Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
BAR CODE_REl~Dh~ AND TILL SYSTE~ 2 J ~ 7
This invention relates to bar-code readers and specifically to
systems incorporating remote hand-held scanners. The invention
is particularly concerned with modifications ma~e to e~isting
cash tills.
Bar code readers have become common place in many retail outlets,
for example, in supermarkets where produce is labelled ~ith a bar
code carrying coded information regarding the price of an
article. An infra-red bar code reader reads this code, decodes
it and displays the enco~ed price at the cash till.
Bar code readers are commonly hand-held devices or pens ~hich are
connected ta the register by a coiled cord. Although it is
helpful for the user to have a flexible length of cord to enable
codes to be read at any point around the till, it has the
disadvantage that the operator is tied to the till. It is not
possible, for example to read the bar code of an item several
metres away from the till.
Other bar code reading systems in use are fixed in position ne~t
to a till. Rather than reading the codes with a pen the user
passes the encoded item over the reader. The reader emits an
audible tone indicating that it has read the item and the price
is displa~ed. A memory within the till stores the price for
summation once the codes of all a customer's purchases have been
read.
Although this system has the advantage of being quic~ and easy to
operate, the code reader is fixed in position relative to and
hard wired to the till. It still suffers from the disadvantage
of beinq tied to the till.
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The present invention aims to overcome to the above mentioned
disadvantages and accordingly provides a system comprising a cash
till having a sensor and a remote hand-held scanner including a
display and a transmitter for transmitting sensed price
information to the remotely situated cash till.
More specifically, there is provided a cash till system for
reading and displaying the prices of items, comprising at least
one hand-held scanning device having sensor means arranged to
detect external coded information, a miCrQproceSSOr and memory
means arranged to process the output of the sensor means,
integral display means pro~iding a display based on the sensed
coded information and transmission means for transmitting the
information displayed to a remote location; and
at least one cash till having a sensor for receiving the
information transmitted from a remote location by the hand~held
scanning device and a display for displaying the received
information.
The invention also provides a conventional electronic cash
register having a keyboard with a number of keys, each of w~ich
are programmed to send a unique address to a memory means, said
memory means storing information r~garding goods associated with
the keys, for example price, a sensor for sensing data
transmitted from a remote hand-held scanner, said data being
based upon coded information sensed by the scanner and
information contained in a memory means of the scanner, keyboard
simulation means for receiving data received by the sensor and
I simulating the function of keys of the keyboard in accordance
j with the nature of the data received, and means for addressing
' the memory means with the output of the keyboard simulation
i means.
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' As there is no physical connection between the till and the
hand-held sensor the problems of the prior art can be avoided.
The user can take the hand-held sensor to the items to be re~d,
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read the codes and observe the prices and totals on an integral
display. When this operation is complete the user returns to the
till and transmits the stored information to the till, for
example by infra-red transmission.
The invention is particularly advantageous for bar and restaurant
environments where waiters or barstaff can each be provided with
a hand-held scanner. Customers can be served and informed of the
cost of the meals or drinks without the server having to return
to the till. The information stored in the hand set can then be
transmitted to the till, opening up the till and storing the
information there. This has the advantage that sever~l waiters
or barstaff can use the same till ~ithout congestion as well as
ensuring that customers are charged the correct amount.
Preferably the till is linked to a central co~puter by a hard
wire link. Such a link enables programming of all the tills from
a central location and also ensures that information from the
tills can be collated. This is particularly useful for stock
control and staff performance monitoring.
Embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way oi
example, and ~ith reference to the accompanying drawings, in
which:
Figure 1 is a schematic block diagram of a scanning device for
use in a system embodying the invention;
Figure 2 is a schematic block diagram of a first embodiment of
the invention;
Figure ~ is a schematic block diagram of a second embodiment of
the invention,; and
Figure 4 is a schematic block diagram of a third embodiment of
the invention.
The block diagram of Figure 1 is a hand-held scanning device 10
which comprises an integral display and is particularly suited
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for use by retail personnel. The device comprises an infra-red
sensor 12; although any other remote sensor may be used, which is
arranged at a convenient point on the scanning device to read
information recorded on, eg, a bar code. Typically, the bar code
will contain information relating to the PLU of an item dispensed
by the operator. The output of the sensor is decoded by a
decoder 1~ which, although shown separately for ease of
understanding, may be a part of a system controller 16, for
example a 65C02 8 bit CMOS microprocessor. The processor 16 and
decoder 14 examine the received bar code data and decide if it
relates to a sale item or a system control command. In the case
of a sale, eg. a drink or several drinks to a customer, the
decoder outputs an address to look up table 18. The look-up
table has stored the prices of all available items, each one
bein~ stored at a ~nique address. Thus, if address 101~ is
placed at the address ports of the memory 18 the price stored at
that location will be written at the outputs of the memory.
