Registers – Coded record sensors – Particular sensor structure
Reissue Patent
1995-12-11
2001-05-08
Frech, Karl D. (Department: 2876)
Registers
Coded record sensors
Particular sensor structure
C235S462370, C235S462380, C235S375000, C235S383000, C235S487000
Reissue Patent
active
RE037166
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention is in the field of bar code scanners. More specifically, the invention relates to point of sale bar code scanners, and the problem of efficiently validating redemption coupons used at retail stores. More broadly, the invention is concerned with the redemption of anything of value bearing a bar code in a retail purchase transaction, including food stamps or other redeemable certificates.
Point of sale (POS) bar code scanners are in wide use in retail situations such as grocery stores, drug stores and general merchandising stores. Many of the stores which utilize or could utilize POS bar code scanners for scanning products for purchase also routinely honor coupons which grant the bearing customer a specified rebate on the purchase price of specifically identified items, usually within a prescribed period of time, prior to an expiration date. Each coupon usually specifies the item, its size, the value of the coupon against purchase of the item, and the expiration date. A customer may receive these coupons in several ways, such as from newspapers or magazines, from direct mail advertising, from purchase of another product, or of the same product at an earlier date, or from coupon books.
In typical use, these redemption coupons have been returned to the manufacturer or distributor of the affected products, for validation and reimbursement to the retail store by the manufacturer or distributor. The manufacturers or distributors have required this as a condition of reimbursement to the retailer.
However, this practice has been cumbersome and time consuming for the retailers and also for the manufacturers. Further, there was no guarantee to the manufacturer or distributor that the coupon was actually used within the allowed time period since there was a lag in time between redemption to the customer and return of the coupon to the manufacturer. The manufacturer did not even have sufficient control to assure that the proper purchase occurred for acceptance of the coupon.
Recently, there has been a move among manufacturers, coupon distributors and retailers toward a system in which return of the redeemed coupons to the manufacturer or distributor would not be necessary. A Joint Industry Task Force of food retailers and grocery manufacturers has been working on a uniform type of system for this purpose. The Task Force has been charged with setting standards and expediting the installation of coupon scanning and electronic clearing. It has been determined that bar codes will be put on redemption coupons. In such a system, strict validation and securing procedures would have to be followed at the point of sale, and with an appropriate reporting procedure to the manufacture so that validated, genuine transactions could be accurately reported and reimbursed to the retailer, eliminating or reducing the discretion of the check-out person.
One ultimate aim of such automated coupon processing can be electronic clearing of redemption coupons, similar to electronic banking, wherein the manufacturer is debited and the retailer credited automatically, eliminating several levels of manual clearing.
In contemplation of such a retail point coupon validation system, Advanced Promotion Technologies has marketed a system under the name Vision 500 Coupon Eater which consists of a redemption coupon reader and invalidator. Invalidation can comprise shredding or inking. This piece of equipment was designed to be used in connection with a point of sale retail bar code scanner, with information from the POS scanner sent to the coupon reader/shredder as to the content of the consumer items presented for purchase. The auxiliary coupon reader and shredder could then validate the actual purchase of each item as specified in the coupons presented for redemption, and validation could be made electronically in this way, with credit issued to the customer for redeemed coupons.
While the described auxiliary coupon reader system would appear to address the problem of efficient coupon validation, it required an additional piece of equipment and a cable interconnection with a product bar code scanner. It was connected generally between the scanner and the POS system (the terminal or cash register), and as such potentially could degrade product bar code reading performance. In this sense, the described previous system was inefficient and costly as compared to the present invention described below.
Another device aimed at validation of coupons is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,839,507. However, the system of that patent involved a separate machine for dispensing coins in redemption of coupons and it involved insertion of two coupons simultaneously.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with the present invention, a point of sale bar code scanner integrates the functions of coupon scanning, validation and securing with a fixed POS scanner normally used for scanning items for purchase. In one embodiment, the scanner utilizes the same reading beam for the reading of bar codes on redemption coupons as well as on products for purchase by the consumer. The same scanner housing can incorporate both functions. In another embodiment, a different reading beam can be used for coupons, and a wholly separate scanner can be provided, but with the same decoding and/or operating software as well as hardware used for both functions.
Principal aims of the invention are to make the coupon redemption process faster than conventional methods, in order to speed the checkout process and make the clearing process more efficient, as well as to provide a space-efficient and ergonomically efficient system at the checkout stand.
Through software associated with bar code decoding logic, a comparison is made between information on a redemption coupon and information representing items already presented for purchase, as determined from decoded bar codes of those items, and a decision is made as to whether the redemption coupon is valid and redeemable in this transaction. The decision preferably is based on whether the correct specific item identified in the coupon bar code has actually been purchased. It can also be based on the current date, for determination as to whether the redemption coupon is currently valid or has expired.
In one embodiment, the bar code scanner simply receives the redemption coupon face down on the product scanner window, and decode logic of the scanner identifies the bar code as belonging to a redemption coupon, then makes the comparison and validation of the coupon for the particular transaction. A credit can be issued automatically for the coupon redemption amount. Software is included for making the coupon identification, comparison and validation.
Additionally, there may be included a validated coupon receiving slot, into which must be fed a validated coupon for storage, shredding or other type of invalidation/cancellation before the scanner or cash register is enabled to complete the customer's transaction.
In another embodiment, the product scanner has a special beam exit window through which the scanning beam is diverted when it is signified that a redemption coupon is to be read. This diversion can be by a movable mirror.
There preferably is provided a special door for receiving redemption coupons. The opening and then closing of this coupon door may be connected to generate a signal that a redemption coupon rather than a purchased product is being read, to move a scan mirror from its normal position so as to divert the reading beam to form an alternate coupon reading scan pattern, and to enable a separate coupon decoding logic and comparison/validation logic. The latter logic compares the coupon bar code information with information on the list of products which are being purchased by the consumer in the transaction, and can also take into consideration the current date, and validates the redemption coupon on these bases.
The special coupon door in one embodiment opens to a slidable stage or tray which receives a coupon face down. Closing of the coupon door will cause the m
Novak Jeffrey M.
Rando Joseph F.
Frech Karl D.
Lyon & Lyon
Spectra-Physics Scanning Systems, Inc.
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