Self-checkout, point-of-transaction system including deactivatable electro-optically coded surveillance tags

• US 5,594,228 A
• Filed: 07/27/1992
• Issued: 01/14/1997
• Est. Priority Date: 08/25/1988
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Symbol Technologies, Inc. (Zebra Technologies Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Symbol Technologies, Inc. (Zebra Technologies Corporation)
• Inventors: Tracy, William, Swartz, Jerome
• Primary Examiner(s): Hajec, Donald T.
• Assistant Examiner(s): TREMBLAY, MARK STEPHEN
• Application Number:
  US07/919,410
• Time in Patent Office: 1,632 Days
• Field of Search: 340/551, 340/572, 70/57.1, 235/375, 235/380, 235/383, 235/462
• US Class Current: 235/383
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 2207/1011 Aiming
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10 by electromagnetic radiation, e.g. optical sensing; by corpuscular radiation
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10861 sensing of data fields affixed to objects or articles, e.g. coded labels postal sorting B07C3/14, conveying articles B65G47/48
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10881 constructional details of hand-held scanners
• CPC Class Codes: G07G 1/0045 with a code reader for reading of an identifying code of the article to be registered, e.g. barcode reader or radio-frequency identity [RFID] reader
• CPC Class Codes: G07G 1/0054 with control of supplementary check-parameters, e.g. weight or number of articles
• CPC Class Codes: G07G 3/003 Anti-theft control theft alarms G08B13/00
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/242 Tag deactivation
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/246 Check out systems combined with EAS, e.g. price information stored on EAS tag anti-theft systems in point of sale systems G07G3/003
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/248 EAS system combined with another detection technology, e.g. dual EAS and video or other presence detection system
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/2482 EAS methods, e.g. description of flow chart of the detection procedure
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 70/5004 For antitheft signaling device on protected article

Abstract

A self-check apparatus is provided for processing a sales transaction of an article having an attached surveillance tag, each attached surveillance tag bearing a coded indicia such as a bar code. The self-checkout apparatus stores an indication of the articles which have been selected for purchase. When the surveillance tag is presented to the apparatus for deactivation, the bar code on the tag is scanned, and a check is made to verify that the surveillance tag is attached to an article which has been selected for purchase, and provided such verification is made, the surveillance tag is deactivated.

Claims

1. A self-checkout apparatus for processing a sales transaction of an article selected from a plurality of articles, each of the plurality of articles having an associated first coded indicia and an attached surveillance tag, each surveillance tag having an activated state and a deactivated state, each of the surveillance tags bearing a second coded indicia and being initially in an activated state, the self-checkout apparatus defining a deactivating region in space in which a surveillance tag may be positioned in order to change the surveillance tag from an activated state into a deactivated state, the apparatus comprising:

a) means for reading coded indicia for reading said first coded indicia of an article selected for purchase from said plurality of articles and for generating a purchase signal indicative of the identity of said article selected for purchase, said means for reading coded indicia also arranged to read the second coded indicia on said surveillance tag positioned in said deactivation region and forming a first signal indicative of the second coded indicia on said surveillance tag placed in said deactivation region;

b) means for verifying, on the bases of the purchase signal and the first signal, whether said surveillance tag positioned in said deactivation region is associated with the article selected for purchase and for forming a positive verification signal when the surveillance tag positioned in said deactivation region is associated with the article selected for purchase; and

c) means for deactivating said surveillance tag attached to said article when the surveillance tag is positioned in the deactivation region and when a positive verification signal is obtained.

2. The apparatus in accordance with claim 1, wherein said first coded indicia associated with each of the plurality of articles is the same value as the second coded indicia on the respective surveillance tag attached to each of the plurality of articles.

3. The apparatus in accordance with claim 2, wherein the second coded indicia is on a hanger tag which is attached to the article.

4. The apparatus in accordance with claim 1 further including means for effecting the sale of the article identified to be purchased.

5. The apparatus in accordance with claim 4 further including means for reading a credit card and forming a credit card data signal representative of the identity of the credit card, wherein said credit card is utilized for purchasing the articles identified to be purchased.

6. The apparatus in accordance with claim 5 further including communicating means for communicating at least a portion of said credit card data signal to a remote database which has stored therein credit information relating to the credit card read by the means for reading the credit card.

7. The apparatus in accordance with claim 4, wherein said means for effecting the sale includes a smart card reader for reading credit information contained in the smart card and means for debiting the smart card.

