The present invention relates to conveyor belts and especially to belts of the type used in supermarkets to convey goods unloaded by the customer towards the checkout operator.

Many supermarket checkouts now incorporate an optical detector, such as a laser scanning unit, to read the bar codes on the products being sold. A problem with such systems is that the products arrive at the ch-eckout operator with their bar codes arranged in substantially random directions. Even with other price identification methods, the checkout operator has to spend time and effort in turning each article into a desired orientation.

The present invention seeks to overcome or reduce this problem.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a checkout system comprising a conveyor belt arranged to transport articles carrying indicia towards a detector for detecting said indicia, the detector .being arranged to detect indicia facing in a particular direction, characterised in that markings are provided on or in the upper surface of the conveyor belt, said markings indicating said particular direction.

The term checkout includes supermarket checkouts and any other retail or wholesale checkout or pay point.

An advantage of the above system is that, with a suitably orientated detector, the indicia can be read automatically, without the need for the articles to be touched by the operator. This leads to a quicker system and less physical

strain on the operator's wrists and back. With certain detectors it will be necessary for the operator to lift up the article and turn the indicia towards the detector; even here, time and effort are saved, since the operator knows in advance which way the indicia are facing.

The indicia are prferably optical indicia.

According to a second aspect of the invention there is provided a method of arranging articles on a conveyor belt the articles carrying indicia identifying the article and/or its price and the indicia being readable at a pre¬ ferred orientation, characterised in that the articles are each arranged on the conveyor belt with their indicia aligned in substantially the same direction to facilitate reading threof by a detector arranged adjacent the conveyor belt.

When printing words and/or symbols on a conveyor belt it is difficult to make the printing as endurable as the surface of the belt.

The present invention also seeks to overcome or reduce this problem.

According to a third aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of marking a conveyor belt of p.v.c. material comprising printing the surface of the belt with a gloss screen ink and then covering the printed ink with one or more layers of varnish.

The ink preferably comprises petroleum distillates, cyclo- hexanone and optionally, lead compounds.

An advantage of the above method is that the ink etches its

way into the top of the belt so that the resulting printing is indelible and is as endurable and robust as the sur¬ rounding surface of the conveyor belt.

The ink is preferably a Polyplast PY ink as supplied by Sericol Group Limited. This ink is fast drying, flexible and resistant to solvents and has good adhesive properties. The varnish is preferably a Polyplast PY varnish.

A preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which:

Fig. 1 is a schematic plan view of a checkout system in accordance with the present invention; and

Fig. 2 is an enlarged plan view of part of a conveyor belt of the checkout system of Fig. 1.

The items each carry the bar codes which indicate, inter alia, the price.

Referring to the drawings, items for purchase are removed from a basket or trolley 15 and placed upon the front con¬ veyor belt 11 by the customer 13. The item then travels along on the front conveyor until it is within the reach of the checkout operator 14 who picks it up from the belt 11 and sweeps it through the detection zone of an optical detector in the form of a laser scanning unit 16. As shown, unit 16 faces upwardly from the operator's table. The operator then places it upon the rear conveyor belt 12 where it is carried to the rear of the checkout for packing by the customer.

At least the upper surface portion of both belts 11 and 12

is of PVC material. As shown in Fig. 2 the upper surface of belt 11 is printed in a repeated manner with markings 21-24 indicating to the customer 13 the optimum orientation of the bar codes of the articles to be purchased. The optimum orientation is the one which requires the least time and/or effort on the part of the operator 14.

Markings 21-24 are printed in a high gloss screen ink as sold under the name Polyplast PY by Sericol Group Limited. The ink is thinned with 10-15% of a rigid vinyl thinner and then applied through a fine screen fabric, e.g. a 90 gauge screen. The varnish used is sold under the designation Polyplast PY-383; it provides additional abrasion resist¬ ance and is non-toxic.

The ink used is quick drying and has excellent screen sta¬ bility, self solvency, good flexibility,solvent resistance and opacity.

The markings 21-24 may comprise text, logos, symbols and diagrams as required to induce the required response. Further markings (not εhown)_ may also be provided to present a marketing or sales message or a reminder to do some action. Markings may also be provided on the rear conveyor belt 12.

Numerous other modifications may be made to the previously described system.

The laser scanning unit 16 may be turned through 90° so that it has a horizontal detection zone, or through 180° so that it is directed downwardly. In these cases, the bar codes on most articles can be read without the intervention of the operator and belts 11 and 12 can be combined. The operator only needs to handle incorrectly-

orientated or overlapping items. Instead of a fixed optical detector, a bar code reader in the form of a pencil held by the operator can be used. The printed conveyor belt is also advantageous in connection with otherwise conventional manual entry checkout systems, since it en¬ sures a pre-arrangement of the items to help the price and/or other product details to be entered manually. This allows an improvement in the speed of scanning or entering of the information into the EPOS (Electronic Point of Sale) or ECR (Electronic Cash Register) system during this opera¬ tion.

Instead of being solely optical indicia, the indicia on the articles may alternatively or additionally incorporate information recorded magnetically or in r.f. tags. The nature of detector 16 is modified accordingly in such cases.

The checkout may contain a plurality of conveyor belts which can be supervised by a single operator. In appropri¬ ate cases, the checkout can even be unmanned.

The markings may either form an integral part of the fabric of the belt e.g. moulded therein, or be painted, applied or attached to the surface of the belt by any means.

The invention can be applied to any other equipment or systems using conveyor belts upon which items are loaded by hand and need to be oriented in a specific manner for the subsequent processing by manual, mechanical or other means. It can be applied to industrial bar code reading systems in warehouses, parcel-sorting areas and airport baggage handling systems. The conveyor belt may be made of a plastics material other than PVC.