1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an item registration apparatus allowing smooth registration of sold-by-weight items and accounting thereof and to an account system having the item registration apparatus.
The present invention also relates to a measuring device and a measuring system, which is suitably used in the aforementioned item registration apparatus, for measuring an item and issuing a label for it.
2. Description of Related Art
In a conventional retail store such as a supermarket, a self-scanning system for improving efficiency of registration and checkout of items purchased by a customer is employed in which the customer oneself brings a mobile terminal as equipment of the store and scans code information on a label attached to each item to be purchased by the customer. According to the self-scanning system, the mobile terminal after scanning is brought together with the scanned items to an account device (POS register) by the customer and the code information stored in the mobile terminal is transferred to the account device, thereby completing the accounting of the scanned items.
On the other hand, there are sold-by-weight items (such as fruits, vegetables, and meats). As for such an item, the item of required amount is picked up from the item prepared in large quantities and is sold for a price according to the weight of the item. For the purpose of streamlining the work of selling such sold-by-weight items, a customer oneself puts an item of required amount on a measuring device to measure the weight of the item and attaches a label with code information, which is automatically issued from the measuring device after measurement. If the customer oneself should register the sold-by-weight item, the customer furthermore scans the code information of the attached label by using the mobile terminal.
In case of the aforementioned method of registering sold-by-weight items, however, the work of scanning cord information on the label for registering the item is troublesome. Further, there is a problem that scanning is sometimes impossible depending on the printed condition or the way of scanning the code information and also there may be a problem that a customer neglects of scanning the code information on the label.
In case that a customer purchases a plurality of sold-by-weight items, for example, the measuring device measures the weight of each item of an amount desired by the customer and calculates the purchased price of each item. After measuring and calculating the purchased price of the last item, the measuring device issues a label on which code information such as bar code is printed. The code information is used to obtain the total amount of purchased prices of the plurality of items being purchased by the customer and is used as information of a specific section covering the plurality of items being purchased by the customer. It should be noted that the specific section means a fruit and vegetable section in case of cabbages, cucumbers, and apples, a raw fish section in case of tunas and salmons, or the like.
In case that the customer purchases a plurality of sold-by-weight items as mentioned above so that a single label for the plurality of items is issued and the code information on the label is scanned by the mobile terminal, there is a problem that the purchased price is reported simply as sales of the specific section (for example, the fruit and vegetable section) and it is impossible manage sales of each item (for example, cabbage and apple). Especially in case of using bar codes as the code information, the problem is pronounced because the amount of information is limited.
On the other hand, another way is considerable for a case that a customer purchases a plurality of sold-by-weight items, in which the measuring device issues a label for each measurement of each item. According to this format, label for the respective items are issued and code information on these labels is scanned, whereby it is possible to manage sales of each item. In this method, however, the operation is troublesome because the customer should scan code information on a plurality of labels by using the mobile terminal. Moreover, the customer may forget which labels have been scanned.
Furthermore, when the customer registers the item by scanning code information on a label of the sold-by-weight item, the customer may mistakenly scan the code information of the label twice. In such a case, the item being purchased by the customer is registered doubly and the payment for this should be conducted based on the transaction information of doubly registered item. For this, there is a need of any means for preventing double registration of items into the mobile terminal.
Besides the aforementioned self-scanning system, conventionally, there is a typical operating method in which a customer puts items to be purchased into a shopping basket and brings the shopping basket to an account device (checkout device), and a staff standing by the account device scans code information on labels attached to the respective items so as to conduct registration and checkout, and also an operating method in which the typical operating method and the self-scanning system are mixed in the same store. Therefore, a measuring device for sold-by-weight items capable of handling any operating method is desired. That is, a measuring device for sold-by-weight items is desired which can issue rapidly and easily labels in case of using the mobile terminal and also labels in case of not using the mobile terminal even though printed conditions are different from each other.
The present invention has been made in consideration of the aforementioned points. It is an object of the present invention to provide an item registration apparatus allowing easy registration of sold-by-weight items to be purchased by a customer by using a mobile terminal and to provide an account system comprising the item registration apparatus.
Further, another object of the present invention is to provide an item registration apparatus capable of effectively preventing double registration of an item being purchased by a customer and to provide an account system comprising the item registration apparatus.
Furthermore, another object of the present invention is to provide a measuring device and a measuring system capable of easily and rapidly issuing either of labels in case of using external equipment such as a mobile terminal and labels in case of not using the external equipment.