8. The apparatus in accordance with claim 1, wherein said means for reading coded indicia includes:

means for generating a light beam directed toward the coded indicia; and

means for receiving reflected light from the coded indicia to produce electrical signals corresponding to data represented by the coded indicia.

9. The apparatus in accordance with claim 1, wherein said deactivating means comprises means for deactivating a magnetic medium in said surveillance.

10. The apparatus in accordance with claim 1, wherein said deactivating means comprises an antenna for generating an electromagnetic field in said deactivating region which functions to deactivate said tag by inductive coupling.

11. The apparatus in accordance with claim 1, wherein said deactivating means comprises means for generating a laser light beam which functions to deactivate said tag by changing the state of a semiconductor component disposed in said tag in the path of said laser beam.

12. The apparatus in accordance with claim 1, wherein said predetermined deactivating region is arranged to accommodate only one of the plurality of surveillance tags at a given time.

13. The apparatus in accordance with claim 1 wherein the means for verifying includes;

a database for storing descriptive data for each of the plurality of articles;

first means for extracting the descriptive data for the article attached to the surveillance tag which is positioned in the deactivating region on the basis of the first signal;

second means for extracting the descriptive data for the selected article on the basis of the purchase signal, wherein the verifying means compares the descriptive data extracted by the first and second means for extracting and forms the positive verification signal when the descriptive data extracted by the first and second means for extracting are the same.

14. The apparatus in accordance with claim 13 wherein said descriptive data for each of the plurality of articles includes a name for the article and a price for the article.

15. The apparatus in accordance with claim 1, wherein the surveillance tag bearing the second coded indicia includes:

a. memory means for storing data representative of the second coded indicia;

b. display means responsive to the contents of the memory means for displaying the second coded indicia.

16. The apparatus in accordance with claim 15, wherein the display means is a liquid crystal display (LCD).

17. A self-checkout system for processing a sales transaction of an article selected from a plurality of articles, comprising:

A. a plurality of surveillance tags, each of the surveillance tags being attached to one of a plurality of articles, each of the plurality of articles having an associated first coded indicia, each surveillance tag having an activated state and a deactivated state, each of the surveillance tags bearing a second coded indicia and being initially in an activated state;

B. a self-checkout apparatus defining a deactivating region in space in which a surveillance tag may be positioned in order to change the surveillance tag from an activated state into a deactivated state, the apparatus comprising;

a) means for reading coded indicia for reading said first coded indicia of an article selected for purchase from said plurality of articles and for generating a purchase signal indicative of the identity of said article selected for purchase, said means for reading coded indicia also arranged to read the second coded indicia on said surveillance tag positioned in said deactivation region and forming a first signal indicative of the second coded indicia on said surveillance tag placed in said deactivation region;

b) means for verifying, on the bases of the purchase signal and the first signal, whether said surveillance tag positioned in said deactivation region is associated with the article selected for purchase; and

for forming a positive verification signal when the surveillance tag positioned in said deactivation region is associated with the article selected for purchase; and

c) means for deactivating said surveillance tag attached to said article when the surveillance tag is positioned in the deactivation region and when a positive verification signal is obtained.

18. The self-checkout system in accordance with claim 17, wherein said first coded indicia associated with each of the plurality of articles is the same value as the second coded indicia on the respective surveillance tag attached to each of the plurality of articles.

19. The self-checkout system in accordance with claim 17, wherein the second coded indicia is on a hanger tag which is attached to the article.

20. The self-checkout system in accordance with claim 17 further including means for effecting the sale of the article identified to be purchased.

21. The self-checkout system in accordance with claim 20 further including means for reading a credit card and forming a credit card data signal representative of the identity of the credit card wherein said credit card is utilized for purchasing the articles identified to be purchased.

22. The self-checkout system in accordance with claim 21 further including communicating means for communicating at least a portion of said credit card data signal to a remote database which has stored therein credit information relating to the credit card read by the means for reading the credit card.

23. The self-checkout system in accordance with claim 20, wherein said means for effecting the sale includes a smart card reader for reading credit information contained in the smart card and means for debiting the smart card.

24. The self-checkout system in accordance with claim 17, wherein said means for reading coded indicia includes:

means for generating a light beam directed toward the coded indicia; and

means for receiving reflected light from the coded indicia to produce electrical signals corresponding to data represented by the coded indicia.

