US 5457307

Patent Overview — US5457307A

Title: Portable self-service bar code marker and reader for purchase monitoring

Assignee: Individual (original assignee listed as Individual). Inventor: Charles Dumont.

Key dates (as listed): Priority date 1992-04-27; filing date 1994-05-13; publication/grant 1995-10-10; anticipated expiration 2012-10-10. Legal status shown as "Expired – Fee Related." Priority is claimed from US08/036,970, with external priority to patent US5345071A.

Purpose. The patent describes a purchase monitoring device for a shopper in a self-service store, used to scan item prices, mark items as purchases, and keep a stored list and running total for later transfer to a data reception register for verification and payment. Stated goals are to help users track spending against a budget and to speed checkout by avoiding individual scanning of each item at the register.

Plain-language scope. The device is a portable handset with a casing, a bar code scanner in its distal front face, and purchase/non-purchase designation means that operate on a single pass of the handset over an item's bar code. It contains data storage for pricing and identification data by bar code, and purchase memory that stores designated purchase items and adds their prices to a running total shown on a display in the distal rear face. On the proximal rear face are buttons: price check, purchase, and return (the return button removes a previously designated purchase item and updates the total). A numeric keypad on the proximal front face allows entry of a maximum budget amount. A two-way data transmission connector permits updated pricing data to be loaded from a central store computer and purchase data to be sent to a checkout data reception register for an itemized receipt. The excerpt notes a purchase confirmation station where an employee verifies designated purchase items without scanning each one.

Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/[US5457307](/patent/US5457307)/en

What the excerpt does not establish: It does not establish the full specification, all claims, the complete list of cited prior art, prosecution history, or the accuracy of the listed assignee, priority, legal status, or expiration dates. It also does not establish any litigation, ownership transfer, or validity determination.