FR2711439A1 - Company catering installation with ordering and collection of meals with the aid of a badge - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a catering installation, characterised in that it includes at least one meal ordering station equipped with a system (5) for managing the orders, a badge reader (9), a display device and an associated keypad (6, 7) which is intended to enable a consumer to put together a menu which he desires for a following day and to adjust the cost of this menu with the aid of a badge on which is stored a credit and at least one refrigerated cabinet equipped with racks furnished with individual doors, of a central processing unit and of a badge reader enabling the consumer to obtain, with the aid of the same badge and under the control of the central unit, the opening of the rack containing the meal which he has ordered a previous day deposited in the said rack.

Description

 The present invention relates to company catering installations and relates more particularly to a catering installation at the workplace, for example in a workshop or the like.

 Companies of some importance usually have a restaurant where staff can be served meals.

 However, corporate restaurants are expensive facilities because they require dedicated kitchen areas and a dining room.

 In addition, the operation of a company restaurant requires the use of a relatively large workforce which increases the costs of the company.

 Finally, a company restaurant can hardly supply a variety of dishes every day satisfying the requirements of each consumer.

 The invention aims to remedy the drawbacks of conventional catering installations by creating a catering installation which is inexpensive to operate, which occupies a minimum of space and which is optimally flexible.

 It therefore relates to a catering installation, characterized in that it comprises at least one meal ordering station equipped with an order management system, a badge reader, a display device and an associated keyboard intended to allow a consumer to compose a menu which he wishes for a following day and to regulate the amount of this menu using a badge on which is memorized a credit and at least a cupboard refrigerator equipped with lockers with individual doors, a central processing unit and a badge reader allowing the consumer to obtain using the same badge and under the control of the central unit, the opening of the locker containing the meal he ordered the previous day, deposited in said locker.

The invention will be better understood with the aid of the description which follows, given solely by way of example and made with reference to the appended drawings, in which
- Fig.l is a perspective view of a meal control station of the installation according to the invention;
- Fig.2 is an elevational view on a larger scale of the screen of the display device of the control station of Fig.l as well as a part of the door of the control station;
- Fig.3 is a perspective view of a cabinet with refrigerated boxes of the installation according to the invention;
- Fig.4 is a partial perspective view of the refrigerated cabinet of Fig.3;
- Fig.5 is an enlarged view of a rack in the cabinet of Fig.3;
- Fig.6 shows a diagram of an electronic circuit of the device associated with a series of storage cabinets;
- Fig.7 shows a meal order flowchart;
- Fig.8 and 9 show a flow diagram of an order;
- Fig.10 shows a flow chart of the recording of the order;
- Fig.11 is a flow diagram relating to the opening of an installation storage locker;
- Fig.12 is a flowchart relating to the replenishment of a badge;
- Fig.13 shows a diagram of an installation with several control stations and several places of catering; and
- Fig.14 is a flow chart of recognition of a locker in a cabinet.

 In Fig.l, there is shown a meal control station of the installation according to the invention which comprises a metal cabinet 1 provided with a door 2 shown in the open position. In the cabinet 1, are placed on shelves 3 and 4, a management microcomputer 5 with which is associated a monitor 6 provided with a display screen 7 which in the present embodiment is a touch screen.

 Door 2 has a window 8 in which the screen of the monitor 6 appears when the door is closed. A badge reader 9, a validator 10 and a coin mechanism 11 are further mounted on the door 2. There is a cash box 12 associated with the coin mechanism.

 We see in Fig.2 that the touch screen 7 which appears through the window 8 of door 2 allows the display of a certain number of useful information such as the date of the order of the meal, the customer number appearing on the screen following the reading of this customer's number by the badge reader, the balance available on the customer's badge, the available menus as well as empty spaces allowing the display of the order made by the user.

 It can also be seen in FIG. 2 that the badge reader 9 and the coin mechanism 11 are accessible on the front face of door 2.

 On workplaces or in a room located near them, refrigerated cabinets such as that shown in Fig. 3 are arranged.

 Each of these cabinets which bears the general reference 15 comprises an outer door 16 extending over its entire height and a badge reader 17.

 The outer door 16 conceals, as shown in FIG. 4, several individual lockers 20 each provided with a door 21 provided with an electric lock, not shown, controlled by the badge reader 17.

 As shown in FIG. 5, each locker 20 is associated with an indicator light 22 testifying to the opening of the door of the corresponding locker. The cabinet 15 which has just been described is a refrigerated cabinet. The temperature in this cabinet is regulated and it is equipped with forced ventilation means to ensure a temperature as homogeneous as possible in all the lockers. The locker manufacturing technique allows circulation of cold air while preventing the customer from accessing the lockers next to his.

