JPH02132330A - Weighing and vending device, its electronic scale, and account settling controller - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To settle the account of sold merchandise accurately and speedily by issuing labels on which sales prices are printed according to weighing results and setting the account at an account settling position separated from selling positions. CONSTITUTION:For example, when beef 10a for steak, beef 10b for stew, beef 10c for mince, etc., are purchased at a beef counter in a meat counter, they are weighed by an electronic scale 2, etc., connected to a computer 7 and the issued according to the weighing results. A shop assistant sticks the labels (a)-(c) on the articles 10a-10c and packs them in a bag 11 for beef. Pork and chicken are treated similarly and when a customer informs the end of purchase, sheet labels 11a-13a including bar codes by meat kinds are issued by an electronic scale 5 for chicken, etc., and a shop assistant sticks them on bags 11-13. Those bags 11-13 are read by a bar code scanner 14, etc., of a register at the account settling position to settle the account. Consequently, the settling of the account is performed speedily and accurately at the account settling position separated from the selling positions.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to a weighing and vending device in which a plurality of electronic scales are connected through a register and a bus line.

(Prior art) Products sold by weight, such as meat and side dishes in large-scale stores, are usually weighed in person using electronic scales, and a label with the price printed on each item is printed on the product. After pasting it on, it is handed out to the customer. The customer then takes the item to a cash register called a cash register, where the customer pays for the item all at once.

In this face-to-face weighing and sales system, multiple electronic scales with label printers are placed on top of showcases in the sales floor.
Each product purchased by a customer is weighed and valued using a nearby electronic scale with a printer, and at the cash register, another clerk looks at the product's price label and enters it into the register. However, when paying the bill, the price printed on the label must be entered into the cash register, which increases the amount of work at the cash register.
When customers are concentrated, a problem arises in that sales efficiency decreases. Additionally, there is a risk of input errors occurring when inputting prices, which may pose a problem for the store's credibility.

In order to avoid such a situation, a method has already been proposed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2003-120000 that connects multiple electronic scales to one cash register and transfers the price data calculated by each electronic scale to the cash register. Publication No. 56-51623, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 56-51624
It is proposed by the publication No.

In addition, in order to eliminate the need to re-enter sales prices at the cash register and to record the sales of multiple customers without error, multiple electronic scales and multiple receipt issuing machines are connected via a bus line. A weighing system that performs various types of total printing has already been developed (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-228316).

(Problem to be solved by the invention) Such conventional weighing and vending devices required a dedicated receipt issuing machine in addition to the electronic scale, so when a large number of electronic scales are installed, Many receipt issuing machines will also be installed. In order to connect these devices to each other and transfer data, new electronic scale hardware and software must be developed, which is inconvenient in terms of cost.

In addition, if weighing and pricing processing is performed for multiple customers using two or more electronic scales, it is necessary to sort out the purchase price for each customer, but in such a case, incorrect payment may occur. There is a risk that this will happen, and problems will arise in terms of payment management. In other words, payment management for products sold by weighing in person is essential to prevent errors caused by register malfunctions and input errors, as well as to prevent fraudulent acts by customers and store staff.

The present invention was made to solve the above problems, and
The purpose of the present invention is to provide a weighing and selling device capable of quickly weighing and selling products in person and accurately and quickly paying off the sold products.

(Means for Solving the Problems) According to the present invention, there is provided a weighing and vending device in which a product sales position and a checkout position are separated, and the product sales position has a
A plurality of weighing means each having a function of calculating the selling price of the weighed products are arranged, and a label issuing means is integrated into each weighing means to issue a label on which the results of weighing and selling are printed. In addition, there is provided a weighing and vending device in which a charge settlement means reads the sales result from the label and settles the charge.

(Function) The weighing and vending device of the present invention issues a receipt label tabulated for each sales floor together with the products sold by weighing in front of the customer, and even if products from multiple sales floors are brought to the cash register, the total receipt label is , you can easily pay your bills.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

(1) Overview of metered sales FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of the metered sales system.

In this system, a plurality of electronic scales 1 to 6 are connected to each other so that sales price data etc. can be exchanged, and a plurality of registers 8 and 9 installed at a cash dispensing place are connected via a computer 7.
is connected to. The electronic scale 1.2 is placed in the beef department, the electronic scale 3.4 is placed in the pork department, and the electronic scale 5.6 is placed in the poultry department.

Here, a case will be described based on FIGS. 1 and 2 in which a specific store clerk A moves with a specific customer α while sequentially weighing a plurality of products in front of the customer. Fig. 2 (a) is an example of label printing, Fig. 2 (b) is an example of receipt label printing, and Fig. 2 (C) is an example of printing on a receipt label.
is an example of receipt printing, and the label and the receipt label are a common blank label paper, and are printed while temporarily attached to a backing paper (release paper).

