JP2007264702A - Self order pos system enabling standby customer to place advanced order - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a self order POS (point-of-sales) system for accepting an order before taking a seat. <P>SOLUTION: An advanced order terminal generates a customer number, based on information inputted by the customer, shows a menu to the customer and accepts the order input by the customer, creates the advanced order electronic message for each of the customers associating the generated customer number with the accepted order information; a seat for the customer management terminal generates the customer number, based on the information inputted by a sales clerk, performs registration and deletion for making the customer number associate with the number of the seat for the customer, and acquires the advanced order electronic message for each of the customers from the advanced order terminal, investigates, if the advanced order electronic message for each of the customers with the customer number concerned with the new registration exists, when the association of the customer number with the number of the seat for the customer is newly registered. If existing, the order acceptance electronic message including the number of the seat for the customer and the order information in the electronic message concerned with the new registration is generated, and transmitted to a kitchen terminal and a POS register terminal. The kitchen terminal prints out the order acceptance slip, based on the number of the seat for the customer and the order information, when the order acceptance electronic message is received, the POS register terminal updates the billing information, when the order acceptance electronic message is received. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a self-order POS system that allows customers waiting for a seat to order in advance.

  Recently, at restaurants and taverns, customers who have entered a store with a tablet computer (electronic menu device) with a touch panel display can select the product by looking at the menu and the act of ordering the selected product to the store. A self-order POS system in which a customer himself operates an electronic menu ordering device (called a passenger seat terminal or an order terminal) has been put into practical use and has begun to spread. Regarding this system, many patent applications and utility model registration applications as exemplified below have been filed.

<Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 58-137076>"Dining room management device"
A register terminal device, a kitchen display device, a display device for serving, and an ordering terminal device for each table are provided. By controlling these with a central processing unit, operations such as ordering, serving, and settlement can be performed accurately and efficiently.
《Act No. 63-179557》 “Visual menu order system with touch sensor”
Menu video is played back with a video disc player and displayed on a monitor TV with a touch panel on a personal computer. Order information on food and drinks entered by customers is transmitted wirelessly to a POS register and a kitchen printer to print an order slip and perform accounting processing. Do.
<< JP-A-2-156372 >>"Order entry device"
An order entry terminal is embedded in each table in the store, image information is displayed as a menu, and the customer is directly made an order entry.
<< JP-A-5-314149 >>"Cooking Order Device"
When the customer sits at the table and switches the changeover switch, the dish menu reproduced on the menu video device is displayed on the touch panel display device that was displaying a television program or the like. The price of each dish on the screen is displayed at the same time by superimposing characters.
<Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-44569>"Self POS System"
When the customer approaches the self-POS, the sensor detects this, and a message and a guidance screen are displayed for the customer. When the customer selects a favorite dish from the menu according to the screen, a ticket for the customer printed with the order information is issued and the order information is notified to the store system.
<Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-74218>"Electronic Menu Device and Electronic Ordering System"
When changing menus, it is only necessary to shoot products with an electronic still camera and store them in the menu data storage unit, so there is no need to wait for photo development and printing as in normal menus. it can.
<Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-296747> “POS System with Individual Accounting Function”
By inputting the ID of the customer who orders food and drink each time he / she orders, both the total amount of group customers and the accounting amount of each customer can be automatically tabulated and settlement can be performed for each customer.
<< JP-A-2001-338035 >>"Service network system for restaurants"
In addition to the basic functions of the self-order POS system, it provides services such as browsing TV, video and the Internet, games such as fortune-telling and questionnaires, and introducing sister shops and other stores.
<< Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-215755 >>"Eating Out Order Method and Eating Out Order System"
If a mobile phone with a web browser accesses the homepage of the restaurant order system and obtains necessary information, the mobile phone can be used as a passenger seat terminal at the store.
<< JP-A-2003-317155 >>"Ordering service system in a restaurant"
While the ordered food is served, you can enjoy games such as sweepstakes and quizzes programmed in the passenger terminal.
<< Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-302582 >>"Restaurant Order Processing Device and Method, Order Processing Program and Recording Medium Therefor"
There is a maximum time limit for customers to order and be served, and if this time is not exceeded, a clerk will be notified and the kitchen will be urgently cooked, and a little more waiting at the passenger seat terminal. Please give me a message.
<< Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-222387 >>"Ordering System at Restaurants"
When the customer enters the store, the attendant guides the customer table with the order terminal device, and the system recognizes that the table communication device and the order terminal device have started communication and the customer has arrived at the table.
<< JP-A-2005-84897 >>"Ordering service system in a restaurant or the like and a display unit therefor"
In order to increase the enjoyment of meals before and after meals, you can take pictures of your friends and receive prints with the digital camera provided at the audience terminal.

