Methods and apparatus to indicate off-platter weigh conditions

1. A barcode reading and weighing apparatus, the apparatus comprising:

a weigh platter having a surface extending in a first transverse plane;

a scale configured to measure a weight of an item on the surface;

an off-platter detection assembly configured to detect whether a portion of the item is not resting on the weigh platter;

a communication interface configured to communicate with a point-of-sale (POS) system;

a processor in communication with the weigh platter, the off-platter detection assembly and the communication interface; and

a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the barcode reading and weighing apparatus to, when the portion of the item is not resting on the weigh platter, modify the weight to form a modified weight and send the modified weight to the POS system via the communication interface, wherein the weight is modified to indicate the portion of the item was not resting on the weigh platter, and wherein modifying the weight to form the modified weight consist of at least one of changing the weight to an out-of-bounds weight or changing the weight to an invalid weight.

2. The barcode reading and weighing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the storage medium stores further instructions that, when executed, cause the barcode reading and weighing apparatus to, when the item is wholly resting on the weigh platter, send the weight to the POS system via the communication interface.

3. The barcode reading and weighing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the barcode reading and weighing apparatus comprises an additional surface around the weigh platter, wherein the surface is substantially coplanar with the weigh platter.

4. The barcode reading and weighing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein modifying the weight includes modifying the weight to represent an out-of-bounds weight.

5. The barcode reading and weighing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein modifying the weight includes modifying the weight to represent an invalid weight.

6. The barcode reading and weighing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein modifying the weight includes modifying the weight to include a letter.

7. The barcode reading and weighing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein modifying the weight includes modifying the weight to have an inverted sign.

8. The barcode reading and weighing apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a barcode reader to read a barcode on the item.

9. The barcode reading and weighing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the off-platter detection assembly includes:

a light emission assembly having a light source, the light emission assembly configured to emit a light away from a proximal edge of the surface; and

a light detection assembly having a light sensor, the light detection assembly configured to detect at least a portion of the light reflected towards the proximal edge.

10. A method of weighing an item with a barcode reading and weighing apparatus, the method comprising:

determining a weight of an item on a weigh platter of the barcode reading and weighing apparatus;

detecting whether a portion of the item is not resting on the weigh platter;

when the portion of the item is not resting on the weigh platter, modifying the weight to form a modified weight to indicate that the portion of the item was not resting on the weigh platter; and

sending the modified weight to a point-of-sale (POS) system,

and wherein the modifying the weight to form the modified weight consist of at least one of changing the weight to an out-of-bounds weight or changing the weight to an invalid weight.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising when the item is wholly resting on the weigh platter, sending the weight to the POS system.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein modifying the weight includes modifying the weight to represent at least one of an out-of-bounds weight, to be an invalid weight, to include a letter, or to have an inverted sign.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein the weight can be obtained from the modified weight at the POS system.

14. A barcode reading and weighing apparatus, the barcode reading and weighing apparatus comprising:

a weigh platter having a surface extending in a first transverse plane;

a scale configured to measure a weight of an item on the surface;

an off-platter detection assembly configured to detect whether a portion of the item is not resting on the weigh platter;

a communication interface configured to communicate with a point-of-sale (POS) system;

a processor in communication with the weigh platter, the off-platter detection assembly and the communication interface; and

a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the barcode reading and weighing apparatus to:

identify a weight priority associated with the item,

when the weight priority is a first priority and the item is not wholly resting on the weigh platter, provide an indication that the item is not wholly resting on weigh platter, and

when the weight priority is a second priority and the item is not wholly resting on the weigh platter, send the weight measured by the scale to a POS system.

15. The barcode reading and weighing apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the weight is useable at the POS system to at least one of charge a customer for the item, or verify the item.

16. The barcode reading and weighing apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the storage medium stores further instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the barcode reading and weighing apparatus to provide the indication to the POS system.

17. The barcode reading and weighing apparatus of claim 14 , further comprising a barcode reader to read a barcode on the item.

18. The barcode reading and weighing apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the storage medium stores further instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the barcode reading and weighing apparatus to, when the weight priority is the first priority and the item is not wholly resting on the weigh platter, additionally provide the measured weight.

19. The barcode reading and weighing apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the storage medium stores further instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the barcode reading and weighing apparatus to alert a user of the barcode reading and weighing apparatus of an invalid weight when the weight priority is the first priority and the item is not wholly resting on the weigh platter, and not alert the user when the weight priority is the second priority and the item is not wholly resting on the weigh platter.

20. The barcode reading and weighing apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the first priority is associated with at least one of a more expensive item or a higher cost-per-unit-weight item, and the second priority is associated with at least one of a less expensive item or a lower cost-per-unit-weight item.

21. The barcode reading and weighing apparatus of claim 20 , wherein the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the barcode reading and weighing apparatus to identify the item with the first priority or the second priority based on a user controllable threshold.

22. The barcode reading and weighing apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the storage medium stores further instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the barcode reading and weighing apparatus to determine an identification of the item using at least one of an object recognition algorithm trained using machine learning, a barcode or a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag, and compare the identification with a list of identifiers associated with priority items.

23. The barcode reading and weighing apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the storage medium stores a list of item identifiers associated with the first priority.