BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention pertains to cash drawers, and, in particular, to a computer module with a central processing unit adapted for installation within a cash drawer housing.

Cash drawers are standard equipment for a variety of industries, especially the retail industry. With the evolution of technology, computers have become a mainstay in even small businesses. Frequently, a computer is provided at the point of sale (POS) in order to allow, for example, a retailer to utilize the computer's capabilities to assist in and monitor everyday sales transactions. One problem with existing computers is that the need to mount the hardware in proximity to the cash drawer and external thereto takes up valuable counter space which could otherwise be utilized for displaying sales merchandise. While mounting all of the computer hardware on the cash drawer in a stacked relationship might not use as much counter space, it does lead to an elevated monitor and the like. In addition, the numerous cables that extend from the central processing unit may clutter valuable space and further may be unsightly.

One prior cash drawer product incorporates computer technology within the housing of a cash drawer. However, the computer components employed with this design necessitates a larger sized, customized cash drawer housing or case than is conventional. This larger size housing leads to a larger overall "footprint," and therefore an undesirable waste of valuable counter space. And, the need for a customized cash drawer housing hinders retrofitting existing standard drawers with the computer technology.

Thus, it would be desirable to provide an apparatus which overcomes these and other shortcomings of the prior art.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a computer module for cash drawers which is of a convenient, compact size so as to be incorporated into cash drawers to provide computing capabilities without wasting space. The inventive computer module is also sized and shaped so as to be suitable for retrofit of many existing cash drawers.

In one form thereof, the present invention provides a computer module for a cash drawer including a housing of standard size and shape and a drawer slidable into and out of the housing. The computer module includes a protective case sized and shaped to insert within an interior space within the cash drawer housing, and computer means within the protective case for performing point of sale operations and connectable to peripherals disposed externally of the cash drawer.

In another form thereof, the present invention provides a point of sale apparatus including a cash drawer housing of conventional size and shape, and a drawer slidably mounted to the cash drawer housing and movable in a forward direction from a first position to a second position, wherein the drawer is fully housed within the cash drawer housing when disposed in the first position, and wherein the drawer projects from the cash drawer housing when disposed in the second position to allow a user to access contents of the drawer. The point of sale apparatus also includes a computer module positioned within the cash drawer housing as an assembled unit separate from the cash drawer housing and the drawer. The computer module includes a protective case sized and shaped to fully fit within the interior space of the cash drawer housing rearward of the drawer when in the first position, and a computer housed within the protective case. The computer includes a central processing unit and a plurality ofjacks circuited with the central processing unit. The jacks are connectable to plugs on cords extending from peripherals disposed external to the cash drawer housing, and the central processing unit is provided with a set of instructions to receive and transmit communications through the jacks for controlling point of sale operations.

In still another form thereof, the present invention provides a method of retrofitting an existing point of sale location having a standard cash drawer assembly, and the method includes the steps of removing a portion of an exterior housing of the

cash drawer assembly to reveal an interior space within the housing rearward of a drawer of the cash drawer assembly that is slidable forward from a closed position to an open position at which a user may access contents of the drawer, and providing a computer module including a protective case and a computer housed within the protective case. The protective case is sized and shaped to fully fit within the interior space, and the computer includes a central processing unit and a plurality ofjacks circuited with the central processing unit. The central processing unit is provided with a set of instructions to receive and transmit communications through the jacks for controlling point of sale operations. The method further includes the steps of installing the computer module within the interior space, and connecting plugs on cords extending from peripherals disposed external to the cash drawer assembly to the jacks of the computer module.

One advantage of the present invention is that a central processing unit may be incorporated into many standard sized cash drawers.

Another advantage of the present invention is that the jacks to the central processing unit into which cords from peripherals may be plugged are positioned completely within the protective housing of a cash drawer when installed.

Still another advantage of the present invention is that the computer module may be conveniently retrofit into existing cash drawers.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The above mentioned and other advantages and objects of this invention, and the manner of attaining them, will become more apparent and the invention itself will be better understood by reference to the following description of embodiments of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein: Fig. 1 is a rear perspective view of a cash drawer equipped with a computer module of the present invention; Fig. 2 is a rear perspective view of the cash drawer of Fig. 1 with portions removed to reveal the installed computer module; Fig. 3 is a partial, rear perspective view of a cash drawer similar to the drawer of Fig. 1 with an installed computer module diagrammatically shown;

Fig. 4 is an exploded view of the two-part protective housing or shell of the computer module removed from the remainder of the invention; Fig. 5 is an end view of the computer module showing the various controls and input/output jacks; Fig. 6 is a partial, rear perspective view of a cash drawer with installed computer module, wherein portions are removed to diagrammatically show parts of the componentry of the central processing unit; Fig. 7 is a diagrammatic back view showing the manner in which cables may be introduced into the cash drawer to connect the computer module with peripherals; and Fig. 8 is a plan view of a printed circuit board or motherboard of the central processing unit.

Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views. Although the drawings represent embodiments of the invention, the drawings are not necessarily to scale and certain features may be exaggerated or omitted in order to better illustrate and explain the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In Fig. 1, there is shown a rear perspective view of a cash drawer 10 which is equipped with a POS computer module of the present invention, which is generally designated 30 in Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a rear perspective view of cash drawer 10 of Fig. 1 with the top housing 12 and rear cover plate 14 removed. The cash drawer includes a base plate 16 on which slides 18 are attached. The movable drawer 20 is mounted to slides 18, and as is conventional moves in and out of the housing to allow an operator to access the till 22 in which currency and coin is stored. Top housing 12 includes a pair of openings 24 and 25 which serve as venting ports to allow air to reach POS computer module 30 and through which not shown cords interconnecting various peripherals and computer module 30 may be routed. As shown in Fig. 2, cash drawer 10 includes a bulkhead 28 mounted to base plate 16 which divides the interior of the cash drawer into a forward compartment in which movable drawer 20 is mounted and a rearward compartment into which is inserted POS computer module 30. Base plate 16 includes a notch 17 through which a power cord 32 is shown routed. Power cord

32 connects to an AC-DC converter 34 with an associated plug for attachment to an alternating current power source. Additional connectors circuited between computer module 30 and the peripherals are not shown in Fig. 2 for purposes of illustration.

Other than the computer module 30, cash drawers of the general type shown in Figs. 1 and 2 are known in the art. For example, the shown cash drawer is available from Indiana Cash Drawer Company of Shelbyville, Indiana, and is known as an SLD series cash drawer. This cash drawer has a housing with external dimensions of about 21 inches (depth) x 20 inches (width) x 4.5 inches (height), and other typical cash drawers have external dimensions of about 21 inches x 16.75 inches x 4.5 inches.

Fig. 3 is a rear perspective view of cash drawer 10, wherein the rear cover plate 14 has been removed and computer module 30 is shown operationally installed within the rear internal compartment of cash drawer 10. It will be recognized that base plate 16 is shown having an alternative configuration of an opening 17' through which cables can be inserted for connection to the abstractly shown computer module 30.

The overall configuration of computer module 30 will be further understood in view of the following explanation with additional reference to Figs. 4-8. In Fig. 4, the protective housing or case of computer module 30 is shown in exploded form. The housing is made out of 1.6 mm thick galvanized steel sheet metal and is formed in two parts, namely top cover 36 and bottom cover 38. Top cover 36 is formed in one-piece and includes six holes 40 through which mounting screws may be inserted to secure together top cover 36 and bottom cover 38. Rows of vent holes 42 through side plate 43 of top cover 36 allow air to be circulated through computer module 30 to cool the central processing unit components. Bottom cover 38 is also formed in a single piece and is bent so as to provide a bottom plate 45, side plate 46, an end plate 47 and another end plate 48. Inwardly bent lips provided on bottom plate 45 and end plates 47 and 48 include holes 50 in which mounting screws inserted through holes 40 of top cover 36 may be secured to connect together top and bottom covers 36, 38. When the cover parts are properly attached, lip 66 of side plate 46 overlays edge 44 of top cover 36. For purposes of illustration, the various openings machined into end plate 47 and through which the module connector ports extend are not shown in Fig. 4.

Side plate 46 includes vents 61. End plate 48 includes a central aperture 52. A fan 54 (See Fig. 6) is installed over aperture 52 through the use of fasteners secured through holes 53, and fan 54 is utilized to induce a draft over the computer circuitry. Four mounting holes 56 are provided through side plate 46 to allow for the mounting of a hard disk drive 68 (See Fig. 6). Six steel post stands 58 space the printed circuit board 60 (See Fig. 6) above bottom plate 45. As best shown in Fig. 6, four rubber or shock mounts 62 are mounted to the underside of bottom plate 45 to serve as shock absorbers for computer module 30 within cash drawer 10. Spacers 64 are utilized to mount a DC-DC converter (See Fig. 6).

