47results about "Registering coin as credit" patented technology

A POS terminal measures one or more criteria, such as the activity rate of the POS terminal. For example, the POS terminal may measure the number of completed transactions per time, the number of items purchased through the POS terminal per time, the number of upsells accepted by customers per time, the number of customers in a store or the number of customers in the vicinity of the POS terminal. The POS terminal in turn compares the measured criteria with a predetermined threshold. Based on the results of the comparison, the POS terminal determines whether to perform a supplementary process. For example, the POS terminal may perform the supplementary process only if the number of transactions per minute is less than a predetermined threshold.

The present invention is directed to a coin detection apparatus that is specially designed to avoid coins' sticking in a coin passage and that is capable of distributing an item to a customer only when a predetermined number of valid coins are paid. Coins (C) deposited by the customer are kept in a coin shoot (13). The coins (C) stand upright on a floor plate (20) that forms a part of the coin shoot (13). The floor plate (20) is urged by a spring member to protrude into the coin shoot (13). As a rotary disk (100) rotates, one end (119) of a recessed portion (120) defined in the rotary disk (100) leans on the floor plate (20) against elastic force of the spring member to make the floor plate (20) tilt. Subsequently, recessed edge of the rotary disk (100) continues to tilt the floor plate (20). As the other end 118 of the recessed portion (120) reaches the floor plate (20), the floor plate (20) is disengaged from the rotary disk (100). Tilt of the floor plate (20) causes the coins (C) to be evacuated from the floor plate (20), and the coins fall direction into a coin drop.

According to some embodiments of the present invention, methods and apparatus are described for providing a supplementary product offer. In one embodiment, a method is provided for measuring an activity rate of a point-of-sale terminal and providing a supplementary product offer in accordance with the activity rate of the point-of-sale terminal. For example, the activity rate may be based on the number of completed transactions per time, the number of items purchased through the point-of-sale terminal per time, the number of upsells accepted by customers per time, the number of customers in a store or the number of customers in the vicinity of the point-of-sale terminal.

A currency handling apparatus is arranged to perform a float operation at the end of which a store holds coins of various denominations in appropriate quantities such that their collective value is equal to a predetermined value, wherein the respective proportions of the different denominations may vary depending upon various conditions.

A tracking system counts events in the operation of multiple machines or devices over a wide geographic area. For example, for bulk venders the system counts each vend responsive to rotation through a cycle of the coin mechanism, and preferably records the date and time of each vend. An active tag has a memory for storing data representing a vending event, for example the date and time of the event. The data is periodically read by an interrogator, which downloads the data stored in the tag memory and erases the memory to reset the tag for continued monitoring of the vender. With this information an operator can reconcile revenues, track when sales take place and over what period of time, and track the work habits of service personnel.