In recent karaoke stores, electronic table of contents devices (product names such as DAM station, Denmoku, Kyoku NAVI, Navikara) composed of tablet computers are widely used in place of thick karaoke table of contents. Since the computing ability, storage ability, and communication ability of tablet computers are extremely large, development of this type of electronic table of contents apparatus for various uses related to karaoke has been promoted, as described in Non-Patent Document 1. Electronic Table of Contents A self-order POS system that allows this apparatus to function as an order terminal has been put into practical use.
XING Inc. “Order Entry System”, [online], November 9, 2005, [Search on December 20, 2005], Internet <URL: http://www.xing.co.jp/news/ news051109.html>

  The applicant has developed a system that allows a multi-purpose tablet computer used in a karaoke box to function as a self-order electronic menu device.

  The karaoke box is crowded on weekday nights and weekends when many people visit, and you can see the scene waiting for you to enter the room near the reception. There is no waiting time for 30 minutes or 1 hour. However, when you enter the room, there are many operations that you have to keep using to make a reservation for karaoke songs, order drinks and snacks, and keep playing in order to start playing using the multi-purpose tablet computer in the guest room.

  Therefore, the present inventor can effectively use the time while waiting for a visitor to wait for a vacancy in the karaoke box or for a vacant seat at a popular restaurant where there is a line. The present invention was created by considering that it would be convenient to order food and drink in advance while enjoying the operation of a versatile tablet computer.

This invention is specified by the following matters (1) to (12).
(1) It is a self-order POS system in which a pre-order terminal, a passenger seat management terminal, a kitchen terminal, and a POS cash register terminal are connected by a LAN. (2) The pre-order terminal is provided with a customer identification means and has an electronic menu process. (3) The customer identification means generates a customer number based on the information entered by the customer. (4) The electronic menu processing presents a menu to the customer and orders the customer. Accepting the input (5) The message creation process creates a customer-specific pre-order message that associates the customer number generated by the customer identification means with the order information received in the electronic menu process. (6) The audience management terminal (7) The customer identification means includes a customer seat assignment process, a message acquisition process, and an order receiving process. (7) The customer identification means generates a customer number based on information input by the store clerk. Assignment process Registration and deletion of the correspondence between the customer number and the seat number (9) The message acquisition process acquires the customer-specific pre-order message from the pre-order terminal. (10) The order processing is performed by the customer seat allocation process. When a new number and passenger number association is registered, it is checked whether there is a customer-specific pre-order message for the customer number related to the new registration, and if there is an order in the message for the new registration Creating an order receipt message including information and transmitting it to the kitchen terminal and the POS cash register terminal (11) Upon receiving the order receipt message, the kitchen terminal prints out an order receipt based on the seat number and the order information ( 12) The POS cash register terminal updates the billing information when receiving an order message.

  In this invention, a customer ordering terminal operated by a customer at the customer's seat is connected to the LAN, and in the order receiving process, the created order receipt message is further transmitted to the customer ordering terminal corresponding to the customer seat number, When receiving a received order message, the terminal preferably stores and displays the order information in the message as order history information.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to effectively use the waiting time at a karaoke box or a restaurant and place an order before entering a guest room or seating in a guest seat. An order can be placed while the order is processed for the ordered item after the user is seated.

=== System configuration example ===
FIG. 1 exemplifies a system configuration when the present invention is applied to a karaoke gathering store having a plurality of guest rooms. A guest room management terminal (passenger seat management terminal) 1 installed at the front of the store, a POS cash register terminal 2, one to several tablet type pre-order terminals 3 installed around the front, and a kitchen installed There is a well-known POS store system that includes a kitchen terminal 4 and a tablet-type guest room terminal 5 installed in each guest room, and each device is connected to the in-store LAN 6 and handles various operations related to food and beverage orders. Has been built. The kitchen terminal comes with a printer.

