JP2012068750A - Ordering operation support system, and ordering operation support method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a technology which allows a user to perform an ordering operation upon grasping an approximate waiting time for a target order before ordering it.SOLUTION: An ordering operation support system includes: an ordered information acquisition part for acquiring order information showing targets which are already ordered to multiple stores; an order candidate information acquisition part for acquiring order information showing target order candidates at each of the multiple stores; a required time information acquisition part for acquiring required time information corresponding to each of the acquired order information and showing a required time from a start of preparation on a target order shown by the order information to a completion of the preparation; and a preparation completion time calculation part for calculating a time at which the preparation on the target order candidate can be completed based on the required time information acquired, when the target order candidate is ordered.

Description

  The present invention relates to an order system capable of placing orders for orders such as dishes and services for a plurality of stores.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is known an ordering system that can order dishes and the like to a plurality of stores from an order terminal provided on a seated table or the like in a facility where a plurality of stores are gathered, such as a food court.

  In the conventional order system, the user can perform order operations for a plurality of stores at the order terminal, but cannot grasp the order quantity already received at the plurality of stores.

  Therefore, the user cannot place an order without knowing whether or not the order object such as food or service that he or she is about to order has to wait for a long time, for example, because the order is concentrated. Had to do the operation.

  The technology described in this specification has been made to solve the above-described problems, and allows a user to perform an ordering operation after grasping an approximate waiting time before placing an order. The purpose is to provide technology.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, this specification includes an ordered information acquisition unit that acquires order information indicating an ordered target that has been ordered to a plurality of stores, and an order candidate target that is an order candidate at each of the plurality of stores. An order candidate information acquisition unit for acquiring order information indicating the required time from the start of preparation of the order object indicated by the order information to the completion of preparation corresponding to the acquired order information. A required time information acquisition unit for acquiring required time information indicating a preparation time for preparing the order candidate target when the order candidate target is ordered based on the acquired required time information And a completion time calculation unit.

  Further, the specification acquires order information indicating an ordered target that has been ordered to a plurality of stores, acquires order information indicating an order candidate target that is an order candidate at each of the plurality of stores, and is acquired. The required time information indicating the required time from the start of the preparation of the order object indicated by the order information to the completion of preparation is acquired, and the required time information acquired is associated with the order information. The present invention relates to an order operation support method for calculating a time when preparation of the order candidate object can be completed when the order candidate object is ordered.

  As described above in detail, according to the technique described in this specification, a technique is provided that enables a user to perform an ordering operation after grasping an approximate waiting time for an order before ordering. be able to.

It is a figure which shows an order system provided with the order operation assistance system by embodiment. It is a functional block diagram for demonstrating an order operation assistance system. 4 is a data table of an ordered order queue for a store A managed by the server 2. 4 is a data table of an ordered order queue for a store B managed by the server 2. It is a data table of the average cooking time of the menu handled in the shop A. It is a data table of the average cooking time of the menu handled in the shop B. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the flow of the process (order operation support method) in an order operation support system. It is a data table of the estimated provision time of each menu which has received the store A. It is a data table of the estimated provision time of each menu which has been accepted at the store B. It is a figure which shows the data table of the information displayed by ranking by the order candidate display part.

  Hereinafter, embodiments will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an order system including an order operation support system according to an embodiment.

  The order system according to the present embodiment can be applied to, for example, a dish ordering system in a complex facility (so-called “food court”) including a plurality of types of restaurants (here, store A to store C). In general, the food court is provided with a plurality of tables for eating and drinking foods and drinks purchased at a plurality of types of restaurants, and the user ordered a predetermined receiving place (for example, food and drink). Go to the reception counter at the store) and take it home to eat and drink.

  As shown in the figure, the order system according to the present embodiment includes, for example, self-order terminals 11 to 1n, a server 2, a printer 3, a preparation start button 31, and a preparation completion button 32. The self-order terminals 11 to 1n, the server 2, the printer 3, the preparation start button 31 and the preparation completion button 32 can communicate with each other via an electric communication line such as a LAN. Communication of each device via this electric communication line may be realized by either wired communication or wireless communication.

