JP2006323725A - Pos system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a POS system capable of determining clean-up order such that a waiting customer can be guided in visit order when a plurality of guest tables requirs clean-up. <P>SOLUTION: A POS terminal decides whether the plurality of guest table requiring the clean-up are present or not every five minutes (steps S501-S503). When the plurality of guest tables requiring clean-up are present, it is retrieved whether the guest table capable of accommodating the waiting customer registered in a waiting list is present or not, in an order of the list on the basis of the number of the waiting customers and a capacity of the guest table (steps S505-S506). When the guest table capable of accomodating the guest is present, the clean-up order is registered in a cleanup-required table number list (steps S507-S508). When all the clean-up order of the guest tables requiring the clean-up is determined, it is notified to a handy terminal to notify an attendant of the clean-up order. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a POS system, and more particularly to a POS system used in a restaurant.

  A conventional restaurant POS system manages information about waiting groups (groups) and information about customer tables, and when a customer table is empty, it waits for a waiting group of people who can sit there. It searches from the information regarding, and is comprised so that it may display on a display etc. (for example, refer patent document 1 or 2).

  Also, in order to be able to guide the next customer as soon as possible to the vacant customer table, when performing the accounting process of the customers who used the vacant customer table, the handy terminal will give instructions to clean up the vacant customer table Some of them are displayed on the screen (for example, see Patent Document 3).

JP-A-5-89369 JP-A-5-89370 JP 2003-216765 A

  All of the conventional POS systems are configured so as not to generate empty tables as much as possible when crowded. Therefore, the conventional POS system has a problem that a waiting group with a large number of people is likely to be postponed, and the waiting customers may not be guided to the customer desk in the order of arrival.

  Here, considering a real restaurant, when crowded, the table on the customer table is not cleaned up and often left for a while after the user returns. In such a case, when another user returns, there are a plurality of customer tables that need to be cleaned up. At this time, even if it is not possible to guide waiting customers in the order of arrival by arranging the customer tables in order of availability, there are cases where waiting customers can be guided in the order of arrival if they are systematically cleaned up. is there.

  When there are multiple customer tables that need to be cleaned up, an employee checks the waiting list (a list showing the order of waiting customers and the number of customers) so that the waiting order can be guided in the order of visits. It may be possible to start cleaning up, but it is inefficient when considering communication and collaboration with other 10 crew members.

  Therefore, in the present invention, in the case where there are a plurality of customer tables that need to be cleaned up, in order to be able to guide waiting customers in the order of visits, customers who need to clean up are based on information on waiting customers and information on customer tables. It is an object of the present invention to provide a POS terminal and a POS system that can determine the order in which desks are cleared.

  It is another object of the present invention to provide a handy terminal that displays on a display unit the order in which customer tables are cleaned based on information transmitted from the POS terminal.

  According to the present invention, in a POS system that manages information about waiting customers and information about customer tables, when a plurality of customer tables that need to be cleaned up, information about the waiting customers and information about the customer tables Based on the above, a POS system is provided in which a clearing order determining unit is provided for determining the clearing order of the customer desks that need to be cleaned.

  According to the present invention, in the POS terminal that manages information about waiting customers and information about customer tables, when a plurality of customer tables that need to be cleaned up are generated, the information about the waiting customers and the customer tables A POS terminal characterized in that it includes a clean-up order determining unit for determining the clean-up order of the customer desks that need to be cleaned based on the information regarding.

  Further, according to the present invention, when a plurality of customer tables that need to be cleaned up are generated in a handy terminal used by wireless connection to a POS terminal that manages information about waiting customers and information about customer tables, the POS It is possible to obtain a handy terminal characterized in that it receives information indicating the order in which the customer desk is cleared from the terminal and displays it on the display unit.

  According to the present invention, when there are a plurality of customer tables that need to be cleaned up, the order of cleaning up is determined based on the information on waiting customers and the information on customer tables. In addition, it is possible to improve the probability that waiting customers can be guided to the customer desk in the order of arrival.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 shows a configuration of a POS system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The illustrated POS system is a POS system used in a restaurant such as a restaurant, particularly a large restaurant having a large number of seats. The POS system includes a waiting terminal 10, a POS terminal 20, and a plurality of handy terminals 31 to 3N. Have.

