Data processing: financial – business practice – management – or co – Automated electrical financial or business practice or... – Electronic shopping
Reexamination Certificate
1998-09-16
2003-09-23
Kazimi, Hani M. (Department: 3624)
Data processing: financial, business practice, management, or co
Automated electrical financial or business practice or...
Electronic shopping
C705S020000, C705S022000, C705S023000, C705S021000, C235S375000, C235S383000, C235S385000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06625580
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a store system utilized for purchasing goods desired by a customer in a store and, more particularly, to a store system utilized in a store having a goods display area in which the goods are displayed, and a goods storage for stocking the goods.
2. Description of the Related Art
A variety of goods are displayed in a store such as a supermarket etc. A customer, when purchasing the goods in the store, takes the goods out of a display rack in the store and thereafter brings the goods to a cash register. Then, a store clerk inputs an amount of money of the goods to the cash register, and the customer pays a total amount of money, thus settling the payment. This type of stores system is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 9-97832.
Having an insight into a goods purchasing trend in recent years, however, in the great majority of cases a large quantity goods are bought in the supermarket etc. Further, there are large-sized commodities. In such a case, it is very inconvenient for the customer to bring the purchased goods to the cash register. What is therefore demanded is a system for saving the labor to carry the goods to the cash register.
FIG. 9
is an explanatory diagram showing the prior art.
A store system shown in
FIG. 9
is proposed as a system for saving the labor to carry the goods within the store (see, e.g., Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 8-30847). According to this store system, the store includes a goods display area
90
for displaying goods samples
91
, and a goods storage
94
for stocking real goods
96
. The respective goods samples
91
are displayed in the goods display area
90
.
A customer
97
is asked to hold a goods input device
92
for inputting goods codes. The customer
97
inputs to the goods input device
92
the goods codes of the goods to be purchased in the goods display area
90
. The goods input device
92
memorizes the goods codes. Then, the customer
97
, when shopping is finished, brings the goods input device
92
to the cash register
93
. The cash register
93
takes in the goods data on the goods input device
92
, and calculates a total amount of money. The customer looks at this amount of money, and then settles the payment.
On the other hand, a goods indicator
95
is connected to the cash register
93
. This goods indicator
95
is provided in the goods storage
94
. The cash register
93
transfers to the goods indicator
95
th e data of the goods a payment of which has already been settled. The goods purchased by the customer are displayed on the goods indicator
95
. The store clerk in the store, upon looking thereat, takes goods
96
out of the goods storage
94
and transfers the goods
96
to the customer.
According to this construction, the customer specifies the goods, and the store clerk carries the goods from the goods storage. The customer is therefore able to save a labor to walk carrying the goods to the cash register. It is therefore feasible for the customer to save the labor even when purchasing a large quantity of goods or large commodities.
There arise, however, such a problem inherent in the prior art that the take-out of the goods is indicated after settling the payment at the cash register, and hence it takes a long time to receive the goods in the case of purchasing a multiplicity of goods, resulting in a defect of keeping the customer waiting long.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a store system, having no necessity for a customer to carry goods, for reducing a time till the goods are received.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a store system, having no necessity for the customer to carry the goods even when purchasing a large quantity of goods, for reducing the time till the goods are received.
To accomplish the above objects, a store system according to the present invention comprises a goods input device, operated by the customer, for inputting data of desired goods among the goods displayed in a goods display area, a cash register for settling a payment of the inputted goods, and a goods indicator, provided in a goods storage for stocking the goods, for indicating the goods inputted by the goods input device to a store clerk in charge. The data of the inputted goods are wirelessly transmitted to the goods indicator per input of the goods data in the goods input device, and the goods are indicated by the goods indicator.
According to the present invention, samples of the goods are displayed in a goods display area, and the goods to be handed are stocked in the goods storage. The customer holds the goods input device. The goods storage is provided with the goods indicator. The customer inputs the data of the goods to be purchased through the goods input device. The goods data inputted are wirelessly transmitted to the goods indicator in the goods storage. The goods indicator indicates a clerk to immediately prepare the goods.
It is therefore feasible to save a labor to carry the goods to the cash register and prepare the goods per input of the goods. Accordingly, the time till the goods are received can be reduced.
Further, according to one aspect of the invention, the goods input device includes an input unit for inputting goods codes of the goods, a display unit for displaying a price of the goods with the goods codes inputted, and a radio unit for wirelessly transmitting the inputted goods codes to the goods indicator.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the goods input device includes a reader for reading the goods codes of the goods.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, the goods input device includes a confirmation key for indicating said radio unit to transmit the inputted goods codes to the goods indicator.
According to yet another aspect of the present invention, the reader is constructed of a bar code reader for reading the bar codes of the goods.
According to a further aspect of the present invention, the goods input device further includes a key unit for inputting the number of goods, and the radio unit transmits the goods codes and the number of the goods.
According to a still further aspect of the present invention, the goods input device includes a memory for storing the goods codes inputted, and a calculating unit for calculating a total amount of money of the goods stored in the memory.
According to a yet further aspect of the present invention, the goods input device includes a transferring unit for transferring contents in the memory to the cash register.
According to an additional aspect of the present invention, the goods indicator includes an outputting unit for outputting information on the goods transmitted.
According to another additional aspect of the present invention, the cash register, after executing a payment settling process based on the goods data in the goods input device, issues an exchange sheet for an exchange for the goods.
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Brown, Jim; EDI Quick Response Keeps Retailers' Shelves Stocked; Network World, Framin
Fujitsu Limited
Kazimi Hani M.
Patel Jagdish
Staas & Halsey , LLP
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