  The server 2 may be located anywhere as long as it can communicate with the self-order terminals 11 to 1n, the printer 3, the preparation start button 31 and the preparation completion button 32 as a result. The self-order terminals 11 to 1n are individually arranged on a table where a user is seated or a predetermined order space. The printer 3 is preferably arranged, for example, at a cooking place, a dish receiving counter that receives dishes ordered by the self-order terminals 11 to 1n, a route from the cooking place to the dish receiving counter, or the vicinity thereof. Moreover, it is preferable that the preparation start button 31 is arranged at the cooking place, and the preparation completion button 32 is arranged near the dish receiving counter.

  Each of the self-order terminals 11 to 1n includes a PROCESSOR 801, an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) 802, a MEMORY 803, an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) 804, and a touch panel display 805.

  Of course, the function of the touch panel display 805 is, for example, a display composed of electronic paper, LCD (Liquid crystal display), EL (Electronic Luminescence), PDP (Plasma Display Panel), CRT (Cathode Ray Tube), etc. It can be replaced by an operation input unit consisting of a keyboard, mouse, touch panel, touchpad, pen tablet (graphics tablet), dedicated buttons, etc. Needless to say.

  The server 2 includes, for example, a PROCESSOR 201, an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) 202, a MEMORY 203, and an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) 204. For example, the server 2 manages various data such as order data from the self-order terminal, management data on the progress of cooking preparation at each store, and the like. It manages the authentication at the time of user login.

  In the order system according to the present embodiment, PROCESSOR 801 and PROCESSOR 201 have a role of performing various processes in the order system, and various programs are executed by executing programs stored in the MEMORY 803, the MEMORY 203, the HDD 804, the HDD 204, and the like. It also has a role to realize functions. Needless to say, PROCESSOR 801 and PROCESSOR 201 can be replaced by an MPU (Micro Processing Unit) capable of executing equivalent arithmetic processing. Similarly, the HDD 804 and the HDD 204 can be replaced by a storage device such as a flash memory.

  The MEMORY 803 and the MEMORY 203 include, for example, a RAM (Random Access Memory), a ROM (Read Only Memory), a DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory), an SRAM (Static Random Access Memory), a VRAM (Video RAM), a flash MEMORY, and the like. It has a role of storing various information and programs used in the ordering system.

  FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram for explaining the order operation support system provided in the order system as described above.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the order operation support system includes an ordered information acquisition unit 101, an order candidate information acquisition unit 102, a required time information acquisition unit 103, a preparation start time acquisition unit 104, a preparation completion time calculation unit 105, and completion information. An acquisition unit 106 and an order candidate display unit 107 are provided.

The ordered information acquisition unit 101 acquires order information (menu name, menu ID, etc.) indicating dishes (ordered targets) that have been ordered for a plurality of stores.
The “ordered object” here includes an order object whose order is temporarily determined. FIG. 3 is a data table of an ordered order queue for the store A managed by the server 2. FIG. 4 is a data table of an ordered order queue for the store B managed by the server 2. 3 and 4 that store B is less crowded than store A.

  The order candidate information acquisition unit 102 acquires order information indicating dishes (order candidate targets) that are order candidates in each of a plurality of stores. Here, all menus that can be selected in a plurality of stores A to C are targets for order information acquisition.

  The required time information acquisition unit 103 includes (1) order information indicating a dish that has been ordered (ordered target) and (2) order information indicating a dish that is an order candidate (order candidate target). The required time information indicating the required time from the start of preparation of the order object indicated by the order information to the completion of preparation is acquired. The required time information here is prepared for each store. This is because even if the menu has the same name, the time required to complete cooking may differ depending on the store.

  FIG. 5 is a data table of the average cooking time of menus handled in the store A. FIG. 6 is a data table of the average cooking time of menus handled in the store B. A data table regarding these average cooking times is managed by the HDD 204 of the server 2.

  The preparation start time acquisition unit 104 acquires the actual preparation start time of the ordered target indicated by each of the acquired order information. Here, the time when cooking of the menu indicated by the order information is started is designated as the “cooking start time” by pressing the preparation start button 31 after the order information targeted by the cook at the cooking place is designated. 2 is registered. The designation of order information by the cook can be performed, for example, on the UI screen of the printer 3 linked with the preparation start button 31.

