Celebrity Inventors
Glam girl Heddy Lamar may have used her good looks to good effect on the silver screen, but she put her smarts to better use as an inventor. During World War II, she co-patented a frequency-switching system for torpedo guidance that was considered years ahead of its time.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 5900609 | POS system The invention provides a POS system which employs a purchased commodity accommodating and transporting apparatus having a self scanning function and is improved in that the access time for data transfer processing is reduced to reduce the time required fo... | 05/04/1999 |
| 5898158 | Purchased commodity accommodating and transporting apparatus having self scanning function and POS system The invention provides a purchased commodity accommodating and transporting apparatus having a self scanning function and a POS system which prevent an unjust act such as to carry out a commodity without reading a commodity code whether it is intentional ... | 04/27/1999 |
| 5894119 | Device for enabling listeners to preview music recordings A bar code reader, a wireless transceiver, an earphone jack and a battery are integrated into a pen sized device. The bar code reader is used to scan the product identification code or music packaging. The product code is sent to a central computer or a m... | 04/13/1999 |
| 5890135 | System and method for displaying product information in a retail system A system for displaying, and redeeming electronic discount coupons in a store. The system includes a "smart card", product stations adjacent to selected products in the store, a display kiosk, and a checkout station in the checkout area. The customer may ... | 03/30/1999 |
| 5887271 | System and method for locating products in a retail system A system for displaying, and redeeming electronic discount coupons in a store. The system includes a "smart card", a display kiosk, and a checkout station in the checkout area. The customer comes to the store with the card loaded with electronic coupons. ... | 03/23/1999 |
| 5886336 | Multiside coverage optical scanner An optical scanner includes a housing having first and second obliquely adjoining windows. Disposed in the housing is a laser for projecting a laser beam against a rotatable spinner having a plurality of mirrored facets for sequentially reflecting the las... | 03/23/1999 |
| 5884278 | Retail store and method employing multiple network interfaces at each cash register, and receiving signals from portable cards at each cash register A computer network for a retail store. The computer network collects coupon redemption information from a plurality of cash registers and periodically sends the redemption information to a market research center, allowing the correlation of coupon redempt... | 03/16/1999 |
| 5880448 | Electronic manual postage meter machine having a recharging and cleaning adapter An arrangement for an electronic manual franking machine having an ink printer head and having an integrated system for controlling and supplying the ink printer head includes a housing containing a first assembly composed of a carriage, an ink printer he... | 03/09/1999 |
| 5880449 | System and method for providing a store customer with personally associated prices for selected items A system and method for granting a customer visiting a store with personally associated prices for selected items is provided. The customer receives a portable customer unit which communicates with a check-in unit for establishing personal prices for sele... | 03/09/1999 |
| 5880443 | Automated system for selecting packages from a cylindrical storage area A system for filling orders, such as prescriptions for patients, having a generally cylindrical storage area for holding packages in known locations. Each location has a unique (r,θ,Y) coordinate. The system also has a computer controlled device for pick... | 03/09/1999 |
| 5877485 | Statistical sampling security methodology for self-scanning checkout system Disclosed is the implementation of a statistical basis for use in a self-scanning checkout system for determining how many items to check in a shopper's shopping cart for incorrect or missing scans as well as which particular or types of items to check to... | 03/02/1999 |
| 5877484 | Automatic ticket-examining apparatus for collecting wireless tickets An automatic passenger gate of the present invention is adapted for both one time use wireless medium and repeat use wireless medium. The automatic passenger gate includes an antenna for receiving information stored on the wireless medium, an input port f... | 03/02/1999 |
| 5873069 | System and method for automatic updating and display of retail prices An enterprise-wide integrated computer system for storing, processing and reporting pricing information regarding a plurality of products in a plurality of stores in a plurality of markets, including a pricing function for pricing and re-pricing products ... | 02/16/1999 |
| 5870716 | Home terminal and shopping system A shopping system includes store terminals for registering purchase and sale of items, a store processor for collectively managing the store terminals, electronic shelf labels capable of setting classification, etc., of the items, an item information data... | 02/09/1999 |
| 5870067 | Contactless data/power bus An information system for a shelving system, such as in a supermarket, is disclosed. The system comprises a central data transmission source, a data distribution network, a common data link, and display units. The display units are capacitively coupled to... | 02/09/1999 |
| 5866023 | Portable barcode label printer battery switching circuit A portable barcode printer includes a circuit coupled between a main battery and a read/write memory of the printer to provide power to the memory from the main battery with a minimal voltage drop across the circuit. The circuit is also coupled between th... | 02/02/1999 |
| 5859414 | Interactive customer information terminal A customer information terminal for use in a retail grocery store includes a housing defining an interior region, electronic circuitry including a microprocessor supported within the housing interior region, and a display screen supported by the housing a... | 01/12/1999 |
| 5854476 | Method of displaying a product restriction message by an electronic price label A method of displaying a product restriction message by an electronic price label which uses a product restriction indicator. The product restriction message is stored with the product restriction indicator in a first location. The product restriction ind... | 12/29/1998 |
| 5854475 | Method of displaying a government program message by an electronic price label A method of displaying a government program message by an electronic price label which uses a government program indicator. The government program message is stored with the government program indicator in a first location. The government program indicato... | 12/29/1998 |