  In each guest room, a karaoke device 7 is installed and connected to the LAN 6. In the store, a known communication karaoke system is constructed by the karaoke device 7 of each guest room, the guest room terminal 5 and an external karaoke server.

  The guest room terminal 5 functions as a self-order electronic menu device (passenger seat ordering terminal). Moreover, it is comprised so that communication with the karaoke apparatus 7 in the same room is possible, and it also has a function as an electronic table of contents main apparatus for searching karaoke music and making a performance reservation.

=== Configuration of Pre-Order Terminal 3 ===
The pre-order terminal 3 is based on a well-known tablet computer. As illustrated in the block configuration of FIG. 2, in addition to the central control unit 11 including a CPU, RAM, and ROM, a hard disk device 12 and a touch panel display. 13. A communication interface 14 is provided. The display unit of the touch panel display 13 is connected to the CPU bus via the display controller 15, and the operation input unit is connected to the CPU bus via the input detection circuit 16. The communication interface 14 is connected to the LAN 6 via a wireless access point, and communicates with other devices in the POS store system such as the POS cash register terminal 2 and the kitchen terminal 4.

  The hard disk device 12 stores a menu database. In the menu database, item information of food and drink associated with the item ID is collected. Item information includes text-based data describing various attributes such as item name, price, standard serving time, main ingredients, calorie value, dish classification, and image data location, and fine color image data of food and drink .

  The central control unit 11 executes a program stored in the ROM or the hard disk device 12, thereby exchanging information in an interactive manner with the customer through the touch panel display 13, and obtaining the item information of the food and drink desired by the user from the menu database. Electronic menu processing for searching and presenting or receiving an order input by a user is performed as will be described later, and the received order content is transferred to the room management terminal 1.

=== Configuration of Guest Room Terminal 5 ===
The hardware configuration of the guest room terminal 5 is the same as that of the pre-order terminal 3. In addition, the hard disk device of the guest room terminal 5 stores the location information (IP address, etc.) of the karaoke device 7 in the same room to be operated such as performance reservation, and karaoke music similar to that stored in the karaoke device 7. It differs from the pre-order terminal 3 in that the table of contents information is stored and can be communicated with the karaoke apparatus 7 via the LAN 6.

  Like the pre-order terminal 3, the guest room terminal 5 retrieves and presents the item information of the food and drink desired by the user from the menu database, and performs electronic menu processing for accepting the user's order input and accepting it. It functions as a known electronic menu device that transmits the received order information to an appropriate device of the POS store system. In addition, the guest room terminal 5 retrieves and presents the table of contents information of the music desired by the user from the stored table of contents information, or receives an instruction input to reserve the performance of the user and generates a performance reservation command to generate karaoke. It functions as an electronic table of contents that is transferred to the device.

=== Configuration of Guest Room Management Terminal 1 ===
The guest room management terminal 1 is a computer that manages the use status of each guest room in the store. As illustrated in FIG. 3, a central control unit 21 including a CPU, a RAM, and a ROM controls the whole, and the hard disk device 22 is a main computer program, store room information and various management information. Is stored. The operation input unit 23 can accept a store clerk's operation input, and the display 25 can display various information to the store clerk via the display adapter 26. The communication interface 24 can communicate with an external server or the like via the VPN, and can communicate with each device in the store via the LAN 6.

  The guest room management terminal 1 is responsible for the well-known guest room management work for managing the use situation of the guest room, as well as the management work for customers waiting to enter the store, as will be described later. In other words, based on the customer number issued by the store clerk to the customer waiting for vacancy who came to the store, the customer number is associated with the guest room number when the customer waiting for vacancy enters the room, or the correspondence is made when leaving the room. Perform the room allocation process to release

=== Room management ===
The guest room management terminal 1 creates and manages the use status of each guest room in the store as a guest room management table in an appropriate storage unit. As shown in Fig. 4, the logical structure of the guest room management table is based on the guest room number as key information, the number of people, whether it is vacant or in use, and if it is in use, the entry time, the scheduled exit time, and the guest The guest room information such as the number of people and sex is stored. On the display 25 of the guest room management terminal 1, the guest room information is displayed so as to be understood by a predetermined operation of the front staff. For example, on the right half of the screen, vacancies are shown in blue / red when in use, and the room number and the number of people in each room are displayed in a list. Display details.

