JPS60205773A - Goods data input device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To use a check out counter to cope with sale by weight by obtaining an electronic balance where a placing part of the first basket, in which a customer puts purchases, or the second basket to which goods in the first basket are transferred successively is used as a weighing scale. CONSTITUTION:The first basket in which the customer puts purchases is placed in an area e1, and a checker takes out them from the first basket and reads bar codes stuck to them by a bar code reader 2, and key inputs are performed if bar codes are not stuck to them. Goods passing this step are transferred successively to the second basket placed in an area e2. In this area e2, a weighing scale 11 of the electronic balance is used as the placing part, and the difference between the weight before transfer of goods and that after transfer of goods is detected. This difference value is the weight of transferred goods, and this weight is used together with unit price data due to bar codes or key inputs to calculate the price with respect to goods of sales by weight.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a product data input device suitable for use in checkout processing at stores, markets, etc., for example.

Among the products in markets and the like, there are so-called products sold by weight. As is well known, selling by weight is a sales method in which the amount desired by the customer is measured and sold with 11Iiiil, and is a sales method suitable for products that are sold separately. In general, weighing is carried out at each sales floor for each product, but in recent years in markets and stores, in order to save labor and increase efficiency, weighing, pricing, and sales are carried out at the checkout location. In addition, a bar code is attached to each product, and it takes one second to read this bar code at the checkout location, thereby efficiently classifying and pricing each product. However, if a meter is sold and a barcode read process is performed at the checkout location, a cash register (usually an electronic cash register, henceforth abbreviated as ECR), a scale, and a barcode reader are installed at the checkout location. In addition, the sales operations of store clerks (hereinafter referred to as checkers) at the checkout location are generally disadvantageous in terms of space utilization at the checkout location. Move the purchased items one by one into the inner cart, and when moving the items, have the barcode reader read the barcode attached to the item and enter the price data of the item into the ECH (bar code). ECR for products that do not have a code attached.
However, when selling by weight, it is necessary to perform weighing in addition to the above-mentioned operations, resulting in a problem that the sales operation becomes complicated. That is, the flow of products in this case is as follows: customer's basket - 4 barcode reader -> scale -> empty basket, which is an inefficient work procedure.

In addition, conventional electronic scales have been developed with a barcode reader built into them to save space and improve work efficiency, but in this case, part or all of the weighing pan is made of a transparent material. This ensures an optical path for the barcode reader, so the transparent member is likely to get dirty due to the need to place the product on the weighing pan, and as a result, the reliability and stability of barcode reading may be compromised. There were some drawbacks.

In view of the above-mentioned circumstances, the present invention provides a product data input device that can eliminate the need for weighing operations in metered sales, etc., and can efficiently and reliably read barcodes. A tenth placing section for placing a first basket loaded with products, and a second placing section for placing a second basket into which each product in the first basket placed on the first placing section is sequentially transferred. The checkout counter is equipped with an electronic scale 2 in which at least one of the first placing part and the second placing part serves as a weighing plate. In addition, a barcode reader for reading barcodes attached to the products is disposed between the @1 and second placement sections.

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

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the external appearance of an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 1 is a checkout counter, and a barcode scanner 2 is installed approximately in the center of the checkout counter. , lb. This barcode scanner 2 has a rectangular window 2a.
A laser beam is emitted from the scanner, and the bar code of the product is read by scanning (that is, moving from the right side of the drawing to the left side on the scanner) by reflecting the laser beam. Product detection sensors S1 and S2 are composed of a light emitting sensor and a light receiving sensor, respectively, and detect when a product is located on the window portion 2a. In this case, if the product is scanned from the right to the left in the drawing, the product detection sensor S1 detects that the product has entered the side part 2a, and the product detection sensor S2 detects that the product has completely moved from above the window part 2a. Detect. Reference numeral 3 denotes an operation section consisting of a numeric keypad, various function keys, etc., and a checker is positioned at the front side of this operation section 3. It is a cash box that can be pulled out on the front side of the 4-line drawing, and 5 is a printer unit that prints out receipts, tally marks, etc. FIG. 2 is a partially cut-away view seen from the arrow A side shown in FIG. 1, and is an external view of this embodiment as seen from the customer side.

