Patent Document ID: 7578442
Application ID: 11729659
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A method of identifying a consumer product in a retail store environment when a bar code symbol label on the packaging of the consumer product is not readable or has been removed from said packaging, said method comprising the steps of: (a) providing a digital image capturing and processing system at a point of sale (POS) station in said retail store environment; (b) using said digital image capturing and processing system to capture one or more digital images of each consumer product sold in said retail store environment having packaging and bearing a bar code symbol label applied to said packaging, and storing said digital images in a database subsystem, along with product identifying information for each consumer product; and (c) when a consumer checks out one said consumer product at said POS station in said retail store environment, an attempt is made to automatically identify the consumer product by capturing and processing one or more digital images of the consumer product using said digital image capturing and processing system so as to read the bar code symbol label on said packaging, and when the imaged bar code symbol label on said packaging is unreadable, or when the bar code symbol label has fallen off or has been removed from said packaging, then said digital image capturing and processing system uses (i) said one or more digital images of said consumer product, and (ii) said plurality of digital images stored in said database subsystem, to assist in the automatic identification of said consumer product.