JPH0818558B2 - Shopping cart - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial field of use] The present invention relates to a shopping cart used by a customer when shopping, for example, in a supermarket or a department store.

[Prior Art] In supermarkets and department stores, customers use a movable shopping cart to carry out shopping.

As shown in FIG. 9, the conventional shopping cart has a structure in which the shopping cart 1 can be set on the movable cart body 2. Therefore, the customer cannot confirm the total amount of money so far, and the store side also checks the bar code of the product (such as the product code) with a scanner at the time of check-out so that the customer can temporarily check the shopping cart 1 There was an inconvenience that the product stored inside had to be taken out again.

Therefore, for the purpose of eliminating these inconveniences, there has been proposed a cart provided with a bar code scanner for reading a bar code of a product. These have a configuration in which the reading window of the bar code scanner is arranged substantially vertically at the upper position in the product storage unit that stores the products, or the reading window of the bar code scanner is arranged horizontally (upward) near the outside of the product storage unit. It is a configuration.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the former configuration in which the reading window of the barcode scanner is arranged substantially vertically at the upper position in the product storage unit,
As the number of products stored in the product storage unit increases, the products in the product storage unit may be read twice by the barcode scanner.

In addition, in the latter configuration where the reading window of the bar code scanner is horizontally (upward) arranged near the outside of the product storage section, there is no risk of double reading, but after passing the product over the bar code scanner. Otherwise, it cannot be stored in the product storage section. That is, the product cannot be directly located in the product storage unit. Therefore, the customer must store the product in the product storage unit after passing the product over the barcode scanner without fail.

In addition, since the reading window is horizontal, water drops that have fallen from the product are likely to accumulate and dust may accumulate on the reading window, which may result in erroneous reading of the barcode.

Here, an object of the present invention is to eliminate such a drawback of the related art, to reliably prevent double reading, and to store the product directly in the product storage unit so that the product code can be read by the scanner. An object of the present invention is to provide a shopping cart that is possible and has a reading window with little dirt.

[Means for Solving the Problems] Therefore, according to the present invention, a movable cart body has a product storage section having a product insertion port at the top, and a scanner for reading a product code of a product to be inserted into the product storage section. In the shopping cart provided with, so that the reading area of the scanner is above the product slot of the product storage unit,
It is characterized in that the reading window of the scanner is arranged so as to be inclined toward the upper side of the product storage section.

[Operation] Since the reading window of the scanner is arranged so as to be inclined upwards of the product storage unit so that the reading area of the scanner is above the product insertion port of the product storage unit, the customer can The product code of the product is not only read by the scanner but also the product in the product storage unit may not be read twice simply by inserting the product into the product storage unit from above.

Moreover, since the reading window is inclined, water drops and dust that have fallen from the product are less likely to collect, and less dirt is required than the conventional horizontal one.

[Embodiment] An embodiment in which the shopping cart of the present invention is used in a checkout system will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 8 shows the overall configuration of the checkout device of this embodiment. The check-out device is composed of a plurality of shopping carts 10 that can move inside the store, and an accounting processing device 70 installed on the exit side of the store.

FIG. 1 shows an external view of each shopping cart 10. In the figure, reference numeral 11 denotes a cart main body, which is formed into a frame shape having a caster 12 which is freely movable on the bottom portion by a pipe or the like and a handle 13 on the upper portion. A shopping basket 14 as a product storage unit that has a product insertion port 14A on the upper surface in the middle of the cart main body 11 and is detachably set to the cart main body 11, and the products thrown into this shopping basket 14. Scale 15 that measures the weight of the product, and scanner 16 that reads the bar code (product code) of the product placed in the shopping basket 14.
A keyboard 17 including a scale display key 17A, a display unit 18, and a card writer 19 for writing data on the IC card 20 are provided.

The reading window 16A of the scanner 16 is inclined above the product insertion port 14A and above the shopping basket 14 so that its reading area is above the product insertion port 14A of the shopping basket 14. Are arranged as follows. In addition, the display unit 18 displays the name and unit price of the products put in the shopping basket 14 and the second display 18A that displays the total price of all the products put in the shopping basket 14. And an indicator 18B.

FIG. 2 shows a circuit configuration of each shopping cart 10. In the figure, 31 is a CPU. The CPU 31 includes a ROM 33 storing a program via the bus 32, a RAM 34, and the scanner 16 described above.
Connected to the scanner controller 35, the scale 15 is connected to the scale controller 36, the keyboard 17 is connected to the keyboard controller 37, the display unit 18 is connected to the display unit controller 38, the card writer 19 is connected to the card writer controller 39 Are connected respectively.

