Customer workstation intelligently connectable to a legacy retail system and providing supplemental functionality thereto

A method of operating a retail terminal having a microprocessing unit, a display in electronic communication with the microprocessing unit, a first port in electronic communication with the microprocessing unit and adapted to be in electronic communication with an existing retail system, a plurality of peripheral devices all of which are in electronic communication with the microprocessing unit and generating peripheral retail data, and memory in electronic communication with the microprocessing unit, the memory having a plurality of instructions stored therein, the method comprising the steps of:

• executing the plurality of instructions stored in memory by the microprocessing unit;
• causing the display to be divided into a plurality of retail function areas;
• and
• utilizing retail data from the existing retail system via the first port and peripheral retail data;
• wherein the retail terminal further includes a camera as one of the peripheral devices, a card reader as one of the peripheral devices, and a scale as one of the peripheral devices, the memory having further instructions stored therein, the method comprising the steps of
• (i) executing the further instructions in memory by the microprocessing unit;
• and
• (ii) causing the display to a weight area, a video-conferencing area, and a scrolling receipt area, wherein the weight area utilizes information from the scale to display weight of an object on the scale and in conjunction with the touch-screen allows entry of object type and calculation of object price data, the scrolling receipt area depicting a scrolling receipt of transactions
• based an all retail and price data, and the video-conferencing area utilizing the camera.

A retail apparatus comprising:

• a retail system;
• and
• a retail terminal including:
• a microprocessing unit;
• a plurality of parts, each port in electronic communication with said microprocessing unit;
• a display in electronic communication with said microprocessing unit;
• an interface in electronic communication with one of said parts and adapted to be in electronic communication with the retail system wherein said microprocessing unit receives retail data from the retail system;
• and
• memory in electronic communication with said microprocessing unit and having a plurality of instructions stored therein, which when executed by said microprocessing unit, causes said display to be divided into a plurality of retail function windows including a scrolling receipt area, said scrolling receipt area depicting a scrolling receipt of transactions based an the retail data.

A customer service workstation comprising:

• a microprocessing unit;
• a display in electronic communication with said microprocessing unit;
• a touch-screen in electronic communication with said microprocessing unit and overlaying said display;
• a port in electronic communication with said microprocessing unit and adapted to be coupled to and in electronic communication with an existing retail system wherein said microprocessing unit is able to utilize retail data from the existing retail system;
• a server in electronic communication with said microprocessing unit and adapted to be connectable to the internet to retrieve internet data;
• memory in electronic communication with said microprocessing unit and having a plurality of instructions stored therein, which when executed, causes said display to be divided into a plurality of retail function windows including a PIN entry area and an internet area, wherein said PIN entry area in conjunction with said touch-screen allows a consumer to securely enter a PIN to access retail account information for the consumer, and said internet area utilizes a web browser to display the internet data from said server;
• and
• a plurality of peripheral devices each of which is in electronic communication with said microprocessing unit, said plurality of peripheral devices including a camera and a scale, and a card reader;
• wherein said plurality of windows further includes a video-conference area that utilizes said camera, and a weight area that utilizes said scale;
• wherein said memory includes further instructions stored therein which, when executed by said microprocessing unit causes said microprocessing unit to automatically create a customer receipt based on transaction data from said card reader, said scale, and the retail data from the existing retail system;
• and
• wherein said plurality of windows further includes a receipt area and said memory includes further instructions stored therein that, when executed by said microprocessing unit, causes said microprocessing unit to create a scrolling receipt within said receipt area based on said transaction data.