GB2255428A

GB2255428A - Cloakroom management system.

Info

Publication number: GB2255428A
Application number: GB9109273A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Christopher Deith
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1991-04-30
Filing date: 1991-04-30
Publication date: 1992-11-04
Anticipated expiration: 2011-04-30
Also published as: GB9109273D0; GB2255428B

Abstract

A cloakroom management system comprising a plurality of "receivers" (10) for deposited items, each "receiver" bearing a readable code (11) indicative of its identity; means (12) for reading said indentity code on the one of said "receivers" whereon an item is to be deposited; data processing means (13); and printing means (14) for printing a ticket for the depositor, said ticket bearing at least information as to the identity of the "receiver" whereon the item has been deposited. The ticket may also bear a description of the item, read using the reading means (12) from a sheet (15). The "receivers" may be coat-hangers as shown (10), or boxes, trays, pigeon holes, bags, hanging pegs or labels. <IMAGE>

Description

Title: Cloakroom Management System Description of Invention This invention relates to a cloakroom management system. The term "cloakroom" is used herein to mean any facility in which items are deposited for temporary storage, and a ticket, receipt, or other token (herein referred to for convenience as a ticket) given to the person depositing the item to enable recovery of the item upon presentation of the ticket.

A number of problems exist in the management of a cloakroom facility, in the respects of security and convenience. The traditional use of the so-called "cloakroom tickets", wherein one half of a ticket torn from a book is given to the person depositing an item while the other half is attached to the item is inconvenient and time consuming in use. Further, unless an additional record is kept of the quantity of such tickets issued, there is no cash control and depositors may be undercharged or overcharged. There are variations of such a basic system, using numbered hangers and equivalently numbered tickets or tokens, but while such systems may be less inconvenient to use they still lack any element of price control and are vulnerable to dishonesty of cloakroom staff.All such systems suffer from the disadvantage that if a coat or deposited other item should be mislaid (or, possibly, stolen) there is only the depositor's word as to the nature and value of the deposited item. In such circumstances, it is not uncommon for the depositor to claim an excessive value for the item.

It is broadly the object of the present invention to provide for the elimination or reduction of at least some of the above described disadvantages of existing cloakroom management systems.

According to the invention, we provide a system comprising a plurality of receivers for deposited items, each receiver bearing a readable code indicative of its identity; means for reading said identity code on the one of said receivers whereon an item is to be deposited; data processing means; and printing means for printing a ticket for the depositor, said ticket bearing at least information as to the identity of the receiver whereon the item has been deposited.

Preferably the identity code providing on each of said receivers is a bar code, and the means for reading the code comprises a bar code reader.

The receivers for deposited items may comprise garment hangers; storage trays, boxes or pigeon-holes; pegs; bags; or any combination of such item receiving means.

There may be alternatively or in addition be provided, as receivers for deposited items, labels for affixation to the items and bearing the codes indicative of their identity. Some items are not easily accommodated in receivers of the nature referred to above, in which case the ability to attach labels to such items (e.g. by clips, removable adhesive, pins, elastic bands or other means) is useful.

A system according to the invention as above set forth has the advantage of convenience in use, in that the person operating the system has merely to read the code provided on a particular receiver, which is easily and quickly done by means of a bar code reader, e.g. a hand-held device which is used to "swipe" the bar code, whereupon an identifying ticket is printed to be given to the receiver. The necessity of attaching a part ticket or the like to the receiver or deposited item is avoided.

Preferably, however, there is further provided means bearing a plurality of readable descriptor codes indicative of the nature of the item deposited, and the ticket given to the depositor further contains a printed description of the nature of the deposited item.

The descriptor codes may be provided on a sheet bearing such codes in a number of different categories. In relation to garments, such categories may comprise codes for whether the garment is for a male or female wearer, the colour of the garment, the material of the garment (e.g. leather, suede, imitation leather) the type of garment (e.g. jacket, raincoat, overcoat, etc.). The data processing means may be able to accept a plurality of such descriptor codes.

Thus an operator of the system is able to read, for example, four descriptor codes such as .... gents .. black .. leather .. jacket.... to produce a reasonably complete description of the article which is then printed on the ticket handed to the depositor. When the depositor wishes to recover his garment, the ticket presented bears not only the number of the receiver whereon the item has been deposited but also a description of the item. This renders it easy for the appropriate receiver to be located, since not only the number but also the type of garment held thereon can be looked for. In the event of loss or theft of the garment, the depositor cannot easily misrepresent the nature and value of the garment.

The description of the deposited item printed on the ticket may be a direct transcription of the descriptor code or codes which has or have been read in relation to that item, i.e. the data processing means does not contain any preprogrammed table of descriptor codes. The system is then usable in other situations merely by substitution of another code-bearing sheet on which the codes describe other types of items or are, for example, in another language. No reprogramming of the data processing means is necessary in this case. The codes may be ASCII codes which spell the various descriptions of the items.

Preferably the data processing means is operable in either the first mode above described wherein the ticket given to the depositor bears only the number of the appropriate receiver, or in the second mode wherein the ticket further provides the description of the deposited item.

The data processing means may record the total number of tickets issued in exchange for items deposited, and may be operable to cause the printer to print such total, and/or an updating of numbers since the previous such printing, when required.

Preferably the tickets also bear consecutive numbers which provide the basis for the above referred to recording of numbers of tickets issued. This also provides a checking facility in the case of loss or alleged loss of deposited items.

