Invalidity dossier
US 5557088
Self-scanning POS system, self-scanning registration terminal, control apparatus for self-scanning registration terminal and POS apparatus for self-scanning registration terminal
Current assignee: Fujitsu Ltd
Added 9/24/2026, 1:44:44 AM
Active provider: DeepSeek · deepseek-v4-flash
Patent summary
Title, assignee, inventors, filing/issue dates, abstract, and a plain-language overview of the claims.
Patent Overview — US5557088A
Title: Self-scanning POS system, self-scanning registration terminal, control apparatus for self-scanning registration terminal and POS apparatus for self-scanning registration terminal.
Assignee: Fujitsu Ltd (original assignee). The record lists Fujitsu Frontech Ltd as a current assignee.
Key dates: Priority date 1994-03-14; application number US08/350,984; filing date 1994-11-29; publication/grant date 1996-09-17. Status: Expired – Lifetime, with anticipated expiration 2014-11-29. Inventors: Chizu Shimizu, Chizuo Suzuki, Kyoko Terada.
Purpose: The invention relates to a self-scanning POS system for the distribution industry—mass sales stores, convenience stores, or supermarkets—where, using a shopping cart or basket, a customer reads a commodity code (such as a bar code) on a commodity and purchases it. The system addresses discount conditions (time service, bundle, mix-match, and pair match conditions), requiring the POS system to cope with any such discount condition for particular commodities.
Plain-language scope: The system comprises a POS apparatus with a settlement terminal for final settlement; one or more self-scanning registration terminals each with commodity code reading means; and a control apparatus between the POS apparatus and the self-scanning registration terminal(s) that communicates commodity purchase information based on read commodity code information. The excerpt further describes a self-scanning registration terminal including commodity code information notification means and display means for displaying commodity information regarding the read commodity.
What the excerpt does not establish: As it is excerpted, the text does not set out the full independent claims, their exact limitations, or the complete specification. It states no legal conclusions as to validity, enforceability, infringement, or the accuracy of listed assignees; the source notes the legal status and assignee listings are assumptions, not legal conclusions. No prior-art analysis, litigation, or ownership-transfer substance is addressed here.
Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/[US5557088](/patent/US5557088)/en
Generated 10/1/2026, 9:31:10 PM
Cases on file (0)
Specific litigation cases in our database that name US patent 5557088. The free-form analysis below may also discuss cases beyond this list.
No cases on file mention this patent. Upload a CSV or add a case manually in Admin → Manage litigation cases.
Litigation summary
Past and pending lawsuits — plaintiffs, defendants, jurisdictions, outcomes, and notable rulings.
Proceedings on file (0)
All PTAB activity →AIA trial proceedings (IPR / PGR / CBM) filed at the USPTO Patent Trial and Appeal Board against this patent. Sourced from the USPTO Open Data Portal and refreshed every six hours; each proceeding number deep-links to the PTAB E2E docket.
No PTAB proceedings on file. This patent has not been challenged via IPR, PGR, or CBM. The absence is itself a signal — well-asserted patents eventually attract IPRs. The LLM analysis below may surface filings the ODP feed hasn’t indexed yet.
PTAB challenges
AIA trial proceedings at the USPTO Patent Trial and Appeal Board — IPR, PGR, and CBM. Petitioners, judge panels, claim-level invalidation outcomes from Final Written Decisions, and Federal Circuit appeals. The single most important defensive datapoint after litigation history.
Assignment history
Inventors, original assignee, and the chain of ownership recorded with the USPTO — including the correspondent attorney who recorded each assignment, since shell-LLC chains often share one repeat-player attorney even when the entity names look unrelated. Surfaces NPE / patent-troll patterns: shell-entity transfers, known asserters in the chain, repeat correspondent fingerprints, pre-litigation assignments, and bankruptcy fire-sales.
Prior art
Earlier patents, publications, and products that may anticipate or render the claims unpatentable.
Obviousness
Combinations of prior art that suggest the claimed invention would have been obvious under 35 U.S.C. § 103.
Extensions
Patent term adjustments, term extensions, continuations, divisionals, family members, and expiration dates.
Derivative works
Defensive disclosure: derivative variations of each claim designed to render future incremental improvements obvious or non-novel.