DE19716408A1 - Automatic handling system for loading purchased goods into vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

The handling system locates a range of products in storage compartments (7) according to a command from a selector (3), e.g. in the form of a laser gun held by a driver/customer and pointed at the bar code on the compartment. When selected the products pass onto a conveyor and are directed by a transfer unit (8), e.g. a robot arm, and into a collection carton (4) that is located within a carrier (2). The operation of the conveyor and the robot is electronically controlled. When full the carrier is moved to a delivery point and the carton lid is closed. The transaction is registered by a cash register (9) suspended above the conveyor. The payments can be made electronically, e.g. using a credit card.

Description

The invention relates to a method and a device for automated shopping of products from a vehicle transported through the system, into which the Products are loaded.

According to the state of the art, there are large shopping centers where the customers park your vehicle in a parking lot. Then customers have to walk in go to the mall, find a shopping cart and use it to find the right one Approach shelves. In large supermarkets there are shelves of different products often far apart from each other. This means that shopping lengthy and time-consuming design. In addition, the operator of the supermarket cannot exclude that the customer may steal products without paying, damage or even poisoned.

An object of the invention is to solve the problems of classic shopping and a convenient, economical, customer-friendly, safe, accurate invoice, Clear, hygienic, environmentally friendly and time-saving shopping To enable products without leaving the vehicle.

The invention solves this problem with the features of the method and device main claim.

Further advantageous refinements of the invention are in the subclaims specified.

The method and the device for automated shopping save the buyer or driver:

• - the search for a parking space
• - get out of his vehicle while shopping
• - to search for a shopping cart
• - packing the purchased products
• - carrying shopping bags.

This ensures a high level of convenience for the buyer.

The operator saves:

• - Purchase of the parking spaces
• - Construction of the parking lots
• - Shopping cart shopping
• - Purchase of shelves for the products.

This ensures a high level of economy for the operator.  

With the method and the device for automated shopping, customer friendliness results from:

• - Clearly arranged and individually arranged goods
• - pleasant atmosphere (information boards, decorative color and light coordination)
• - soft, soothing music throughout the entire facility
• - Readable prices on every oversized product or product board
• - innovative and precise ordering of the selected products
• - innovative and exact checkout
• - Shopping facilities for people with physical disabilities with a vehicle

This ensures a high level of customer friendliness.

Due to the automation and the harmonious process of the purchasing process, there are no unpleasant:

• - Delays (caused by other buyers or missing shopping carts)
• - Delay due to the search for a specific product, because clear Arrangement is in place
• - Queues (caused by coin search when receiving the Shopping cart or at checkout)
• - Reloading the products (from the shelf into the shopping cart, from the shopping cart at the cash register on the belt and behind the cash register in the pockets).

This ensures a high time saving for the buyer.

This helps the operator to:

• - higher profit u. a. through savings, rationalization
• - higher sales u. a. through efficiency
• - fewer sales staff
• - better control of expiration dates e.g. B. for food by the order in the automated pantries (it is sufficient to read the expiry date only for the first product, because all of the following are equally fresh or fresher)
• - easier counting of the products sold (through the exact counting of the automated pantries).

This ensures a high level of economy for the operator.

The method and the device for automated shopping increases the security for the buyer by:

• - No need to get in and out of your own vehicle
• - minimized physical and psychological effort
• - minimized need for movement
• - excluded improper manipulation by other customers (e.g. damage packaging, food poisoning etc.)
• - inviolability of his personal belongings - (e.g. robbery or theft)
• - the exact billing at the checkout through the fully automated process.

This ensures a high level of security for the buyer.  

The operator reserves the right to:

• - Risks of theft of the products
• - improper manipulation of the products by the customer (e.g. damage packaging, food poisoning etc.)
• - Incorrect billing at the cash register because the voting device saved Information transmitted to the cash register fully automatically.

This ensures a high level of economy for the operator.

The exact count of the automated pantries and daily control of the first Product guarantees the freshness of the products below in the pantries. This ensures a high freshness of the products for the buyer.

The operator hereby omits:

• - Checks on the expiry date of the goods on the shelves
• - Losses due to expired goods
• - Disposal of expired goods.

This ensures a high level of economy for the operator.

In the method and the device for automated shopping, the hygiene (compared to classic shopping) is characterized by:

• - Inviolability of the products by customers
• - excluded improper manipulation by customers (e.g. damage to the Packaging, food poisoning etc.)
• - Not touching the often glued and dirty shopping trolleys
• - Do not touch the doors and the shelves
• - Avoiding direct contact with other potentially ill customers.

This ensures high hygiene for the buyer and the operator.

The method and the device for automated shopping save the driver or buyer:

• - the inhalation of the exhaust gases, since the vehicle does not move through itself with its own drive System moves but is transported
• - the purchase of plastic bags.

This ensures environmental friendliness for the buyer.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a convenient, economical, customer-friendly, safe, accurate, clear, hygienic, To enable environmentally friendly and time-saving shopping for the products without doing so to leave the vehicle.

