Patent Publication Number: US-8109437-B2

Title: System for self checkout

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is a continuation application of co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/366,334, filed on Mar. 2, 2006, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,464,869 which is hereby incorporated by reference. 
    
    
     FIELD OF INVENTION 
     This invention is directed to self checkout systems, particularly but not exclusively to improvements relating to the checkout capabilities of a retail establishment. 
     BACKGROUND ART 
     In many establishments including retail food establishments, and in particularly cafeterias, it is not uncommon to queue for some time in order to pay for goods or a meal. In most establishments there is a cashier who reviews all the items selected and prepares the bills. The goods may then be paid for using cash, or in some establishment if the customer has an account, they may pay using an account. 
     The latter payment solution is most common in establishments provided by employers for their employees, where the employees have an employee number and an identification card, which can be used to facilitate payment for the goods. Credit details may be associated with the identification card and can be topped up from time to time via known means. However, there may still be considerable waiting time and delays produced in most establishments since the cashier still has to review all the items selected by the customer. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a self checkout system (SCO System) which overcomes at least some of the problems associated with the prior art systems. 
     The present invention is directed to improvements relating to the checkout capabilities of a retail establishment. 
     More particularly the present invention discloses a system for providing self checkout for an establishment, the establishment comprising a plurality of separate serving areas, comprising: a tray; a plurality of receptacles placed on the tray, the plurality of receptacles selected from a plurality of separate serving areas, each serving area comprising a different catering area within the establishment and providing a different type of content, wherein the content of each selected receptacle is dictated and associated with the serving area from which the receptacle was taken; a system for reading information in a tag embedded in each selected receptacle placed on the tray, wherein the information in the tag is associated with the serving area from which the receptacle was taken and at least one of the content of the selected receptacle and a cost per unit weight of the content of the selected receptacle; a system for associating, in a database, the tag information for each selected receptacle with the serving area from which the selected receptacle was taken; a system for determining a charge for the content of each selected receptacle from the database association; a tag, located on a customer, containing information regarding a credit level of the customer and a requirement for debiting the customer; a system for charging a customer for the content of each selected receptacle placed on the tray and determining a total cost to be charged to the customer for the plurality of selected receptacles; a system for reading the customer tag to determine the customer credit level and the customer debiting requirement; a system for deducting the total cost from the customer credit level; and a system for determining and storing a new customer credit level in the customer tag. 
     Advantages of this invention are set out in detail in the description. 
     In particular, it is possible to manufacture all receptacles to be the same, this means that the manufacturing process costs can be minimised. 
     There will need to be less human resource overhead and resources in an establishment using this type of model, which will again give further cost saving and efficiency benefits. 
     Other advantages and aspects of the invention can be seen in the accompanying claims and description. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Reference will now be made by way of example, to the accompanying drawings. 
         FIG. 1  is a diagram showing how the overall system of self checkout for a retail food establishment may be implemented in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 2  is a figure illustrating how the self checkout system of  FIG. 1  may identify articles and items selected by a customer so as to enable a payment. 
         FIG. 3  is a table which shows an example of information, which may be stored on the database of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 4  is a table which shows information relating to an RFID card associated with specific customers and includes information identifying card credit levels both before and after a charge has been made. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Referring initially to  FIG. 1 , a self checkout (SCO) system  110 , for a retail food and/or drink establishment is shown. 
     Three separate serving areas  112 ,  114  and  116  are shown. In each serving area there are a number of receptacles each including a unique tag. The unique tag may take the form of any tag which can be read without contact and in particular may include a radio frequency identification chip (RFID chip). 
     For ease of this description only, one receptacle in area  112  is given the number  118 , one receptable in area  114  is given the number  120 , and one receptable in area  116  the number  122 . The numbers will be used later to describe other features of the invention, but in fact each receptacle in a given establishment includes a unique RFID chip and is similarly unique. 
     The content of the receptacle is dictated by and associated with the serving area from which the receptacle is selected or chosen. The content may be a meal, snack, drink or other item to be selected by a customer. Each receptacle may be the same or different from other receptacles in the same area, but as previously indicated each one has a unique tag embedded within the material thereof. 
     For the purposes of this invention the term embedded is intended to include any article which forms an integral or substantially integral part of the material of the receptacle. It may include a tag or RFID chip which is partly embedded or attached to the surface and then sealed thereto by an appropriate member or material, or something that is fully embedded in the material of the receptacle. 
     Prior to service in the establishment the food and/or drink and the receptacles are laid out. For each service area the identity of each receptacle within that area is determined by suitable means, for example, an RFID chip reader. In other words the RFID chip for each receptacle is associated with a service area and thus a content and/or content price. 
