Invalidity dossier
US 4779706
Self-service system
Current assignee: NCR Voyix Corp
Added 9/23/2026, 10:53:03 PM
Active provider: DeepSeek · deepseek-flash
Patent summary
Title, assignee, inventors, filing/issue dates, abstract, and a plain-language overview of the claims.
Patent Overview — US 4,779,706 A
Title: Self-service system
Assignee / Inventor: Originally assigned to NCR Corporation (a Maryland corp.); inventor Barry M. Mergenthaler.
Key dates: Priority/filing date 1986-12-17; application no. US 06/943,116; granted and published 1988-10-25; anticipated expiration 2006-12-17; status: Expired – Lifetime. Related PCT/EP/JP/DE filings share the 1987-12-03 priority.
Purpose: To let a customer check out purchased items without a cashier, while verifying that the items scanned are the items actually bagged. The disclosed disadvantage of prior systems is that items of equal weight but different value could be swapped before a final checkout.
Plain-language scope (per the supplied description): A merchandise checkout system includes a combined scanner/scale that scans an item's coded label and generates its weight. A processor compares the scanned weight against weight data stored in memory for that identified item; the display and audible signals indicate agreement and show the price. Each scanned item is then placed in a bag resting on a second scale, where its weight is checked against the previously generated weight; a mismatch requires rescanning. When scanning is complete, the customer operates a printer to produce a slip listing the items and an identification number, which is placed in the bag. At a finalization station, a clerk weighs the bag, enters the identifying number, and if the total bag weight agrees with the system-generated total within a predetermined limit, the transaction is completed by payment of the displayed total. The figures show a scanning station (counter, scanner/scale lids, bag storage, printer/display), a finalization station (counter, conveyor, scale, data terminal with keyboard/display/printer, processor and remote memory), and a plan view of the checkout flow.
Not established by this excerpt: The full claims and their exact wording; the complete description (the text is marked as excerpted); and the omitted portions of the specification. No litigation, ownership-transfer, validity, or prior-art conclusions are drawn here.
Generated 10/1/2026, 9:33:04 PM
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Litigation summary
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PTAB challenges
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Assignment history
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Prior art
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Obviousness
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Extensions
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Derivative works
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