Portable sales assistant terminal system

摘要

In summary, the present invention relates to a portable shopping system including a plurality of portable terminals. Each portable terminal incorporates a scanning unit for acquiring product identification information associated with selected products. The system further includes a wireless communication network for communicating the acquired product identification information provided by the plurality of portable terminals to a central host facility. Included within the central host facility is an access point disposed to receive the product identification information from the wireless communication network and a central database including a plurality of personal shopping files respectively associated with the plurality of portable terminals. The central host facility also includes a central controller operative to update ones of the personal shopping files upon receipt of portions of the product identification information provided by associated ones of the portable terminals. The system may also include at least one self-checkout unit in communication with the central host facility for processing a self-checkout transactions involving items selected using the plurality of portable terminals. The self-checkout transactions each generally involve downloading of a list of items from a personal shopping file in response to presentment of an associated one of the portable terminals at the self-checkout unit.