Point of Sale Intermediation System

Abstract

The point-of-sale intermediary system is integrated with a point-of-sale terminal, a scanning device, a receipt printer, and / or additional peripheral devices. The system includes a first intermediary device that receives electronic barcode scan character data output from the scanning device and relays it to a data manager, which utilizes the data represented in the electronic barcode scan character data output to relay a modified electronic barcode scan character data output back to the first intermediary device, which then relays the modified electronic barcode scan character data output to the terminal. A second intermediary device receives electronic printer data output from the terminal and relays it to a third-party data manager. The third-party data manager utilizes the data represented in the electronic printer data output to relay the modified electronic printer data output back to the second intermediary device, which then relays it to the printer.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS Applicant claims the benefit of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 62 / 899,137, filed Sep. 11, 2019, and entitled “Point Of Sale Intermediation System.”

[0002] The present invention relates generally to a system and method for machine reading of text or images and outputting associated text and various multimedia through a point of sale intermediation system and electrically or electromagnetically attached peripheral devices. [Background technology]

[0003] A Retail Point of Sale System ("RPOS System") is essentially a means of using symbology decoding devices such as cameras or laser scanners or human touch-based input to identify a product or uniquely identified instrument such as a driver's license or coupon, determine sales information relating to that product or uniquely identified instrument such as item name, price, etc., total the products for the final purchase or payment in a single transaction, and print a receipt for the final "basket" of products or items purchased, or metadata based on the results of the processing such as human or machine readable data. The system may also be responsible for tracking and reconciling inventory and / or performing other administrative operations.

[0004] Retail point of sale systems sold by distributors to retailers rely on proprietary hardware and software that makes integration by third parties difficult due to hardware incompatibilities and / or software incompatibilities and / or the unwillingness of the distributor to modify the hardware and / or software to accommodate innovative use cases or use cases that are not fiscally justifiable to the distributor. Furthermore, because of this integration difficulty, employees and / or consumers confronted with multimedia content displayed by the retailer are often not associated or contextually related to the products or uniquely identified certificates being purchased / presented in real time.

[0005] It would therefore be beneficial to provide a means for third party integration of innovative use cases without requiring modification of the merchant and / or the merchant's peripheral hardware and / or software. It would also be beneficial to provide real-time contextual transactional display of identity, promotional, loyalty, and competitive content in response to product or uniquely identified certificate information received by peripheral devices of the RPOS system.

[0006] Existing intermediate devices rely on wire forking or similar existing intermediate devices rely on wire forking or similar data duplication methods that do not allow for optional transformation and / or suppression and / or conditional insertion of intercepted data packets to a point-of-sale terminal. In this prior art, this data is not intercepted, only a copy of the data is taken and the original data is transmitted directly to the terminal. This excludes the notion of transformation and / or suppression and / or conditional insertion and only allows for the insertion of additional data packets after the insertion of the first scanned data packet. Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0007] It can therefore be seen that there is a need for a system and method for adapting existing point of sale systems that enables third parties to integrate the system through transformation and / or suppression and / or conditional insertion rather than replication. Accordingly, the present invention is primarily directed to providing such a system and method. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] In a preferred form of the invention, a point of sale intermediation system includes a scanning device for scanning machine-readable characters and generating an electronic scanned character data output representative of the machine-readable characters. The system also includes a vending system terminal and a data manager having software for converting the electronic scanned character data output to zero (none) or more modified electronic scanned character data outputs. The system also includes a first electronic intermediation device coupled between the scanning device and the vending system terminal. The first electronic intermediation device receives the electronic scanned character data output from the scanning device and transmits the zero or more modified electronic scanned character data outputs to the data manager. The first electronic intermediation device also receives the zero or more modified electronic scanned character data outputs from the data manager and transmits the modified electronic scanned character data outputs to the terminal. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0009] [Figure 1] 1 is a diagram of a point of sale intermediation system embodying the principles of the present invention in a preferred form; [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a diagram of a two-dimensional machine-readable code. [Diagram 3] FIG. 1 is a diagram of a one-dimensional machine-readable code. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0010] Referring now to these drawings, a point of sale intermediation system 10 in a preferred form of the present invention is shown. The intermediation system 10 is adapted to be integrated with a conventional point of sale system 12 having a sales terminal 14, a scanning device 16, a receipt printer 18, and one or more auxiliary peripherals 20 (scales, bump devices, etc.). The scanning device 16 can be a wired or wireless handheld barcode device, a below counter level barcode scanner, an above counter scanner, or other similar device, all of which are designed to scan electronic machine readable characters, such as UPC-A barcodes, QR codes, PDF417, or similar coded or uncoded codes or characters, and then generate an electronic scanned character data output representing the machine readable characters; for ease of explanation, the barcode example will continue to be used as an example of electronic machine readable characters and may be referred to as an electronic barcode scanned character data output.