  The waiting terminal 10 is a device having at least an input unit and a display unit, for example, a touch panel. The waiting terminal 10 is installed near the entrance of a restaurant, and is used by a customer to input a name, the number of people, and the like, and to display information about a waiting customer (waiting list).

  The POS terminal 20 includes at least an input unit, a display unit, a processing unit, and a transmission / reception unit, and is connected to the waiting terminal 10 and is also connected to a host (not shown). In addition to performing accounting processing and order processing, the POS terminal 20 manages information related to waiting customers (waiting list) and information related to customer tables (table management table). The processing unit of the POS terminal also functions as a cleaning order determining unit that determines the cleaning order when there are a plurality of customer tables that need cleaning.

  Each of the handy terminals 31 to 3N includes at least an input unit, a display unit, and a transmission / reception unit. Each of the handy terminals 31 to 3N is wirelessly connected to the POS terminal 20 and transmits order information and the like to the POS terminal 20 and displays information transmitted from the POS terminal on the display unit.

  Note that the POS system according to the present embodiment can be easily realized by adding a program or a function button for realizing the following operations to the configuration of a known POS system.

  The operation of the POS system shown in FIG. 1 will be described below. Since the order process and the accounting process are not directly related to the present invention, the description thereof is omitted.

  The POS terminal 20 manages information about waiting customers and information about customer tables. Information about waiting customers includes at least a name (or a name such as a group name for distinguishing from other customers) and the number of people. Information about the waiting customers is managed together with the order of arrival at the store, for example, a waiting list as shown in FIG. The information about the customer desk includes a capacity, a flag indicating that it is in use, and a flag indicating that it is necessary to clean up. Information about the customer table is managed together with a table number uniquely assigned to each customer table, and is managed, for example, as a table management table as shown in FIG.

  Although information on waiting customers can be input from the POS terminal 20, it is usually performed from the waiting terminal 10. The input to the waiting terminal 10 is performed by the employee or the customer himself / herself.

  Information about the waiting customer input to the waiting terminal 10 is sent to the POS terminal 20 and registered in a waiting list held by the POS terminal 20. The POS terminal 20 sends information representing the waiting list back to the waiting terminal 10. As a result, the waiting list is displayed on the display unit of the waiting terminal 10. Information representing the waiting list is also transmitted to the handy terminals 31 to 3N. Alternatively, the waiting list is always ready to be read from the handy terminals 31 to 3N, and is displayed on the display unit of the handy terminals 31 to 3N as necessary.

  Information registered in the waiting list can be deleted from any of the waiting terminal 10, the POS terminal, and the handy terminals 31 to 3N. Normally, when an employee guides waiting customers registered in the waiting list to the customer's desk, information on the customer is deleted from the waiting terminal 10 or the handy terminal 3n (1 ≦ n ≦ N). Perform the operation. As a result, a deletion command is transmitted from the waiting terminal 10 or the handy terminal 3n (1 ≦ n ≦ N) to the POS terminal.

  The POS terminal 20 that has received a deletion instruction from the waiting terminal 10 or the handy terminal 3n (1 ≦ n ≦ N) deletes information related to the customer from the waiting list, and moves up the remaining information to create a new waiting list. create. The new waiting list is transmitted and displayed to the waiting terminal 10 and the handy terminals 31 to 3N in the same manner as described above.

  On the other hand, information related to the customer desk is input from the POS terminal 20 and the handy terminals 31 to 3N.

  Information indicating the start of use of the customer desk is input from the handy terminals 31 to 3N. That is, when the employee guides the waiting customer to the customer desk, the table number of the customer desk and information indicating the start of use are input to the handy terminals 31 to 3N. Information indicating the table number and the start of use input to the handy terminals 31 to 3N is transmitted to the POS terminal 20. When the POS terminal 20 receives information indicating the table number and the start of use from the handy terminals 31 to 3N, the POS terminal 20 searches the table management table using the table number as a key and turns on the use flag (sets to “1”). .