The present invention provides an item registration apparatus comprising: a measuring device having a weighing tray on which an item is put; and a mobile terminal which can be connected to said measuring device via communication channel, wherein at the timing when the item is put on said weighing tray of said measuring device and the measurement of the item is completed or at the timing when predetermined operation such as pressing an operation button on said measuring device is conducted, said mobile terminal stores transaction information of the measured item.
As mentioned above, the mobile terminal and the measuring device are connected via the communication channel so that the transaction information of item(s) measured by the measuring device is stored in the mobile terminal, thereby eliminating operation using the mobile terminal of scanning code information printed on a label. Therefore, this enables easy registration of sold-by-weight items by using the mobile terminal. In addition, this can securely eliminate the problem that a customer cannot scan the code information and also the problem that a customer neglects of scanning the code information. The operation buttons of the measuring device includes various operation buttons such as a label issuing button, a continue shopping button, and an item selecting button.
Further, according to the present invention, when items to be measured are plural, said mobile terminal stores transaction information of the plurality of items once for every item at either of said timings.
Accordingly, even if the customer purchases a plurality of sold-by-weight items, management about individual items can be easily conducted according to the respective transaction information of items.
Further, according to the present invention, said measuring device further has a label issuing portion for issuing a label, and said measuring device issues a label indicating that the item put thereon has been measured when an operation button for ordering issuance of the label is pressed.
Because the label indicating that the item has been measured is issued, the customer easily visually confirms that the item was correctly measured by operation of the measuring device.
The present invention further provides an account system comprising: the aforementioned item registration apparatus and an account device for charging items, wherein said account device has an acquisition means for acquiring transaction information of the measured item stored in said mobile terminal, and wherein said account device charges according to the obtained transaction information of the measured item.
Since the transaction information of the measured item can be easily transmitted from the mobile terminal to the account device, the time required for accounting at the account device can be shortened, thus providing smooth accounting and also enabling sales management of respective items.
The present invention further provides a mobile terminal which can be connected to a measuring device via communication channel, said measuring device having a weighing tray on which an item is put, wherein at the timing when the item is put on said weighing tray of said measuring device and the measurement of the item is completed or at the timing when predetermined operation such as pressing an operation button on said measuring device is conducted, said mobile terminal stores transaction information of the measured item.
As mentioned above, the mobile terminal is connected to the measuring device via the communication channel so that the transaction information of item(s) measured by the measuring device is stored in the mobile terminal, thereby eliminating operation using the mobile terminal of scanning code information printed on a label. Therefore, this enables easy registration of sold-by-weight items by using the mobile terminal. In addition, this can securely eliminate the problem that a customer cannot scan the code information and also the problem that a customer neglects of scanning the code information.
The present invention further provides an item registration apparatus comprising: a measuring device having a weighing tray on which an item is put; and a mobile terminal having a scanning means for scanning code information recording transaction information of the item, said measuring device and said mobile terminal being connected via communication channel, wherein said measuring device has a label issuing means which issues a label of the item measured when the measurement of the item put on said weighing tray is completed or when a predetermined operation is conducted relative to said measuring device, wherein said mobile terminal has a first storage means for storing transaction information of the item via said communication channel when the measurement of the item put on said weighing tray is completed or when said predetermined operation is conducted, and wherein said label issuing means issues a label not including said code information when said first storage means stores transaction information of the item, and issues a label including said code information when said first storage means does not store transaction information of the item.
That is, the present invention provides the item registration apparatus in which the mobile terminal and the measuring device are connected via the communication channel and which issues a label not including the code information when the transaction information of the measured item is registered in the mobile terminal and issues a label including the code information when the transaction information of the measured item is not registered in the mobile terminal. It should be noted that the predetermined operation includes operation such as pressing a label issuing button, pressing a continue shopping button, pressing an item selecting button, and the like.
When the transaction information of the measured item is registered in the mobile terminal via the communication channel, the scanning of the code information by the mobile terminal is eliminated, thereby enabling easy registration of the measured item to the mobile terminal. In addition, since the customer can visually confirm whether the issued label contains the code information or not, the customer can recognize whether the transaction information of the measured item is correctly stored in the mobile terminal or not. That is, the customer can visually and securely confirm the state of registration in the mobile terminal, thereby preventing double registration of transaction information of item into the mobile terminal.
According to the present invention, the item registration apparatus further comprises: a detection means for detecting transaction information of items stored in said first storage means when said scanning means scans said code information of said label; and an informing means wherein when said detection means detects that the transaction information of item read from said code information is already stored in said first storage means, said informing means informs that the transaction information of the item is already stored, on the other hand when said detection means detects that the transaction information of item read from said code information is not stored in said first storage means, the transaction information of said item is stored in said first storage means and said informing means informs that the transaction information of said item is now stored.
