Registers – Systems controlled by data bearing records – Mechanized store
Reexamination Certificate
1999-06-14
2001-04-10
Tremblay, Mark (Department: 2876)
Registers
Systems controlled by data bearing records
Mechanized store
C235S462430
Reexamination Certificate
active
06213394
ABSTRACT:
This invention relates to systems for, and methods of, displaying a sequence of graphics presentations and a specific event on a visual display screen. The invention particularly relates to a system for, and method of, normally providing a priority to a display of a sequence of graphics presentations, thereafter providing for a priority to a display of a specific event upon the occurrence of the particular event and then providing again for a priority in the display of the sequence of the graphics presentations after the occurrence and display of the specific event. The specific event may be related or unrelated to the sequence of graphics presentations and the display of the specific event may be graphic or alphanumeric.
The system of this invention provides these added features to a market's existing character-based point-of-sale system without requiring any software or hardware changes to be made in the point-of-sale system by the market. In different embodiments, the systems and methods are adapted to be used in a store or market for providing to a customer visual indications of (1) purchases made by the customer, (2) purchases that the customer is contemplating making and (3) purchases that the retail store would like to induce the customer to make.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Visual displays are now provided in retail stores of products and items being purchased by a customer. For example, such visual displays are provided at a checkout counter so that the customer can verify the accuracy of the clerk at the checkout counter in recording, as by entries by a bar code scanner or by a keyboard, the purchases being made by the customer and the prices of such purchases. Such verifications are provided by alphanumeric symbols on the display screen.
It has been considered desirable for some time to be able to provide in a store advertisements of items and products offered by the store. These advertisements may illustratively relate to specials being offered by the store at any time. For example, such advertisements are now being provided by posters prominently displayed in the store. However, only one poster can be allocated at any one time to a given space in the store. This limits the ability of the store to provide a plurality of advertisements in sequence in any one space.
It would be desirable to provide in a store a system in which a sequence of graphic presentations and a presentation of a specific event are displayed at different times in a given location, the sequence of graphics presentations being provided at first times to indicate advertisements and promotions and the information, preferably alphanumeric, relating to specific events being provided at second times to specify products and the prices of such products. It would be further desirable to display the sequence of graphics presentations and the specific event at different times on a single visual display screen in the store or in some cases simultaneously on the screen. For example, the sequence of graphics presentations may relate to specials being offered in a store or market and the specific event may relate to the description to the description of a specific product and the price of the product in the store or may relate to an alphanumeric identification of a plurality of products being purchased by a customer, the prices of such products and the total cost of all of the products.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
A visual (e.g. liquid crystal) screen displays a sequence of graphics presentations and a specific event. The graphic information may be presented in a variety of formats (e.g. scrolled static pictures, animated imagery, full video, etc.). The graphics sequence (e.g. visual representations of products in a market) has a priority for display except when the specific event occurs. The specific event may be in graphics or alphanumeric form and related or unrelated to the graphics sequence. When the specific event has been displayed, the graphics sequence has priority again.
There are a number of embodiments of this invention. In a first embodiment of the invention, a visual display screen may be disposed at a checkout counter in a store to provide visual displays to a customer waiting to purchase products. When the visual display screen is indicating purchases being made by a customer, it provides alphanumeric indications identifying the purchases and the prices of such purchases. At other times, when purchases are not in progress the visual display screen provides graphics (pictorial) information of product advertisements and special promotions being sponsored by the store. Other display units, all of which may be networked together, may be located in areas other than the checkout counter. These display units do not display transaction data and only display promotional graphical images.
In the first embodiment, the alphanumeric information may be provided at a checkout counter by a bar code scanner or a keyboard which are part of the cash register system. In either case, the alphanumeric information is transferred to a centrally disposed transaction processor. The alphanumeric information processed by the central processor is displayed on the display screen until the purchase transaction is completed. At that time, the graphics advertising information resumes priority for display on the screen.
In a second embodiment of the invention, the visual display screen is integrated with a bar code scanner and is provided at a strategic location in the store other than the checkout counter to advertise products and promotions in the store. The screen provides a priority to graphics advertising information. When a customer activates the bar code scanner by placing a bar code under the scanner to obtain price information concerning a specific product, the visual display screen provides alphanumeric indications identifying the specific product in the store and the price of such product. The alphanumeric information from the scanner is processed at the central processor and the processed information is displayed at the screen for a designated time (e.g. 30 seconds). The screen thereafter displays the graphics information unless alphanumeric information on another product is scanned by the scanner within the particular time. It is also possible for the unit to have the information local to itself and updated periodically, but the server-based method is more typical. During the majority of the operational time, the visual display screen provides graphics (pictorial) information of product advertisements and special promotions being sponsored by the store. Other display units of this embodiment, all of which may be networked together, may be situated at various locations throughout the store. These units exhibit graphical data except when their individual bar code scanners are activated.
In the two (2) embodiments discussed above, the sequence of graphics presentations may constitute advertisements or promotions of items or products offered in a store or market. In the first embodiment, the specific event may constitute a list of items or products disposed at a checkout counter for purchase by a customer and displayed on a visual display screen in alphanumeric form at the checkout counter. In the second embodiment, the sequence of graphics presentations may be the same as in the first embodiment and the specific event may be a single item that a customer is interested in purchasing in the store or market and that is displayed in alphanumeric form on the visual display screen. In both embodiments, there is some interrelationship between the sequence of graphics relationships and the specific event in that they both relate to items of merchandise in the store.
A major advantage of the system is that graphics information capability can be added to the store's presently existing alphanumeric visual display system without any hardware/software changes except for the visual display unit itself. Another advantage of such a system is the simplicity of the system in that only a single display screen is used t
Freiberg Robert J.
Hatch Larry D.
Quitt Kevin D.
Schumacher Erick P.
Wu Koashin
Fulwider Patton et al.
Industrial Electronic Engineers, Inc.
Roston Ellsworth R.
Tremblay Mark
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