[0011] The point of sale intermediation system 10 includes a first electronic intermediary or eavesdropping device 30 located electronically or electromagnetically between the scanning device 16 and the sales terminal 14. The first electronic intermediary device 30 receives the electronic barcode scan character data output (electronic signal or electronic scan character data output) from the scanning device 16 and relays the electronic barcode scan character data output (indicated by arrow 33) to a third party data manager 32, which may be by a wired or wireless connection. The third party data manager 32 utilizes the data represented in the electronic barcode scan character data output and relays a modified electronic barcode scan character data output (modified electronic scan character data output) back to the first electronic intermediary device 30 (indicated by arrow 34), which then relays the modified electronic barcode scan character data output to the terminal 14. It should be noted that the novel interception method can generate zero or more modified electronic barcode scan character data outputs and therefore can exclude electronic barcode scan character data outputs (electronic signals) from the scanning device 16 from relaying the modified electronic barcode scan character data outputs to the terminal 14. This allows the first electronic intermediary device 30 or the third party data manager 32 to interpret data or electronic data that is not understood by the terminal 14 and then select to return zero or more modified electronic barcode scan character data outputs understandable by the terminal 14 to the terminal 14. Continuing with the barcode example, the terminal 14 may not be capable of understanding a 2D (two-dimensional) machine-readable code (machine-readable characters) such as the QR code or PDF147 code shown in FIG. 2, but the first electronic intermediary device 30 or the third party data manager 32 can understand the 2D machine-readable code such as the QR code or PDF147 code and convert it into modified electronic barcode scan character data outputs that are electronic machine-readable characters understood by the terminal 14.

[0012] The sales intermediation system 10 includes a second electronic intermediary or eavesdropping device 36 located electronically between the terminal 14 and the receipt printer 18. The second electronic intermediary device 36 receives the electronic printer data output (electronic or electromagnetic signals) from the terminal 14 and relays the electronic printer data output (indicated by arrow 38) to the third party data manager 32, which may be by a wired or wireless connection. The third party data manager 32 utilizes the data represented in the electronic printer data output and relays the modified electronic printer data output back to the second electronic intermediary device 36 (indicated by arrow 39), which then relays the modified electronic printer data output to the receipt printer 18. It should be noted that the novel eavesdropping method can generate zero or more modified electronic printer data outputs and therefore exclude modified electronic printer data outputs (electronic or electromagnetic signals) from the receipt printer 18 from relaying the modified electronic printer data output to the receipt printer 18.

[0013] The sales intermediation system 10 includes a third electronic intermediary or eavesdropping device 42 located electronically between the terminal 14 and the auxiliary peripheral device 20. The third electronic intermediary device 42 receives the electronic peripheral character data output (electronic or electromagnetic signals) from the terminal 14 and relays the electronic peripheral character data output (indicated by arrow 44) to the third party data manager 32, which may be by a wired or wireless connection. The third party data manager 32 utilizes the data represented in the electronic peripheral character data output and relays the modified electronic peripheral character data output back to the third electronic intermediary device 42 (indicated by arrow 45), which then relays the modified electronic peripheral character data output to the terminal 14. It should be noted that the novel eavesdropping method can generate zero (none) or more modified electronic peripheral character data outputs and thus exclude the modified electronic peripheral character data output (electronic or electromagnetic signals) from the receipt printer 18 from relaying the modified electronic printer data output to the terminal 14. In use, the barcode (data or machine readable characters) of a desired product selected by a consumer is scanned by scanning device 16. The scanned barcode is converted into an electronic barcode scan character data output that is intended to be sent to a terminal for processing, but is instead intercepted by first electronic intermediary device 30. First electronic intermediary device 30 transmits the barcode scan character data output to data manager 32, as indicated by arrow 34.