According to the present invention, when the code information on the label is scanned by the mobile terminal, the apparatus detects whether the transaction information of item corresponding to the scanned code information is already stored or not. As a result of the detection, the apparatus informs that the transaction information of item is already stored when the transaction information of item corresponding to the scanned code information is already stored, and stores the transaction information of item according to the scanned code information and informs that the transaction information of item is now stored when the transaction information of item corresponding to the scanned code information is still not stored. This prevents double registration of the transaction information of item being purchased into the mobile terminal and also prevents omission of registration of the transaction information of item. That is, the transaction information of items being purchased can be correctly registered.
Further, according to the present invention, when said informing means informs that the transaction information of the item is already stored, said informing means informs an option whether or not to additionally store the transaction information of the item in said first storage means, and wherein when additional storage is selected, said transaction information of the item is additionally stored in said first storage means.
That is, according to the present invention, the informing means also informs an option whether or not to additionally store the transaction information when informing that the transaction information of the item is already stored. Accordingly, the transaction information of the item is stored in the mobile terminal when additional storage is selected and the transaction information of the item is not stored in the mobile terminal when no additional storage is selected, thereby preventing the same item from being doubly registered by mistake.
Further, according to the present invention, said measuring device further has a second storage means for storing the transaction information of the measured item, wherein when a plurality of items are measured, said second storage means stores transaction information of each measured item after each measurement of the item put on the weighing tray until the last one of the items put on the weighing tray for measurement is measured, and when the measurement of the last one of the items put on said weighing tray is completed or when the predetermined operation is conducted, said first storage means stores the transaction information of every item of the measured items stored in said second storage means.
Even when the customer purchases a plurality of sold-by-weight items, the transaction information of respective items stored in the measuring device can be stored in the mobile terminal, whereby management of individual items can be easily conducted.
Furthermore, the present invention provides an account system comprising: the aforementioned item registration apparatus; and an account device for charging items, wherein said account device has an acquisition means for acquiring transaction information of the measured item stored in said first storage means, and wherein said account system charges according to the obtained transaction information of the measured item.
The sold-by-weight item being purchased by the customer can be easily registered into the account device by using the mobile terminal, thereby enabling smooth accounting. The account system also enables easy management of individual items based on data after purchased.
The present invention further provides a measuring device which has a weighing tray on which an item is put and is connected to a mobile terminal via communication channel, said mobile terminal comprising a scanning means for scanning code information including transaction information of the item, wherein said measuring device comprises a label issuing means which issues a label of the item measured when the measurement of the item put on said weighing tray is completed or when a predetermined operation is conducted relative to said measuring device, wherein said measuring devices makes said mobile terminal store transaction information of the item via said communication channel when the measurement of the item put on said weighing tray is completed or when said predetermined operation is conducted, and wherein said label issuing means issues a label not including said code information when said mobile terminal stores transaction information of the item, and issues a label including said code information when said mobile terminal does not store transaction information of the item.
Since the need of scanning the code information by the mobile terminal is eliminated when the transaction information of the measured item is registered into the mobile terminal via the communication channel, the registration of the measured item into the mobile terminal is easily conducted. In addition, since the customer can visually confirm whether the issued label contains the code information or not, the customer can recognize whether the transaction information of the measured item is correctly stored in the mobile terminal or not. That is, the customer can visually and securely confirm the state of registration in the mobile terminal, thereby preventing double registration of transaction information of item into the mobile terminal.
Further, the present invention provides a measuring device for issuing a label for an item measured, comprising: a communication means for allowing communication with external equipment; a first issuing control means for controlling issuance of a label on the basis of, at least, a measurement stable signal for the item measured by said measuring device and a signal received from said external equipment when communication with said external equipment via the communication means is detected; and a second issuing control means for controlling issuance of a label on the basis of, at least, said measurement stable signal when communication with said external equipment is not detected.
The signal received from the external equipment may be a signal from the external equipment indicating the receipt of the transaction information of item which was sent from the measuring device to the external equipment or a signal indicating the receipt by the measuring device as response to a return signal from the external equipment to the measuring device for proving the receipt of a signal which was sent from the external equipment for starting communication and was received by the measuring device (that is, a signal received from the external equipment for making sure that communication therebetween is established before the measuring device sends transaction information to the external equipment), alternatively or another receipt signal.
Therefore, the measuring device can easily and rapidly issue either of labels for a case that communication with the external equipment such as a mobile terminal is established and labels for a case that the communication is not established. The label issuing control includes control for not issuing label. Especially in case of the first issuing control means, sometimes issuance of label is not required because the transaction information of item(s) is sent to the external equipment.
