On-demand point-of-sale scanner access

• US 20060266825A1
• Filed: 05/27/2005
• Published: 11/30/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 05/27/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions Holdings Corporation (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Do, Phuc K., Pierce, Justin M.
• Granted Patent: US 7,389,934 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/383
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 17/0022 arrangements or provisions for transferring data to distant stations, e.g. from a sensing device "transfer between computer elements G06F13/00 "; data-transmission H04L
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/4014 Identity check for transactions

Abstract

Associating and/or disassociating a mobile point-of-sale scanner device with a particular shopper. Shoppers may be identified, for example, using biometrics or by scanning a loyalty card. As an example of using biometrics, the shopper'"'"'s fingerprint may be scanned as a trigger of the scanner is activated to scan an item'"'"'s barcode. The fingerprint is preferably transmitted, along with the scanned barcode, to a server or other device for comparison to previously-stored information. The scanner is then automatically associated with the shopper to whom the fingerprint corresponds. In another embodiment, scanned loyalty card information is preferably transmitted (optionally, along with a scanned barcode), such that the scanner is then automatically associated with the shopper to whom the loyalty card corresponds. Disassociating the scanner from a shopper is preferably triggered using a sensor (such as a light) that forms part of the scanner device, whereby the sensor is activated when the shopper releases the scanner device. A timer may be used to filter out accidental activation of the sensor.

Claims

1. A method of automatically associating a scanner device with a user, comprising steps of:

capturing, by a scanner device configured with a biometric sensor, biometric information of a user; and

scanning, by the scanner device, item-identifying information of an item, such that the captured biometric information and the scanned item-identifying information can be transmitted to a computing device adapted for comparing the captured biometric information to previously-stored biometric information to identify the user and thereby automatically associating the scanner device with the identified user, such that the item for which the item-identifying information was scanned is also associated with the user.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of adding the item for which the item-identifying information was scanned to a virtual shopping cart associated with the user.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the capturing step is automatically invoked when the user picks up the scanning device.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the capturing step is automatically invoked when the user makes contact with the biometric sensor.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein:

the scanner device is configured with a trigger portion;

the biometric sensor is located in the trigger portion; and

the capturing step is automatically invoked when the user presses the triggering portion.

6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

receiving, at the computing device, the captured biometric information and the scanned item-identifying information;

comparing the received biometric information to the previously-stored biometric information, thereby identifying the user; and

automatically associating the scanner device with the user, responsive to the comparing step, such that any items subsequently scanned while the scanner device remains associated with the user are also automatically associated with the user.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the scanner device remains associated with the identified user until an automatic disassociation occurs.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the automatic disassociation occurs when the user activates a sensor of the scanner device.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the scanner device is configured such that the sensor is activated when the user no longer maintains physical contact with the scanner device.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the sensor is a light that remains covered while the user maintains the physical contact with the scanner device.

11. The method according to claim 8, wherein a disassociation timer is used to programmatically ignore accidental activation of the sensor, thereby preventing the automatic disassociation.

12. A method of automatically associating a scanner device with a user, comprising steps of:

capturing, by a scanner device, loyalty card information by scanning a loyalty card of a user, such that the captured loyalty card information can be transmitted to a computing device adapted for comparing the captured loyalty card information to previously-stored loyalty card information to identify the user and thereby automatically associating the scanner device with the identified user; and

automatically disassociating the scanner device from the user when the user no longer maintains physical contact with the scanner device.

13. The method according to claim 12, further comprising the steps of:

scanning, by the scanner device, item-identifying information of at least one item; and

transmitting the scanned item-identifying information to the computing device, such that the item for which the item-identifying information was scanned can be added to a virtual shopping cart associated with the user.

14. The method according to claim 12, further comprising the steps of:

receiving, at the computing device, the captured loyalty card information;

comparing the received loyalty card information to the previously-stored loyalty card information, thereby identifying the user; and

automatically associating the scanner device with the user, responsive to the comparing step, such that any items subsequently scanned while the scanner device remains associated with the user are also automatically associated with the user.

15. The method according to claim 12, wherein the scanner device remains associated with the identified user until the automatic disassociation occurs.

16. The method according to claim 12, wherein a sensor detects when the user no longer maintains the physical contact with the scanner device.

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein the sensor is located in a portion of the scanner device by which the user holds the scanner device.

18. The method according to claim 12, wherein a disassociation timer is used to programmatically ignore accidental loss of the physical contact, thereby preventing the automatic disassociation upon the accidental loss.

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein the disassociation timer ticks for a user-specific length of time.

20. The method according to claim 18, wherein the disassociation timer ticks for a length of time set by a manufacturer of the scanner device.

21. The method according to claim 18, wherein the automatic disassociation is programmatically ignored if the scanner device scans item-identifying information of another item while the disassociation timer is ticking.

22. A method of automatically disassociating a scanner device from a user, comprising steps of:

automatically associating a scanner device with a particular user upon matching identifying information of the particular user, captured by the scanner device, with previously-stored identifying information of a plurality of users;

adding items scanned by the scanner device to a shopping cart of the particular user while the scanner device remains associated with the particular user; and

upon a detection, by a sensor of the scanner device, that the particular user is no longer in physical contact with the scanner device, automatically disassociating the scanner device from the particular user.

23. The method according to claim 22, wherein the identifying information of the particular user is biometric information of the particular user.

24. The method according to claim 23, wherein the biometric information is a fingerprint of the particular user.

25. The method according to claim 22, wherein the identifying information of the particular user is loyalty card information scanned from a loyalty card of the particular user.

26. A scanner device adapted for automatic association with a user, the scanner device comprising:

a biometric sensor for obtaining biometric information of a user;

an item scanner portion for scanning item-identifying information of an item; and

a transmitter adapted for transmitting the obtained biometric information to a computing device for comparing the transmitted biometric information to previously-stored biometric information to identify the user and thereby automatically associate the scanner device with the user and for transmitting the item-identifying information to the computing device.

27. The scanner device according to claim 26, further comprising a sensor for detecting when the user no longer maintains contact with the scanner device, and wherein the association of the scanner device with the user is automatically disassociated when the sensor detects that the user no longer maintains the contact.

28. A computer program product for associating a scanner device with a user, the computer program product comprising computer-readable code embodied on one or more computer-usable media, the computer-readable code comprising instructions that when executed on a computer cause the computer to:

receive, from a scanner device, biometric information of a user and item-identifying information of an item, the biometric information captured with a biometric sensor of the scanner device and the item-identifying information captured with an item scanning portion of the scanner device;

compare the received biometric information to previously-stored biometric information and thereby identify the user;

automatically associate the scanner device with the identified user; and

add the item to a shopping list of the user.

29. The computer program product according to claim 28, the computer-readable code further comprising instructions that when executed on a computer cause the computer to:

continue adding items to the shopping list of the user, upon receiving item-identifying information thereof from the scanner device, until the scanner device is disassociated from the user.

30. The computer program product according to claim 29, wherein the scanner device is disassociated from the user upon receiving, from the scanner device, notification that the shopper no longer maintains physical contact with the scanner device.