[0014] The data manager 32 can then utilize or manipulate the data in the form of barcode scan character data output for other purposes. For example, the barcode scan character data output may arrive as a complex two-dimensional barcode (QR graphic scan) that is machine-readable characters or data not understood by the terminal, and the data manager then converts the two-dimensional barcode character data output to a simple 1D (one-dimensional) graphic scan (barcode scan) as a modified barcode scan character data output that is machine-readable characters or data understood by the terminal, as shown in Figure 3. Conversion from one data format to another can be achieved by a database that compares and stores the appropriate conversion from one format or data output to another format or data output.

[0015] As another example, the data manager 32 can utilize the product code (data or machine-readable characters) represented by the barcode scan character data output to add value to the product code or barcode character data output. Specifically, if the barcode or barcode scan character data output is associated with a particular soft drink, the data manager 32 can provide a coupon or other value for a snack (potato chips) in electronic form and add it to the barcode scan character data output, so that when the modified barcode scan character data output is then optionally transmitted back to the first electronic intermediary device 30, it optionally includes electronic information for the soft drink and optionally electronic information for the snack (potato chips). Thus, the modified barcode scan character data output has been manipulated to include additional value, which can be any form of coupon, discount, additional merchandise, purchase reward points, etc. The modified barcode scan character data output is then optionally transmitted to the terminal 14, as indicated by arrow 34. Because the terminal 14 simply receives the modified bar code scan character data output as if it had been conventionally transmitted by the bar code scanner 16, the terminal does not "know" that the modified bar code scan character data output has been manipulated since leaving the bar code scanner 16. Because the terminal 14 and associated components are unaware of the manipulation by the third party data manager 32, the system is considered to use a passive eavesdropping method to add value.

[0016] After receiving the modified bar code scan character data output, terminal 14 utilizes it in a conventional manner, such as adding product codes, prices, etc. to a list or total of items in the "basket." After all products have been scanned in this manner, terminal 14 calculates a total and generates a printer data output that is intended to be sent to receipt printer 18, but is intercepted by second electronic intermediary device 36. Second electronic intermediary device 36 then transmits the printer data output to data manager 32, as indicated by arrow 38.

[0017] The data manager 32 can then utilize or manipulate the printer data output for other purposes. For example, the barcode scanner 16 is a continuous scanning device that does not acknowledge, indicate, or provide the completion of a person's transaction or "basket" of products. Thus, by the data manager 32 receiving the printer data output, the data manager 32 knows that all products for that customer have been scanned and tallied, and that the transaction is complete. This acknowledgement may be referred to as knowing the "state" of the transaction. The data manager 32 may generate a modified receipt character data output, as indicated by arrow 39, which includes any coupon or other additional value printable characters to the standard printable characters. For example, the modified receipt character data output may be a one-dimensional encoded graphic (barcode) generated from the two-dimensional encoded graphic originally scanned by the scanning device 16. As another example, the modified receipt character data output may include coupons, raffle tickets, lottery entries, discounts, or other similar characters. As another example, the modified receipt character data output may include completely altered output, such as characters in a different language within the receipt, etc. Thus, the second electronic intermediary device 36 generates a graphical display to be printed by the receipt printer 18. The modified receipt character data output is sent to the receipt printer 18 so that the receipt is printed conventionally.

[0018] Similarly, the third electronic intermediary device 42 can intercept any peripheral textual data output from the terminal 14 to the peripheral device 20 and transmit it to the data manager 32 for any modification or manipulation. For example, if a television screen is used as the peripheral device 20, a scan for a particular soft drink effected by the data manager 32 will result in advertisements being shown on the television for that product or related products such as chips to lure customers.