Further, according to the present invention, the printing form of the label issued by said first issuing control means may be different from the printing form of the label issued by said second issuing control means.
Accordingly, the customer can visually confirm whether or not the communication with the external equipment was established when the label was issued. The difference in printing form is a difference which can be visually confirmed or a difference which can be confirmed magnetically or optically even visually indistinguishable.
Further, according to the present invention, said printing forms may be varied by not printing code information on the label issued by said first issuing control means and printing code information on the label issued by said second issuing control means.
Accordingly, the customer can visually confirm whether or not the communication with the external equipment was established when the label was issued.
Furthermore, according to the present invention, after communication with said external equipment is established by said communication means, said measuring device sends the transaction information of the measured item to said external equipment.
Therefore, when the communication with the external equipment is established, transaction information of item(s) measured by the measuring device can be securely sent to and stored in the external equipment. Since the transaction information of item(s) is stored in the external equipment, easy accounting at the account device is allowed by using the transaction information of the item(s).
Moreover, according to the present invention, when no receipt signal is received from said external equipment within a predetermined time period after the transaction information of the item is sent from said measuring device to said external equipment, the measuring device issues a label equal to the label issued by said second issuing control means.
When the transaction information of item measured by the measuring device is not received by the external equipment, it means that the communication with the external equipment is not established. In this case, the measuring device issues a label equal to the label issued by the second issuing control means.
The present invention further provides a measuring system comprising: the aforementioned measuring device; and external equipment which can communicate with said measuring device.
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
The control device 10 is a computer for controlling the account system 1 and manages various information including a merchandise master file. The merchandise master file is a file in which information of items such as item names, item codes, sales prices and the like of respective items are stored and which is suitably updated. The control device 10 timely sends the latest merchandise master file as a merchandise file to the respective account devices 20, the measuring device 70, and the mobile terminal 110.
The account device 20 is a POS register for conducting registration and accounting of items being purchased by a customer and comprises an operating portion 41 having various operation buttons and a display 31 composed of a liquid crystal touch panel.
The account device cradle 150 is communicably connected to the account device 20 with or without wires so that the transaction information of items stored in RAM 115 as will be described below of the mobile terminal 110 set in the account device cradle 150 are imported into the account device 20.
As shown in
The measuring device cradle 100 shown in
That is, a measuring device cradle 100 having a one-on-one relationship with the measuring device 70 is preliminarily prepared. By placing the mobile terminal 110 in the measuring device cradle 100, the mobile terminal 110 recognizes from information of the measuring device cradle 100 which measuring device 70 to communicate with. Therefore, the mobile terminal 110 easily specifies which measuring device 70 to communicate with. At the start of communication with the measuring device 70 of the identification number (IP address or the like) to be sent, the mobile terminal 110 also sends an identification number (IP address or the like) of the mobile terminal 110 itself. Accordingly, the measuring device 70 receiving information recognizes to which mobile terminal to send data such as transaction information of items, thereby enabling data communication therebetween.
As shown in
The CPU 111 controls the operation of the mobile terminal 110. The ROM 113 stores program conducted by the CPU 111. The RAM 115 is a first storing means for storing the merchandise file obtained from the control device 10, transaction information of each item measured by the measuring device 70, the identification number (IP address or the like) of the measuring device 70 communicating with the mobile terminal 110.
The scanner 117 is a scanning means for scanning code information (for example, bar code and two-dimensional code) on labels attached to items. The code information scanned by the scanner 117 is converted into data of a predetermined format, is then output, and is stored in the RAM 115 as information specifying the item being purchased.
The display screen 119 is composed of, for example, a liquid crystal display panel and indicates instructions for use of the mobile terminal 110 and the measuring device 70 and various messages such as the price of measured item. The operating portion 121 is composed of various buttons for operating the mobile terminal 110.
The communication portion 124 controls the communication with the measuring device 70, the control device 10 and the like connected to the mobile terminal 110 via the access point 50, and the communication with the measuring device cradle 100 and the account device cradle 150 in which the mobile terminal 110 is placed. When the mobile terminal 110 is placed in the measuring device cradle 100, the power supply control portion 125 controls the charge of the rechargeable battery 127 by electric power supplied from the measuring device cradle 100. The rechargeable battery 127 supplies electric power for operating the respective components of the mobile terminal 110.
Now, description will be made as regard to the operation of the account system 1 including the aforementioned item registration apparatus 3.
First, an example of operation of the mobile terminal 110 will be described.