25. The self-checkout system in accordance with claim 17, wherein said deactivating means comprises means for deactivating a magnetic medium in said surveillance.

26. The self-checkout system in accordance with claim 17, wherein said deactivating means comprises an antenna for generating an electromagnetic field in said deactivating region which functions to deactivate said tag by inductive coupling.

27. The self-checkout system in accordance with claim 17, wherein said deactivating means comprises means for generating a laser light beam which functions to deactivate said tag by changing the state of a semiconductor component disposed in said tag in the path of said laser beam.

28. The self-checkout system in accordance with claim 17, wherein said predetermined deactivating region is arranged to accommodate only one of the plurality of surveillance tags at a given time.

29. The self-checkout system in accordance with claim 17 wherein the means for verifying includes;

a database for storing descriptive data for each of the plurality of articles;

first means for extracting the descriptive data for the article attached to the surveillance tag which is positioned in the deactivating region on the basis of the first signal;

second means for extracting the descriptive data for the selected article on the basis of the purchase signal, wherein the verifying means compares the descriptive data extracted by the first and second means for extracting and forms the positive verification signal when the descriptive data extracted by the first and second means for extracting are the same.

30. The self-checkout system in accordance with claim 29 wherein said descriptive data for each of the plurality of articles includes a name for the article and a price for the article.

31. The self-checkout system in accordance with claim 17 wherein the means for verifying includes;

a database for storing descriptive data for each of the plurality of articles;

first means for extracting the descriptive data for the article attached to the surveillance tag which is positioned in the deactivating region on the basis of the first signal;

second means for extracting the descriptive data for the selected article on the basis of the second signal, wherein the verifying means compares the descriptive data extracted by the first and second means for extracting and forms the positive verification signal when the descriptive data extracted by the first and second means for extracting are the same.

32. The self-checkout system in accordance with claim 31 wherein said descriptive data for each of the plurality of articles includes a name for the article and a price for the article.

33. A system in accordance with claim 17, wherein said means for reading and said means for deactivating the surveillance tag are attached a shopping cart.

34. A method for deactivating, within a defined deactivation region in space a surveillance tag which is attached to an article which has been selected for purchase the article has associated therewith a first coded indicia, the surveillance tag having an activated state and a deactivated state, the surveillance tag initially having an activated state, the surveillance tags bearing a second coded indicia, the method comprising the steps of:

selecting an article to be purchased by scanning the first coded indicia associated wit a the article to be purchased and generating a first signal representative of the first coded indicia;

placing the surveillance tags in the deactivation region;

reading the second coded indicia on the surveillance tag and forming a second signal representative of the second coded indicia of the surveillance tags;

verifying based on the signal representative of the first signal and the second signal whether the surveillance tag is attached to an article which has been selected for purchase, and forming a positive verification signal when it is verified that the surveillance tag is attached to an article which has been selected for purchase; and

deactivating the selected one of the surveillance tags, responsive to the positive verification signal.

35. A system in accordance with claim 34, further including the step of effecting the sale of the article identified for purchase.

36. The apparatus in accordance with claim 35, wherein said step of effecting the sale of the article identified for purchase includes the step of reading a credit card and forming a credit card data signal representative of the identity of the credit card, wherein said credit card is utilized for purchasing the articles identified to be purchased.

37. The apparatus in accordance with claim 36, wherein said step of effecting the sale of the article further includes the step of communicating at least a portion of said credit card data signal to a remote database which has stored therein credit information relating to the credit card read by the means for reading the credit card.

38. The apparatus in accordance with claim 35, wherein said step of effecting the sale of the article includes reading the contents of a smart card and debiting the smart card.

39. The apparatus in accordance with claim 34, wherein said step of reading coded indicia includes:

generating a light beam directed toward the coded indicia on the selected one of the surveillance tags; and

receiving reflected light from the coded indicia and producing electrical signals corresponding to data represented by the coded indicia.

40. The apparatus in accordance with claim 34, wherein said step of deactivating includes the step of deactivating a magnetic medium in said tag.

41. The apparatus in accordance with claim 34, wherein said step of deactivating includes the step of generating an electromagnetic field which functions to deactivate said tag by inductive coupling.

42. The apparatus in accordance with claim 34, wherein said step of deactivating includes the step of generating a laser light beam which functions to deactivate said tag by changing the state of a semiconductor component disposed in said tag in the path of said laser beam.