulating unit, and the product and the price in the product number price accumulating unit Each time the product code is output from the sticker discharging unit, the switch unit, and the bar code reading unit that discharges the registered sticker each time the item is stored, the price inquiry information of the product code is sent to the first wireless unit. When the price sent from the host computer to the relay device and returned from the host computer is received by the first wireless unit, the product code of the product, the price and the combined price, and the total are calculated to be stored in the product number price storage unit. The registered sticker is discharged from the sticker discharging section by writing and displaying it on the display section, and the cart is stopped at a predetermined position in the vicinity of the settlement apparatus and the settlement switch of the switch section is operated. The control unit for controlling the settlement request signal and the contents of the product number price storage unit to be sent from the second wireless unit to the settlement apparatus when the button is pressed. POS system. 3. The host computer according to claim 1, wherein a product code of a large number of sales products and a memory in which prices corresponding to the product codes are stored in advance, and products from the cart via the relay device. When the price inquiry information for each is input, the corresponding price is read out by referring to the memory and returned, and when the settlement sales information from the settlement device is stored and a signal indicating the settlement completion is received, the settlement device The control unit that controls to output a signal for opening the switch is provided, and the settlement device according to claim 1, further comprising: a cart ID reading unit that reads an ID number of the cart; and a settlement request signal from the wireless unit. When the content of the product number price storage unit is input, a display unit that displays the total price calculated from the content of the product number price storage unit and a current unit that confirms the amount of money when the price is stored. A settlement unit, a receipt issuing unit that issues a receipt for the total price, an opening / closing device that blocks or permits passage of the cart, a gate control unit that controls the operation of the opening / closing device, and the wireless unit from the cart. When the payment request signal is received, the cart ID reading unit reads the ID number of the cart, calculates the total price from the contents of the product number price storage unit, and gives it to the display unit. Is output, the contents of the product number price storage unit and the total price are sent as sales information from the wireless unit to the host computer, and the receipt issuing unit issues a receipt, and the host computer passes the cart permission information. And a control unit that controls the gate control unit to give a control signal for opening the switch when the control signal is received. The POS system according to claim 1.