An exemplary embodiment of the invention is shown schematically in the figure.

After the vehicle ( 2 ) has entered the roofed system ( 10 ) and entered the transport track ( 1 ), the driver or buyer uses a selection device ( 3 ) to determine the size of the carton ( 4 ), how much and which items ( 5 ) he wants to buy.

The transport track ( 1 ) transports the vehicle ( 2 ) in which the buyer or buyers sits or sit during the entire journey along the articles ( 5 ) on display. The products ( 6 ) selected by the buyer are automatically transported from the storage chambers ( 7 ) to the conveyor belt system ( 8 ), which transports them into the trunk of the vehicle. The selection device ( 3 ) registers selected products ( 6 ), their number and stores the information required for the cash register ( 9 ). At the end of the transport path ( 1 ), the cash register ( 9 ) calculates the total amount to be paid on the basis of the information from the responsible selection device ( 3 ), the buyer pays out of the vehicle ( 2 ), while the products ( 6 ) in the box ( 4 ) of the trunk. After cashing and closing the trunk or the tailgate, the vehicle ( 2 ) leaves the system ( 10 ).

The system ( 10 ) can be longer than shown in the figure.

The system ( 10 ) can also be built as a component of a department store, a supermarket, a shop, a restaurant, a gas station, a car wash or a parking garage, outdoors, on industrial areas, on or on a slope, roofed or underground.

If appropriate, the vehicle ( 2 ) does not have to be moved during automated shopping if the mobility and automation of the system ( 10 ) is designed accordingly.

The vehicle ( 2 ) can also be moved in various ways: on a conveyor belt or a chain or roller conveyor, between the rails, on the rails, on a platform. It can also be pulled, pushed, lifted and lowered.

Articles ( 5 ) can be presented in different ways: in the original packaging, as oversized product models or in two or three dimensions; written down on boards, buttons, screen or displays, painted on, electronically or graphically recorded, listed in alphabetical or numerical order.

Products ( 6 ) can be selected and ordered in different ways with:
laser gun aimed and actuated at the exhibited article ( 5 ) or product model, the article or product model being provided with a bar code;
Image, code or number keypad, display or screen, which forward the corresponding signals to a control unit.

Products ( 6 ) can be transported to and into the vehicle ( 2 ) in various ways. After ordering the article ( 5 ), the system registers which and how much of each product ( 6 ) has been selected, automatically operates the mechanisms of the pantry ( 7 ) and the product or products ( 6 ) are qualified by robots, conveyor belts, automated mechanisms or Personnel transported into the vehicle ( 2 ).

At the end of the transport track ( 1 ) there is a cash register ( 9 ) which can settle fully or partially automatically. The cash register ( 9 ) receives the exact information about the type and number of products purchased ( 6 ) through the automated selection device ( 3 ), evaluates and calculates. The total is shown and the customer can pay with an electronic means of payment (credit or debit card) so as not to slow down the smooth process for automated shopping.

Reference list

1

Transport conveyor for the vehicle

2nd

Vehicle with buyer (s)

3rd

Voting device

4th

Carton, container for the intended purchase

5

Issued items

6

Chosen products

7

Pantries

8th

Conveyor belt system

9

cash register

10th

investment

Claims (7)

1. Device for the automated shopping of products ( 6 ) out of a vehicle ( 2 ) conveyed by the system ( 10 ), a transport track ( 1 ) for the vehicle ( 2 ), a transport ban system ( 8 ) for the products ( 6 ), which transports them from storage chambers ( 7 ) to the vehicle ( 2 ) and a selection device ( 3 ) for specifying selected articles ( 5 ) or desired products ( 6 ), a control unit corresponding to a signal from the selection device ( 3 ) conveying the conveyor belt system ( 8 ) controls such that the desired product ( 6 ) is conveyed from the storage chambers ( 7 ) to the vehicle ( 2 ). 2. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the transport path ( 1 ) is a conveyor belt. 3. Device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the transport belt system adapts (8) to the vehicle (2) to provide a secure loading of the products to ensure in the vehicle (2). 4. The device according to at least one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the selection device ( 3 ) contains a laser gun, which enables the selection of the desired products, corresponding storage chamber ( 7 ) each contain different identifiers and the selection device ( 3 ) and so that the control unit can recognize which product ( 6 ) is to be conveyed. 5. The device according to at least one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the identifiers are the bar codes. 6. The device according to at least one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that articles ( 5 ) are presented in an understandable, clear and informative manner to ensure customer-friendly shopping. 7. A method for the automated purchase of products from a vehicle ( 2 ) conveyed by a system ( 10 ), comprising the steps:

• - Transporting the vehicle ( 2 ) on a transport track ( 1 )
• - Transporting the products with a conveyor belt system ( 8 ) from pantries ( 7 ) to the vehicle ( 2 ) and
• - Specifying desired products via a selection device ( 3 ), a control unit in accordance with a signal from the selection device ( 3 ) controls the conveyor belt system ( 8 ) so that the desired product is conveyed from the storage chambers ( 7 ) to the vehicle ( 2 ) .