Checkout Line Guidance for Payment-Matched Terminal Availability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Customers in retail stores face difficulty in identifying available payment machines that support their preferred payment methods, leading to decreased operating efficiency and hindered store throughput due to idle machines and unnecessary waiting.
Innovation Solution
A surveillance apparatus that uses cameras and processors to identify available checkout terminals and guide customers to those that match their preferred payment methods, integrating with existing self-service POS terminals and display systems to optimize machine usage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If multiple types of payment machines are mixed in the same payment area, then payment machine versatility is improved, but customer identification difficulty increases leading to decreased operating efficiency
Solution Approach 1:
The surveillance apparatus acts as an intermediary between customers and payment machines. It detects which payment machines are available and which customers are waiting, then provides guidance information to direct customers to appropriate machines. This mediator resolves the information asymmetry that causes the contradiction between machine versatility and operating efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback by continuously monitoring the status of payment machines and customer waiting areas, then using this information to provide real-time guidance. The surveillance apparatus creates a closed-loop system where information about machine availability flows back to customers through guidance displays, enabling dynamic optimization of customer flow to available machines.
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple types of payment machines are mixed in the same payment area, then payment machine versatility is improved, but store throughput decreases due to idle machines and unnecessary waiting
Solution Approach 1:
The surveillance apparatus serves as an intermediary that optimizes the matching between customers and payment machines. By detecting machine availability and providing targeted guidance, it ensures that customers with specific payment needs are directed to appropriate available machines, reducing both idle machine time and customer waiting time, thereby improving overall store throughput while maintaining versatility.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary detection of payment machine availability status before customers arrive at the payment area. By pre-identifying which machines are available and what payment methods they support, the system can provide advance guidance to customers, preventing unnecessary waiting and ensuring smooth throughput while maintaining the benefit of having multiple payment machine types available.
3Ease of operation
If customers search for appropriate payment machines, then payment method matching is improved, but waiting time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The surveillance apparatus enables self-service by automatically detecting customer needs and providing guidance information without requiring customers to actively search for appropriate payment machines. The system takes initiative in identifying available machines and directing customers to them, transforming the process from customer-driven searching to system-driven guidance, thereby reducing waiting time while improving payment method matching accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary detection and analysis of payment machine availability and customer payment needs before customers complete their search process. By pre-identifying suitable machines and preparing guidance information in advance, the system eliminates the time customers would otherwise spend searching, while ensuring accurate matching of payment methods to machine capabilities.
Data Source
AI summary
According to one embodiment, a surveillance apparatus has a processor, a communication interface, a storage unit, and an output interface connected to an output unit in a checkout waiting area. The processor identifies whether customers are waiting in different lines in the checkout waiting area based on an image of the checkout waiting area, then identifies whether any of a plurality of checkout terminals in a checkout area are available. When a checkout terminal is identified as available, the processor selects one of the different lines when a settlement type available at the checkout terminal corresponds to at least one of the lines at which a customer is waiting. Guidance information is then output to indicate that a customer in the selected line should proceed to the available checkout terminal.