As shown in
Then, the mobile terminal 110 sends a request of connection through communication to the measuring device 70 having the aforementioned identification number (IP address or the like) and sends the identification number (IP address or the like) of the mobile terminal 110 together with the aforementioned request (Step ST1-3). At this time, the display screen 119 of the mobile terminal 110 shows a connection-in-progress image indicating that it is now in the act of connecting with the measuring device 70 (Step ST1-4). The connection-in-progress image may include a message, for example, “Now connecting with scale . . . ” and design.
By receiving a connection confirmation signal from the measuring device 70 as will be described later (Step ST2-4 of
When receiving transaction information of the measured item (item name, weight, sales price, and the like) from the measuring device 70 after measurement by the measuring device 70 (Step ST1-7), the transaction information of the item is stored in the RAM 115 (Step ST1-8). In addition, a receiving confirmation signal indicating that the transaction information of the item is received is sent to the measuring device 70 (Step ST1-9). The display screen 119 shows a transaction information image as shown in
When an item registration completion notification is received instead of transaction information of another item during displaying the measurement start request image of Step ST1-6 (Step ST1-11), the display screen 119 shows a registration completion image (Step ST1-12). The registration completion notification is a notification for informing completion of registration of all items being purchased by the customer and which is conducted at Step ST2-19 in
When it is detected that the mobile terminal 110 is removed from the measuring device cradle 100 (Step ST1-13), a removal signal is sent to the measuring device 70 of the identification number (IP address) stored in the RAM 115 at Step ST1-2 (Step ST1-14) and the transaction processes by using the mobile terminal 110 is terminated.
On the other hand, when a communication error notification is received from the measuring device 70 instead of transaction information of another item or the registration completion notification during displaying the measurement start request image of Step ST1-6 (Step ST1-15), the display screen 119 shows a communication error image (Step ST1-16). The communication error notification is a notification for informing that the communication between the mobile terminal 110 and the measuring device 70 is abnormal so that the transaction information of item sent from the measuring device 70 is not received by the mobile terminal 110 and which is conducted at Step ST2-26 in
When a purchase cancellation notification is received instead of transaction information of another item, the registration completion notification, or the communication error notification during displaying the measurement start request image of Step ST1-6 (Step ST1-17), the display screen 119 shows a purchase cancellation image (Step ST1-18). The purchase cancellation notification is a notification for informing that the customer cancels measurement during the measurement by using the measuring device 70 and which is conducted at Step ST2-22 in
In case of the purchase cancellation of this example, the transaction information of items which has been stored in the RAM 115 is still stored so that these items of which labels have been issued before the purchase cancellation can be charged.
Next, an example of operation of the measuring device 70 will be described.
[In Case Using a Mobile Terminal 110 (First Issuing Control Means)]
By placing a mobile terminal 110 in a measuring device cradle 100, a connection request is sent from the mobile terminal 110 to a measuring device 70 of an IP address (identification number) received from the measuring device cradle 100 (Step ST2-1). Accordingly, a connection flag stored in the RAM 87 of the measuring device 70 is set from “0” to “1” (Step ST2-2). Then, an IP address (identification number) sent together with the connection request from the mobile terminal 110 is input and stored in the RAM 87 (Step ST2-3).
After the measuring device 70 sends a connection confirmation signal to the mobile terminal 110 having the IP address (identification number) of the mobile terminal 110 received and stored in the RAM 87 (Step ST2-4), the display 77 of the measuring device 70 displays a measurement start request image as shown in
When the customer puts a desired amount of the item (apples in this example) on the weighing tray 73 (Step ST2-6), the measuring device 70 measures the weight of the item put on the weighing tray 73 according to the normal measuring operation (Step ST2-7).
Then, the display 77 of the measuring device 70 displays an item selection image, for example, as shown in
If the item is selected, the CPU 81 of the measuring device 70 calculates the price of the item using the merchandise file stored in the RAM 87 and the like and displays a purchase confirmation image, for example, as shown in
When the customer touches the cancel button in the purchase confirmation image shown in
On the other hand, when the label issuing button or the continue shopping button in the purchase confirmation image shown in
When a receipt confirmation signal indicating the receipt of the transaction information of the item is received from the mobile terminal 110 within a predetermined time period, the process proceeds to Step ST2-16. On the other hand, when the aforementioned receipt confirmation signal is not received from the mobile terminal 110 within the predetermined time period, the process proceeds to Step ST2-24 (Step ST2-15).
If the process proceeds to Step ST2-16, a label without code information is issued.
When the label issuing button in the aforementioned purchase confirmation image is touched, the display 77 shows a label-without-code issuance image, for example, as shown in
When the mobile terminal 110 is removed from the measuring device cradle 100 (Step ST1-13) and a removal signal is thus sent to the corresponding measuring device 70 (Step ST1-14), the measuring device 70 changes the connection flag from “1” to “0” according to the receipt of the removal signal at Step ST2-20 (Step ST2-21) so that the measuring process at the measuring device 70 is terminated.
