Smart Shopping Cart

[jdtambakhe]

Group Members:
Norasyikin Fadilah
Siti Fatimah Ahmad
Anirudh Argawal
Rajwinder Singh
Katherine Casella

Smart Shopping Cart

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Abstract
In today s technology, many companies are developing products that ensure convenience toward all people. One of the conveniences that involved will be providing with new and easy shopping experience. With a problem of waiting in a long queue to check-out the shopping items, new technology must be implemented to provide lowest delay time. Thus, the project team is developing a Smart Shopping Cart, a system that allows faster check-out. A device that consists of an LCD screen, a barcode reader, microprocessor, a wireless card, Bluetooth, and a portable battery will be implemented on the shopping cart. The user would scan the Universal Product Code (UPC) that contains on the shopping item using the barcode reader. The barcode information will be stored into a computer s memory, and checked against a database from which it would retrieve the appropriate information. A software package will page link up the device with the database and Bluetooth device. It will also enable the microprocessor to calculate the total price for all scanned items, and display it on the LCD screen. If the customer is ready to make a payment, he would pass the cart through the cashier. The total price will be sent to the cashier using Bluetooth, and the receipt will be automatically printed. All the customer has to do is to pay for the total price without unloading the items from the cart. The team expects that the smart shopping cart will be a more reliable form of check-out process that will decrease the amount of time a customer has to wait while shopping.
Introduction
If you haven t already heard of the smart shopping cart, you are missing out. Advertized on the Today Show in July 2004, this technology is sweeping the nation. Big name companies such as IBM, NCR, Fujitsu, and Hewlett-Packard are the most mentioned competitors. There are also other technologies also meant for grocery store use such as the Veggie Vision and the Everything Display which are useful for different reasons. What is the smart shopping cart? The concept is a small computer with easy to use display (usually a touch screen) where a customer can scan their items using the existing barcode system while they shop. The item would then be added to your list with an ongoing tally of how much you are spending as you go through the store. Most products have the option of seeing addition information about the item scanned such as: nutritional information, environment impact, how many calories bought, whether the item is on sale, possible recipe ideas, and other items like wines which would go nicely with it. They all run on wireless technology constantly updating information should the store need to make a change.
The newest product from IBM is a wireless web page application where the customer can create a shopping list from home on the internet and then at the store scan their frequent shoppers card in the smart shopping cart to see their list. Then the list interacts with the store telling the customer where they can find the items they are looking for as well as the best prices. On top of that, the customer can order from the deli using their shopping cart and just pick up their order when it s done. In one Stop & Shop in Massachusetts, they use projection technologies to project a screen either on the floor or over some products. When the customer walks over a part of the image it interacts with them. One example is a floor projection where there are three blocks of colors with the options reading, Low Calorie, Low Carb, and Low Fat. All the customer has to do is step over the option they want and it will point an arrow to where the products in that area are located. One major technology not yet used in stores is the RFID cards.

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