WEIGHING DEVICE

• US 20130126248A1
• Filed: 11/09/2012
• Published: 05/23/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/18/2011
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Ishida Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Ishida Company Limited
• Inventors: YAMAGUCHI, Yasushi, TSUGAWA, Tono, OTA, Koichi, AOYAMA, Kengo, MATSUURA, Tamaki, ISHIBASHI, Tsuyoshi, TANAKA, Masatsugu
• Application Number:
  US13/672,873
• Publication Number:
  US 20130126248A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 177/3
• CPC Class Codes: G01G 19/4144 for controlling weight of goods in commercial establishments, e.g. supermarket, P.O.S. systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01G 19/415 combined with recording means
• CPC Class Codes: G01G 23/16 electrically or magnetically operated
• CPC Class Codes: G07G 1/0072 with means for detecting the weight of the article of which the code is read, for the verification of the registration weighing combined with recording means, e.g. in weighing scale, G01G19/415

Abstract

A weighing device includes a weighing unit, a camera, an identifying unit, a product weight calculation unit, a label printer unit, a person sensor and a shopper-side notification unit. The weighing unit measures weight of a container and a product therein selected by a shopper to produce a weight value. The camera detects the size of the container. The identifying unit identifies the container based on size. The product weight calculation unit subtracts weight of the identified container from the weight value to calculate the weight of a product. The label printer unit prints a label displaying the price of the product based on the weight of the product. The person sensor detects whether or not the shopper is present at the weighing device. The shopper-side notification unit guides the shopper through purchasing and label printing in response to the person sensor detecting the presence of the shopper.

Claims

1. A self-service weighing device for weighing a product placed by a shopper into a container, the product and the container being selected by the shopper, the self-service weighing device comprising:

a weighing unit receiving the container and the product placed thereon by the shopper, the weighing unit measuring the weight of the container and the product producing a weight value;

a container detector unit detecting the size of the container;

an identifying unit identifying the container selected by the shopper based on the size of the container detected by the container detector;

a calculation unit subtracting the weight of the container identified by the identifying unit from the weight value and calculating the weight of the product;

a printer unit printing a label displaying the price of the product based on the weight of the product;

a person detector unit detecting whether or not the shopper is present in the vicinity of the weighing device; and

a shopper-side notification unit for guiding the shopper, using visual and audio representation, through a purchasing procedure, including operating the printer unit so as to print the label and attaching the label to the container, in response to the person detector unit detecting the presence of the shopper.

2. The weighing device according to claim 1, further comprising:

a movement detector unit detecting movement of the attaching of the label.

3. The weighing device according to claims 1, further comprising:

a store-side notification unit notifying a store employee in response to the person detector unit detecting the presence of the shopper using the weighing unit for at least a predetermined length of time or longer.

4. The weighing device according to claim 1, wherein:

the shopper-side notification unit notifies the shopper, using visual and audio representation, of the difference between the weight calculated for the product and a lower per unit weight price available for the product, in response to the shopper-side notification unit determining that a lower per unit weight price of the product is available.

5. A self-service weighing device for weighing a product placed by a shopper into a container selected by the shopper, the device comprising:

a weighing unit receiving the container and the product placed thereon by the shopper, the weighing unit measuring the weight of the container and the product producing a weight value;

a calculation unit subtracting the weight of the container from the weight value and calculating the weight of the product;

a printer unit printing a label displaying the price of the product based on the weight of the product;

a person detector unit detecting whether or not the shopper is present in the vicinity of the weighing device; and

a shopper-side notification unit guiding the shopper, using visual and audio representation, through a purchasing procedure, including operating the printer unit so as to print the label and attach the label to the container in response to the person detector unit detecting the presence of the shopper, and in response to the shopper-side notification unit detecting that the shopper has left the vicinity of the weighing device, and detecting that there is a label is remaining in the printer unit, the shopper-side notification unit producing a notification notifying the shopper that the shopper has forgot to take the label.

6. The weighing device according to claim 5, further comprising:

a container detector unit detecting the size of the container; and

an identifying unit identifying the container selected by the shopper based on the size of the detected container;

the calculating unit subtracting the weight of the identified container from the weight value and calculating the weight of the product.

7. The weighing device according to claim 5, further comprising:

a movement detector unit detecting movement of the attaching of the label.

8. The weighing device according to claim 7, wherein

the movement detector unit detecting the weight of the container and product based on whether the movement of the attaching of the label was performed with the container and product having been taken off the weighing unit;

and

the movement detector unit detecting movement corresponding to the attaching of the label indicating that the attaching was performed with the container and product having been taken off the weighing unit, the shopper-side notification unit notifying the shopper that the container and the product must be reweighted using visual and audio representation.

9. The weighing device according to claims 5, further comprising:

a store-side notification unit notifying a store employee in response to the person detector unit detecting the presence of the shopper using the weighing unit for at least a predetermined length of time or longer.

10. The weighing device according to claim 5, wherein:

the shopper-side notification unit notifies the shopper, using visual and audio representation, of the difference between the weight calculated for the product and a lower per unit weight price available for the product, in response to the shopper-side notification unit determining that a lower per unit weight price of the product is available.

11. The weighing device according to claim 7, further comprising:

a communication unit communicating with at least one of a server and a register terminal, the at least one server storing a variety of information related to the product and the register terminal calculating the amount to be charged to the shopper, the communication unit transmitting label-related information and the results of the detection performed by the movement detector unit to the server and/or the register terminal as grasping information for grasping the incidence of an improper action made by the shopper.

12. The weighing device according to claim 9, further comprising:

a movement detector unit detecting movement of the attaching of the label.

13. The weighing device according to claim 10, further comprising:

a movement detector unit detecting movement of the attaching of the label.

14. The weighing device according to claim 5, further comprising:

a store-side notification unit notifying a store employee in response to the person detector unit detecting the presence of the shopper using the weighing unit for at least a predetermined length of time or longer.

15. The weighing device according to claim 9, further comprising:

a store-side notification unit notifying a store employee in response to the person detector unit detecting the presence of the shopper using the weighing unit for at least a predetermined length of time or longer.

16. The weighing device according to claim 10, further comprising:

a store-side notification unit notifying a store employee in response to the person detector unit detecting the presence of the shopper using the weighing unit for at least a predetermined length of time or longer.

17. The weighing device according to claim 11, further comprising:

a store-side notification unit notifying a store employee in response to the person detector unit detecting the presence of the shopper using the weighing unit for at least a predetermined length of time or longer.