Techniques for assisted self checkout

• US 20110295704A1
• Filed: 05/28/2010
• Published: 12/01/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/28/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NCR Voyix Corporation
• Original Assignee: NCR Corporation (NCR Voyix Corporation)
• Inventors: Edwards, Thomas V.
• Granted Patent: US 9,053,473 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/16
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/00 Payment architectures, schemes or protocols apparatus for performing or posting payment transactions G07F7/08, G07F19/00; electronic cash registers G07G1/12
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/12 specially adapted for electronic shopping systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/18 involving self-service terminals [SST], vending machines, kiosks or multimedia terminals
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/208 Input by product or record sensing, e.g. weighing or scanner processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/322 Aspects of commerce using mobile devices [M-devices]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing
• CPC Class Codes: G07G 1/0054 with control of supplementary check-parameters, e.g. weight or number of articles
• CPC Class Codes: G07G 1/0081 the reader being a portable scanner or data reader G07G1/009 takes precedence

Abstract

Techniques for assisted self checkout are provided. Customers or store personnel use scan devices that are independent of a self-checkout kiosk as they shop in a store to scan goods that are to be purchased. The transactions are independent of any particular checkout terminal. When the customer is ready to checkout, the customer approaches a checkout station and the transaction for the customer is located and recalled. The customer completes payment at the station to end the transaction and exit the store.

Claims

1. A processor-implemented method to execute on a processor configured to execute the method, comprising:

receiving an identifier for a transaction;

acquiring scan details for goods that a customer is purchasing, the scan details received independent of any particular checkout terminal and received at the direction of the customer before the customer checkouts; and

storing the scan details and the identifier until recalled for checkout at a payment terminal.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving further includes obtaining the identifier as a transaction number randomly assigned to the customer via from a pre-established pool of transaction identifiers encoded via a barcode on a paper slip, the token is disposable after checkout or can be reused.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving further includes obtaining the identifier as a customer loyalty number scanned from a loyalty card or manually keyed into a portable input device from the customer.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving further includes obtaining the identifier from a transmitter affixed to a shopping cart that uniquely identifies the shopping cart.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein acquiring further includes receiving an item identifier and a price for an item with each item scanned by the customer or store personnel with the scan details.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein acquiring further includes obtaining the scan details from a portable device acquired at a store by the customer.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein acquiring further includes obtaining the scan details from a cell phone of the customer that scans the goods.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein acquiring further includes:

obtaining the scan details from;

a scanner built into a shopping cart that the customer places the goods into while shopping;

recording of a need to weight items at the checkout terminal; and

/or

support for a standalone item weighing station providing item weights associated with an identity token.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein acquiring further includes removing or deducting select goods from the scan details when re-scanned by the customer along with an indication that the good is not desired by the customer.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein acquiring further includes applying coupons scanned by the customer after verifying each coupon against the goods scanned by the customer.

15. The method of claim 8, wherein determining further includes evaluating the policy based on one or more conditions associated with:

a frequency with which the customer has performed self-checkouts before, a loyalty level assigned to the customer, specific goods identified in the scan details of the transaction, a total number of the goods identified in the scan details, a total value of a sum of the goods identified in the scan details, a customer traffic metric for a store having the checkout terminal when the customer checks out at the checkout terminal, a time of day that the customer is attempting to check out, a random instruction automatically generated to perform the audit, and a calendar day that the customer is attempting to check out.

11. A processor-implemented method to execute on a processor configured to execute the method, comprising:

receiving a transaction identifier acquired from a customer at a checkout terminal;

locating scan details for a transaction identified by the transaction identifier, the scan details located independent of the checkout terminal and recorded at the direction of the customer prior to reaching the checkout terminal; and

determining whether to audit goods in a shopping cart or in possession of the customer at the checkout terminal based on evaluation of a policy.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein receiving further includes acquiring the transaction identifier by one of:

automatically scanning a cart identifier having the goods of the customer as the cart passes in front of a scanner;

scanning a customer loyalty card interfaced to the scanner by the customer at the checkout terminal;

obtaining input identifying information keyed into the checkout terminal by the customer, the identifying information associated with the transaction identifier; and

automatically communicating with a portable device of the customer that the customer used to scan the scan details to acquire the transaction identifier.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein locating further includes acquiring the scan details from a remote server that interactively recorded the scan details at the direction of a portable device used by the customer.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein locating further includes acquiring the scan details in an encrypted format from a portable device of the customer, the portable device used by the customer to record the scan details.

16. The method of claim 11 further comprising, performing the audit to ensure the goods in the possession of the customer at the checkout terminal are properly identified in the scan details.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein performing further includes one or more of:

instructing the customer to rescan the goods in possession of the customer at the checkout terminal using a scanner of the checkout terminal;

instructing the customer to place the goods on a scale to weigh the goods and compare a weight for the goods against an expected weight in view of scan details;

instructing the customer to place a cart having the goods onto the scale to compare the weight for the goods calibrated for a cart weight against the expected weight;

instructing the customer to wait for store personnel to manually verify the goods in possession of the customer at the checkout terminal;

automatically taking one or more images of the goods and performing pattern matching and scoring on the images to detect whether some goods not identified in the scan details appear to be in the possession of the customer;

performing the audit by store personnel based on validation of a quantity of items or by rescanning some or all of the items in the transaction or a combination thereof.

18. The method of claim 11 further comprising, receiving payment from the customer via the checkout terminal to conclude the transaction.

19. A scanner, comprising:

an entry mechanism; and

a communication mechanism;

wherein the entry mechanism is configured to be operated by a customer or store personnel within a store to initiate a transaction that is independent of any particular checkout terminal and the entry mechanism further configured to record scan details for goods that the customer plans to purchase at a checkout terminal before concluding the transaction, the communication mechanism configured to communicate a transaction identifier for the transaction and the scan details to the checkout terminal and/or to a remote server that subsequently is queried by the checkout terminal with the transaction identifier to obtain the scan details at checkout by the customer, wherein the scan details include at a minimum an item code for a particular good used to identify that particular good to a store'"'"'s sales system, other scan details include one or more of;

item description, price, discounts or loyalty points earned, food stamp eligible, and/or totals due by the customer.

20. The scanner of claim 19, wherein the scanner is one of:

a cell phone of the customer, a portable device supplied by the store to the customer, a shopping cart having the scanner integrated therein; and

one of many standalone scanner units placed throughout the store for access by the customer and other customers and each good scanned includes the transaction identifier for the transaction being monitored at the standalone scanner units.