=== Waiting for entrance management ===
When a customer comes to the store and offers to wait for a vacant room, the front clerk gives you a number tag with an appropriate number. In addition, by performing a predetermined operation input via the operation input unit 23 of the guest room management terminal 1, a customer number is generated in response to the number written on the number tag, and the store visit time / You can enter information such as usage time, number of people in the customer group, and gender.

The guest room management terminal 1 creates the waiting-for-room management table illustrated in FIG. 5 on the memory, and manages customer information such as customer number and customer group visit time, usage time, number of people, and sex. . When a new customer number is generated, an update process for writing the customer number and the corresponding customer information in the waiting-for-room management table is performed as needed.
When a customer enters the room, an update process for deleting the customer information corresponding to the customer number from the waiting-for-room management table is performed at any time by a predetermined operation input from the front staff.

  The contents of the waiting-for-room management table can be displayed in a list so that the customer information such as the waiting-number and the number of customers waiting for entering can be understood by a predetermined operation of the front staff. For example, the customer numbers stored in the waiting-for-room management table are displayed in a list on the left half of the display 25, and the front clerk clicks each customer number via the operation input unit 23, so that the customer information corresponding to the customer number is obtained. Display.

  The customer number format is not limited to the above. For example, the member number can be used as the customer number. In that case, each device is provided with an IC card reader, and the card ID of the IC card issued to the member is read, and the read card ID is used as the customer number.

=== Pre-order processing ===
Customers who have obtained the number tag can receive a pre-order service for ordering food and drink before entering the room. When a customer performs a predetermined operation input via the touch panel 13 of the pre-order terminal 3 and inputs the number of the number tag, the pre-order terminal 3 receives the input number and generates a customer number, and the customer number is stored in the memory. Ensure a working area corresponding to

  Thereafter, the pre-order terminal 3 executes the stored program, performs interactive information exchange with the customer through the touch panel display 13, and performs electronic menu processing. The electronic menu process displays the item information in the menu database in response to the customer's operation input, and detects the customer's touch input to the display object, thereby enabling the advance order input to be accepted. The received pre-order content is temporarily stored in the working area corresponding to the customer number. That is, as illustrated in FIG. 6, the customer specifies an item and inputs the order quantity. When the customer enters the desired order quantity and designates the order button on the screen, the customer number and its item / order quantity, etc. are displayed via the confirmation screen for the pre-order contents stored in the working area corresponding to the customer number. A pre-order message of a predetermined format including the pre-order information is generated and transmitted to the room management terminal 1. At this time, the working area corresponding to the customer number is also opened.

  When the guest room management terminal 1 receives the pre-order message from the pre-order terminal 3, the guest room management terminal 1 stores the customer number and the pre-order information in the message in the working area on the memory. It may be additionally stored in correspondence with the customer number in the room waiting management table.

=== Room allocation process ===
For example, suppose that when room 105 is vacant, the front clerk decides to use the room 105 by the customer who handed over the number 8 tag. In this case, the front clerk calls the customer with the number 8 tag waiting at the front, guides it to the 105th room, and operates the room management terminal 1 to perform the room allocation process. FIG. 7 illustrates a flowchart of the room allocation process.

The front clerk inputs the time for entering the room and selects the customer number corresponding to the number 8 tag from among the customer numbers listed on the left half of the screen of the guest room management terminal 1, for example, When a predetermined operation input for selecting and specifying the guest number and the guest room number is performed by dragging the guest room number from the guest room numbers displayed in the list to room 105 (s1), the customer in the waiting-for-room management table is displayed. Based on the customer information corresponding to the number, predetermined customer information is input in association with the guest room number in the guest room management table (s2). In this embodiment, based on the entrance time input by the front desk staff and the number of people / usage time in the waiting room management table, the entry time / scheduled exit time (entry time + usage time) / number of people entering the room management table are entered. The
Also, an update process for releasing the customer number in the waiting-for-room management table is performed.

  When associating the customer number with the guest room number as described above, the guest room management terminal 1 checks whether pre-order information corresponding to the customer number is stored (s3). If there is pre-order information received from the pre-order terminal 3, the following order processing is performed.

