Method and apparatus for determining whether a verbal message was spoken during a transaction at a point-of-sale terminal

• US 6,871,185 B2
• Filed: 03/27/2003
• Issued: 03/22/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 08/17/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Walker Digital LLC (Walker Innovation Inc. (f/k/a Patent Properties, Inc.))
• Original Assignee: Walker Digital LLC (Walker Innovation Inc. (f/k/a Patent Properties, Inc.))
• Inventors: Van Luchene, Andrew S., Tedesco, Daniel E., Dickerson, John B., Walker, Jay S.
• Primary Examiner(s): MEINECKE DIAZ, SUSANNA M
• Application Number:
  US10/401,409
• Publication Number:
  US 20030164398A1
• Time in Patent Office: 726 Days
• Field of Search: 705/1, 705/11, 705/14, 705/16, 704/246, 704272-275, 713/186, 37926504-26507
• US Class Current: 705/16
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06398 Performance of employee with respect to a job function
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/206 comprising security or operator identification provisions, e.g. password entry
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 9/026 for alarm, monitoring and auditing in vending machines or means for indication, e.g. when empty

Abstract

A point-of-sale terminal initiates a transaction and provides a prompt to be spoken to an operator (e.g. a cashier) of the POS terminal. The prompt indicates a verbal message that is to be spoken by the operator. The POS terminal then receives an audio signal via a microphone or similar device to record what the operator has spoken. Using speech recognition, the POS terminal determines whether the audio signal corresponds to the prompt, and thus whether the operator spoke the prompt properly. In one embodiment, the transaction is paused until the operator properly speaks the prompt. In another embodiment, the POS terminal stores an indication of whether the operator has properly spoken the prompt, thereby allowing the performance of the operator to be measured.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

outputting, to an operator of a point-of-sale terminal, a prompt instructing the operator to utter, during a transaction, a message to a customer participating in the transaction;

receiving, after the step of outputting, an audio signal,

wherein the audio signal represents an utterance by the operator;

determining whether the utterance corresponds to the prompt;

determining an activity rate of the point-of-sale terminal; and

pausing the transaction if the utterance does not correspond to the prompt and the determined activity rate is less than a predetermined activity rate.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining at least one product that the customer participating in the transaction has ordered; and

wherein the step of outputting comprises;

outputting, to the operator of the point-of-sale terminal, a prompt comprising an instruction to offer an additional product to the customer,

wherein the additional product is selected for inclusion in the prompt based on the at least one product.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of outputting comprises:

outputting, via a headset worn by the operator of the point-of-sale terminal, an audio prompt indicating a message to be spoken by the operator during the transaction.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of outputting comprises:

outputting, via a display area associated with the point-of-sale terminal, a textual prompt indicating a message to be spoken by the operator during the transaction.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of outputting comprises:

outputting, via a display area associated with the point-of-sale terminal, a graphical representation indicating a message to be spoken by the operator during the transaction.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the graphical representation comprises a graphical representation of a product to be offered to a customer participating in the transaction.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining whether the utterance corresponds to the prompt comprises:

determining whether the operator properly uttered a message indicated by the prompt.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the prompt comprises an indication of a message to be spoken to a customer participating in the transaction.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining data associated with the operator; and

determining the prompt to output to the operator based on the data.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the step of determining the prompt comprises:

determining a level of complexity of the prompt based on the data.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of determining a level of complexity comprises:

determining a level of complexity of a message the operator is directed, via the prompt, to utter to the customer participating in the transaction.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the step of determining data comprises:

determining a level of authorization of the operator.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the step of determining data comprises:

determining at least one characteristic of the operator'"'"'s speech pattern.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the step of determining data comprises:

retrieving, based on an identity of the operator, data associated with the operator as stored in a memory.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

determining the identity of the operator.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the step of determining the identity comprises:

determining the identity of the operator based on a recognition of a voice of the operator.

17. An apparatus, comprising:

a processor, and

a storage device that stores a program for directing the processor;

the processor being operative with the program to;

perform the method of claim 1.

18. A computer readable medium encoded with instructions for directing a processor to:

perform the method of claim 1.

19. A method, comprising:

outputting, to an operator of a point-of-sale terminal, a prompt instructing the operator to utter a message to a customer participating in a transaction at the point-of-sale terminal;

receiving an audio signal indicative of an utterance of the operator;

determining, based on the audio signal, whether the operator properly uttered the message;

determining an activity rate; and

pausing the transaction if it is determined that the operator did not properly utter the message and the determined activity rate is sufficiently low.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the prompt comprises an instruction to utter an offer for a product.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the step of outputting comprises:

outputting, via a headset of the operator of the point-of-sale terminal, a verbal command directing the operator to provide an offer for a product during a transaction.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein the step of receiving an audio signal comprises:

receiving an audio signal indicative of words spoken by the operator.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the step of determining whether the operator properly spoke the message comprises:

determining whether the words spoken by the operator are essentially words the operator was directed, by the prompt, to speak.

24. The method of claim 19, wherein the step of determining an activity rate comprises:

measuring an activity rate of the point-of-sale terminal.

25. The method of claim 19, wherein the step of determining an activity rate comprises:

determining an activity rate of at least one point-of-sale terminal different from the point-of-sale terminal of the transaction.

26. The method of claim 19, wherein the step of determining an activity rate comprises:

determining an activity rate of an establishment in which the point-of-sale terminal is located.

27. The method of claim 19, wherein the step of pausing the transaction comprises:

preventing a cash drawer of the point-of-sale terminal from opening if the audio signal does not correspond to the prompt and the determined activity rate is less than a predetermined activity rate.

28. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

storing an indication of whether the audio signal corresponds to the prompt in association with an indication of the operator to whom the prompt was output.

29. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

causing compensation to be provided to the operator based on the determination of whether the audio signal corresponds to the prompt.

30. The method of claim 19, wherein the step of determining, based on the audio signal, whether the operator properly uttered the message comprises:

determining whether a volume with which the operator uttered the message is at least a minimum volume.

31. An apparatus, comprising:

a processor, and

a storage device that stores a program for directing the processor;

the processor being operative with the program to;

perform the method of claim 19.

32. A computer readable medium encoded with instructions for directing a processor to:

perform the method of claim 19.