As shown in FIG. 3, in the RAM 34, a product data memory 34A storing the product name, unit price and single product weight data corresponding to the product code, and the total weight data of the products put in the shopping basket 14. Total weight memory to store 34B
And a total price memory 34C for storing the total price of the products put in the shopping basket 14.

FIG. 4 shows a circuit configuration of the accounting processing device 70. In the figure, reference numeral 71 denotes a CPU. A ROM 73, a RAM 74, a keyboard controller 76, a display controller 77, a printer controller 78, and a card reader controller 75 that store programs are connected to the CPU 71 via a bus 72.

The keyboard controller 76 has a keyboard 79 including a match key 79A, a mismatch key 79B and a check key 79C,
A display 80 is connected to the display controller 77, and a printer 81 is connected to the printer controller 77. Further, the card reader controller 75 is connected with a card reader 82 as a reading means for reading the contents of the IC card 20 written in the shopping cart 10.

In the RAM 74, as shown in FIG. 5, in addition to the product data memory 74A in which the product name, unit price, number of sales and amount of sales are recorded corresponding to the product code, various storage areas 7
4B are provided respectively.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 6 and 7.

The customer who visits the store sequentially puts the desired shopping cart 10 into the shopping basket 14 while moving the shopping cart 10 inside the store. Then, the barcode of the product (product code) is read by the scanner 16.

The CPU 31 of the shopping cart 10 executes processing according to the flowchart shown in FIG. First, step (hereinafter ST
Abbreviated. ) 11 recognizes that there is an input from the scanner 16, that is, recognizes that the product code has been input by the scanner 16, proceeds to ST12, and determines whether or not the weight data from the scale 15 has increased. That is, it is determined whether or not the weight data from the scale 15 has increased with respect to the total weight data in the total weight memory 34B (whether or not the product has been reliably placed in the shopping cart 14).

Here, when recognizing that a product has been loaded into the shopping basket 14, after reading the product name, unit price and single product weight data corresponding to the product code read by the scanner 16 from the product data memory 34A, the process proceeds to ST14. It is determined whether or not the single item weight data and the weight data of the input product based on the weight data of the scale 15 match.

That is, from the weight data of the scale 15, the total weight memory 34
The total weight data of B is subtracted to obtain the weight data of the product put in immediately before, and it is determined whether or not this weight data and the read single product weight data match.

Here, if the two match, that is, if the product put in the shopping basket 14 is read as the correct product code, the process proceeds to ST15A and the data of the total weight memory 34B is updated to the weight data of the scale 15. After the unit price data is added to the total amount memory 34C, the process proceeds to ST15B and the product code, the total weight data and the total amount data are written in the IC card 20 by the card writer 19.

Then, proceed to ST16 and display the product name and unit price data on the display unit 18
After it is displayed on the first display 18A, the process proceeds to ST17 to display the total amount of the total amount memory 34C on the second display 18B. Therefore, the customer can confirm the unit price of the product put in while shopping and the total amount up to that point.

If they do not match, the process proceeds to ST18, and the first display 18A of the display unit 18 displays an error message. Therefore, the customer can confirm from this display that there is a registration error. When it is recognized that the scale display key 17A is pressed in ST19, the process proceeds to ST20 and the weight data of the scale 15 is displayed on the first display 18A.

In this way, the customer who finishes shopping can use the shopping cart.
When coming to the accounting processing device 70 while moving 10, the operator of the accounting processing device 70 pulls out the IC card 20 from the card writer 19 of the shopping cart 10 and sets the IC card 20 in the card reader 82, Press the accounting key 79C.

Then, the CPU 71 of the accounting processing device 70 executes processing according to the flowchart shown in FIG. First, in the process of determining whether or not the accounting key 79C has been operated in ST21 and whether or not the product code has been input in ST22, when recognizing that the accounting key 79C has been operated, the process proceeds to ST23 and is set in the card reader 82. Contents of IC card 20 (product code, total weight data,
After reading the total amount data) and storing it in RAM74, ST25
Then, the total weight data of the contents is displayed on the display unit 80.

Here, the operator of the accounting processing device 70 presses the scale display key 17A of the shopping cart 10. Then, S in Fig. 6
At T20, the weight data of the scale 15, that is, the total weight data of all the commodities put in the shopping basket 14 is displayed on the first display 18A.
It is determined whether the total weight data displayed on the display unit 80 and the total weight data displayed on the display unit 80 match, and if they match, the match key 79A is pressed, and if they do not match, the mismatch key 79B is pressed.

