Patent ID: 7000833

Claim:
An article data reading apparatus, comprising: an article table, located at a position, which places an article for sale; a reading section which optically reads, during a reading operation, a coded symbol attached to the article for sale by an operator, the reading section being arranged in the apparatus such that the reading operation is performed by the operator only at one side of the article table; a first display, facing the same side where the reading operation is performed by the operator, which displays; a second display, facing a side opposite to the one side of the article table, which displays information; operation mode setting means for selectively setting operation mode to either a customer operation mode in which the coded symbol attached to the article for sale is read through the reading section by a customer as an operator or a store-clerk operation mode in which the coded symbol attached to the article for sale is read through the reading section by a store clerk as an operator; a memory section for memorizing customer operation information regarding operation by a customer when a customer becomes the operator, and store-clerk operation information regarding operation by a store clerk when a customer becomes the operation requester and a store clerk becomes the operator; a first display means effective in the customer operation mode for causing the first display to display said customer operation information memorized in said memory section when the customer operation mode is set by the operation mode setting means; and a second display means effective in the store-clerk operation mode for causing the first display to displays said store-clerk operation information memorized in said memory section and causing said second display to display article information based on the coded symbol of the article for sale read by said reading section when the store-clerk operation mode is set by the operation mode setting means.