6 shown in this figure. 6 and 6.6 shown in FIG. 1 are display units provided in the barcode scanner 2 and the printer 1JyJ section, respectively, which are arranged facing each other for customers and checkers, and display the unit price, price, weight, etc. of the product. It is supposed to be done.

Furthermore, on the scanner 2 side of the work surface 1a, an area e1 is set where the cart of the customer who will pay the checkout is placed, and on the right side of the area θ1 in FIG. The area eO to be used is set. On the scanner 2 side of the work surface 1b, an area θ2 is set where a basket into which purchased products are placed is placed. A rectangular notch lO is provided in this area e2, and the mounting part 11 is provided inside the notch 1o with a gap therebetween. The basket into which the above-mentioned cleared products are placed is placed on this placement section 11. In this case, the placing section 11 is designed to stably support the basket (basket 16 shown in FIGS. 2 and 3) placed thereon, and to prevent the basket 16 from coming into contact with the side surface 2b of the barcode scanner 2. A side wall 11a is provided to restrict the position. However, the side wall 11a is not provided in the direction in which the basket is taken out, and the height of the bottom surface of the placing portion 11, the force 1, and the height of the interface are set to be equal. This is to make it easier to take out the basket.Next, the lower bottom of the placing part 11 is connected to the load cell 14 via the support stand 12.
The load cell 14 is supported by a support base 15, and the lower part of the support base 15 is joined to the main body of the apparatus (see FIG. 3). That is, the mounting portion 11 serves as a weighing pan for the load cell 14. Therefore, the total weight and weight of the basket 16 placed on the placement section 11 and the products in the basket 16 are detected by the load cell 14.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the electrical configuration of this embodiment, and portions corresponding to those in FIGS. 1 to 3 are designated by the same reference numerals and their explanations will be omitted.

In this figure, 20 is a CPU (central processing unit 6.1) that controls each part of the apparatus, and this CPU 20 includes a sensor interface 19, a load cell interface 21, a scanner interface 22, an operation part interface 2a, a display part interface 24, and a printer part. The sensor 81, the S20-docel 14, the barcode scanner 2, the operation unit 3, and the display unit 6 are connected via the interface 25 and the cash box interface 26, respectively.
, exchanges data with the printer unit 5 and cash box 4, and performs various controls. Also, C.P.
The U20 is configured to exchange data with an external device (not shown) via an external device interface 27.

28 is a ROM that stores programs used by the CPU 20, 29 is a working RAM that temporarily stores various data and calculation results, and 30 is a preset data such as unit price for each item and classification for each item. This is a RAM for files in which tally results are stored.

Next, the operation of this embodiment having the above-described configuration will be explained with reference to the flowchart shown in Figure @51.

First, the checker moves the customer's basket to area θ1.
Then, place the basket 16 (empty basket) on the placing section 11. As a result, the load cell 14 is loaded with the weight of the car 16.
is detected, and this detected weight is read by the CPU 2uVC and temporarily stored in the working RAM 29. Next, the checker takes out an arbitrary bell item from the customer's basket and scans the window 2a while holding the item. In this case, if the product has a barcode attached, scan with the barcode side facing down. In this case, the scan is performed in window 2.
Since it is sufficient to cross the entire laser beam irradiated from a, window 2
Just scan above it without touching a. On the other hand, after the operation ui, the CPU 20 moves to step P2, and determines whether the product has been scanned or not. If the determination is rNOJ, the CPU 20 thereafter passes through the loop 11 and waits for the product to be scanned. And sensor S1. When it is detected by the detection signal in S2 that the product has been scanned, the determination in step SP2 becomes rYEs J, and the process proceeds to step S.
Move on to P3. In this case, if a barcode is attached to the product, the barcode scanner 2 reads the barcode at the same time as scanning. Then, in step SP3, it is determined whether the barcode scanner 2 has read the barcode, that is, whether there is a barcode on the product, and if there is no barcode, the process proceeds to step SP4.
If there is a barcode, the process moves to step SP5. In this embodiment, since the processing is significantly different for products with and without barcodes, the processing for products without barcodes will be explained first.