[0019] It will be appreciated that the conventional wiring between terminal 14, scanning device 16, receipt printer 18, and peripherals 20, along with additional wiring due to the addition of first, second, and third electronic intermediary devices, can be any conventionally used wired connector, such as CAT-5, USB type, or DB9, and can use any conventionally used wired protocol, such as RS232, RS422, or RS485, or can be any conventionally used wireless communication protocol, such as BLE, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, or other electromagnetic radiation signals.

[0020] It should be understood that the present invention can also be used to scan other merchants' complex coded values, etc., and convert them into decoded values ​​that can be used in conventional systems. For example, a 2D or complex delivery service barcode (Federal Express) can be scanned by the scanning device 16 and transmitted to the first electronic intermediary device 30, which then relays it to the data manager 32. The data manager 32 then converts the decoded complex 2D value into a decoded 1D value that is recognized by the terminal 14. The data manager can also obtain or transmit information to a third party, such as Federal Express, which can inform the third party of certain aspects, such as the purchase of a package delivery service, or obtain information from the third party, such as price information for a package. Thus, the third party can provide the data manager with information (a $200 cost for package delivery) that is included in the data transmitted to the terminal 14. The data manager 32 can then transmit the decoded simple 1D value to the terminal 14, which can add the delivery to the shopping "cart" for payment by the customer through the remaining steps of the process. By intercepting the printed receipt, the data manager can then transmit confirmation of payment to a third party. Thus, any conventional system can become a more complex system capable of handling more complex operations without modifications to existing hardware or software. Thus, a convenience store can use its existing, less complex sales terminals to become a sending and receiving office for a delivery service and record the required sales data in its sales terminal software.

[0021] It is understood that the terminal 14 may include or incorporate the printer 18 within the terminal 14, rather than having separate components of a terminal and a printer. It is understood that the terminal 14 may include or incorporate a scanner within the terminal 14, rather than having separate components of a terminal and a scanner. It is understood that the scanning device 16 may include or incorporate the first electronic intermediary device 30, rather than having a separate component. It is understood that the printer may include or incorporate the electronic intermediary device, rather than having a separate component.

[0022] It should be appreciated that if a problem occurs with the barcode, such as the barcode not being recognized by the data manager, the data manager will not transmit the data to the first electronic intermediary device 30. Also, if additional verification is required, such as age verification with the purchase of tobacco or alcohol, the point of sale system will refrain from transmitting data until proper verification is provided.

[0023] Thus, because the point of sale system relies on peripheral devices having standardized formats and encodings of inputs and outputs (character data output), it is proposed to use an intermediary device to intercept the inputs and outputs, take in the inputs, communicate the inputs and outputs to a data manager (which may be a cloud-based system), perform processing of the inputs and outputs, and then direct the appropriate processed input or output to the input or output device for which it was originally intended to be received or sent. In this way, additional values ​​or transformations can be integrated into conventional systems without the need to modify or update conventional hardware or software, and the receiving device does not need to know that additions have been made to the character data output, since all received character data outputs are received in what appears to be a conventional format.

Claims

1. 13. A point of sale intermediation system comprising: a scanning device for scanning machine-readable characters and generating an electronic scanned character data output representative of the machine-readable characters; A sales system terminal; a data manager having software for converting the electronically scanned character data output into a plurality of modified electronically scanned character data outputs; The point of sale intermediation system includes a first electronic intermediary device coupled between the scanning device and the sales system terminal, the first electronic intermediary device receiving the electronically scanned character data output from the scanning device and transmitting a plurality of the electronically scanned character data outputs to the data manager, the first electronic intermediary device also receiving the plurality of corrected electronically scanned character data outputs from the data manager and transmitting the corrected electronically scanned character data outputs to the sales system terminal.

2. A printer; a second electronic intermediary device coupled to said sales system terminal, said second electronic intermediary device receiving electronic printer data outputs from said terminal and transmitting a plurality of said electronic printer data outputs to said data manager, said second electronic intermediary device also receiving modified electronic printer data outputs from said data manager and transmitting a plurality of said modified electronic printer data outputs to said printer.

