News

NCR receives patent for electronic signature capture

April 1, 2003

ATLANTA -- NCR Corporation (NYSE:NCR) says that it has been awarded a patent for electronic signature capture, the technology that allows consumers to "sign" at a point-of-sale terminal when they make purchases in a store.

According to a news release, electronic signature capture is the latest in NCR's list of patented technologies used in bar code scanning, electronic shelf labels and self-checkout.

Signature capture terminals, or pads, which are used to complete paper-free credit card and similar transactions, typically include a display screen, digitizer element and writing stylus. Instead of signing a paper form with a pen, consumers use the stylus to write their signature on the terminal's screen.

Besides eliminating the need to buy multipart credit/debit card forms, electronic signature capture allows retailers to avoid the expense of handling, storing and transporting paper receipts. It also speeds the payment processing cycle and eliminates the burden of producing a signed receipt to resolve a charge back dispute, according to the release.

The technology also helps protect consumers from fraud by eliminating carbon copies of traditional charge card receipts.

According to the release, NCR introduced the first signature capture device for retail stores in 1991. The current version is the NCR RealPOS 5992 Signature Capture Plus terminal.

More than 270,000 signature capture terminals were shipped to retailers in the United States alone during 2001, according to the latest report from marketing research firm Venture Development Corporation (VDC). VDC forecasts a compound annual growth rate of 10.2 percent in this market through 2006.

Pete Bartolotta, NCR's vice president, Point-of-Service Solutions, said in the release, "We see potential for electronic signature capture to someday spread beyond traditional retail stores to other venues, providing added security for many other types of transactions and possibly including online purchases made from home PCs."