■If there is no barcode, follow step SP as described above.
4, the display section 6 displays that the bar code is not attached.It may be configured to issue a warning at this time.Next, in step 8P6, the load cell 14 is displayed. It is determined whether the weight of vk4m has changed, and if "NO", the loop 12 is circulated.Then, the product scanned by the checker is placed in the basket 16 on the placement section 11.
When the power is supplied to the load cell 14, the amount of electricity of the load cell 14 changes and the determination becomes rYEs, and the process moves to step Sr7.

In this step SP7, as soon as the 1L-j# signal of the load cell 14 after the change becomes stable, this weight signal is transferred to the RAM 2.
9, and detects the difference between the previous weight signal value (weight signal value when empty) and the current weight 114N value. This difference in weight signal values is the weight of the product placed in the basket 16 at the current time. The product weight thus detected is stored in the RAM 29, and the previous weight signal value is discarded and the current weight signal value is stored as the previous weight in preparation for the next weight detection. Next, step SP
Move to 8.

Here, key operations in this case will be explained.

Products without barcodes can be categorized into the following four types based on the sales process.

a: Unit price data and product number data are preset (hereinafter referred to as preset data),
Products that require weighing.

Products that have nib reset data and do not require measurement (fixed price products).

b.Products for which nib reset data is not provided and measurement is required.

b' Products that do not have nib reset data and do not require measurement.

If the product falls under the above conditions, the checker presses only the preset key provided corresponding to the product, and as a result, steps SP 9 to 5 PI are performed.
The process moves to O, and the preset data is read out by the pressed preset key. Then, in Step 5PII, it is determined whether the product is a fixed price product (that is, a product that does not require weighing).This determination is made based on the preset data if the data is called using the preset key. Line b1 When the amount is input using the numeric keypad as described later, if the numeric key is rNOJ, the process moves to step 5P12, and if 1'-YES J, the process moves to step 5P13.

In step 5P12, the product weight data obtained in step SP7 is multiplied by the unit price data read out in step SP10 to calculate the price of the product. Next, the process moves to step 5P13, and the calculated price data is stored in the receipt buffer provided in the RAM 29.

The receipt buffer is a buffer memory for issuing receipts, and is a memory to which sales amounts for the same customer are added.

If the product corresponds to a', press the corresponding preset key and step SP 9, SP 10゜8PII
After that, it is determined from the contents of the preset data that the product is a fixed price product, and the process proceeds to step 5P13. In the case of a product that corresponds to a', it is a fixed price product that is sold for a certain amount per piece, so the preset data obtained in step 5pio already includes price data, and as a result, the price is calculated in step 5P12. No processing is required.On the other hand, for products corresponding to b and b', perform the key operations shown below.

Color image ri Dllti ri Box Mouth UifJ (corresponds to b) Circulation mouth "mouth decoy" (corresponds to b') (However, the numeric keys are keys within the numeric keypad, and the kanji keys are keys within the function keys.) Then, when the above-mentioned key operation is performed, even in the case of - deviation, the determination at step SP9 becomes 1'-NOJ, and the process moves to step 8P15.In step 5P15, the amount key (that is, the unit price key or the fixed amount key) is pressed.

If this judgment is rNOJ, the price cannot be calculated, so proceed to step 5P16, and after issuing an error message,
Stop operation (Step 5P191゜Step 5P1
If the determination in step 5 is rygs J, the process moves to step 5P11, where it is determined whether or not it is a fixed price product, that is, whether the fixed price key has been pressed. If it has been pressed (if it corresponds to b'), the process moves to step 5P11. Move to 8P13, and if it is not pressed (corresponds to h), S is pressed via step 5P12.
Move on to P13.

On the other hand, if the product has a barcode, step SP
After storing the barcode data in Step 5,
In P21, it is determined whether this product requires weighing based on the stored barcode. In the case of a product that does not meet the measurement criteria, price calculation is not necessary since the price data already exists in the barcode data, and the process moves to step 5P13.C The price data obtained from the barcode data is used as the receipt. It will be memorized in the buffer. In addition, in the case of products that require weighing, since unit price data exists in the barcode data, this unit price data and the load cell 1
The price is calculated from the change in the weighted signal in step 4. This price calculation process is performed in step 5P22.5P23.8P24, and these steps are similar to steps SP 6 and SF3°5P12 described above. Then, when the price calculation is completed, the process moves to step 5P13. In this way, the process moves to step 5P13 via one of the routes described above depending on the presence or absence of a bar code and whether weighing is necessary or unnecessary. Next, in step 5P17, the calculated price data and weight data are classified into the file RAM 30 based on the product number data, etc., and the process moves to step 5P18, where the weight and price data are stored.