When top cover 36 and bottom cover 38 are finally assembled, they provide a parallelepiped computer module housing which is approximately 12 inches x 4 inches x 3 inches, and more particularly is 12.59 inches long, 4.33 inches wide, and 3.35 inches high. These dimensions are suitable for multiple versions of the SLD series cash drawers, one of which has an internal compartment at its rear which measures about 16.75 inches (width) x 4.125 inches (height) x 4.75 inches (depth), and another one of which has a rear compartment measuring about 20.0 inches x 4.125 inches x 4.75 inches. While this module housing size is preferred due to its suitability for both of the above described SLD series drawers, it will be appreciated that longer modules may be used with the wider drawer, and that slightly taller module housings may be used by using shorter mounts 62. Still further, larger modules may be furnished in larger cash drawers within the scope of the invention. For smaller circuit boards, smaller modules may also be employed.

Referring now to Fig. 5, there is shown a view of the end of computer module 30 on which the ports for communication between the central processing unit and the various external components are positioned. The appropriately plugged cords insertable into the shown computer module ports and routable to the various external components or peripherals are not shown for purposes of clarity of illustration, but naturally may be of any suitable type known in the art. Computer module 30 includes a parallel port 90, such as an EPP or ECP or bidirectional LPT which communicates with a printer. Four serial communication ports utilizing DB9 connectors are identified at 92, 93, 94 and 95. Communication ports 92, 93 and 94 utilize RS232

communication protocol and find beneficial use with point of sale peripherals.

Representative but not shown peripherals include a supermarket scale, a bar code scanner, a mouse, an external floppy drive, an external CD ROM drive, or an external display. Serial port 95 utilizes RS485 or RS422 communication protocol, with such protocol being selected by the manufacturer. Serial port 95 allows computer module 30 to communicate over extended distances (typically fifty feet plus) with other POS peripherals. The pin 9 of each of serial ports 92-95, which has a default setting of no power, includes a +5 volt and +12 volt power output capability. The capability is settable by jumper placement inside on the PC board 60 and can be adjusted by the manufacturer, dealer or end user. This capability allows computer module 30 to be the source of power for the peripherals, which in turn eliminates the need for additional, unwieldy power cords to the peripherals.

Monitor jack 97 is a DB-15 high density connector that together with the central processing unit provides a PCI local bus SVGA controller with 1 MB DRAM and a VGA BIOS that supports Mono, color, interlaced, non-interlaced VGA and SVGA, and Multisync analog monitors.

A local area network jack 99 is an RJ45 connector and is circuited with the module's central processing unit that contains an integrated 16 bit 10 Base-T Ethernet Controller which is compatible with NE2000 or NE1500T from Novell, and which can be utilized for networking point of sale equipment.

Cash drawer jacks 101 and 102 are RJ1 1 jacks which sense cash drawer operation. Jacks 101 and 102 are provided with a 24 volt signal for controlling drawer operation. For example, the SLD series cash drawers are each typically provided with a micro-switch which is tripped when the cash drawer opens and closes. Jack 101 or jack 102 may monitor the cash drawer being opened and closed via communication with the micro-switch, and such a jack also provides power to activate the electric solenoid utilized to release the slidable drawer to be opened via a spring mechanism.

Computer module 30 is designed such that cash drawer open status switches are readable via PC bus, such that the status of both jacks 101 and 102 are read with one read command, and such that a watch dog timer can be set to interrupt the module's central processing unit on certain cash drawer events. Jacks 101 and 102 also are

configured to serve as digital input/output ports (TTL Compatible) to drive relays, alarms, or counters, or to communicate with future digital POS peripherals with which computer module 30 may find application in the future.

Keyboard port 104 is a five pin Din and provides for communication with a POS keyboard external to cash drawer 10. On and off switch 106 can be manually operated to control the operation of computer module 30. Power jack 108 utilizes a four pin quick lock connector and is connectable to the power cord described above.

The above described power cord and module 30 are designed to operate, via automatic switching, from a power source in the voltage range of 90-264 VAC and a frequency range of 46-64 Hz, and the inlet connector 34 mates with interchangeable cords for worldwide use.