Typically, the memory is a conventional 8k EPROM. Price data is
written into a transaction store 20, which may be a conventional
8k static RAM, and from there to a display 2~. Conveniently, the
,display is a liquid crystal display of a sort widely available
commercially.
The routine described above is usually repeated a number o~
times. That is a customer may require a number of drinks, the
bar code for each is read in turn and the price and running total
displayed.
On each occasion the user reads a transaction bar code a price
will be written from the look-up table 18 into the transaction
store. The store outputs prices successively to the display.
As well as reading sale items, the scanner may read system
- control commands, for example an end of multiple transaction
commands. ~hen tha processor 16 recognises such a command the
decoder is instructed to bypass the look-up table 18 and
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transmit the data from to the transaction store.
An adding means such as a logical arithmetic unit in the CPU adds
the stored transactions 20 and outputs the total to the display.
The scanner may then be used to transmit the contents of the
transaction store to a cash till via infra-red transmitter 22 or
to a system computer or cash register, as will be described,
although any other remote transmitter may be used.
Although shown as two separate spaced apart components the
transmitter 22 and sensor 12 may in practice be a single
component comprising a pair of LED's arranged side by side. This
has the advantage that the apparatus does not have to be
manipu~ated or repositioned to transmit data, increasing the
facility of the scanner.
Following completion of the above series of events the
transaction store will be cleared by a reset pulse from the
processor 16. However this information is still held in the
store at a separate location. This may be programmed into the
system software so that the pulse is sent automatically.
~lternatively, a 'transaction start' bar code may be used which
sends a reset command to the store 20 in the same manner as the
end of transaction command.
Referring now to Figure 2 there is shown schematically how a
conventional cash till such as is used in retail may be modified
for use with the scanner of Figure 1. The figure shows the
elements of a board which may be included in the till to enable
it to by-pass the normal keyboard functions of the till.
In conventional electronic cash tills each key of a keyboard~ has
a iunction associated with it. Some of these functions may be a
department indicator to indicate the department from which an
article relates, others may be programmed with the prices of
individual articles etc.
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The additional board includes an infra-red sensor 30 which is
arranged to receive data transmitted by the transmitter 22 of the
remote scanner, and a decoder 32 which decodes received data into
the required standard for the till in use. This data is output
to a keyboard simulator 34 which sends out commands to a register
36 identical to those which an actual keyboard 38 would send.
Thus, i~ a user transmits a transaction from the hand set 10
which comprises a data stream representing a lager and glass of
wine followed by an end of transaction command, the keyboard
simulator will send to the register the output which the
keyboard would have sent if the operator had pressed buttons on
the keyboard programmed for lager and wine.
The register 36 sends address codes to a look-up table 40 which
reads prestored price data for each address and outputs these to
a display 42. Of course, the board is integrated with the
existing till circuitry such that 'till open', totalling and
other commands are available to the user in the normal manner.
,It will be appreciated that the system described has a number of
advantages over existing cash tills which use bar code readers
which are hard wired to the till. With such readers the goods to
be purchased have to be brought to the till and read by the till
user. With the system described a user can read the codes
anywhere in a store or restaurant and wherever the user is he has
a running total available without having to refer to the till.
Once a series of transactions has been finished, by user can
return to the till and download the information to the till by
the remote infra-red link.
In addition any number of handsets may be ussd with a given till.
For example three tills may be operating in a bar or night club
with twelve staff, each of which is provided with a handset. The
till may be programmed to receive data transmitted from any of
the handsets whlch reduce~ gr~atly ~ongestion around the tills.
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Each handset may also transmit a handset identifier which can be
recorded in a separate memory (not shown) in the till board 28
and read at periodic intervals, eg. to monitor operator
performance.
Figure 3 shows a modification to the system of Figure 2 in which
a system computer 40 is linked by a two way connection to the
keyboard simulator of the cash till. This arrangement has the
advantage that the simulator of each till can be program~ed
centrally. Moreover, the computer can be provided with a
charging port/communication port through which the EPROM look-up
tables of the hand held scanners may be reprogrammed from the
computer.
F'igure 4 shows a further embodiment of the invention which may be
used with or without a two-way computer link as shown in Figure
3. In this embodiment the cash till used is provided simply with
a till draw and a display. In other words there is no keyboard
or keyboard simulator. The till includes a sensor 50 and decoder
52, together with a display 54 and till draw 56. Decoded price
information is displayed directLy and a 'transaction ended'
'command at the decoder is sent directly to the till draw to cause
that to open.
The values from the decoder may be linked via a two-way data link
with the central computer 40 of Figure 3. The decoder ~2 will
transmit a transaction to the computer and be ready to receive a
fresh transaction. Alternatively a memory may be included in
which untransmitted transactions are stored for future reading.
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