US-20260128021-A1 - HARMONIC TONE PATTERNS FOR POINT OF SALE SYSTEM

US20260128021A1US 20260128021 A1US20260128021 A1US 20260128021A1US-20260128021-A1

Abstract

Methods and systems of a point of sale controlling system are disclosed. In some aspects, a first musical note tone is assigned to a first checkout system and the first musical note tone is different from a second musical note tone assigned to a second checkout system. Next, in response to a first sound event has occurred for the first checkout system, the first musical note tone is only played for the first checkout system so that the first musical note tone is not played on the second checkout system and the second musical note is not played on the first checkout system.

Inventors

Abrahan ROMO RAMOS
Salvador GOMEZ ALVAREZ
JORDAN FLORES

Assignees

TOSHIBA GLOBAL COMMERCE SOLUTIONS, INC.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260507
Application Date: 20240923

Claims (19)

1 . A method comprising: storing a first musical note tone assigned to a first checkout system, wherein the first musical note tone is different from a second musical note tone assigned to a second checkout system; determining that a first sound event has occurred for the first checkout system; and playing the first musical note tone for the first checkout system so that the first musical note tone is not played on the second checkout system and the second musical note is not played on the first checkout system.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first musical note tone is selected from a musical alphabet, and wherein the second musical note tone is selected from the musical alphabet but is different from the first musical note.
3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the first musical note tone is selected from C, D, E, F, G, A, B, and wherein the second musical note tone is also selected from C, D, E, F, G, A, B.
4 . The method of claim 2 , further comprising: assigning a third musical note tone to the first checkout system; assigning a fourth musical note tone to the second checkout system; wherein the first and second musical note tones are a musical major notes selected from C, D, E, F, G, A, or B; wherein the third musical note tone is a musical sharp or minor version of the first musical note tone and is selected from C #/Db, D #/Eb, E, F #/Gb, G #/Ab, A #/Bb; and wherein the fourth musical note tone is a musical sharp or minor version of the second musical note tone and is selected from C #/Db, D #/Eb, E, F #/Gb, G #/Ab, A #/Bb.
5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising: determining that a second sound event has occurred for the second checkout system; playing the second musical note tone for the second checkout system so that the first musical note is not played on the second checkout system.
6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first musical note is playable using different frequencies.
7 . A non-transitory computer readable medium embodying computer program that when executed by a processor, the processor executes a method, the method comprising: storing a first musical note tone assigned to a first checkout system, wherein the first musical note tone is different from a second musical note tone assigned to a second checkout system; determining that a first sound event has occurred for the first checkout system; and playing the first musical note tone for the first checkout system so that the first musical note tone is not played on the second checkout system and the second musical note is not played on the first checkout system.
8 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 7 , wherein the first musical note tone is selected from a musical alphabet, and wherein the second musical note tone is selected from the musical alphabet but is different from the first musical note.
9 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the first musical note tone is selected from C, D, E, F, G, A, B, and wherein the second musical note tone is also selected from C, D, E, F, G, A, B.
10 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8 , further comprising: assigning a third musical note tone to the first checkout system; assigning a fourth musical note tone to the second checkout system; wherein the first and second musical note tones are a musical major notes selected from C, D, E, F, G, A, or B; wherein the third musical note tone is a musical sharp or minor version of the first musical note tone and is selected from C #/Db, D #/Eb, E, F #/Gb, G #/Ab, A #/Bb; and wherein the fourth musical note tone is a musical sharp or minor version of the second musical note tone and is selected from C #/Db, D #/Eb, E, F #/Gb, G #/Ab, A #/Bb.
11 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the third musical note tone is assigned to a third event for the first checkout system, wherein the fourth musical note tone is assigned to a fourth event for the second checkout system, wherein the first and third sound events comprises a scan event, warning message, or alert for the first checkout system, and wherein the second and fourth sound events comprises a scan event, warning message, or alert for the second checkout system.
12 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 7 , the method further comprising: determining that a second sound event has occurred for the second checkout system; playing the second musical note tone for the second checkout system so that the first musical note is not played on the second checkout system.
13 . A system comprising: memory; at least one speaker; and a processor configured for: storing a first musical note tone assigned to a first checkout system, the first musical note tone being different from a second musical note tone assigned to a second checkout system; determining that a first sound event has occurred for the first checkout system; playing, via the at least one speaker, the first musical note tone for the first checkout system so that the first musical note tone is not played on the second checkout system and the second musical note is not played on the first checkout system.
14 . The system of claim 13 , wherein the first musical note tone is selected from a musical alphabet, and wherein the second musical note tone is selected from the musical alphabet but is different from the first musical note.
15 . The system of claim 14 , wherein the first musical note tone is selected from C, D, E, F, G, A, B, and wherein the second musical note tone is also selected from C, D, E, F, G, A, B.
16 . The system of claim 14 , the processor further configured for: assigning a third musical note tone to the first checkout system; assigning a fourth musical note tone to the second checkout system; wherein the first and second musical note tones are a musical major notes selected from C, D, E, F, G, A, or B; wherein the third musical note tone is a musical sharp or minor version of the first musical note tone and is selected from C #/Db, D #/Eb, E, F #/Gb, G #/Ab, A #/Bb; and wherein the fourth musical note tone is a musical sharp or minor version of the second musical note tone and is selected from C #/Db, D #/Eb, E, F #/Gb, G #/Ab, A #/Bb.
17 . The system of claim 13 , the processor further configured for: determining that a second sound event has occurred for the second checkout system; playing the second musical note tone for the second checkout system so that the first musical note is not played on the second checkout system.
18 . The system of claim 13 , wherein the first musical note is playable using different frequencies.
19 . The system of claim 13 , wherein none of the tones of the first checkout system are used on the second checkout system.

