Controlling locations shared among multiple operators

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11605256-B2
Application number	US-202016816437-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 12, 2020
Priority date	Mar 12, 2020
Publication date	Mar 14, 2023
Grant date	Mar 14, 2023

Abstract

A method includes controlling a shared location. Item identifiers are read from a set of items (pertaining to one or more operators sharing the shared location) reaching a gate of the shared location. A verification request message for the item identifiers is broadcast for receiving corresponding verification response messages from central computing systems of the operators. A passage of the items through the gate is controlled according to the verification response messages. A computer program and a computer program product for performing the method are also proposed. Moreover, a system for implementing the method is proposed.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
reading, by at least one control computing device, item identifiers from a set of one or more items;
broadcasting, by the control computing device, at least one verification request message comprising the item identifiers to two or more central computing systems, each central computing system belonging to a different seller;
receiving, by the control computing device, one or more verification response messages from at least one central computing system, the verification response message indicating a result of a verification for each of the item identifiers; and
controlling, by the control computing device, an alarm state according to the verification response messages.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the item identifiers are anonymized.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the item identifiers are random numbers.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the items are products for sale by sellers in a shared location, the shared location having at least one gate for exiting the shared location, and the item identifiers are product identifiers, the method further comprising:
controlling, by the control computing device and based on the verification response messages, an exit through the gate of one or more persons reaching the gate with the products.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the method comprises:
reading, by the control computing device, the product identifiers from RFID tags associated with the products.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the method comprises:
determining, by the control computing device based on at least one of the one or more verification response messages, that one or more of the products has not been sold;
determining, by the control computing device, a clearance for the person being negative based on at least one of the verification results indicating that one or more of the products has not been sold; and
controlling, by the control computing device, an exit of the person according to the clearance.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the controlling comprises outputting, by the control computing device, an alarm for causing a physical inspection of a purchase receipt of the one or more products that have not been sold.

8. The method of claim 4 , wherein the method comprises:
determining, by the control computing device based on at least one of the one or more verification response messages, that none of the products have not been sold;
determining, by the control computing device, a clearance for the person being positive when none of the verification results indicate that one or more of the products have not been sold; and
opening, by the control computing device, an enforcement device controlling the passage through the gate in response to the clearance being positive.

9. The method of claim 4 , wherein the method comprises:
determining, by each of the central computing systems, the corresponding verification response message by verifying each of the product identifiers against a product repository of the seller indicating products being for sale by the seller and each of the corresponding products being sold by the seller.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the method comprises:
receiving, by each of the central computing systems, sale reports from one or more cash computing devices of the corresponding seller, each of the sale reports indicating the product identifiers of one or more of the products of the seller being sold; and
updating, by each of the central computing systems, the product repository of the seller according to each of the sale reports received from the corresponding cash computing devices.

11. A computer program product, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions being executable by a control computing device to cause the control computing device to perform a method comprising:
reading item identifiers from a set of one or more items;
broadcasting at least one verification request message comprising the item identifiers to two or more central computing systems, each central computing system belonging to a different seller;
receiving one or more verification response messages from at least one central computing system, the verification response message indicating a result of a verification for each of the item identifiers; and
controlling an alarm state according to the verification response messages.

12. The computer program product of claim 11 , wherein the item identifiers are anonymized.

13. The computer program product of claim 12 , wherein the item identifiers are random numbers.

14. The computer program product of claim 11 , wherein:
the items are products for sale by sellers in a shared location, the shared location having at least one gate for exiting the shared location;
the item identifiers are product identifiers; and
the instructions further cause the control computing device to control an exit through the gate of one or more persons reaching the gate with the products based on the verification response messages.

15. The computer program product of claim 14 , wherein the instructions further cause the control computing device to read the product identifiers from RFID tags associated with the products.

16. The computer program product of claim 14 , wherein the instructions further cause the control computing device to:
determine, based on at least one of the one or more verification response messages, that one of the products has not been sold;
determine a clearance for the person being negative based on at least one of the verification results indicating that one of the products has not been sold; and
prevent an exit of the person according to the clearance.

17. A system comprising:
at least one control computing device arranged at an exit gate of a shared location, the at least one control computing device including:
a reader for reading corresponding item identifiers from a set of one or more items pertaining to one or more operators reaching the gate;
a transmitter for broadcasting at least one verification request message comprising the item identifiers to a plurality of corresponding central computing systems of the operators;
a receiver for receiving one or more verification response messages from at least one of the plurality of central computing systems in response to the verification request message the verification response message indicating a result of a verification of each of the item identifiers pertaining to the operator of the corresponding central computing system; and
a processor for controlling a passage of the items through the gate according to the verification response messages.

18. The system according to claim 17 , wherein the operators are sellers, the items are products for sale by the sellers in the shared location and the item identifiers are product identifiers, the system comprising an enforcement device for controlling an exit of a person with the products through the gate according to the verification response messages.

19. The system according to claim 18 , wherein the system comprises said central computing systems, each of the central computing system comprising:
a receiver for receiving the verification request message;
a processor for determining the verification result of each of the product identifiers by verifying the product identifier against a product repository of the seller indicating products being for sale by the seller and one or

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Ragusa Roberto
• Quaranta Elisabetta
• Mulas Marco
• Ottaviano Paolo

Classifications

• G06Q20/202

  Interconnection or interaction of plural electronic cash registers [ECR] or to host computer, e.g. network details, transfer of information from host to ECR or from ECR to ECR · CPC title

• G06Q20/42

  Confirmation, e.g. check or permission by the legal debtor of payment · CPC title

• G06Q20/208

  Input by product or record sensing, e.g. weighing or scanner processing · CPC title

• G06Q20/203

  Inventory monitoring · CPC title

• G07G1/009

  the reader being an RFID reader · CPC title