Radio Frequency Identification System for Inventory Handling, Tracking, and Checkout

• US 20090145965A1
• Filed: 12/07/2007
• Published: 06/11/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/07/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions Holdings Corporation (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Dolye, Timothy Clay, Davis, Brian Jeffrey, McCormack, Todd Donald
• Granted Patent: US 8,448,857 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/383
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0603 Catalogue ordering
• CPC Class Codes: G07G 1/0009 Details of the software in the checkout register, electronic cash register [ECR] or point of sale terminal [POS]

Abstract

One embodiment provides a method of handling for-sale items while shopping at a brick-and-mortar store, including inventorying, tracking, and scanning the for-sale items at checkout. Customers select and bag items while they shop. Each item includes an RFID tag uniquely identifying the item or category of item. The customer brings the shopping cart to an unloading zone of a checkout station. Another, empty shopping cart is positioned in an unloading zone. The customer may receive electronic guidance in positioning the shopping carts. As the customer moves the bags from the shopping cart in the unloading zone to the shopping cart in the loading zone, the bags are scanned by the RFID scanner without removing the items from the bags. Redundant RFID scanners may be provided to increase reliability, and a UPC scanner may be provided as a backup. The shopping carts at the loading zone and unloading zone may be weighed and the weights compared, to guard against possible theft of goods.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

providing a plurality of for-sale items in a brick-and-mortar store;

applying a remotely machine-readable identification tag to each item, wherein each identification tag uniquely identifies the item or category of item to which the identification tag is applied;

providing a plurality of shopping bags to a customer, the customer selecting some of the for-sale items, placing one or more of the selected items in each shopping bag, and transporting the filled shopping bags in a first shopping cart to a checkout station;

positioning the first shopping cart at an unloading zone at the checkout station and positioning a second shopping cart at a loading zone at the checkout station;

moving the filled shopping bags from the first shopping cart to the second shopping cart and using at least one tag-reading machine to remotely machine-read all of the identification tags in each shopping bag being moved to the second shopping cart without removing the items from the shopping bag; and

identifying each item having an identification tag in response to the machine-reading.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the identification tags comprise RFID tags and the step of remotely machine-reading the identification tags in the shopping bag comprises using an RFID scanner to read the RFID tags.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising computing one or more of the quantity of for-sale items in each filled shopping bag, the price of each item in the filled shopping bags, the total price for all of the items in the filled shopping bags, and the number of filled shopping bags.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising removably fastening the shopping bags to the first shopping cart prior to the customer selecting some of the for-sale items and placing the selected items in each shopping bag.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the tag-reading machine is positioned between the loading zone and the unloading zone, such that the bags are passed in proximity to the tag-reading machine as the bags are moved from the first shopping cart to the second shopping cart.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting when the first shopping cart is in proximity to the unloading zone as the first shopping cart is transported to the checkout station; and

electronically, visually or audibly guiding the customer in moving the first shopping cart to the unloading zone.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting when the first shopping cart is in the unloading zone and, in response, automatically locking the first shopping cart in place until all of the filled bags have been moved from the first shopping cart to the second shopping cart.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

removing the second shopping cart from the loading zone after all of the filled bags have been moved from the first shopping cart to the second shopping cart;

moving the first shopping cart from the unloading zone to the loading zone after the second shopping cart has been removed from the loading zone;

another customer moving a third shopping cart containing one or more other customer-filled shopping bags to the unloading zone after the first shopping cart has been moved to the loading zone; and

moving the filled shopping bags from the third shopping cart to the first shopping cart and using the tag-reading machine to remotely machine-read all of the identification tags in each shopping bag being moved to the first shopping cart without removing the items from the shopping bag, and identifying each item having an identification tag in response to the machine-reading.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

weighing the first shopping cart at the unloading zone prior to moving the filled shopping bags from the first shopping cart to the second shopping cart;

weighing the second shopping cart after the filled shopping bags have been moved from the first shopping cart to the second shopping cart; and

generating an alert in response to determining the actual weight of the second shopping cart does not equal an expected weight of the second shopping cart after all of the items have been moved from the first shopping cart to the second shopping cart.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

locking the second shopping cart in the loading zone; and

unlocking the second shopping cart only if the weight gained by the second shopping due to receiving the filled shopping bags is substantially equal to the weight loss of the first shopping cart due to removal of the filled shopping bags.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

using a plurality of tag-reading machines positioned at different locations at the checkout station to collectively, remotely machine-read all of the identification tags in each shopping bag being moved to the second shopping cart without removing the items from the shopping bag.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

using each of the plurality of tag-reading machines to obtain a list of tagged items in each shopping bag, comparing the lists obtained by the tag-reading machines for each bag, and identifying any discrepancies between the lists of tagged items in each shopping bag.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

reporting the contents of each filled bag as the union of all of the lists obtained for that bag.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

the customer selecting a first set of for-sale items having RFID tags and placing the first set in the shopping bags and the customer selecting a second set of items having UPC labels and no RFID tags and placing the second set in the first shopping cart without placing the second set into the shopping bags;

providing a UPC scanner and an RFID scanner at the checkout station; and

using the RFID scanner to remotely machine-read all of the RFID tags in the selected first set of for-sale items, and using the UPC scanner to read the UPC labels provided with the second set of for-sale items.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing untagged for-sale items that do not have an identification tag; and

providing containers for the untagged items and a tag-making machine for tagging the containers, the customer placing the untagged items in the container and creating a tag using the tag-making machine for the container that identifies the contents of the untagged items in the container.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

releasably securing a plurality of the shopping bags along a perimeter of the first shopping cart prior to the customer selecting some of the for-sale items and placing one or more of the selected items in each shopping bag.