There may be the facility to set the price to be paid for each deposited item, and the data processing means may record and provide for printing of a running total and/or updating since the previous printing of cloakroom receipts.

The instructions to the data processing means to vary operating parameters such as the mode of operation of the system, the price per deposited item, or to cause a printing of total or updated numbers or receipts may themselves be in the form of codes readable by a bar code reader. Such operations may require, as a preliminary, the reading of a pass code which is available only on a card held by an authorised member of management. Thus the opportunity for dishonest practices by cloakroom staff is reduced to a minimum.

The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic representation of the main elements of a system according to the invention.

In the drawing, a number of receivers for deposited garments are represented by coat hangers 10, which each bear unique bar codes 11 to identify them. Alternative receivers for deposited items may comprise storage boxes, pigeon holes, bags or simply hanging pegs, in each case identified by a unique bar code. It will be appreciated that a system may comprise a number of different kinds of receiver, so that different items may be deposited.

The system further comprises a bar code reader e.g. of the pen type 12 which is used to "swipe" a bar code to read it, and this reader is connected to a data processing means 13. The data processing means is connected to a printer 14 for printing tickets to be given to persons depositing items.

The system further comprises a sheet 15 containing a plurality of bar codes divided into several groups. Some of these groups are descriptive of garments or other items deposited and as indicated comprise a group 16 to indicate whether the garment is for a male or female wearer, a group 17 to indicate the colour of the garment (e.g. black, red, green, etc.), a group 18 to indicate the material (e.g. leather, suede, artificial leather, etc.) and a group 20 to indicate the type of garment (e.g. jacket, raincoat, overcoat, etc.). There is also a group of codes 19 representing other items, e.g. handbag, umbrella, rucksack, etc.

The system may be operated when a garment is deposited by reading the code 11 provided on the appropriate hanger 10, followed by a number of the codes from the groups 16 to 20 to describe the nature of the deposited item(s).

The printer is then caused to print a ticket to be given to the depositor, containing the number of the hanger and a description of the deposited items.

Alternatively, the system may operate in a mode in which the ticket contains only the number of the hanger, if in the interests of speed it is not required to provide the depositor with a ticket bearing a description of his deposited item.

The sheet 15 further contains two groups of codes 21, 22 of which the group of codes 21 represents the operating menu for the system and the codes in the group 22 represent commands which are only available to a member of management following the input of a pass code on a card carried by an authorised person. Such codes are representative of commands to determine the mode of operation of the system, to change the price to be paid for each deposited item, to read the total or updated number of items deposited, or any other of the facilities above referred to.

As a possible alternative to the use of bar codes, other readable codes could be utilised, e.g. coded magnetic stripes.

If two or more systems according to the invention are to be used in close proximity to one another, the tickets printed should additionally bear a serial number or other identification of the system from which they have been issued.

The features disclosed in the foregoing description, or the following claims, or the accompanying drawings, expressed in their specific forms or in terms of a means for performing the disclosed function, or a method or process for attaining the disclosed result, as appropriate, may, separately or in any combination of such features, be utilised for realising the invention in diverse forms thereof.

Claims

1. A cloakroom management system comprising a plurality of receivers for deposited items, each receiver bearing a readable code indicative of its identity; means for reading said identity code on the one of said receivers whereon an item is to be deposited; data processing means; and printing means for printing a ticket for the depositor, said ticket bearing at least information as to the identity of the receiver whereon the item has been deposited.

2. A system according to claim 1 wherein the identity code provided on each of said receivers is a bar code, and the means for reading the code comprises a bar code reader.

3. A system according to claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the receivers for deposited items comprise at least one of the following: garment hangers; storage trays, boxes or pigeon-holes; pegs; bags.

4. A system according to any one of the preceding claims comprising, as receivers for deposited items, labels for affixation to the items and bearing the codes indicative of their identity.

5. A system according to any one of the preceding claims further comprising means bearing a plurality of readable descriptor codes indicative of the nature of the item deposited, and wherein the ticket further contains a printed description of the nature of the deposited item read from said descriptor codes.

6. A system according to claim 5 wherein the descriptor codes are provided on a sheet bearing such codes in a number of different categories.

7. A system according to claim 6 wherein the data processing means is able to accept a plurality of such descriptor codes and provide for printing thereof on the ticket.

8. A system according to any one of claims 5 to 7 wherein the description of the deposited item printed on the ticket is a direct transcription of the descriptor code or codes which has or have been read in relation to that item.

9. A system according to any one of claims 5 to 8 wherein the descriptor codes are ASCII codes which spell the various descriptions of the items.

10. A system according to any one of claims 5 to 9 wherein the data processing means is operable in either a first mode wherein the ticket bears only the number of the appropriate receiver, or in a second mode wherein the ticket further provides the description of the deposited item.

11. A system according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the data processing means records a total number of tickets issued in exchange for items deposited.

12. A system according to claim 11 wherein the data processing means is operable to cause the printing means to print the total, and/or an updating of numbers since the previous such printing, when required.

13. A system according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the printing means prints consecutive numbers on tickets issued.

14. A system according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the data processing means is programmable with the price to be paid for each deposited item.

15. A system according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the data processing means records and provide for printing of a running total and/or updating of cloakroom receipts.

16. A system according to any one of the preceding claims wherein instructions to the data processing means to vary operating parameters of the system are in the form of codes readable by a code reader.

17. A system according to claim 16 wherein said varying of parameters first requires the reading of a pass code.

18. A system substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawing.

19. Any novel feature or novel combination of features described herein and/or in the accompanying drawing.