First, when customer α purchases beef steak by weighing it in front of him using the scale 2 (electronic scale) in the beef department, the scale 2 weighs the beef steak in front of him.
Label a shown in a) is issued, and clerk A uses this label a.
Attach it to beef steak 10a. Further, when customer α purchases beef stew 10b and beef mince 10c, respective labels b and C are issued and affixed. Clerk A
puts these three beef items 10a, tot) and 10c into one bag 11 and follows the customer α with it.

Next, when customer α purchases pork steak and pork minced meat at Kobain 3 in the pork section, labels for each are issued at Kobain 3, and clerk A attaches them to each item in the same way as before.
These two pork items are put into one bag 12, and the bag 12 is carried along with the customer α. Furthermore, when customer α purchases chicken thighs and chicken thighs at Kobain 5 in the poultry department, Kobai 5 issues labels for each item and attaches them to each item, and these two chicken meat items are sold at the same time. Put it in one bag 13.

Here, when customer α tells clerk A to finish the purchase, clerk A
, the child scale 5 issues a receipt label for the customer α. Incidentally, after each label or receipt label is printed, the clerk cuts out the mount together with the mount, peels off the mount, and attaches it to the item or the bags 11 to 13.

The slave scale 5 transfers the data (items, prices, etc.) of the products weighed by the store clerk A using each scale, and stores them. The child scale 5 sorts the data by category of product classification,
A receipt label with the details and total price printed is issued for each department. FIG. 2(b) is an example of a receipt label printed on blank label paper. A barcode is also printed on the receipt label. Clerk A attaches the beef receipt label lla to the bag 11 containing three beef items, the pork receipt label 12a to the bag 12 containing two pork items, and A receipt label 13a is attached to a bag 13 containing two items of poultry meat, and the bags 11 to 13 are handed over to the customer α.

Customer α receives the bag and takes it to the cash register, where another clerk B in charge of register 8 scans the barcode on the receipt label attached to each bag and reads the sales results. The fee will be settled at . 14 and 15 are barcode scanners attached to registers 8 and 9, respectively.

That is, first scan the barcode llb on the receipt label Ila attached to the bag 11 containing the three beef items, enter the total price for the three items into the register 8, and then similarly scan the receipt labels 12a and 13a. Enter the total price of two pork and two chicken items into the register. register 8
Then, the total price of the three total prices is calculated, the receipt shown in FIG. 2(C) is issued, and the customer α settles the charges.

For Dokiko scales 1 to 5, when receipt labels lla to 13a are issued, receipt labels 11a to 13a are issued, respectively.
Data such as the total price printed on the balance is sent to the master scale 6. These data are collectively stored in the master balance 6, and each register 8, 9 stores receipt labels lla to 13a.
Data such as the total price read from is stored.

After the store closes, the computer 7 takes in the receipt label data (that is, the data weighed and sold by each electronic scale 1 to 6) from the master scale 6, and also imports the data in the register ( In other words, receipt label 11
data read from a to 13a) and ticks whether each data matches. If data that does not match is found, it will be printed as weighed and sold data that was not correctly settled at the cash register even though it was weighed and sold.

(2) Structure of weighing and vending device FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a key switch of an electronic scale. The key switch 20 is provided in each of the electronic scales 1 to 6, and includes a numeric keypad 21 for inputting a product number, a clerk key 22, a function key 23, and the like. Clerk key 22
In order to specify the clerk who operates the key switch 20, the function key 23 is composed of a key input section corresponding to each clerk, for example, A to E, and the function key 23 is operated when the customer's face-to-face sales are completed. It consists of a total key S and a print key P.

Figures 4 (a) to (e) show examples of storing input data using an electronic scale. This shows the memory contents of the t scale. In the same figure (a), the first to third rows show the details of each item for customer α who purchased beef steak etc. by weighing in person, the first column is the scale number, the second column is the clerk code, and the The 3rd column is the department code, the 4th column is the product name code, and the 5th column is the department code.
The columns are storage areas for unit price data, the sixth column for measurement data, and the seventh column for price data. FIGS. 4(c) to 4(e) show the memory contents of the scale 3 in the pork section.