 The electronic circuit shown in Fig. 6 is the control circuit for refrigerated cabinets for storing meals at the place of catering. I1 includes the badge reader 17 shown in FIG. 3, connected to an input of a central processing unit 25 which can for example be an INTEL 8051 type controller. The connection between the badge readers 17 and the unit central unit is for example of the RS 232 type. To the central unit 25 are connected relay cards 26 to 29 each intended to control on its output 30 an electromagnet for opening a locker actuating the electric lock thereof and on another output 31, the lighting of the indicator light 22 testifying to the opening of the corresponding locker.

 There is, for example, a relay card of the type described above per cabinet of ten compartments 20.

 The circuit is completed by a keyboard 32 intended for the manual opening of the lockers.

 The operation of the installation which has just been described will now be examined in relation to the various flowcharts represented in FIGS. 7 to 14.

 During the day, each "user or customer" goes to a station allowing the order of meals such as the station described with reference to Fig.1 and 2.

 As indicated with reference to Fig. 1 and 2, this station is equipped with a touch screen 7, a chip badge reader 9 and a re-evaluator coin mechanism 11.

 According to a particular embodiment, the system can manage up to 99 control stations, each station ensuring the management of ten possible catering locations.

 As represented by the flowchart in Fig. 7, the first operation consists in initializing the system during phase 30.

 By initialization, the system is set to the time and the various places of catering are indicated to it as well as the files of product families, products with their characteristics, accounts of recognized customers, break times, etc. .

 The system checks for the presence of a badge in the reader 9 during phase 31. Depending on the time limit defined by the manager and checked during phase 32, the system offers the command to pass the date the day after tomorrow or the next day.

 The cut-off time is the time from which orders for the next day can no longer be changed, to allow the manager to prepare the products for distribution. Then, during phase 33, the system reads the memory areas used on the badge and checks that the badge is that of a customer known in the file, whose workplace corresponds to one of the places of catering authorized and that this badge is not on a red list (declared lost or stolen).

 If the deadline is exceeded, the system closes the orders during phase 34.

 If the information obtained during the badge reading phase conforms to that defined to allow an order to be taken, we move on to phase 35 "ordering", the detailed description of which will be given with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9.

 A statement badge in the possession of the manager's representative allows the manager to retranscribe on diskette during phase 36, the information relating to past orders which must be fulfilled as well as to accounting information elements such as the total of revaluations. , the number of orders, etc ...

 Statistical surveys are carried out during phase 37.

 A system shutdown badge which is normally under permanent voltage allows the manager's representative to shut down the system "normally" or put it to sleep in the case, for example, of annual leave or an extended period of non-use.

 This operation is carried out during phase 38. Phase 39 marks the end of the program.

The control operations will now be described with reference to the flowcharts shown in
Fig. 8 and 9.

 The checks having been positive, the customer being "authorized", the system will check whether an order already exists and has been recorded for him. These operations are carried out during phases 40 and 41 of the flow diagram of FIG. 8.

 If this is the case, the order for the next day (before the cut-off time) or the closest to the current day if several orders have already been registered for this customer, is displayed on screen 7 during the phase 42.

At the same time, the place of catering, the account balance, the products ordered, the cabinet 15 and the locker 20 reserved are displayed. These additional display operations take place during phases 43 and 44.

 The customer can then modify the order including canceling it (except the one which was recorded and cannot be modified any more taking into account the time, because in this case, this order in progress is not displayed on the screen ), by pressing the "correction" key on the touch screen.

 The modification and cancellation operations are carried out after a phase 45 of additional verification of the presence of the badge of the client concerned, during a phase 46 of actuation of a key on the touch screen relating to the day causing a modification of the day during a phase 47, of a phase 48 of actuation of a touch screen key relating to the location causing the modification of the location during a phase 49, of a relative phase 50 on the actuation of a key on the touch screen relating to the period leading to the modification of the period during a phase 51, and of a cancellation phase 52 of actuation of a key for canceling the touch screen causing the cancellation of all or part of the order during a phase 53.

 This arrangement gives the possibility for the customer to modify the date requested for the provision of the products (with the possibility of being voluntarily limited to one week minus one day).

 Thus on Tuesday before the fixed deadline, the customer can place an order for Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, up to and including the following Monday.

 It also allows you to change the place of provision. The place proposed on the screen is the usual place, for example its refectory assigned according to its place of work known by the system. This location can be changed by choosing from the nine dining locations managed by the same control station.

 It is also possible to modify the break period during which the client will have access to the locker reserved for him.

