Transaction processing system

Claim 1

A transaction processing system comprising an electronic cash register machine and a balance settling machine, wherein: (1) said electronic cash register machine including: input means for entering at least the figures representing the prices for the items or services purchased by a customer and the actual amount of money temporarily paid by the customer for the purchased items or services; storage means for holding at least the cumulative records of the figures for the purchased items or services as entered from the input means ; arithmetic and logic means responsive when the amount of money as received is actually entered from the input means, for determining whether there is any outstanding balance of money to be returned, by comparing the actual amount of money and the cumulative figure records stored in the storage means and for calculating those two different data to find a balance data if the actual amount of money is greater than the total amount of the cumulative figure records; first read/write means for writing an identifier code for identifying a particular customer onto a new recording medium to be handed to the particular customer and issuing the same recording medium, or for reading an existing recording medium containing the existing identifier code previously recorded; and data transmit means responsive when the balance calculation actually occurs within the arithmetic and logic means, for delivering to the balance settling machine the cumulative figure records stored in the storage means together with the customer's identifier code, as well as the balance data if it is determined by the arithmetic and logic means that there is the outstanding balance of money to be returned; and (2) said balance settling machine including: second read means responsive when the customer actually inserts either of the recording mediums, for reading the identifier code contained in the recording medium; receive means for accepting the data sent from the data transmit means within the electronic cash register machine; print means responsive when the second read means actually reads the identifier code from the recording medium, for printing out the data associated with the particular customer's identifier code and accepted by the receive means on print medium and issuing a receipt slip; and change deliver means responsive when the second read means actually reads the identifier code from the recording medium, for determining whether the data accepted by the receive means contains the balance data and delivering the balance of money equivalent to the balance data if it is determined that it is contained.