Description

BACKGROUND Checkout counters have grown in popularity. Various instruments and events within a point-of-sale system can generate alarms or alerts. Moreover, stores can have many point-of-sale systems that each are generating alarms or alerts at the same time, and the more systems being employed at a single location, the alarms become more numerous and frequent. As the store clerks become desensitized to frequent interruptions of these alarms, they often begin to ignore, miss or respond slower to the alarms. This phenomenon is referred to as alarm fatigue. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The objects and features of the present disclosure can be better understood with reference to the drawings described below, and the claims. The drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead generally being placed upon illustrating the principles of embodiments of the present disclosure. In the drawings, like numerals are used to indicate like parts throughout the various views. FIG. 1A illustrates a perspective physical view of a point-of-sale checkout system/lane in accordance with some embodiments. FIG. 1B illustrates a store with a series of point-of-sale checkout systems/lanes in accordance with some embodiments. FIG. 2 illustrates a diagrammatic view of the point-of-sale checkout system/lane of FIG. 1 in accordance with some embodiments. FIG. 3A illustrates a method of configuring a point-of-sale checkout system/lane in accordance with one embodiment. FIG. 3B illustrates a method of operating a point-of-sale checkout system/lane in accordance with one embodiment. FIG. 4 illustrates a method of operating a point-of-sale checkout system/lane in accordance with another embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS Point-of-sale (“POS”) equipment are systems used to identify (e.g., via scanning bar codes) items associated with a user. The POS equipment includes a speaker designed to generate audible tones providing feedback for different events such as: error messages, alerts, message box, scanning items, and the like. The current audible tone in POS equipment is a generic tone used for all kinds of events with the same tone frequency for all of them. Having an identical tone could make it harder for supervisors to detect missing scans or product theft using surrounding scan tones as cover. Customers could also verify more easily that every item scanned is being scanned in their account. Supervisors and cashier operators are very likely to develop alert fatigue. This alert fatigue will affect their ability to respond when abnormal events occur. Having a distinctive tone for different events will help alleviate this fatigue and reduce errors. Generally, the present disclosure addresses alert fatigue induced by lack of proper audible alert design. As mentioned above, alert fatigue (sometimes also referred to “alarm fatigue”) is experienced when a repetitive, continuous and sometimes overwhelming number of alerts desensitizes the operator receiving them, leading to miss, ignore alerts or responding slower. In some embodiments, the POS equipment includes a speaker designed to generate audible tones providing feedback for different events such as: error messages, alerts, message box, scanning items, etc. This idea consists in defining, standardizing, and choosing the right tone for the right event and right POS unit. This means that an informative message box will not sound the same as an error message and so on. According to the present disclosure, the concept of assigning distinct scan tones to different POS units avoids confusion and/or misleading the customers/clerks hearing multiple identical tones from different POS units. The customers/clerks would be able to accurately identify when items are being scanned in their unit using a distinctive tone relative to tones of other units in proximity thereof. Various examples and more details of the present disclosure will now be described below. The following description provides specific details for a thorough understanding and enabling description of these examples. One skilled in the art will understand, however, that the present disclosure may be practiced without many of these details. Additionally, some well-known structures or functions may not be shown or described in detail, so as to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the relevant description. The terminology used in the description presented below is intended to be interpreted in its broadest reasonable manner, even though it is being used in conjunction with a detailed description of certain specific examples of the present disclosure. Certain terms may even be emphasized below; however, any terminology intended to be interpreted in any restricted manner will be overtly and specifically defined as such in this Detailed Description section. With reference now to the figures, and in particular FIG. 1A, there is illustrated an exemplary embodiment of a checkout system (and checkout system environment) within w