 At the end of these operations, a phase 54 consists in actuating the touch screen key relating to the recording which causes the recording of the command during phase 55. During phase 56, there is actuation of the key continuation which causes the passage following the execution of the program during phase 57.

 A new verification of the presence of the badge is carried out during phase 58 of the flow diagram of FIG. 9 in order to avoid any fraudulent manipulation.

 The actuation of the family key of the touch screen during phase 59, causes during phase 60 the display of the articles of the family as well as their prices.

 The actuation of the article key during phase 61 causes, during phase 62, the addition of an additional article.

 Each time the touch screen is pressed, in the region of a button corresponding to a product, a line is written on the screen part showing the equivalent of a sales receipt and the total amount of the order s displays while the account balance is recalculated and is also displayed.

 At any time, this balance must be positive or zero. In the event of a balance lower than the amount of the last desired product, this product is not accepted for orders and a line appears on the screen indicating that the balance is insufficient.

 At any time, the revaluation of the account is possible, it is enough to engage authorized parts preprogrammed in the validator of the coin mechanism 11 (Fig. 1) in the revaluation slot so that the new balance is displayed and recorded in the memory of the badge key.

 Pressing the correction key during phase 63 allows during phase 64 to remove the last item ordered.

 The actuation of the recording key during phase 65 causes the recording of a command during phase 66 and therefore its acceptance.

 During phase 67, the continuation key is pressed again and operations can be resumed from phase 58.

 The recording of the command will now be described in more detail with reference to the flowchart in Fig. 10.

 Provided that the intervention is made by the customer before the deadline for recording the order set by the manager, any introduction of the badge key in the reader displays the recorded order and allows its modification or cancellation.

 A number of controls are provided by the system. Their configuration is left to the manager's initiative depending on any requests from customer representatives.

 During phase 68, there is a determination whether the order relates to a single drink; this order is recorded during phase 69, but a check of the content of the order can prohibit the recording if it only contains drinks.

 During phase 70, there is verification if it is an alcoholic drink without meals. Certain products allow an alcoholic drink to be associated with them. Others do not allow it.

 Only one alcoholic drink per badge can also be provided.

 Possible registration is ensured during phase 71.

 During phase 72, it is checked whether the order is less than a minimum amount. If yes, there is no recording of the command and return to the start of the flowchart of Fig. 9 during phase 73.

 Otherwise, during phase 74 there is recording of the order and then during phase 75, reservation of a rack 20 of a refrigerated cabinet (Fig. 5) so that the manager can place the products ordered. Then during phase 76, there is establishment of the history of the recording and during a phase 77, there is writing in the memory of the badge, to determine the new balance contained in memory in this one. this.

 When the customer presses the "save" button and the controls have authorized this recording, the order is recorded, entered in the system's memory and a cabinet and a locker are reserved so that the manager can place the products ordered there.

 The system manages, for each day, each period of meal break, each place of catering, the cupboards and the lockers.

 On the memory of the badge, the fact of having placed an order is recorded so that, the next time the badge is inserted into the reader, either from the control station for a modification of this order, or in the reader of the group, for example of cupboards in the catering location in which a locker has been reserved, the system immediately finds the order and its characteristics.

 All the elements: badge number, date and time the order was placed, details of the order, break period, date and place of taking meals, etc.

are recorded on the hard disk of the microcomputer 5 of the control terminal.

 After the deadline set by the manager for the acceptance of orders for the next day, a representative of the manager passes with the "RELEVE" badge to retrieve information on all orders placed. He introduces a floppy disk in drive 9 and requests the transfer of information. Then, it removes the diskette for processing with all the others coming from the other control terminals.

 Preparation for delivery will now be discussed with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. 11.

 All the floppy disks from the various meal ordering stations and containing information on orders placed as well as on cabinets and lockers reserved are used by the manager responsible for ensuring the delivery of different products.

 On each cabinet, such as cabinet 15 (Fig.3), there is a socket in which the attendant responsible for supplying the boxes introduces a cord with a keyboard allowing him to open and close each box.

 To this end, during phase 78 of the flow diagram of FIG. 11, the presence of a badge is checked.

 If so, it is checked during phase 79 if this badge is authorized.

 Then, during phase 80, the badge memory is read and during phase 81 when the reserved locker is opened using a keyboard 82 reserved for the manager. The checks carried out concern the site, the department, the meal ordering station, the week, the day, the hourly period and the reader.

The handling of the products by the customer will now be described with reference to the circuit of the
Fig. 6.

 On each group of four lockers, of the type shown in Figs. 3 to 5, is installed a box containing all the components described with reference to Fig. 6.