In other words, the beef stew and minced beef are weighed on the small scale 2, then customer α and clerk A move to another small scale 3, where the pork steak is weighed, and from there the clerk key A is weighed. When turned ON, the data of the slave scale 2 is read out to the single item details area of the slave scale 3 (FIG. 4(d)), and the single item details area of the slave scale 2 is cleared to zero (FIG. 4(b)). Moshikobai 3
Now, after the data such as the price for pork steak is printed on the label, it is stored in the single item details area on the 4th line (
Figure 4(e)). When two items of poultry meat are weighed and sold using the scale 5, the details of the individual items are similarly stored. Each of the electronic scales 1 to 6 shown in FIG. 1 can similarly store the details of each item in its memory, whether it is a child scale or a master scale.

FIG. 5 shows department detail data read from the issued receipt label at the register 8 for settling charges.

The 1st to 3rd rows are data about other clerks, the 4th to 6th rows show the details of the department where customer α purchased by weighing in front of clerk A, and the 1st column is the scale number, The second column is a store clerk code, the third column is a department code, the fourth column is a receipt label number, and the fifth column is a storage area for departmental total price data. Here, the data for the three bags brought by customer α is accumulated as the memory contents of the department details storage area of register 8, and the sales results are weighed in bulk after the store's closing time. used to compare with.

Figure 6 shows a discrepancy data list created by comparing the charge payment data of each register 8 and 9 at the payment position with the sales results stored as scale side data and printing only the data that are discrepant. An example is shown. By detecting discrepancies between data using the computer 7 and analyzing the created discrepancy data list, it becomes possible to infer the cause of discrepancies. In other words, the cause may be on the equipment side, such as a malfunction due to noise, a malfunction in the heating element of the scale's thermal head, a malfunction or failure of the scale or register such as a data reading error by the register scanner, or a malfunction or failure on the human side. If it is determined that the cause is, for example, a store employee taking an unauthorized item home or a customer taking an unauthorized item home, it is easy to take countermeasures.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of an electronic scale that constitutes the child scale or parent scale shown in FIG. 1.

The arithmetic control unit 30 includes a CPU 31, a communication interface 32, a ROM 33, a RAM 34, and two input/output interfaces 35 and 36. The input/output interface 35 includes a weight sensor 37 that detects the weight of the product. The key switch 20 connected via the A/D converter 38 and shown in FIG. 3 above is also connected to the human output interface 35.
is connected to. The communication interface 32 is for mutually exchanging sales price data, and thereby the data in the single item detail storage area of the RAM 34 is exchanged as appropriate. A display 39 and a printer 40 are connected to the input/output interface 36.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of register 8.9 shown in FIG.

The arithmetic control unit 50 includes a CPU 51, a communication interface 52, a ROM 53, a RAM 54, and two input/output interfaces 55 and 56. Scanner 57 that reads product prices from Ila, etc.
The key input section 58 is also connected to the human output interface 55. The communication interface 52 is for transferring sales data from the department details storage area of the RAM 54 to the computer 7. Note that a display 59 and a receipt printer 60 are connected to the human output interface 56.

(3) Issuance of labels by electronic scales FIG. 9 is a flowchart for issuing labels for each weighing of products by electronic scales constituting child scales 1 to 5.

When customer α tells clerk A that he would like to purchase beef steak, clerk A inputs the product number for beef steak using the numeric keypad of the scale 2 and calculates the pre-registered unit price, product name, etc. for beef steak. , weigh the beef steak (step 61), and turn on your clerk key A (step 6).
2). The electronic scale determines whether the data of clerk A has already been input (step 63). In the case of the weighed sales example in (1) above, since it has not yet been stored in any of the scales 1 to 6, step 64 is passed and the name, price, etc. of the beef steak currently being weighed is stored. The data is printed on blank label paper (step δ5) and stored in the single item details area (step 66). The label a, which has been fed by the printed length, is cut out by the clerk and pasted on the weighed beef steak to be sold, and placed in the bag 11 (step 67). If the customer continues shopping with this scale, the process returns to steps 68 to 61, and the beef stew and beef mince are weighed in the same way, and labeled b and c.
will be issued.

If the customer has already shopped at another scale, the corresponding store clerk's data has been entered into the other scale, so step 6
In step 4, the store clerk's data is read out and transferred to the single item detail storage area of this scale, and the original data read out from the scale is cleared (Figure 4).

Further, when the shopping using this scale is completed, the clerk A takes the items and moves to the next sales location with the customer.

(4) Issuance of receipt labels using electronic scales Figure 10 shows receipt labels issued using electronic scales (Figure 2 (b)).
This is a flowchart for issuing a .

After weighing in front of the child scale 5, the customer α informs the clerk A that the purchase has been completed, and the clerk A turns on the total key of the child scale 5, and then turns on his own clerk key A (step 69). In the case of the weighed sales example in (1) above, all of the data of clerk A is stored in the child scale 5, so steps 70 and 71 are skipped and the data of clerk A's department code 1 (beef department) is stored. are collected from the single item details area (step 72).

