I was recently in a supermarket.
Surprisingly after the seller scanned my products, she gave me a receipt to go to a device where I was going to pay.

It was clear to me: it is wanted without sellers.


How can I pass by the cash register with some products and be scanned automatically?

And to have a very small price.

 

Where I live, you can now scan objects with your smartphone as you add them to your cart. A smartphone is not cheap but if the customers have them already anyway, the store owner doesn't need to buy as many scanners.

 

I was recently in a supermarket.
Surprisingly after the seller scanned my products, she gave me a receipt to go to a device where I was going to pay.

It was clear to me: it is wanted without sellers.


How can I pass by the cash register with some products and be scanned automatically?

And to have a very small price.

One very common approach here are self-checkout stations where you scan your own items and pay with either cash or credit/debit card. There is usually one checker supervising four to eight self-checkout stations.

Another approach to automate the scanning is the use of RFID. The problem here is duplication and self-jamming of tags in close proximity.

One of the problems with unattended stations is theft prevention. Many self-checkout stations require you to place the scanned item onto a platform that checks the weight against the weight in the database. This actually works pretty well (not perfectly) and makes it harder to steal something, but one of the main reasons for the checker supervising the stations is to be on the lookout for people that don't scan everything that's in their cart.

 

Another approach to automate the scanning is the use of RFID. The problem here is duplication and self-jamming of tags in close proximity.

That would not be a problem.
Any code sent by radio will have a product category code and a series of each product.
They will have to transmit radio in turn not all at once.

E.g. When the main coil from RFID receives a signal, to be modulated with a code which gives priority to RFID transmission.

The problem is that using RFID is quite expensive to a barecode.

One of the problems with unattended stations is theft prevention.

That's why they need new ideas.

place the scanned item onto a platform that checks the weight against the weight in the database. This actually works pretty well (not perfectly) and makes it harder to steal something

 

But if the tape carrying the products would be transparent?
Products are initially automatically spaced apart from each other.
Then there are several barcode scanners that can see the product from multiple angles, is an idea.
But there are some bags of biscuits or cereals that need to straighten the bag manually otherwise the barcode can not be scanned.

Another idea ...... totally different:
On the products it is written the date when it expires.But this may not be right.
For example, meat if you do not store it in the refrigerator expire sooner than the date written on it.
You have no way of knowing how the meat that you see in the refrigerator when you buy it was kept.

That's why a label that changes color according to the time and temperature it was kept seems a solution.
https://www.psfk.com/2013/11/color-changing-expirations-labels.html
https://www.alibaba.com/showroom/color-changing-label.html

 

Another idea is to stick an RFID on each product, but after you buy them to unstick this and return to the store.

 

Another idea is to stick an RFID on each product, but after you buy them to unstick this and return to the store.

Why would you do that? You're going to set up an entire infrastructure relying on people to return tags and then reprocess them to make them usable again, including verifying that they haven't been damaged or modified, and then putting them back into a database system associated with a different item than they were previously, all for a tag that costs about 30 cents?

 

In fact, I'm not really interested by the correct or inappropriately useful or useless expensive or inexpensive.

All I want is for our idea to get used in stores.

Whether we gain money or not, I would be proud if I go shopping and I see used an idea that we found it.

Yeah, why do not we write to the stores to propose another idea?

 

Yeah, why do not we write to the stores to propose another idea?

Because the person running the store has no interest in satisfying your ego. If you can bring him a reliable solution that he decides is worth well more to him than the cost, which includes employee training, maintenance and so on - not just the price, he'll buy it. Otherwise you are wasting his (and your) time.