Automated shopping basket system with accounting and article tracking functions
First Claim
1. A shopping basket with an accounting function, the shopping basket comprising:
- a scanner for reading a code of an article received in the shopping basket;
a calculator counting up each received article in accordance with a predetermined price list and deducting a prices of each article retrieved from the shopping basket;
a writer checking whether or not the code of the article received in or retrieved from the shopping basket is correctly read, and writing an "invalid" mark onto a portion of the article when the code thereof is not read correctly; and
an alarm alerting a shopper to retrieve from the shopping basket the article written with the "invalid" mark while it is being put into the shopping basket, and alerting the shopper to return into the shopping basket the article which is written with the "invalid" mark during its retrieval from the shopping basket.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system for operating shopping basket with an accounting function. Each shopping basket comprises an article registering unit, an accounting control unit (calculator), a display, an alarm, a transmitter, a receiver, and an external memory. The article registering unit includes elements for detecting a moving direction of an article to and from the shopping basket, and elements for reading a status code on the article. The calculator checks a valid/invalid status of articles, registers articles, and performs an accounting operation. The display indicates prices of articles received in the shopping basket, and a sub-total of the articles present therein. The alarm alerts a shopper that a sub-total of articles actually present in the shopping basket does not agree with a sub-total calculated on the basis of identification codes of the articles. The transmitter transmits accounting data of the shopping basket arriving at a cashier'"'"'s counter to the accounting unit. The receiver receives programs and sale information from a host computer. The external memory stores the data received from the host computer.
52 Citations
37 Claims
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1. A shopping basket with an accounting function, the shopping basket comprising:
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a scanner for reading a code of an article received in the shopping basket; a calculator counting up each received article in accordance with a predetermined price list and deducting a prices of each article retrieved from the shopping basket; a writer checking whether or not the code of the article received in or retrieved from the shopping basket is correctly read, and writing an "invalid" mark onto a portion of the article when the code thereof is not read correctly; and an alarm alerting a shopper to retrieve from the shopping basket the article written with the "invalid" mark while it is being put into the shopping basket, and alerting the shopper to return into the shopping basket the article which is written with the "invalid" mark during its retrieval from the shopping basket. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34)
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35. A system for operating shopping baskets with an accounting function, the system comprising an accounting unit including:
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an arrival sensor detecting the arrival of each shopping basket at a cashier'"'"'s counter; a transmitter demanding the shopping basket to transmit accounting data, wherein the accounting data includes information about a number of invalid articles in the shopping basket which were not properly registered by the shopping basket; a receiver receiving the accounting data from the shopping basket; a display indicating data necessary for settling an account; a printer issuing a receipt; a departure sensor detecting the departure of the shopping basket from the cashier'"'"'s counter; a host communication unit transmitting sale information of settled articles to an external host computer; and controls respectively connected to the arrival sensor, transmitter, receiver, display, printer, departure sensor and host transmitter so as to control the operations thereof.
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36. A system for operating shopping baskets with an accounting function, the system comprising an account unit including:
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an arrival sensor detecting the arrival of each shopping basket at a cashier'"'"'s counter; an entrance gate positioned at an entrance of the cashier'"'"'s counter; a transmitter demanding the shopping basket to send accounting data, wherein the accounting data includes information about a number of invalid articles in the shopping basket which were not properly registered by the shopping basket; a receiver receiving the accounting data from the shopping basket; a display indicating accounting data necessary to settle an account; a card reader allowing the account to be settled by a credit or banker'"'"'s card; a printer issuing a receipt for each settled account; a departure sensor detecting the arrival of the shopping basket at an exit of the cashier'"'"'s counter; controls respectively connected to the arrival sensor, entrance gate, transmitter, receiver, display, card reader, printer, departure sensor, exit gate and host communication unit so as to control the operation thereof.
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37. A system for operating shopping baskets with an accounting function, the system comprising showcases, each showcase including:
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an approach sensor detecting an approach of the shopping basket; a transmitter transmitting sale information of articles to the shopping basket; a receiver receiving an alarm from the shopping basket when the shopping basket comes across a problem which prevents a shopping from continuing shopping; a host communication unit notifying of the problem to an external computer and/or receiving article sales information from the external host computer; and controls respectively connected to the approach sensor, transmitter, receiver and host communication unit so as to control the operation thereof.
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Specification