Patent ID: 7010501

Claim:
A personal shopping system for servicing customers at shopping establishment and remote locations over at least one communications network, the shopping system comprising: at least one point-of-sale (POS) system located in the shopping establishment; at least one establishment or remotely located portable shopping terminal that acquires shopping related data; one or more proximity sensors that monitor customer activity in product sales areas in the shopping establishment; and a centrally located controller that communicates with the POS system, the at least one shopping terminal and the proximity sensors via the at least one network, processes the shopping related data, and controls shopping transactions engaged in by the customers, the at least one shopping terminal is a bar code storage device that reads bar codes from a hardcopy source, stores the bar codes, and transfers the bar codes to the controller over the at least one network, the controller including at least one computer executable instruction that generates a theft condition upon expiration of a time period that starts after receipt of a signal from the proximity sensor, the controller further comprises a means for processing transactions related to the shopping establishment including start of day processing, normal store processing, end of day processing and overnight processing.