Transaction terminal with vertical weigh scale and methods of operation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11657683-B2
Application number	US-202117245190-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 30, 2021
Priority date	Oct 25, 2019
Publication date	May 23, 2023
Grant date	May 23, 2023

Abstract

A transaction terminal includes a vertically integrated bagging weigh scale and a vertically integrated scanner. The scale includes two posts that extend horizontally out from the terminal and upon which a bag hangs. Items placed in the bag cause displacement of the posts and/or pressure detected on the posts resulting in a recorded weight by a weight sensor of the scale. A current recorded weight of the bag is reported from the scale to the terminal during a transaction as each item is placed into the bag. The terminal uses the item weights to record prices for those items sold by weight and to verify that items scanned by the scanner and placed in the bag have expected weights for those items.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A transaction terminal, comprising:
a weigh scale integrated into the transaction terminal, wherein the weigh scale comprises:
two posts that extend horizontally out from a front surface of the weigh scale;
a weight sensor attached to first ends of the two posts and located within a housing of the weigh scale; and
second ends of the two posts adapted to receive and to hold a bag that hangs from a portion of the two posts while the weigh scale records a weight for the bag and reports the weight to the transaction terminal;
wherein the two posts are adapted to have a post height adjusted by custom raising or lowering the post height by a customer performing a transaction at the transaction terminal.

2. The transaction terminal of claim 1 further comprising, a scanner comprising a vertical scan window adapted to capture an item code of an item and report the item code to the transaction terminal.

3. The transaction terminal of claim 2 , wherein the two posts of the weigh scale are situated below the vertical scan window of the scanner.

4. The transaction terminal of claim 1 further comprising, a bagging assembly comprising two hooks and adapted to hold a collection of empty bags, wherein the bagging assembly is situated adjacent to a rear portion of the two posts, and wherein the bagging assembly adapted to slide an empty bag from the collection of empty bags off the two hooks and onto the portion of the two posts.

5. The transaction terminal of claim 1 further comprising, a wireless transceiver integrated into the weigh scale, wherein the wireless transceiver adapted to wirelessly read tag information attached or integrated into the bag and adapted to report the tag information to the transaction terminal.

6. The transaction terminal of claim 1 further comprising, a security de-tagging or de-activating sensor integrated into the weigh scale, wherein the security de-tagging or de-activating sensor adapted to deactivate a security tag of an item placed in the bag.

7. The transaction terminal of claim 1 , wherein the weigh scale comprises a self-calibration function accessible through a transaction interface of the transaction terminal, wherein the self-calibration function is adapted to recalibrate the weigh scale to zero after an empty personal bag of a customer is placed on the two posts and the bag is removed from the two posts.

8. The transaction terminal of claim 1 further comprising a height adjustable touchscreen display that is adapted to have a height of the height adjustable touchscreen display custom raised and lowered by a customer performing a transaction at the transaction terminal.

9. The transaction terminal of claim 1 , wherein the weigh scale comprises an integrated scanner, wherein the integrated scanner comprises a vertical scan window to scan item codes and to report item codes to the transaction terminal, wherein the vertical scan window is adapted to raise and lower a vertical scan window height with the post height of the two posts as the post height is adjusted by the customer performing the transaction at the transaction terminal.

10. The transaction terminal of claim 1 further comprising:
a bag shelf affixed to a first side of the transaction terminal; and
a basket shelf affixed to a second side of the transaction terminal, wherein the second side is an opposite side from the first side.

11. The transaction terminal of claim 1 , wherein the transaction terminal is a Self-Service Terminal (SST) for self-checkouts by a customer or is a Point-Of-Sale (POS) terminal for assisted checkouts of the customer performed by a cashier on behalf of the customer.

12. A weigh scale, comprising:
two posts extending horizontally out from a housing and perpendicular to a front surface of the housing, wherein the two posts extend from first ends located within the housing to second ends that extend away from the housing; and
a weight sensor attached to the first ends of the two posts within the housing;
wherein the weigh scale is adapted to connect to a peripheral port of a transaction terminal to provide weights recorded by the weight sensor of non-empty bags that hang from the second ends of the two posts during transactions at the transaction terminal; and
an integrated scanner comprising a vertical scan window that is adapted to capture item codes of items that pass in front of the vertical scan window and provide the item codes to the transaction terminal during a given transaction at the transaction terminal;
wherein the two posts and the vertical scan window are height adjustable by a customer during a given transaction at the transaction terminal.

13. The weigh scale of claim 12 further comprising, a bag assembly situated adjacent to a rear portion the two posts, wherein the bag assembly comprises two hooks elevated above a top surface of the two posts to ensure a weight associated with a collection of empty bags that hangs off the two hooks do not place any weight on the two posts, wherein the bag assembly is further adapted to allow a single empty bag from the collection of empty bags to be lifted over the two hooks and slid onto the two posts for a given transaction at the transaction terminal.

Assignees

• Ncr Corp

Inventors

• Yepez Rafael

Classifications

• A47F9/047

  for recording self-service articles without cashier or assistant · CPC title

• G01G19/4144

  for controlling weight of goods in commercial establishments, e.g. supermarket, P.O.S. systems · CPC title

• G01G23/3721

  with particular representation of the result, e.g. graphic · CPC title

• G07G1/0072 Primary

  with means for detecting the weight of the article of which the code is read, for the verification of the registration (weighing combined with recording means, e.g. in weighing scale, G01G19/415) · CPC title

• G01G23/10

  by electric or magnetic means · CPC title