Point of Sale Terminal Segmented Total Calculation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Retail stores face challenges in easily calculating the total amount of purchased items excluding specific classifications, such as gift certificates or newspapers, during checkout, which requires a mechanism for store clerks to confirm and apply discounts accurately.
Innovation Solution
A point of sale (POS) terminal equipped with a processor and memory that associates items with predetermined groups and exclusion flags, allowing it to calculate and display separate total amounts for items included and excluded from specific services or discounts, facilitating the issuance of service tickets when the excluded total exceeds a set amount.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a POS terminal calculates and displays separate total amounts for included and excluded items, then the ease of operation for store clerks is improved, but the device complexity increases due to additional calculation logic and data structures
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the total amount calculation into two distinct parts: included amount (items subject to discount) and excluded amount (items excluded from discount). This is achieved by introducing separate flags for each item to indicate whether it should be included or excluded from the discount calculation, and by displaying these two amounts separately on the screen. This segmentation directly improves ease of operation by making it clear which items qualify for discounts without requiring complex manual calculations.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the excluded items from the total calculation by introducing an exclusion flag that separates these items into a distinct category. The excluded amount is calculated independently from the included amount, allowing the system to handle discount eligibility transparently. This extraction principle simplifies the operation for clerks by clearly identifying which items are excluded without requiring them to manually filter or calculate.
2Productivity
If the POS terminal displays both total amounts on a single screen, then the productivity of the checkout process is improved, but the area of the display increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the display of included amount and excluded amount onto a single screen interface. This is achieved by introducing distinct display regions within the same screen: one region shows the included amount (items eligible for discount) and another region shows the excluded amount (items not eligible for discount). This merging allows clerks to view both critical pieces of information simultaneously without needing to switch between multiple screens or perform additional calculations, thereby improving checkout productivity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes the spatial dimension of the display screen to present multiple pieces of information (included amount and excluded amount) in a structured layout. By arranging the display regions in different areas of the same screen (e.g., side-by-side or stacked), the system effectively uses the two-dimensional space to convey additional information without requiring multiple physical displays, thus improving productivity while managing display area constraints.
Data Source
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AI summary
A point of sale terminal for registering items at a store includes a display, a memory that stores first data that associates items with groups, and second data that associates each group with a flag indicating whether a price of an item associated with the group is to be excluded from a total amount of purchased items for a service to be provided, and a processor configured to register items for purchase, calculate a first total amount of all registered items, calculate a second total amount of one or more registered items belonging to one or more groups each associated with the flag indicating that a price of an item associated with the group is not to be excluded from a total amount of purchased items for the service to be provided, and control the display to display the first and second total amounts.