  Information indicating the end of use of the customer desk (occurrence of an empty desk) is input from the POS terminal 20. That is, it is performed by an employee inputting a table number in the input unit of the POS terminal 20 during the accounting process. The POS terminal 20 turns off the in-use flag of the table management table corresponding to the table number input at the time of accounting processing (resets to “0”) and turns on the tidying required flag (sets to “1”). To do. Further, the POS terminal 20 creates a list of table numbers for which the clearing required flag is on and transmits it to all the handy terminals 31 to 3N. The table number list with pieces transmitted to the handy terminals from 31 to 3N is displayed on each display.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 4, the list of table numbers with important parts includes information about table numbers, capacity, and order of arrangement. Note that there is a case where there is no information on the information regarding the order of cleanup because it is updated every predetermined time as will be described later.

  Information indicating that the customer desk that needs to be cleaned up is input from the handy terminals 31 to 3N. That is, the employee who has finished cleaning up the customer table inputs the table number and information indicating the end of cleaning up to the handy terminals 31 to 3N. Information indicating the table number input to the handy terminals 31 to 3N and the end of cleaning is transmitted to the POS terminal 20. When the POS terminal 20 receives the information indicating the table number from the handy terminals 31 to 3N and the end of cleaning, the POS terminal 20 turns off the cleaning required flag of the corresponding table management table. Further, the POS terminal 20 updates the piece numbered table number list and transmits it to all the handy terminals 31 to 3N.

  As described above, the POS terminal 20 manages information on waiting customers and information on customer tables. Further, the POS terminal 20 determines whether or not there are a plurality of customer tables that need to be cleaned up every predetermined time in addition to the above operation. When there are a plurality of customer tables that need to be cleaned, the order of cleaning is determined and notified to the handy terminals 31 to 3N.

  With reference to FIG. 5, the operation of the POS terminal 20 for determining the order of cleaning up the customer desk will be described.

  First, the timer is reset to start measuring time (step S501), and waits for a predetermined time (here, 5 minutes) to elapse (step S502).

  Next, it is determined whether there are a plurality of customer tables that need to be cleaned up (step S503). If the number of customer tables that need to be cleared is zero or one (No in step S503), the process returns to step S501.

  If there are two or more customer tables that need to be cleared, variables i and j are set to “0” (step S504). Here, the variable i means the serial number of the waiting list (in the order of arrival), and the variable j means the order in which the customer desk is cleaned up.

  Next, the variable i is incremented by 1 (step S505), and the number of waiting customers registered in the i-th waiting list is recognized. It is determined whether or not there is a larger number of passengers than the number of waiting customers (step S506). If there is no customer table registered in the table for numbered table with a capacity larger than the number of i-th waiting customers (No in step S506), the process returns to step S505.

  If there is a customer table registered in the table with key number list having a capacity larger than the number of i-th waiting customers (No in step S506), the variable j is incremented by 1 (step S507). ), A variable j is registered as information indicating the order in which the table number list is sorted. In addition, when there are a plurality of customer tables registered in the table number list with key pieces having a capacity larger than the number of i-th waiting customers, a table having a smaller capacity is selected. If the number of people is the same, select the one registered at the top of the table number list with pieces.

  Next, it is determined whether or not information indicating a cleaning order has been registered for all the customer desks registered in the required table number list (step S509). When the information indicating the order of cleanup is not registered for all the customer desks in the table with required numbers, the process returns to step S505.

  When the information indicating the order of cleanup is registered for all the customer desks in the list of table numbers required for cleaning, the list of table numbers required for cleanup in which the order of cleaning is registered is notified to all handy terminals 31 to 3N. (Step S510).

  As described above, the POS terminal 20 determines whether or not there are a plurality of customer tables that need to be cleaned at every predetermined time, and determines the order of cleaning when there are a plurality of tables. The determined order of ordering is notified to the handy terminals 31 to 3N as a table number list with required parts. Further, the POS terminal 20 receives information indicating the table numbers from the handy terminals 31 to 3N and the end of cleaning, and appropriately updates the order of cleaning when updating the required table number list.