2. The point of sale intermediation system of claim 1.

3. An auxiliary peripheral device; a third electronic intermediary device coupled to the sales system terminal, the third electronic intermediary device receiving electronic peripheral character data outputs from the sales system terminal and transmitting the plurality of electronic peripheral character data outputs to the data manager, the third electronic intermediary device also receiving modified electronic peripheral character data outputs from the data manager and transmitting the plurality of modified electronic peripheral character data outputs to the auxiliary peripheral device.

3. The point of sale intermediation system of claim 2.

4. The point of sale intermediation system of claim 1 , wherein said electronically scanned character data output represents data understandable by a scanning device.

5. 5. The point of sale intermediation system of claim 4, wherein said modified electronically scanned character data output represents data understandable by a sales system terminal.

6. The point of sale intermediation system of claim 1 , wherein the first electronic intermediation device communicates with the data manager over a wireless communications network.

7. 1. A point of sale intermediation system comprising: a scanning device for scanning machine-readable characters and generating an electronic scanned character data output representative of the machine-readable characters; a first electronic intermediary device electronically coupled to the scanning device to receive the electronic scanned character data output from the scanning device; a data manager in electronic communication with the first electronic intermediary device for converting the electronically scanned character data output into a modified electronically scanned character data output; a sales system terminal electronically coupled to said first electronic intermediary device to receive said modified electronically scanned character data output from said first electronic intermediary device.

8. the data manager converts the electronic printer data output into a modified electronic printer data output; The point of sale intermediation system comprises: A printer; a second electronic intermediary device electronically coupled to the vending system terminal and to the printer, the second electronic intermediary device receiving electronic printer data output from the vending system terminal and transmitting the electronic printer data output to the data manager, the second electronic intermediary device also receiving modified electronic printer data output from the data manager and transmitting the modified electronic printer data output to the printer.

8. The point of sale intermediation system of claim 7.

9. the data manager converts the electronic peripheral character data output into a modified electronic peripheral character data output; The point of sale intermediation system comprises: An auxiliary peripheral device; and a third electronic intermediary device electronically coupled to the sales system terminal and the auxiliary peripheral device, the third electronic intermediary device receiving electronic peripheral character data output from the sales system terminal and transmitting the electronic peripheral character data output to the data manager, the third electronic intermediary device also receiving modified electronic peripheral character data output from the data manager and transmitting the modified electronic peripheral character data output to the auxiliary peripheral device.

9. The point of sale intermediation system of claim 8.

10. The point of sale intermediation system of claim 7 , wherein said electronically scanned character data output represents data understandable by a scanning device.

11. 11. The point of sale intermediation system of claim 10, wherein said modified electronically scanned character data output represents data understandable by a sales system terminal.

12. The point of sale intermediation system of claim 7 , wherein the first electronic intermediation device communicates with the data manager over a wireless communications network.

13. 1. A method for converting a two-dimensional barcode into a one-dimensional electronic barcode file, comprising: (A) providing a barcode scanner, a first intermediary device, a data manager, and a sales system terminal; (B) scanning the two-dimensional barcode with a barcode scanner to generate a scanned two-dimensional barcode electronic file representing the two-dimensional barcode; (C) transmitting the scanned two-dimensional barcode electronic file to a first intermediary device; (D) transmitting the scanned two-dimensional barcode electronic file from the first intermediary device to a data manager; (E) converting the scanned two-dimensional barcode electronic file into a modified scanned one-dimensional barcode electronic file; (F) transmitting the modified scanned one-dimensional barcode electronic file to a first intermediary device; and (G) transmitting the modified scanned one-dimensional barcode electronic file from the first intermediary device to a sales system terminal.

14. 1. A method for converting a two-dimensional barcode into a one-dimensional electronic barcode file, comprising: (H) providing a second intermediary device and a printer; (I) transmitting a printer data file from the sales system terminal to a second intermediary device; (J) transmitting the printer data file from the second intermediary device to the data manager; (K) converting the printer data file into a modified printer data file; (L) transmitting the modified printer data file to a second intermediary device; and (M) transmitting the modified printer data file from the second intermediary device to the printer.

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