On-demand point-of-sale scanner access
View Patent ↗Associating and/or disassociating a mobile point-of-sale scanner device with a particular shopper. Shoppers may be identified, for example, using biometrics or by scanning a loyalty card. As an example of using biometrics, the shopper's fingerprint may be scanned as a trigger of the scanner is activated to scan an item's barcode. The fingerprint is preferably transmitted, along with the scanned barcode, to a server or other device for comparison to previously-stored information. The scanner is then automatically associated with the shopper to whom the fingerprint corresponds. In another embodiment, scanned loyalty card information is preferably transmitted (optionally, along with a scanned barcode), such that the scanner is then automatically associated with the shopper to whom the loyalty card corresponds. Disassociating the scanner from a shopper is preferably triggered using a sensor (such as a light) that forms part of the scanner device, whereby the sensor is activated when the shopper releases the scanner device. A timer may be used to filter out accidental activation of the sensor.
1. A method of automatically associating a scanner device with a user, comprising:
capturing, by a scanner device configured with a biometric sensor, biometric information of a user; and
scanning, by the scanner device, item-identifying information of an item, such that the captured biometric information and the scanned item-identifying information can be transmitted to a computing device adapted for comparing the captured biometric information to previously-stored biometric information to identify the user and thereby automatically associating the scanner device with the identified user, such that the item for which the item-identifying information was scanned is also associated with the user, wherein:
the scanner device is configured with a trigger portion;
the biometric sensor is located in the trigger portion; and
the capturing is automatically invoked when the user presses the triggering portion.
2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein:
the scanner device remains associated with the identified user until an automatic disassociation occurs; and
the automatic disassociation occurs when the user activates a sensor of the scanner device.
3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the scanner device is configured such that the sensor is activated when the user no longer maintains physical contact with the scanner device.
4. The method according to claim 3 , wherein the sensor is a light that remains covered while the user maintains the physical contact with the scanner device.
5. The method according to claim 2 , wherein a disassociation timer is used to programmatically ignore accidental activation of the sensor, thereby preventing the automatic disassociation.
6. A method of automatically associating a scanner device with a user, comprising:
capturing, by a scanner device, loyalty card information by scanning a loyalty card of a user, such that the captured loyalty card information can be transmitted to a computing device adapted for comparing the captured loyalty card information to previously-stored loyalty card information to identify the user and thereby automatically associating the scanner device with the identified user; and
automatically disassociating the scanner device from the user when the user no longer maintains physical contact with the scanner device, wherein a sensor detects when the user no longer maintains the physical contact with the scanner device.
7. The method according to claim 6 , wherein the sensor is located in a portion of the scanner device by which the user holds the scanner device.
8. A method of automatically associating a scanner device with a user, comprising:
capturing, by a scanner device, loyalty card information by scanning a loyalty card of a user, such that the captured loyalty card information can be transmitted to a computing device adapted for comparing the captured loyalty card information to previously-stored loyalty card information to identify the user and thereby automatically associating the scanner device with the identified user; and
automatically disassociating the scanner device from the user when the user no longer maintains physical contact with the scanner device, wherein a disassociation timer is used to programmatically ignore accidental loss of the physical contact, thereby preventing the automatic disassociation upon the accidental loss.
9. The method according to claim 8 , wherein the disassociation timer ticks for a user-specific length of time.
10. The method according to claim 8 , wherein the disassociation timer ticks for a length of time set by a manufacturer of the scanner device.
11. The method according to claim 8 , wherein the automatic disassociation is programmatically ignored if the scanner device scans item-identifying information of another item while the disassociation timer is ticking.
12. A method of automatically disassociating a scanner device from a user, comprising steps of:
automatically associating a scanner device with a particular user upon matching identifying information of the particular user, captured by the scanner device, with previously-stored identifying information of a plurality of users;
adding items scanned by the scanner device to a shopping cart of the particular user while the scanner device remains associated with the particular user; and
upon a detection, by a sensor of the scanner device, that the particular user is no longer in physical contact with the scanner device, automatically disassociating the scanner device from the particular user.
13. The method according to claim 12 , wherein the identifying information of the particular user is biometric information of the particular user.
14. The method according to claim 13 , wherein the biometric information is a fingerprint of the particular user.
15. The method according to claim 12 , wherein the identifying information of the particular user is loyalty card information scanned from a loyalty card of the particular user.