Point-of-sale system having speech entry and item recognition support system

• US 5,839,104 A
• Filed: 02/20/1996
• Issued: 11/17/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 02/20/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: NCR Corporation
• Original Assignee: NCR Corporation
• Inventors: Miller, Michael S., Wahome, Joe Jr., Fath, Janet L., Castano, Diego J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hudspeth, David R.
• Assistant Examiner(s): ABEBE, DANIEL DEMELASH
• Application Number:
  US08/602,483
• Time in Patent Office: 1,001 Days
• Field of Search: 704/2, 704/2.31, 704/2.51, 704/2.7, 704/2.75, 235/472, 379/354
• US Class Current: 704/251
• CPC Class Codes: A47F 9/046 Arrangement of recording means in or on check-out counters record carriers or readers per se G06K
• CPC Class Codes: G01G 19/4144 for controlling weight of goods in commercial establishments, e.g. supermarket, P.O.S. systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01G 23/38 Recording and/or coding devices specially adapted for weighing apparatus computers per se G06; disc converters in general G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G07G 1/0036 Checkout procedures
• CPC Class Codes: G07G 1/0054 with control of supplementary check-parameters, e.g. weight or number of articles

Abstract

A point-of-sale system which uses speech entry to identify and tally items without bar code labels, such as produce items. The system includes a microphone, a scale, and a terminal. The terminal uses the microphone to record words from a checker identifying a produce item during a transaction and prompts an operator to identify the produce item by speaking into the microphone when the produce item is placed upon the scale. The terminal also identifies a price for the item and enters the price into the transaction when the produce item is removed from the scale.

Claims

1. A transaction system comprising:

a microphone;

a scale which produces a weight signal when a produce item is placed upon the scale during a transaction; and

a terminal coupled to the microphone and to the scale which automatically executes speech recognition software, prompts an operator to identify a produce item by speaking its name into the microphone, and determines the identity of the produce item from a database of produce names in response to receipt by the terminal of the weight signal from the scale.

2. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the terminal also determines a price for the produce item from a price file and enters the price into the transaction when the produce item is removed from the scale.

3. The system as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

a database of produce names including the name of the produce item;

wherein the terminal compares the name of the produce item to the produce names in the database to identify the produce item.

4. The system as recited in claim 3, wherein the terminal displays an image of the produce item and records an operator selection acknowledging proper identification of the produce item by the terminal.

5. The system as recited in claim 3, wherein if the operator speaks the name improperly and the terminal is unable to match the improperly spoken name to any of the produce names in the database, the terminal displays an error message requiring the operator to use the microphone to re-record the name of the produce item while the produce item remains on the scale.

6. The system as recited in claim 4, further comprising:

a speaker;

wherein the terminal uses the speaker to produce audible sounds representing the name of the produce item after recording the operator selection of the produce item to train the operator to correctly pronounce the name of the produce item.

7. A method of purchasing a produce item comprising the steps of:

(a) recording a weight of the produce item and generating a weight signal by a scale;

(b) automatically executing speech recognition software and prompting an operator to speak a name associated with the produce item into a microphone by a computer in response to receipt of the weight signal by the computer;

(c) recording speech representing the name of the produce item by the speech recognition software;

(d) comparing the speech to a database of produce names including the name of the produce item to identify the produce item by the speech recognition software;

(e) determining a price for the produce item by the computer from a price file; and

(f) adding the price to the transaction.

8. The method as recited in claim 7, further comprising the step of:

(g) if the speech is not within the database, displaying an error message to the operator and prompting the operator to speak the name associated with the produce item into the microphone while the produce item remains on the scale.

9. The method as recited in claim 7, further comprising the steps of:

(g) displaying an image of the produce item from the database by the computer; and

(h) recording a selection by operator acknowledging proper identification of the produce item.

10. The method as recited in claim 9, further comprising the step of:

(i) generating audible sounds through a speaker representing the name of the produce item to train the operator to correctly pronounce the name of the produce item.