On the other hand, when the continue shopping button in the aforementioned purchase confirmation image is touched, the display 77 shows a restart measurement request image, for example, as shown in
On the other hand, when the process proceeds from the aforementioned Step ST2-15 to Step ST2-24, a label with code information is issued.
Then, the display 77 shows a label-with-code information issued image, for example, as shown in
When the mobile terminal 110 is removed from the measuring device cradle 100 (Step ST1-13) and a removal signal is thus sent to the corresponding measuring device 70 (Step ST1-14), the measuring device 70 changes the connection flag from “1” to “0” according to the receipt of the removal signal at Step ST2-20 (Step ST2-21) so that the measuring process at the measuring device 70 is terminated. The customer scans the code information on the aforementioned label by the scanner 117 of the mobile terminal 110 removed from the measuring device cradle 100 so that the transaction information of the item is stored in the RAM 115.
On the other hand, when the same transaction information as newly scanned transaction information of item is already stored in the RAM at Step ST3-2, the display screen 119 of the mobile terminal 110 displays an already-existing information image, for example, as shown in
When the customer presses the completion button, for example, provided on the operating portion 121 of the mobile terminal 110 (see
The CPU 111 conducting the processes of Steps ST3-1, 3-2 in the flow chart shown in
According to the detection means and the informing means as mentioned above, double registration of the transaction information of items being purchased is prevented. In addition, missing registration of the transaction information of items is also prevented. That is, the transaction information of items being purchased is correctly registered. Furthermore, it allows the customer to decide whether to store the transaction information additionally or not when informing that the transaction information of the item corresponding to the code information is already stored. If the customer decides to store it additionally, the transaction information of the item is stored in the mobile terminal 110. If the customer decides not to store it additionally, the transaction information of the item is not stored in the mobile terminal 110.
As mentioned above, the respective operations at the measuring device 70 (First issuance control) are terminated. Next, the customer brings the mobile terminal 110 in which the transaction information of the items is stored to the account device 20 where the customer makes payment for them. When the customer purchases items other than the sold-by-weight items, the customer separately scans bar codes of the items by using the scanner 117 of the mobile terminal 110. Accordingly, the transaction information of the items is also stored in the RAM 115.
After the checkout at the account device 20, the mobile terminal 110 is placed in a cradle from which another customer can bring out the mobile terminal 110. As the mobile terminal 110 is placed in the cradle, the transaction information of items and the identification number (IP address or the like) of the measuring device 70 stored in the RAM 115 of the mobile terminal 110 are initialized so that the mobile terminal 110 is allowed to be used by another customer.
According to the aforementioned item registration apparatus 3 (comprising the measuring device 70, the measuring device cradle 100, the mobile terminal 110, and the communication line connecting them. The measuring device cradle 100 may not be included.), the item is put on the weighing tray 73 of the measuring device 70 so that the weight of the item is measured and the transaction information of the item of which weight is measured is stored in the mobile terminal 110, thereby eliminating the need for the scanning of code information by the mobile terminal 110. Therefore, the registration of sold-by-weight item(s) is easily conducted by using the mobile terminal 110. Hereinafter, the operation by a customer will be described in detail.
For registering a plurality of items in series, since normally a label without code information is issued, the customer just repeat the operation of attaching labels issued from the measuring device 70 after placing the item on the measuring device 70 (Only when there is communication error between the measuring device 70 and the mobile terminal 110, the operation of scanning code information on the label is also required). Accordingly, the effort and number of times of operating the mobile terminal 110 can be dramatically reduced, thus providing significantly improved operability to customers.
On the other hand, in case that a customer puts an item on a measuring device, attaches a label with code information issued from the measuring device, scans the code information by a mobile terminal, and repeats the operation every item being purchased, the effort and number of times of operating the mobile terminal are increased, thus making the operation cumbersome and complicated.