  Needless to say, in the guest room management terminal 1, when a guest leaves the room, it is possible to input an operation to make the guest room in use in the guest room management table empty.

=== Order processing ===
When there is pre-order information associated with the customer number, the guest room management terminal 1 is based on the pre-order information, and includes a predetermined order information including the order number such as the guest room number / item / number that the customer has entered. A format order message is created (s4). The guest room management terminal 1 transmits the created order message to the kitchen terminal 4 and the POS cash register terminal 2. Further, it is transmitted to the guest room terminal 5 of the guest room that has entered the room (s5).

On the basis of this order information, the kitchen terminal 4 prints out an order slip including information such as the guest room number, its item, and the number by an attached printer. Based on the received order slip, the store clerk performs cooking and serving.
The POS cash register terminal 2 stores the received order information as settlement data in a predetermined format and accumulates it by room number. A billing slip is printed based on the accumulated data when the customer leaves the room and the fee is settled.

=== Processing at Guest Room Terminal 5 ===
As described above, the guest room terminal 5 as an electronic menu device can accept food and drink orders by customers in the same manner as the order input (see FIG. 6) at the pre-order terminal 3. The difference from the processing of the pre-order terminal 3 is that an order receipt message of a predetermined format including order information including a room number, an item, a quantity, etc. is generated and output based on the input order contents, and has already been output Order information can be stored as an order history and presented to customers as appropriate.

  In the present embodiment, the guest room terminal 5 transmits the created order message directly to the kitchen terminal 4 and the POS cash register terminal 2. Order information received from the customer entering the room to leaving the room is stored as the order history. Needless to say, it is configured to be able to initialize the order history accumulated when leaving the room.

  When an order receipt message is received from the guest room management terminal 1 during the above-described guest room allocation process, the guest room terminal 5 includes the order information in the message in the order history. Therefore, the pre-order information before entering the room can also be centrally managed as an order history at the guest room terminal 5 of the same customer.

  The present invention is not limited to the application to the karaoke collective store of the above-described embodiment, but can also be applied to a store such as a restaurant where a guest seat is provided for each table. It can be applied as it is by replacing the guest room of the above embodiment with a passenger seat.

1 is a diagram illustrating a network configuration of a self-order POS system according to an embodiment. It is the figure which illustrated the composition of the advance order terminal concerning this example. It is the figure which illustrated the composition of the store computer concerning this example. It is a structural example of the guest room management table which concerns on a present Example. It is an example of a structure of the waiting list management table concerning a present Example. It is an example of the screen for ordering the item which concerns on a present Example. It is a flowchart of the guest room allocation process which concerns on a present Example.

Explanation of symbols

1 store computer 2 POS cash register terminal 3 pre-order terminal 4 kitchen terminal 5 guest room terminal 6 LAN

Claims (2)

A self-order POS system in which a pre-order terminal, a passenger seat management terminal, a kitchen terminal, and a POS cash register terminal are connected via a LAN,
The pre-order terminal is equipped with customer identification means, enabling electronic menu processing and message creation processing,
The customer identification means generates a customer number based on the information entered by the customer,
Electronic menu processing presents a menu to the customer, accepts the customer's order input,
The message creation process creates a customer-specific pre-order message that associates the customer number generated by the customer identification means with the order information received in the electronic menu process,
The passenger seat management terminal includes a customer identification means, which enables seat allocation processing, message acquisition processing, and order processing,
The customer identification means generates a customer number based on information entered by the store clerk,
The seat assignment process registers and deletes the correspondence between customer numbers and seat numbers,
The message acquisition process acquires customer-specific pre-order messages from the pre-order terminal,
The order processing process checks whether there is a customer-specific pre-order message for the customer number related to the new registration when a new customer number and seat number association is registered in the seat assignment process. Create an order receipt message containing the seat number related to registration and order information in the message and send it to the kitchen terminal and POS cash register terminal.
When the kitchen terminal receives the order receipt message, it prints out the order receipt based on the seat number and the order information,
The POS cash register terminal is a self-order POS system that updates billing information when receiving an order message. The LAN is connected to a passenger seat ordering terminal that the customer operates in the guest room.
In the order processing, the created order message is sent to the audience order terminal corresponding to the audience number,
A self-order POS system that allows a customer seat order terminal to store and display order information in a message as order history information when it receives a received order message.