Note that, for example, department code 1 for beef, department code 2 for pork, department code 3 for poultry, etc. are determined in advance.

If there is collected data for department code 1, step 73
The process then proceeds to step 74, where the beef data stored in the individual item details area is printed on label paper (details printing) as shown in Figure 2(b), the department total price is printed, and the department is further identified by barcode. total price, department code,
A clerk code, receipt label number, scale number, etc. are printed to create a receipt label. Thereafter, data such as the department total price is transmitted from the child scale 5 to the master scale, which receives it and stores it in the memory within the master scale (step 75).
). The child scale 5 clears the data of department code 1 in the single item details area (step 76).

Clerk A cuts the receipt label on which the beef details and total are printed and attaches it to the bag containing the beef (step 77).

Since the receipt labels to be attached to the pork and poultry bags have not yet been issued, it is determined that there is uncollected data (step 78), and when clerk A turns on the print key P (step 79). , the child scale 5 has the following department code data,
That is, data regarding pork is collected from the individual item details area (step 80), and a corresponding receipt label is issued (step 74). Clerk A cuts this receipt label and attaches it to the bag containing the pork (step 77).
.

Furthermore, when the print key P is turned on, a receipt label for the chicken meat (Fig. 2 (b)) is issued, so the clerk A attaches it to the bag containing the chicken meat and sends the customer α three Hand over the bags (a bag containing three beef items, a bag containing two pork items, and a bag containing one chicken item) (step 81).

For example, after weighing in front of the child scale 5, the customer α returns to the child scale 4 and informs the clerk A that the purchase has been completed.
By turning on the total key S and the clerk key A on the sub-scale 4, the clerk A can also cause the sub-scale 4 to issue a receipt label. In this case, since the slave scale 4 does not have clerk A's data, after the total key and clerk key A are turned ON, the slave scale 4 retrieves clerk A's data from the scale that stores clerk A's data, that is, the slave scale 5. The data is read out and transferred to the individual item details area of the own scale (sub scale 4), and the data of clerk A stored in the sub scale 5 is cleared (step 71). In this way, the data of the clerk A is stored in the sub-scale 4, and receipt labels for beef, pork, and poultry can be issued using the sub-scale 4 in the same manner as described above.

(5) Settlement process at register FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing the settlement procedure at the register.

Customer α is handed three bags (beef bag 11, pork bag 12, poultry bag 13) with receipt labels affixed to them by clerk A.
takes those bags and goes to the cash register. At the cash register, cashier B scans the bar code on the receipt label of the beef bag with a scanner and inputs the data recorded in the bar code into the register (step 82).

At the register, the department name (beef) and total price for each department in the input data are printed on ordinary receipt paper (step 83), and all the input data (weigher number, clerk code, department code, receipt label) are printed on ordinary receipt paper (step 83). NO,, department total price)
is stored in the departmental details area of the RAM 54 (step 84). Next, if the pork and poultry receipt labels are scanned, printed, and memorized, it means that all of customer α's items have been scanned, so this is set from the key input section 58 of the register (step 85). In the arithmetic control unit 50 of the register, the total price is calculated and the second
As shown in Figure (C), the total price of each department is printed on the receipt paper (step 86), and this is used as the receipt for the customer α.
Then, the customer α pays the price (step 88).

As shown in FIG. 5, the storage contents of the departmental details area of this RAM 54 are for three bags. However, when no data is input from the scanner 57, data from the computer 7 The presence or absence of a data request is checked (step 89), and if there is a request, all data in the departmental details area is transmitted to the computer 7, and after the transmission is completed, this area is cleared to zero (step 90).

(6) Data consistency check by computer 7 FIG. 12 is a flowchart of data consistency check by computer 7. First, the computer 7 determines whether the current time according to the built-in clock is the set check time (step 91). In this case, an appropriate time after closing time is set in advance in the computer 7 as the check time in order to perform the match check after all customers have finished their payment processing at the cash register.

When the check time arrives, the computer 7 transmits a data request signal to the master scale (step 92), and receives the scale number, clerk code, etc. transmitted from the master scale as detailed data for each department. Department code, receipt label number. When all departmental total prices, weighing data, etc. are received, they are stored in the scale data area of the memory of the computer 7 (step 93).

Next, a data request signal is sent to each register (step 94), and detailed data for each department, such as scale number and clerk code, are sent from the register. Department code, receipt label number, department total price. All the scanned data such as the register number is received and stored in the register data area of the memory of the computer 7 (step 95).