Next, at the account device 20, the checkout is easily done by the following operation:
When no mobile terminal 110 is placed in the measuring device cradle 100 (No at Step ST2-1), a customer puts a desired amount of the item (apples in this example) on the weighing tray 73 of the measuring device 70 (Step ST2-27), the measuring device 70 measures the weight of the item in the same manner as mentioned in the above case (Step ST2-7). As shown in
Then, the display 77 of the measuring device 70 displays an item selection image, for example, as shown in
When the customer touches the cancel button in the purchase confirmation image shown in
On the other hand, when the customer touches the label issuing button in the purchase confirmation image shown in
As mentioned above, the measuring device 70 comprises the first issuing control means whereby when communication with the mobile terminal 110 through the communication portions 93, 124 and the access point 50 (communicating means) is detected (Yes at Step ST2-1), the measuring device 70 issues a label (Step ST2-16) on condition of receiving a measurement stable signal for the item measured by the measuring device 70 (Step ST2-7-2) and transaction information of the item sent from the measuring device 70 to the mobile terminal 110 (Step ST2-14), and the second issuing control means whereby when communication with the mobile terminal 110 is not detected (No at Step ST2-1), the measuring device 70 issues a label on condition of receiving only a measurement stable signal (Step ST2-7-2). Accordingly, even labels issued in a state of communication with the mobile terminal 110 and labels issued in a state of no communication with the mobile terminal 110 can be issued quickly by the single measuring device 70 without trouble. That is, the single measuring device 70 can quickly issue labels corresponding to customers using the mobile terminal 110 and also corresponding to customers not using the mobile terminal 110 without trouble. Furthermore, the measuring device can easily accommodate even in a case where customers using the mobile terminal 110 and customers not using the mobile terminal 110 are mixed in the same store.
Further, the measuring device 70 mentioned above sends transaction information of measured items to the mobile terminal 110 (Step ST2-14) after communication with the mobile terminal 110 is established by the communication portions 93, 124 and the access point 50 (communicating means) (Step ST2-1 through 2-4), whereby the transaction information of items is stored in the mobile terminal 110 without fail when communicating with the mobile terminal 110 and the transaction information of items is transmitted to the account device 20, allowing easy accounting.
Furthermore, when the receipt confirmation signal is not received from the mobile terminal 110 within the predetermined time period (Step ST2-15) after the transaction information of items is sent from the measuring device 70 to the mobile terminal 110, the measuring device 70 issue a label with code information, that is, a label equal to the label by the second issuing means for the case not using the mobile terminal 110 (Step ST2-24). Since it is impossible to send and store the transaction information of items measured by the measuring device 70 into the mobile terminal 110 when communication between the measuring device 70 and the mobile terminal 110 is not established, it is made to issue a label with code information in the same manner as the case according to the second issuing control means.
Though the measuring method of the measuring device 70 (the flow chart shown in
The flow chart shown in
That is, in the flow chart shown in
Though the embodiments of the present invention are described in the above, the present invention is not limited to the aforementioned embodiment and various modifications may be made without departing from the scope in technical idea as defined in the appended claims, the specification, and the drawings. For example, though the measuring device cradle 100 is used for making a one-on-one relationship between the measuring device 70 and the mobile terminal 110 in the aforementioned embodiment, the measuring device 70 and the mobile terminal 110 may have directly one-on-one relationship without the measuring device cradle 100. That is, the measuring device 70 and the mobile terminal 110 may be connected by a code, thus making a direct one-on-one relationship between the measuring device 70 and the mobile terminal 110.
Further, for example, the measuring device cradle 100 and the mobile terminal 110 may be configured to allow communication therebetween so that the transaction information of items sent from the measuring device 70 is received by the mobile terminal 110 through the measuring device cradle 100. That is, any configuration allowing connection between the measuring device 70 and the mobile terminal 110 via communication channel may be employed.
Though the account device cradle 150 is employed as an import means for taking the transaction information of items stored in the mobile terminal 110 into the account device 20 in the aforementioned embodiment, another import means, for example, wireless communication between the mobile terminal 110 and the account device 20 may be employed to take the transaction information of items stored in the mobile terminal 110 to the account device 20.
In case of measuring a plurality of items repeatedly, the measuring device 70 is configured to issue a label every measurement of item in the aforementioned embodiment. Instead of this, the measuring device 70 may be configured to issue a plurality of labels of items at a time after all of the items are measured. Alternatively, the measuring device 70 may be configured to issue a single label for all of the items after all of the items are measured.
In case of purchase cancellation, transaction information of items measured before the purchase cancellation is stored in the mobile terminal 110 so that the customer can make payment for the stored items at the account device 20 in the aforementioned embodiment. Instead of this, in case of purchase cancellation, it may be configured that the transaction information of items measured before the purchase cancellation is deleted from the RAM 115 of the mobile terminal 110, thus not allowing the customer to make payment for them.
