Product distribution equipment and method
First Claim
1. A point-of-sale system comprising, in combination, data entry means for entering data concerning the sale and/or rental of merchandise, means for developing display signals corresponding to said data, display means responsive to said display signals for displaying said data in visual form, and data collection means for receiving said display signals and selecting from said signals those representing predetermined data, and sending said predetermined data to a remote location for processing.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A data collection device and method, particularly for point-of-sale systems used in the sales and rental of merchandise including video records, and more particularly for a revenue-sharing video record rental system. In such a revenue-sharing system, both revenue-sharing records and ordinary merchandise can be sold using the same point-of-sale entry system. Data relating to the sales of rental of records is separated from the other data generated at the point-of-sale terminals by a data capture device, and the separated data is transmitted to a central computer where it is further processed to separate revenue-sharing record data from other record data, compute the shares due the store proprietor and the distributor of the revenue-sharing records, and for the performance of other functions. The data capture device is usable with a very wide variety of current point-of-sale computers and software so that the store owner can participate in the revenue-sharing system without the expense of buying new software compatible with the central computer. A relatively inexpensive, small-footprint data input terminal is provided.
-
Citations
33 Claims
- 1. A point-of-sale system comprising, in combination, data entry means for entering data concerning the sale and/or rental of merchandise, means for developing display signals corresponding to said data, display means responsive to said display signals for displaying said data in visual form, and data collection means for receiving said display signals and selecting from said signals those representing predetermined data, and sending said predetermined data to a remote location for processing.
- 12. A data collection device for selecting predetermined output data signals from output data signal streams created by diverse types of miniature computers, said data collection device comprising data collection means for selecting said predetermined data signals from said data signal streams in response to output data signals for delivery to a visual display device in a form common to said diverse types of miniature computers, and means for transmitting the selected predetermined data signals to a utilization location separate from the destination of said data signal streams.
- 17. A revenue-sharing video record data collection system for collecting data from a plurality of remote video record marketing locations and for transmitting selected portions of said data to a revenue-sharing computer at a computing location, said system comprising, in combination, a point of sale system at each of a plurality of marketing locations, each of said point of sale systems comprising, in combination, data entry means for entering data concerning the sale and/or rental of merchandise, means for developing display signals corresponding to said data, means responsive to said display signals for displaying said data in visual form, and data collection means for receiving said display signals and selecting from said signals those representing predetermined data, and sending predetermined data to said revenue-sharing computer.
- 20. A method of selecting predetermined output data signals from output data signal streams created by diverse types of miniature computers, said method comprising the steps of analyzing the display signals for displaying images using the display means of any one of a plurality of said diverse types of miniature computers, utilizing a circuit device, responsive to data in a single display code used by all of said display signals, for selecting predetermined data from said output data signal streams, and transmitting the selected predetermined data to a utilization location separate from the destination of said data signal streams.
- 26. A method of incorporating local computerized POS systems into a centralized data processing network utilizing a central computer at a data processing station, the programming of said local POS systems being incompatible with the programming of said computer at said data processing station, said method comprising the steps of connecting data tap means into each POS system to analyze display data signals, said data tap means being adapted to segregate predetermined data signals from the others, and transmitting said predetermined data signals to said central computer.
Specification