Method and apparatus for acquiring demographic information
First Claim
1. A method for acquiring demographic data about a purchaser selecting a product, said product having an identification, said method comprising the steps of:
- determining said identification of said product upon selection of said product by said purchaser for purchase;
recording said identification as identification data;
making an assessment regarding demographic information about said purchaser;
recording said assessment as demographic data; and
associating said demographic data with said identification data.
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Abstract
The invention is an apparatus and method for acquiring demographic data at the point of sale. In a preferred embodiment, the apparatus includes use of a bar code scanner for two purposes: identification of the product by reading the bar code it carries and for scanning bar-coded demographic selections corresponding to assessments of demographic information made by the sales clerk about the purchaser. The selections are printed onto a chart in words and associated bar code and kept at the check out counter for scanning when the goods are purchased. The two components of data: product identification data and demographic data are associated with each other and stored by a computer until transmitted for evaluation. In an embodiment alternative to the dual use of a scanner, a key pad can be used to make the demographic selections and input them to the computer along with the product identification data.
138 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method for acquiring demographic data about a purchaser selecting a product, said product having an identification, said method comprising the steps of:
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determining said identification of said product upon selection of said product by said purchaser for purchase; recording said identification as identification data; making an assessment regarding demographic information about said purchaser; recording said assessment as demographic data; and associating said demographic data with said identification data. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method for acquiring demographic data about a purchaser selecting a product, said product having an identification code, said method comprising the steps of:
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reading said identification code of said product upon selection of said product by said purchaser for purchase so that an electrical signal related to said product code is generated; recording said identification code as identification data; making an assessment regarding demographic information about said purchaser; selecting a demographic code from a set of demographic codes, each demographic code of said set of demographic codes corresponding to one selection from a set of selections of assessments of demographic data, said selected demographic code corresponding to said assessed demographic information of said purchaser; generating a signal related to said selected demographic code; and associating said demographic data with said identification data; and storing said associated demographic and identification data. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. Apparatus for acquiring demographic data about a purchaser selecting a product, said product having a product identification code, said apparatus comprising:
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means for reading said identification code, said reading means producing a first output signal; means for making a selection of demographic data from a set of selections of demographic data said making means producing a second output signal; and means for storing said first and said second output signals in association with each other. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification