Purchased commodity accommodating and transporting apparatus having self scanning function and POS system

• US 5,898,158 A
• Filed: 07/12/1994
• Issued: 04/27/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 11/18/1993
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Fujitsu Frontech Limited (Fujitsu Limited), Fujitsu Limited
• Original Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Inventors: Sakai, Kazuhito, Kikuchi, Kaoru, Shimizu, Chizu, Terada, Kyouko, Suzuki, Chizuo
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Michael G.
• Application Number:
  US08/274,041
• Time in Patent Office: 1,750 Days
• Field of Search: 235/383, 235/385, 235/375, 186/61, 186/62
• US Class Current: 235/383
• CPC Class Codes: G01G 19/4144 for controlling weight of goods in commercial establishments, e.g. supermarket, P.O.S. systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/342 Cards defining paid or billed services or quantities
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/343 Cards including a counter
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/02 by keys or other credit registering devices
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 7/025 by means, e.g. cards, providing billing information at the time of purchase, e.g. identification of seller or purchaser, quantity of goods delivered or to be delivered
• CPC Class Codes: G07G 1/0054 with control of supplementary check-parameters, e.g. weight or number of articles

Abstract

The invention provides a purchased commodity accommodating and transporting apparatus having a self scanning function and a POS system which prevent an unjust act such as to carry out a commodity without reading a commodity code whether it is intentional or accidental. The purchased commodity accommodating and transporting apparatus comprises a commodity code reading section for reading a commodity code applied to a commodity, an accommodation section for accommodating therein a commodity whose commodity code has been read, a weighing equipment for measuring the total weight of commodities accommodated in the accommodation section, a weight determination section for detecting the increase/decrease of the total weight of the commodities in the accommodation section, and an alarm generation section responsive to a result of the detection for generating an alarm when the total weight of the commodities has changed without reading a commodity code.

Claims

1. A POS system, comprising:

a plurality of purchased commodity accommodating and transporting apparatus having a self scanning function and each including a commodity code reading section for reading a commodity code applied to a commodity, a commodity code registration section for registering the commodity code information read by said commodity code reading section, and an accommodation section for accommodating therein a commodity whose commodity code has been read by said commodity code reading section;

a commodity information file for storing price information of commodities corresponding to the commodity code information as commodity information; and

a settlement POS terminal for retrieving said commodity information file in accordance with the commodity code information registered in said commodity code registration section of any of said purchased commodity accommodating and transporting apparatus to perform final settlement of accounts for purchased commodities accommodated in said accommodation section of the purchased commodity accommodating and transporting apparatus;

said commodity information file storing weight information of individual commodities corresponding to the commodity code information as commodity information;

each of said purchased commodity accommodating and transporting apparatus including;

a weighing equipment for measuring the total weight of commodities accommodated in said accommodation section; and

a data transmission section for transmitting, upon settlement of accounts at said settlement POS terminal, the total weight of the commodities in said accommodation section measured by said weighing equipment to said settlement POS terminal;

said settlement POS terminal including;

a data reception section for receiving data from said data transmission section of any of said purchased commodity accommodating and transporting apparatus;

a commodity weight retrieval section for retrieving the weights of the commodities corresponding to the commodity code information from said commodity information file in accordance with the commodity code information of all commodities registered by said commodity code registration section;

a total weight calculation section for calculating the total weight of the weights of the commodities retrieved by said commodity weight retrieval section;

a weight comparison section for comparing the total weight calculated by said total weight calculation section and the total weight of the commodities in said accommodation section received by said data reception section; and

an alarm generation section for generating an alarm when it is determined by said weight comparison section that the total weight calculated by said total weight calculation section and the total weight of the commodities in said accommodation section received by said data reception section are different from each other.

2. The POS system as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of said purchased commodity accommodating and transporting apparatus includes a weight determination section for detecting the variation of the total weight of the commodities in said accommodation section measured by said weighing equipment;

and an alarm generation section for generating an alarm when it is determined by said weight determination section that the total weight of the commodities in said accommodation section measured by said weighing equipment has changed without reading a commodity code by said commodity code reading section.

3. A purchased commodity accommodating and transporting apparatus having a self scanning function, comprising:

a commodity code reading section for reading a commodity code applied to a commodity;

a commodity code registration section for registering the commodity code information read by said commodity code reading section;

an accommodation section for accommodating therein a commodity whose commodity code has been read by said commodity code reading section;

said commodity code reading section being used to read, upon settlement of accounts, the commodity code of a commodity selected at random from the commodities accommodated in said accommodation section;

a commodity registration determination section for determining whether or not the commodity code information read by said commodity code reading section upon settlement of accounts is registered in said commodity code registration section; and

an error notification section for notifying an error when it is determined by said commodity registration determination section upon settlement of accounts that the commodity code information read by said commodity code reading section is not registered.

4. A purchased commodity accommodating and transporting apparatus having a self scanning function, comprising:

a commodity code reading section for reading a commodity code applied to a commodity;

a commodity code registration section for registering the commodity code information read by said commodity code reading section;

an accommodation section for accommodating therein a commodity whose commodity code has been read by said commodity code reading section; and

said commodity code reading section being used to read, upon settlement of accounts, the commodity code of a commodity selected at random from the commodities accommodated in said accommodation section;

a commodity registration determination section for determining whether or not the commodity code information read by said commodity code reading section upon settlement of accounts is registered in said commodity code registration section;

said commodity code registration section automatically registering the commodity code information read by said commodity code reading section when it is determined upon settlement of accounts by said commodity registration determination section that the commodity code information is not registered.

5. The purchased commodity accommodating and transporting apparatus having a self scanning function as claimed in claim 4, further comprising an error notification section for notifying an error when it is determined upon settlement of accounts by said commodity registration determination section that the commodity code information read by said commodity code reading section is not registered.