     Later when the customer enters the establishment, the customer may select a tray and then visit various service areas and select a receptacle from one or more thereof. 
     Having selected one or more plates of food and/or drink, the customer may then advance to the self checkout station  124 . The self checkout station  124  includes a RFID reader  126 . The RFID reader  126  scans the tray  230  (See  FIG. 2 ) and identifies that the tray  230  is carrying plates  218 ,  220  and  222  corresponding to receptacles  118 ,  120  and  122  (See  FIG. 1 ), respectively. If the establishment also provides provisions of a service whereby a customer ID is used to facilitate payment, the RFID reader  126  may also read a RFID identification element (e.g., an RFID card)  232  which may also be placed on the tray  230  or around the neck or the customer. 
     Once the RFID reader  126  has read the RFID information associated with everything on the tray  230  (in this case plates  218 ,  220 ,  222  and RFID card  232 ), this information can be used to determine the cost to be charged to the customer either in cash or credit associated with the RFID card  232  as described below. 
     Referring once again to  FIG. 1 , a database  125  is also shown. The following description describes how the database  125  functions to enable RFID chip information read by the RFID reader  126  to be used to determine the cost for the customer. 
     Table 1 (see  FIG. 3 ) shows an example of information, which may be stored on the database  125 . The table contains information relating to a serving area ( 112 ,  114 ,  116 ); receptacle RFID chip number (and thus identify receptacles  118 ,  120 ,  122  in this example); cost associated with serving area; tray content indicators and any requirement for debiting the customer. If the RFID reader  126  identifies a specific RFID on the tray  230 , a calculation can be made of how much a customer should be debited on his RFID card  232  or should pay if no RFID card  232  exists. 
     Table 1 may include a different set of information depending on the relevant establishment, as long as there is an association between the receptacle or RFID number and the location from which the receptacle was selected. This can then be used to determine the cost to be charged to a customer. In addition, different establishments may also include the facility to have the weight of a full or semi-full receptacle determined and charge the customer in accordance with the weight and the cost per kilo. An example of when this might occur is in a sushi bar or a salad bar type establishment. 
     Table 2 (see  FIG. 4 ) shows information relating to an RFID card  232  associated with specific customers and includes information identifying card credit levels both before and after a charge has been made. 
     As with Table 1, the content of Table 2 may vary in accordance with the specific need of a given establishment. Also, as previously mentioned, some establishments may prefer different methods of customers paying for their goods, for example cash or credit/debit cards. The system of the invention would in such cases be adapted accordingly. 
     It would be obvious to the person skilled in the art that the database can be configured in many different manners depending on the type of product that is being sold to customers and the payment method. In addition, there may be considerably more receptacles and thus RFID chip numbers, more service areas and as many RFID card numbers as are necessary. Also other parameters may be stored and used to determine the cost to the customer. 
     The description relates specifically to an eating and/or drinking establishment where customers are taking food or drink from specific catering areas. However, this invention could be used in other situations where customers are selecting receptacle contents from certain areas and the paying for them with a self checkout system which is based on the receptacle and its association with the service area, rather than on the content per se. 
     In the event that the system does not provide for the existence of an RFID card associated with the customer the RFID reader may generate a bill which the cashier may read in order to obtain a payment from the customer. 
     In circumstances where an RFID card does exist and a credit on the card or database is less than the debit to be charged the database and the checkout system will prevent the customer being able to complete the self checkout process and return the customer to another station “to recharge the RFID card”. 
     The charges made using an RFID card may be written to the database or directly to the card and may be paid for through the wages process for example. 
     As previously indicated the RFID chip is embedded within the container rather than associated with the content of the container. This has a number of advantages. As the RFID chip is included in the structure of the container, (for example a plate) the RFID chip can be reused many times. Since the chip is embedded within the material of the container, the container may also be washed. This means that the RFID chip costs are kept to a minimum and any plate can be used for any service area from one day to the next. 
     Other advantages of the invention include the ability to merge the checkout and payment processes for a customer using RFID related information. In addition, when a container is manufactured with the simple and unique RFID tag, it can be associated with a different price base depending on the catering facility or restaurant for which the container is to be used. This facilitates ease of manufacture and reduces the cost for producing plates with tags embedded therein. 
     It will be clear that the material of the receptacle can be any appropriate material, for example, china, porcelain, glass, plastic, ceramics, etc. 
     It should be noted that the present invention has required all the RFID chips to be read only, but it would be possible to provide a system with read/write chips which could be programmed with different information. For example plate number  120  is associated today with area  114  and the chip in this plate may have the price of the food from that area written thereto, to enable charging at the self checkout. 
     As previously noted this invention make use of RFID chip technology but future evolutions of any other contact-free tag and reading system are also intended to be covered by this invention. 
     For the purposes of this invention a catering establishment is any establishment which supplies food and drink to customers.