| 5854474 | Electronic sign having automatic price display An electronic sign which includes a number of two-dimensional (2-D) bar code readers which read a two-dimensional bar code label on a back side of a corresponding number of item description cards. The two-dimensional bar code labels are situated adjacent ... | 12/29/1998 |
| 5848399 | Computer system for allowing a consumer to purchase packaged goods at home A system for generating images representative of a store shelf includes a retail space management system for generating information describing product and shelf sizes and locations in three dimensions, and including a code which is unique to each product.... | 12/08/1998 |
| 5847378 | Electronic price label having a two-part overlay arrangement An electronic price label (EPL) which uses a two-part overlay arrangement to avoid stacking of permanent adhesive overlays. The EPL includes a housing having a front surface containing an aperture exposing the electronic display. A first record member is ... | 12/08/1998 |
| 5845259 | Electronic coupon dispensing system A cost-effective, in-store coupon dispensing system that increases coupon redemption rates and product turns. The system includes a point of sale system including a terminal having a data reader for reading transaction data, and a system memory for storin... | 12/01/1998 |
| 5844221 | Method and system for redeeming coupons A method and system are disclosed for redeeming one or more coupons having an identifying barcode thereon for crediting against one or more products also having an identifying barcode thereon. The product and coupon are separately scanned at the barcodes ... | 12/01/1998 |
| 5837990 | Portable optical scanning system including ring and track A portable optical scanner comprises a scanner element arranged to be supported on a user's finger for pointing at indicia to be read and a wrist unit provided on the user's wrist connected to the scanner element to provide power and data exchange. A trac... | 11/17/1998 |
| 5837983 | Readability monitoring system for optical codes An apparatus and method for monitoring and reporting optical symbol readability and operator and reader performance levels. The apparatus includes a reader for optical symbols which measures and reports the values of measurements with respect to the symbo... | 11/17/1998 |
| 5825002 | Device and method for secure data updates in a self-checkout system The present invention relates to a data processing and retrieval system for use in a self-checkout system utilized in a retail facility. A plurality of customers are provided with a portable data collecting terminal having a bar code reader. Once the data... | 10/20/1998 |
| 5821513 | Shopping cart mounted portable data collection device with tethered dataform reader A portable data collection device (10) adapted to be mounted to a shopping cart (18) is disclosed. The device includes a housing (12) having a clamping assembly (80, 82, 84, and 86) for releasably clamping the housing to a pushing bar (16) of a shopping c... | 10/13/1998 |
| 5821512 | Shopping cart mounted portable data collection device with tethered dataform reader A portable data collection device adapted to be mounted to a shopping cart includes a housing having a clamping assembly for releasably clamping the housing to a pushing bar of a shopping cart. The housing defines an interior region supporting device elec... | 10/13/1998 |
| 5821514 | POS system The invention provides a POS system which employs a purchased commodity accommodating and transporting apparatus having a self scanning function and is improved in that the access time for data transfer processing is reduced to reduce the time required fo... | 10/13/1998 |
| 5821511 | Vending and display device electronic counter A vending machine/display unit (10) includes a plurality of articles (14) arranged on a plurality of dispensing paths (20 or 22). A counting mechanism is associated with each dispensing path, and includes an encoder bar (32) positioned adjacent the dispen... | 10/13/1998 |
| 5814799 | Self-checkout, point-of-transaction system including removable, electro-optically coded surveillance tags A self-check apparatus is provided for processing a sales transaction of an article having an attached surveillance tag, each attached surveillance tag bearing a coded indicia such as a bar code. The self-checkout apparatus stores an indication of the art... | 09/29/1998 |
| 5806044 | System and method for distributing coupons through a system of computer networks A system for dispensing and redeeming the electronic discount coupons. The system includes a personal computer (PC) having hardware and software for receiving an electronic coupon from the system of computer networks, translating the received coupon into ... | 09/08/1998 |
| 5804810 | Communicating with electronic tags An object in a storage area or moving vehicle is monitored by attaching an electronic tag to the object. An electronic device detects the presence of the object by communicating with the tag while the object is in storage or is being moved by the vehicle.... | 09/08/1998 |
| 5804807 | Scan-ahead system for processing merchandise at a checkout register The present invention relates to a checkout system providing for the pre-processing of scannable merchandise in a customer's possession. The system employs a portable data scanner which is in communication with a checkout register. The portable data scann... | 09/08/1998 |
| 5804806 | Device and method for processing coded information for barcode and chip card A device and a method for processing coded information, including reading coded data from a chip card, reading a barcode reproduced on an item, and comparing the information read and information stored relating to a series of prespecified items. It also i... | 09/08/1998 |
| 5796351 | System for providing information about exhibition objects A system provides a user with proper information about a target exhibition object among many exhibition objects in exhibition facilities according to a user's request. The system has a database system for storing information about exhibition objects, a ho... | 08/18/1998 |
| 5793029 | Electronic price label having two dimensional bar code reader An EPL having a two-dimensional (2-D) bar code reader which reads a two-dimensional bar code label on a back side of an overlay. The two-dimensional bar code label is situated adjacent the two-dimensional bar code reader when the overlay is installed. The... | 08/11/1998 |
| 5794215 | Method of optimizing electronic price label systems A method of optimizing electronic price label (EPL) systems which employs a three-dimensional graph of retry levels in a transaction establishment. The method includes the steps of determining locations of EPLs within the transaction establishment, determ... | 08/11/1998 |
| 5793030 | Apparatus and method for tracking inventory of multiple goods in multiple shipping cartons An apparatus and method for tracking inventory for goods having a variety of styles and characteristics, and which have a variety of possible shipping destinations. The apparatus of the invention includes a multi-part label that is attachable to each of t... | 08/11/1998 |