When a communication error between the measuring device 70 and the mobile terminal 110 occurs, transaction information of items measured before the occurrence of communication error is stored in the mobile terminal 110 so that the customer can make payment at the account device 20 for the stored items and the item of which label has code information printed because the communication error in the aforementioned embodiment. Instead of this, in case of occurrence of communication error, it may be configured that the customer is allowed to make payment at the account device 20 for only the item of which label has code information printed because of the communication error and that the transaction information of items (of which issued label has no code information printed) before the occurrence of communication error is deleted from the RAM 115 of the mobile terminal 110, thus not allowing the customer to make payment for them.
In the aforementioned embodiment, the sales price is calculated from the weight of item according to a price per unit weight. In case of apples or the like, weights of apples are substantially equal to each other. Therefore, by preliminarily storing the range of unit weight in the RAM 87 of the measuring device 70 and calculating the number of the item from the measured weight, the sales price may be calculated according to a unit price.
Though the mobile terminal 110 is employed as external equipment in the aforementioned embodiment, the external equipment may be the control device 10, the account device 20, or the like. If transaction information of items is stored in the control device 10 (or the account device 20), the customer brings the mobile terminal 110 to the account device 20 whereby the account device 20 obtains the number of the mobile terminal 110 and therefore obtains the stored transaction information of items from the control device 10 (or the account device 20 itself), thereby conducting checkout. Further, in the aforementioned embodiment, a difference between the printing form for printing labels issued according to the first issuing control means and the printing form for printing labels issued according to the second issuing control means is whether code information is printed or not. However, the printing form other than code information may be different.
The mobile terminal 110 may be used by the customer for several times by communicating with different measuring devices 70. That is, it is available in case that No. 1 measuring device 70 is determined to be used for measuring items 1 through 3 and No. 2 measuring device 70 is determined to be used for measuring items 4 through 6. Especially, this configuration is helpful when the items 1 through 3 are located away from the items 4 through 6 in a store.
In this case, the IP address of the measuring device 70 stored in a predetermined area of the RAM 115 of the mobile terminal 110 is overwritten serially and stored. Accordingly, the mobile terminal 110 can accurately know which measuring device 70 is now communicating.
Instead of overwriting, the RAM 115 of the mobile terminal 110 may be divided into areas for storing IP addresses so that the mobile terminal 110 specifies the IP address of a now communicating measuring device 70 on the basis of the area in which the IP address of the closest measuring device 70 is stored.
In the aforementioned embodiment, when communication with the mobile terminal 110 is detected, the measuring device 70 issues a label on condition of receiving the measurement stable signal for the item measured by the measuring device 70, press (operation) of the label issuing button (issue key), and the receipt confirmation signal from the mobile terminal 110 indicating the receipt of the transaction information of the item which was sent from the measuring device 70 to the mobile terminal 110 (the first issuing control means), while when communication with the mobile terminal 110 is not detected, the measuring device 70 issues a label on condition of receiving the measurement stable signal and the press (operation) of the label issuing button (the second issuing control means). However, in either case, the condition for issuing labels may not always include the press (operation) of the label issuing button. That is, in case of the first issuing control means, when communication with the mobile terminal 110 is detected, the measuring device 70 may issue a label on condition of, at least, receiving the measurement stable signal for the item measured by the measuring device 70 and the receipt confirmation signal from the mobile terminal 110 indicating the receipt of the transaction information of the item which was sent from the measuring device 70 to the mobile terminal 110. In case of the second issuing control means, when communication with the mobile terminal 110 is not detected, the measuring device 110 may issue a label on condition of, at least, receiving the measurement stable signal.
As mentioned above, when communication with the mobile terminal 110 is detected, the measuring device 70 issues a label on condition of, at least, receiving the measurement stable signal for the item measured by the measuring device 70 and the receipt confirmation signal from the mobile terminal 110 indicating the receipt of the transaction information of the item which was sent from the measuring device 70 to the mobile terminal 110 (the first issuing control means). However, the receipt confirmation signal is not necessarily the signal indicating the receipt of the transaction information of the item which was sent from the measuring device 70 to the mobile terminal 110. That is, for example, when the mobile terminal 110 is placed in the measuring device cradle 100 before the start of measurement by the measuring device 70, a signal indicating start of communication is therefore sent from the mobile terminal 110 to the measuring device 70 having the corresponding IP address, the measuring device 70 receiving the signal sends a signal for starting communication to the mobile terminal 110, and the mobile terminal 110 sends a confirmation signal indicating the receipt of the signal again to the measuring device 70 having the corresponding IP address. The receipt confirmation signal from the mobile terminal 110 to the measuring device 70 may be this confirmation signal. Further, the receipt confirmation signal may be another signal from external equipment such as the mobile terminal 110.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2013-222142 | Oct 2013 | JP | national |
2013-222952 | Oct 2013 | JP | national |
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Number | Date | Country | |
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