The computer 7 sequentially compares the data in the scale data area and the data in the register data area (step 96).
If it is determined that they match (step 97), the matching data in both areas is cleared (step 98). Therefore, once all the data have been compared (step 99), the remaining data that has not been cleared is checked (step 100), and these are either printed out as mismatched data as shown in Figure 6, or printed on the CRT. (Step l01).

Note that in the above comparison of scale data and register data, register numbers are not compared. This is because there is no register number data in the scale data area.

Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the detailed data for each department is temporarily stored in the master balance 6 and the register 8.9.
It is also possible to send the data to the computer 7 and store it in the computer 7 each time it is weighed and each time it is read by the scanner 87 in the register 8.9, and to perform a comparison check at a predetermined check time.

By creating and analyzing the mismatch data list shown in FIG. 6 in this way, the cause of the mismatch can be inferred, and if the cause can be guessed, countermeasures can be taken promptly.

As above, this invention has been described in some detail with respect to its most preferred embodiment, but the description of the preferred embodiment does not include variations in detailed parts of the configuration or contrary to the spirit of the invention as described in the claims. It is clear that various modifications or combinations thereof may be made.

(Effects of the Invention) As explained above, according to the present invention, when a plurality of electronic scales are connected by registers and bus lines and products are sold by weighing in front of the customer, along with the products sold by weighing in front of the customer, By issuing receipt labels that are aggregated for each sales area, even if products from multiple sales areas are brought to the cash register, it is easy to aggregate them and settle charges, and the measurement system allows for reliable product settlement management. We can provide vending equipment, electronic scales, and payment management equipment.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2(a) is an example of label printing, FIG. 2(b) is an example of receipt label printing, and FIG. 2(C) is a diagram showing an example of receipt printing. , Fig. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a key switch of an electronic scale, Fig. 4(a)
-(e) are diagrams showing examples of input data stored by an electronic scale, FIG. 5 is a diagram showing department detail data read from a receipt label, and FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a discrepancy data list. FIG. 7 is a block diagram of an electronic scale constituting a child scale or a master scale, FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a register, FIG. 9 is a flowchart for issuing labels by the electronic scale, and FIG. , FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a flowchart for issuing a receipt label using an electronic scale, FIG.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a flowchart of a match check by the computer 7. 1 to 6...IIE child scale, 7...computer,
8.9...Register, 20...Key switch, 30
... Arithmetic control unit, 40... Printer, 50... Arithmetic control unit, 60... Receipt printer.

Claims (12)

[Claims] (1) A weighing and selling device for cases where the product sales position and the checkout position are separated, which includes a plurality of weighing means having the function of calculating the selling price of the weighed products, and a metering device that is integrated with these weighing means. A weighing and selling device comprising: a label issuing means for issuing a label on which the results of weighing and selling are printed; and a charge settlement means for reading the sales results from the issued label and settling the charge. (2) Claim (1) characterized in that the label issuing means issues a label whose back surface is coated with an adhesive and is attached to a product sold by weight or its wrapping paper.
The weighing and vending device described in . (3) The metered vending device according to claim 1, wherein the label issuing means prints the sales result in a bar code, and the fee settlement means reads the result using a bar code reader. (4) The weighing means has an input means for inputting a specific code number at the time of weighing, and is connected to a label issuing means for issuing a label on which sales results of the same code number are printed at the same time. The weighing and vending device according to claim (1). (5) The measuring means according to claim (1) has a function of mutually exchanging sales price data, and each has a label issuing means for issuing a label on which the data is printed for each product. , at least one second label issuing means for simultaneously issuing labels on which all weighing and sales results are printed. (6) Claim (5) characterized in that the second label issuing means is connected to a measuring means installed in the same product sales department and prints product details and total price.
) electronic scales. (7) The electronic scale according to claim 5, wherein the second label issuing means prints the total price in a bar code, and the charge settlement means reads the total price using a bar code reader. (8) A payment management device for managing payment of products sold by the weighing and selling device according to claim (1), comprising a storage means for storing sales results by each measuring means; 1. A payment management device comprising: a transfer means for transmitting sales results to said fee payment means, and said sales results are compared with fee payment data read by said fee payment means. (9) It is characterized by comprising a data processing means that compares charge settlement data from a plurality of charge settlement means at the settlement position with the sales results stored in the storage means and detects a discrepancy between the data. The payment management device according to claim (8). (10) The payment management device according to claim 8, wherein the weighing means of the weighing and selling device has an input means for specifying an operator who inputs the sales results. (11) The payment management device according to claim (9), wherein the data processing means includes data printing means. (12) The payment management device according to claim 9, wherein the data processing means includes data display means.