United States Patent
9,778,093
Title
Determining Product Length for Use in Regulating Transactions in a Self-Checkout Conveyer System
Abstract
A vertical sensor array is placed along a weighing conveyer in a self-checkout system. Successive products are scanned and then placed on the weighing conveyer. As a product traverses the sensor array, a firmware control sends a measured height of the product to processor software, and also indicates the time taken by the product to pass the array. From the time, conveyer speed, and distance from the array to the end of the weighing conveyer, the software determines the time when the product will be transferred from the weighing conveyer to a location adjacent to the weighing conveyer. Since this transfer time is variable, depending on the product and the particular orientation of the product when it is placed on the weighing conveyer, the software can dynamically enable the scanner input device for the associated system to accept the next following product or item. The software can accurately determine the correct weight of a product, even when multiple products are present on the conveyer simultaneously.