 When the customer wishes to take charge of all or part of the products ordered, and which must be available to him in the refrigerated locker reserved for him, he inserts his badge in the reader 17.

 The system reads the memory area of the badge in which the date, the period, the cabinet and the locker are recorded, compares with the current dates and time periods, displays on the reader in case of correspondence the cabinet number and the reserved locker, unlocks the lock of the locker 20 and turns on the indicator light 22 of this locker for a defined time, for example 30 seconds, to allow the customer to go to the cupboard, to open the locker door, signaled by the indicator light and take all or part of the ordered products which have been delivered to it.

 During the break period, the customer can again open the locker by the same operation with the badge. Outside this period, the locker remains blocked during closing.

 In Fig.l2 there is shown a flowchart relating to the replenishment of the badge. This flowchart shows a meal control station 1 with which is associated a badge reader 9 and a re-evaluator coin changer 11 as well as means 84 for reading the contents of the memory of the microcomputer 3 of the control station.

 Fig. 13 shows the diagram of an installation with several meal control stations 85 serving several dining places 86.

 In reality, these are control stations P1 to P98, each station being able to serve nine places to eat LR1 to LR9.

 In Fig.14, there is shown the diagram of the recognition flowchart of a locker in a cabinet forming part of a place of catering such as one of the places 86 of Fig.13.

 The places of catering are associated with badge readers such as the reader 17 referenced by L1 to L9.

 Each badge reader is associated with four locker cabinets such as the cabinet 15 in FIG. 3 designated by the references A1 to A4 and each locker cabinet contains ten lockers C1 to C10 such as the locker 20 in FIG. 5 .

 The system which has just been described makes it possible to access this set of locker cabinets from a determined catering place, which itself is part of a set represented in FIG. 13 associated with several stations ordering meal 85.

 The installation according to the invention provides a maximum guarantee for the customer to have at his disposal for his meals all of the products ordered the day before, this prior order allowing the managing company to guarantee the availability for the next day.

 All these products ordered in advance are made available at once. Such speed is appreciated by the user when the meal time is limited.

 Pre-payment practically eliminates losses due to hazardous forecasts and allows the manager to charge the tightest prices.

 The pre-order opens the customer access to all products available or declared as such for the dates and times desired.

 The conditions of storage of products in positive cold respect the hygiene rules.

 The operating cost of the installation is more attractive than that of conventional automatic distribution installations and a fortiori compared to conventional catering solutions limits the investment.

The use of the same locker is not reserved every day for a client but for several depending on the working hours and therefore meals.

 The ordering method and the payment method are identical because the same personalized chip badge allows each transaction to identify the customer and debit his "electronic wallet".

Claims (7)

 1.- Catering installation, characterized in that it comprises at least one meal ordering station (1) equipped with a system (5) for order management, a badge reader (9), a display device and an associated keyboard (6, 7) intended to allow a consumer to compose a menu he wishes for a following day and to adjust the amount of this menu using a badge on which a credit is stored and at least one refrigerated cabinet (15) equipped with lockers (20) provided with individual doors (21), a central processing unit (25) and a badge reader (17) allowing the consumer to obtain using the same badge and under the control of the central unit (25), the opening of the rack (20) containing the meal he ordered a previous day deposited in said locker.  2.- Installation according to claim 1, characterized in that said control station (1) further comprises a coin mechanism (11) associated with a cash (12) intended to ensure the credit replenishment of the badge of each user.  3.- Installation according to one of claims 1 and 2, characterized in that the badge reader (9) also constitutes a device for transferring information relating to orders placed on the control station on a floppy disk for processing by the manager of the installation and of the composition by the latter of the corresponding meals to be placed in the lockers (20) each assigned to a consumer following his order.  4.- Installation according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the screen (7) of the control station is a touch screen forming a keyboard.  5.- Installation according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that at the badge reader (17) and the central unit (25) of the refrigerated cabinet (15) is associated with at least one card- relays (26, 27, 28, 29) for controlling corresponding electromagnets for actuating electric locks on the doors (21) of the lockers (20) of said cabinet and of the indicator lights (22) each assigned to a locker ( 20) and the ignition of which is controlled by the central unit (25) for a predetermined period of time during a pause period during which the user can withdraw his meal.  6.- Installation according to claim 5, characterized in that the refrigerated cabinet (15) is further associated with a keyboard (32) for manual opening of the lockers (20).  7.- Installation according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that it comprises several control stations (85) arranged at various locations of the premises of a company, and series of refrigerated cabinets (15) forming groups placed in different eating places (86) connected to said control stations (85).