Fig. 6 is a rear perspective view, similar to Fig. 3, wherein portions of the computer module housing have been removed to further illustrate the abstractly shown internal computer circuitry. Fig. 8 is a plan view of a circuit board suitable for computer module 30. The overall configuration and componentry of the central processing unit of module 30 is merely illustrative, and is not intended to be limiting, as skilled artisans may readily modify the same while still achieving the functions and features of the computer module 30 described herein. With particular reference to Fig. 6, the central processing unit is diagrammatically shown as including a printed circuit board 60, a DC-DC converter 64 used to control power to circuit board 60, a hard disk drive 68, a central processing unit chip or microprocessor 70, a DRAM SIMM 72 (to be provided by the user), and on board pin headers generally indicated at 74. A suitable microprocessor 70 is an Intel 486DX2-66 in a standard factory configuration. A suitable hard disk drive 68 is a 2.5 inch, 820MB laptop type HDD.

As further shown in the diagrammatic rear view of Fig. 7, on board pin headers 74 are connected to circuit board 60 and are utilized with ribbon cables indicated at 76 to circuit printed circuit board 60 with various of the ports described above with respect to Fig. 5. Other jacks are shown in Fig. 7 being directly connected to board 60 without the use of ribbon cables. While the interconnection between the computer circuitry is partially omitted or only diagrammatically shown in various of the figures

for purposes of illustration, one skilled in the art readily may assemble the shown components in an appropriate fashion to furnish the module's computer operation.

Referring again to Fig. 8, circuit board 60 has a width of about 12.20 inches, a length of about 4.13 inches, and is a six layer board. PC board 60 is shown including sockets 110-119 for communications with various of the external jacks (according to labels in Fig. 8), a socket 122 for easy installation of microprocessor 70 or any of 486SX/DX/DX2/5x86 microprocessors, a 72 pin SIMM socket 124 that receives DRAM SIMM 72 for memory expansion up to 128MB, a socket 126 provided with an EIDE Hard Disk Drive Interface (on-board pin header to direct support 2.5 inch HDD) for connection with disk drive 68, a socket 128 which is provided with a header that serves as a floppy disk drive interface, and a socket provided with a PC/104 connector 130. Connector 130 allows for computer expansion via a PC/104 type add- on module, which is shown installed in Fig. 8 at 132. The PC/104 card 132 may provide additional capabilities such as a modem, a solid state disk, a flat panel display controller, a PCMCIA card, a touch screen, and an audio/video interface.

Printed circuit board 60 is also shown including soldered on, on board 4MB DRAM (shown as two 2MB DRAM chips 135), and a solid state disk chip 140. Chip 140 is mounted on a single 32-pin socket. Solid state disk 140 offers faster access times than a floppy or hard drive and greatly increased reliability in harsh environments, and further may be programmable for applications such as terminal emulation or fiscal memory, which is required in some countries in POS applications.

The computer also includes CMOS data backed up in Flash BIOS to avoid system configuration data loss. The circuit board shown in Fig. 8 is manufactured OEM for the assignee of this application by Advantech of Taipei, Taiwan.

In addition to the numerous computer features described above, additional features may be incorporated into computer module 30 within the scope of the invention. For example, computer module 30 could include an internal speaker, an LCD controller to allow use with an LCD monitor, a modem interface, a pentium chip CPU, terminal emulation, a bar-code decoder, an ECR decoder or interface, token ring network capability, and/or a remote radio or infrared communication capability allowing for satellite POS systems.

In summary, the present invention provides a complete POS PC-base designed and engineered for the exact requirements of the POS market. The computer module contains a microprocessor, video controller, integrated peripherals controller, keyboard interface and Ethernet controller, hard disk drive, floppy disk drive interface as well as the system RAM required for proper operation. The computer module is personal computer compatible, ready to adapt to existing PC hardware and software.

Special POS provisions, such as digital I/O and four on-board serial ports, each with +5V/+12V power out capability, are included to accommodate a wide array of POS peripherals, including scanners, POS pole displays, modems, card readers, etc. Other on-board features not found on typical motherboards include CMOS backup to BIOS flash ROM, avoiding system data loss if power is lost. An on-board solid state disk is suited for POS data backup, emulating terminals, emulating floppy disk drive or fiscal memory applications.

While this invention has been shown and described as having multiple designs, the present invention may be further modified within the spirit and scope of this disclosure. This application is therefore intended to cover any variations, uses, or adaptations of the invention using its general principles. Further, this application is intended to cover such departures from the present disclosure as come within known or customary practice in the art to which this invention pertains.