Then, when the CPU 71 recognizes that the match key 79A is pressed in ST26, the CPU 71 proceeds to ST27 and registers the data (product code) read from the IC card 20. Then, the process proceeds to ST28, the total amount is displayed on the display unit 80, and then the process proceeds to ST29 to perform change processing.

When it is recognized in ST30 that the mismatch key 79B is pressed, the process ends. Therefore, in this case, the product in the shopping basket 14 may be taken out and input from the keyboard 79. Then, when recognizing that the product code is input in ST22, the CPU 71 proceeds to ST32 and registers the product code.

Therefore, according to the present embodiment, the reading window 16A is arranged so as to be inclined toward the upper side of the shopping basket 14 so that the reading area of the scanner 16 is located above the product insertion port 14A of the shopping basket 14 The person (customer) can read the barcode of the product simply by inserting the product taken from the product display shelf into the shopping basket 14 and prevent the product loaded in the shopping basket 14 from being read twice. be able to.

However, since the reading window 16 is inclined, water drops and dust that have fallen from the product are less likely to collect, and there is an advantage that less dirt is required as compared with the conventional horizontal one.

In addition, the scanner 16 and this scanner 16 in the shopping cart 10
A card writer 19 for writing the product code read by the IC card 20 is provided, and the IC card 20 is added to the accounting processor 70.
Since the card reader 82 for reading the contents of is provided, the operator of the accounting processing device 70 only has to remove the IC card 20 from the shopping cart 10 and set it in the card reader 82.
The burden on the operator can be reduced, and the efficiency of checkout work can be improved.

Further, when the scanner 16 reads the product code, the product name, unit price, and unit product weight data corresponding to the product code are read out from the product data memory 34A, and the product name and unit price data in the product data are read by the first display unit 18 of the display unit 18. Since the total price is displayed on the second display 18B in addition to being displayed on 18A, the user (customer) can purchase the price of the product purchased from the product name and unit price data displayed on the display 18A, 18B. It's convenient because you can check the total amount of money you have purchased so far.

In addition, each shopping cart 10 is provided with a scale 15 for measuring the weight of the products put in the shopping basket 14, and this scale 15
The weight data of the product measured by 15 is compared with the individual product weight data corresponding to the product code read from the product data memory 34A, and if the two do not match, the display portion 18 of the shopping cart 10 is so displayed. Since it has been set, the user can be notified of the registration error. This has the advantage that fraud can be prevented.

Further, in the accounting processing device 70, while displaying the total weight data read from the IC card 20 on the display unit 80, when the scale display key 17A of the shopping cart 10 is pressed, the weight data measured by the scale 15 is displayed. Since the information is displayed on the display 18A, the operator can know from the both displays that there is a registration error.

[Advantages of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, the reading window is arranged so as to be inclined toward the upper side of the product storage unit so that the reading area of the scanner is above the product insertion port of the product storage unit. , The customer simply inserts the product into the product storage from above the product insertion port of the product storage, the product code of the product is read by the scanner, and there is no fear that the product in the product storage will be read twice. Moreover, since the reading window is slanted, there is an advantage that the reading window is less likely to get dirty than the conventional horizontal one.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 to 8 show an embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 2 is an exploded perspective view showing a shopping cart, Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing the circuit configuration of the shopping cart, and Fig. 3 is RA in Fig. 2.
Fig. 4 shows the contents of M, Fig. 4 is a block diagram showing the circuit configuration of the accounting processing device, Fig. 5 is a diagram showing the contents of the RAM of Fig. 4, and Fig. 6 is a processing flow of the shopping cart. A flow chart, FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing the flow of processing of the accounting processing device, and FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the overall configuration. FIG. 9 is an exploded perspective view showing a conventional shopping cart. 10 …… Shopping cart, 11 …… Cart body, 14 …… Shopping basket (product storage), 14A …… Product slot, 16 …… Scanner, 16A… Reading window.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A shopping cart provided with a movable cart main body having a product storage part having a product insertion port at the top and a scanner for reading a product code of a product to be inserted into the product storage part, wherein the scanner A shopping cart, wherein the reading window of the scanner is arranged so as to be inclined toward the upper side of the product storage unit such that the reading area of the scanner is above the product insertion port of the product storage unit.