  6A and 6B show information display examples of the handy terminals 31 to 3N. FIG. 6 (a) shows the case of a handy terminal having a large display, and FIG. 6 (b) shows the case of a handy terminal having a small display.

  In the example of FIG. 6A, an order screen is provided at the top, an information screen is provided at the bottom, a waiting list is displayed on the left side of the information screen, and a piece number table number list is displayed on the right side of the information screen.

  In the example of FIG. 6B, the waiting list is displayed on the left side, and the table number list with pieces is displayed on the right side. The order screen and the information screen are switched by operating a changeover switch (not shown).

  On the floor as shown in FIG. 7, if the customers who have used them in the order of 8 tables, 6 tables, and 1 table perform accounting, the information screen of the handy terminal is as shown in FIG. 8. Thereafter, when the POS terminal determines the order of cleanup as described above, the information screen of the handy terminal is changed as shown in FIG.

  Although the present invention has been described with reference to one embodiment, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, in the above embodiment, it is determined whether or not there are a plurality of customer tables that need to be cleaned every five minutes. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the table may be longer or shorter. Alternatively, the determination may be made each time customer desk use end (empty desk occurrence) information is input to the POS terminal 20. Alternatively, the end of use of the next customer desk (for example, within 5 minutes) after the end of use of the customer desk (occurrence of empty table) information is input to the POS terminal 20 (for example, within 5 minutes). The occurrence may be determined when information is input.

  In the above embodiment, an example in which the order of tidying is determined based only on the number of waiting customers and the capacity of the customer desk has been described. Thus, the order of tidying up may be determined.

1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a POS system according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows an example of a waiting list. It is a figure which shows an example of a table management table. It is a figure which shows an example of a table number list with a fragment. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the process which determines the tidying-up order of the POS terminal contained in the POS system of FIG. (A) is a figure which shows the example of information display of the handy terminal provided with the large sized display, (b) is a figure which shows the example of information display of the handy terminal provided with the small sized display. It is a figure which shows an example of a floor state. It is an example of information display of the handy terminal corresponding to the floor state shown in FIG. 7, and is a diagram showing a display state before determining the order of tidying up. It is an example of information display of the handy terminal corresponding to the floor state shown in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

10 Waiting terminal 20 POS terminal 31 ~ 3N Handy terminal

Claims (8)

In a POS system that manages information about waiting customers and information about customer tables,
When there are a plurality of customer tables that need to be cleaned up, a cleanup order determination unit for determining the order of the customer tables that need to be cleaned up based on the information on the waiting customers and the information on the customer desks A POS system characterized by providing The POS system according to claim 1,
The POS system, wherein the cleaning order determination unit determines the cleaning order of the customer tables based on the number of persons included in the information about the waiting customers and the capacity included in the information about the customer tables. In the POS system according to claim 1 or 2,
A POS terminal comprising the tidying order determining unit;
A handy terminal wirelessly connected to the POS terminal,
The point-of-sales order of the customer desk determined by the order-of-cleaning order determination unit is displayed on the display unit of the handy terminal. In the POS system according to claim 3,
The POS system is characterized in that the POS terminal is notified of the table number of the customer table that has been cleaned up by operating the operation unit of the handy terminal. In the POS system according to claim 3 or 4,
A POS system, characterized in that a waiting terminal for inputting information about the waiting customer connected to the POS terminal by wire or wirelessly is installed at a position away from the POS terminal. The POS system according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
A POS system characterized in that it is determined at predetermined time intervals whether or not a plurality of customer desks requiring clean-up have occurred. In a POS terminal that manages information about waiting customers and information about customer tables,
When there are a plurality of customer tables that need to be cleaned up, a cleanup order determination unit for determining the order of the customer tables that need to be cleaned up based on the information on the waiting customers and the information on the customer tables A POS terminal comprising: In a handy terminal used by wireless connection to a POS terminal that manages information about waiting customers and information about customer tables,
A handy terminal characterized in that, when a plurality of customer desks that need to be cleaned up are generated, information indicating the order of cleaning up the customer desks transmitted from the POS terminal is received and displayed on the display unit. .

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