After displaying unit price data and the like on the display sections 6, 6, . . ., the operation ends.

Next, the checker takes out a new item from the customer's cart and performs exactly the same process as described above. Thereafter, new products are taken out one after another, scanned completely on the barcode scanner 2, and then placed into the basket 16 placed on the placement section 11. When all the products in the customer's basket have been transferred to the basket 16, the checker presses the total key etc. to cause the printer unit 5 to issue a receipt, hands the issued sheet to the customer, and transfers money. . The series of checkout processing ends in the above manner. Then, the checker places the empty customer's basket on the placing section 11, moves the next customer's basket to the area 81,
Thereafter, the same processing as described above is performed.

In this way, in this embodiment, the ulhi action (the action of placing the product on the weighing pan of the scale) is not required at all even for products sold in d1 quantities, and moreover, payment is performed:
Since the flow of products is almost linear, from the customer's cart barcode scanner to the empty cart, there is no waste in the movement of the goo-era car, making it possible to work extremely efficiently.

Note that the placing section 11 is placed in area θ1 instead of area I-+2.
may be set. In this case, when the checker takes out the product from the customer's cart, the weight of the product is detected.

In addition, in the above-described embodiment, the total time after the product passes over the barcode scanner 2 is 1'! The change in A value is calculated as the weight of the product and the size f! J? I'm L. Therefore, if the basket on the placement section 11 is removed, the new basket will not be reprinted as a product.

Further, the shape of the mounting portion 11 is not limited to the flat shape shown in the embodiment, but may be shaped as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, for example.

The mounting portion 36 shown in FIG.
It is set to l. The direction of this tilt is set so that when a customer's basket is placed, the opening of the basket 16 tilts toward an empty basket.

In this way, when the opening of the customer's basket is tilted toward the destination of the goods, there is an advantage that the operation of taking out the goods by the checker becomes extremely smooth. Placement section 3 shown in FIG.
7 has a roller conveyor at the bottom, and a roller conveyor 40 on the downstream side. According to this external configuration, since the basket 16 can be moved by sliding on the roller conveyor 40, the basket 16 can be moved on the loading section 3.
This is extremely advantageous when moving from 7.

This effect is especially great when the basket 16 is heavy.

As explained above, according to the present invention, there is provided a first placing section in which a first basket into which a customer has put purchased products is placed, and a second basket placed on the first placing section. A checkout counter has a second placing section on which a second basket is placed, into which each product in the cart is sequentially transferred, and the first placing section or the second placing section is An electronic scale with at least one side serving as a weighing pan is provided. In addition, since a barcode reader for reading the barcode attached to the product is disposed between the first and second placing parts, it is possible to eliminate the need for weighing operations in weighing sales, etc. Barcodes can be read efficiently. Also,
Since the barcode reading surface is not soiled, there is an advantage that barcodes can be read reliably.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the appearance of one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
The figure is a view in the direction of arrow A shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a partially cutaway side view of the same embodiment, FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the electrical configuration of the same embodiment, and FIG. The figure is a flowchart showing the operation of the same embodiment, and Figures 6 and 7 are partially cutaway rear views showing other configurations of the mounting section. 2... Barcode scanner (barcode reader), 11.36.37... Loading section (weighing pan: second loading fi), 14... Load cell% 20...
...CPU. 28...ROM, 29...RAM for group work
(The above 14.20 and 28.29 are electronic scales), 1'6...
...basket (second basket), et, e2...
Area (@1゜second placing section). Applicant Teraoka Seiko Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A first placing section on which a first basket into which the customer has placed purchased products is placed, and a second placing section placed on this placing section @1 into which each item in the first basket is sequentially transferred. 2nd place to place the basket
In a checkout counter having a placing section,
- Equipped with an Ichiko weighing scale in which at least one of the first placing part and the second placing part is a weighing plate; A product data input device characterized by being equipped with a barcode reader that reads barcodes attached to products.