Self-service system and method including shared components
US7720710B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Jul 1, 2005 |
| Grant date | May 18, 2010 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Sep 14, 2028 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG07G1/14
- WIPO fieldControl
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
A self-service system and method which uses shared components. The self-service checkout system includes a checkout platform including a plurality of checkout stations arranged together and associated with a plurality of checkout lanes, and checkout components including unshared components at each of the checkout stations and shared components available for use by customers at any of the checkout stations, and a computer for receiving indications of starts of overlapping transactions at two or more of the plurality of checkout stations, for establishing transaction records for the transactions, for determining that one of the checkout components must be used at a point in one of the transactions, for interrupting the one transaction, for determining that the one checkout component is a shared component, for determining that the one checkout component is in use by another of the transactions, and for resuming the one transaction after the one checkout component is no longer being used by the other transaction.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.