  The preparation completion time calculation unit 105 calculates the time obtained by subtracting the elapsed time from the preparation start time from the required time indicated by the required time information for each ordered object, and integrates the calculation results for each ordered object. When the order candidate target is ordered, the time when the preparation of the order candidate target can be started is calculated.

  The preparation completion time calculation unit 105 calculates a time when preparation can be completed for each of a plurality of order candidate objects that can be ordered at each of a plurality of stores.

The completion information acquisition unit 106 acquires completion information indicating the completion of preparation of the order object indicated by the order information acquired by the ordered information acquisition unit 101. Here, when the cook is designated at the cooking place and the preparation completion button 32 is pressed, the time when the preparation of the menu indicated by the order information is completed is “preparation completion time”. Registered in The designation of order information by the cook can be performed, for example, on the UI screen of the printer 3 linked with the preparation completion button 31.
The preparation completion time calculation unit 105 excludes the order object for which the completion information has been acquired from the accumulation object.

  The order candidate display unit 107 displays a list of each of a plurality of order candidate targets on the touch panel display 805 in an order in which preparation can be completed quickly.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart for explaining the flow of processing (order operation support method) in the order operation support system.

  First, PROCESSOR 201 (ordered information acquisition unit 101) acquires “order information” indicating an ordered object that is “ordered” for a plurality of stores (Act 101).

  The PROCESSOR 201 (required time information acquisition unit 103) acquires “required time information” indicating the required time from the start of the preparation of the ordered object indicated by the order information to the completion of the preparation (Act 102).

  The PROCESSOR 201 (preparation start time acquisition unit 104) acquires the “actual preparation start time” of the ordered items indicated by each of the acquired order information (Act 103).

  The PROCESSOR 201 (order candidate information acquisition unit 102) acquires “order information” indicating an order candidate object that is an “order candidate” in each of the plurality of stores (Act 104).

  PROCESSOR 201 (required time information acquisition unit 103) acquires required time information indicating a required time from the start of preparation of an order candidate target indicated by the order information to completion of the preparation (Act 105).

  As long as the process of ACT101 to ACT103 and the process of ACT104 to ACT105 are completed until the process of ACT106 described later is performed as a result, any of the execution order may be first. It may be simultaneous.

The PROCESSOR 201 (preparation completion time calculation unit 105) calculates a time when preparation of the order candidate target can be completed when the order candidate target is ordered based on the acquired required time information (Act 106).
For each of a plurality of order candidate objects that can be ordered at each of a plurality of stores, a time when preparation can be completed is calculated.

  FIG. 8 is a data table of expected provision times of each menu accepted at store A, and FIG. 9 is a data table of expected provision times of each menu accepted at store B. As shown in FIG. 8, if the order time of each menu has a sufficient time interval, the cooking start time of each menu basically matches the order reception time. However, since “Katsudon” and “Soba” ordered at the store B are accepted at a relatively close time, the cooking start time of “Soba” is the time when the order of “Soba” is accepted. No, it coincides with the scheduled time when cooking of “Katsudon” is completed.

  Specifically, PROCESSOR 201 (preparation completion time calculation unit 105) calculates, for example, a time obtained by subtracting the elapsed time from the preparation start time from the required time indicated by the required time information for each ordered target, and for each ordered target. Is calculated, the time when the preparation of the order candidate target can be started when the order candidate target is ordered is calculated.

  Further, PROCESSOR 201 (completion information acquisition unit 106) acquires “completion information” indicating completion of preparation of the order object indicated by the acquired order information in real time based on the pressing of the preparation completion button 32. The PROCESSOR 201 (preparation completion time calculation unit 105) excludes the order object for which the “completion information” has been acquired from the accumulation object (corresponding to a so-called “consumption process”). Such exclusion from the accumulation target by the completion information is particularly effective when cooking is completed in an earlier time than expected.

  The PROCESSOR 201 (order candidate display unit 107) displays a list of a plurality of order candidate targets on the touch panel display 805 in an order that can be quickly prepared (Act 107). The user selects a desired order object from the order candidate objects displayed as a list in this way, and performs an order operation. Information indicating the order object determined by the user's panel operation is transmitted to the server 2 and registered in the data table together with related information such as the order reception time as an already-ordered object.

  FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a data table of information displayed by ranking on the order candidate display unit 107. The data table is managed by the HDD 204 of the server 2, for example. The order candidate display unit 107 displays on the touch panel display 805 a UI screen having almost the same contents as the data table shown in FIG.

  In the data table of the average cooking time of the store B shown in FIG. 6, for example, the pizza A takes an average cooking time of 6 minutes and takes twice as much cooking time as the udon and soba of the store A. However, as can be seen from the order queue shown in FIG. 3, the store A is currently crowded. As a result of reflecting this actual situation, as shown in FIG. Located at the top of the ranking.

  Each operation in the processing in the order operation support system described above is realized by causing PROCESSOR 801 or PROCESSOR 201 to execute an order operation support program stored in MEMORY 803 or MEMORY 203. Therefore, the order operation support system includes an ordered information acquisition unit 101, an order candidate information acquisition unit 102, a required time information acquisition unit 103, a preparation start time acquisition unit 104, a preparation completion time calculation unit 105, a completion information acquisition unit 106, and The function of the order candidate display unit 107 may be provided in any of the self-order terminals 11 to 1n and the server 2, and the location thereof does not matter as long as these functions can be linked as a result.

  In the above-described embodiment, the waiting time when the user selects any one of the menus is configured. For example, an order system that can select a plurality of menus and place an order in a lump. However, depending on the combination of menus to be ordered, the user may unintentionally increase the waiting time. For example, in the above example, the result is that the pizza A, pizza B, and pizza C in the store B can be accelerated, but if the pizzas A to C are ordered to the store B at once, the order is sent to the same store. Concentration results in a long time in spite of selecting a menu at the top of the ranking.

  Therefore, by storing in advance in the HDD 204 a data table in which the required time when ordering a certain combination of menus is ordered, and selecting an appropriate required time according to the combination of the menus ordered multiple times, The waiting time can be predicted more in line with the actual situation.

  In addition, the configuration is such that the waiting time is added to the waiting time in the same way as the menu already ordered at the stage determined on the UI. Whether or not to increase can be grasped in real time.

  In addition, depending on the store, the server 2 is notified that an order has been placed, but a terminal that cannot notify the server 2 of the completion of cooking of the order (what is the manufacturer that builds the ordering system? You may be using a terminal from a different manufacturer. In such a case, it may be considered that each order is virtually completed based on the required time and reflected in the ranking in real time.

  Note that the above-mentioned required time may vary depending on the day of the week or the person in charge, for example, depending on the day of the week, the number of times of cooking is doubled. Therefore, by switching the data table of the required time based on the day of the week or the person in charge, it becomes possible to predict the waiting time more accurately according to the actual situation.

  In addition, although the case where the order object is a dish was illustrated in the above-mentioned embodiment, it is not necessarily limited to this. In other words, if the user can perform an ordering operation for a plurality of stores and a certain amount of waiting time occurs after placing an order, what kind of order object or order target service is provided in the facility Is also applicable. Therefore, for example, it is needless to say that the present invention can be applied to, for example, prediction of waiting times for a plurality of attractions in an amusement park or the like, and prediction of completion times of document creation at a plurality of public offices.

  Furthermore, a program that causes the above-described operations to be executed in a computer that constitutes the order operation support system can be provided as an order operation support program. In the present embodiment, the case where the program for realizing the function for carrying out the invention is recorded in advance in a storage area provided in the apparatus is exemplified. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a similar program can be downloaded from the network. The program may be downloaded to the apparatus, or a similar program stored in a computer-readable recording medium may be installed in the apparatus.

The recording medium may be in any form as long as it can store a program and can be read by a computer. Specifically, as a recording medium, for example, an internal storage device such as a ROM or a RAM, a portable storage medium such as a CD-ROM, a flexible disk, a DVD disk, a magneto-optical disk, or an IC card, a computer Examples include a database holding a program, another computer, its database, and a transmission medium on a line. Further, the function obtained by installing or downloading in advance may be realized in cooperation with an OS (operating system) or the like inside the apparatus.
Note that a part or all of the program may be an execution module that is dynamically generated.

  In addition, various processes realized by causing the PROCESSOR such as a CPU or MPU to execute a program in each of the above-described embodiments can be executed by the ASIC 802 in a circuit form. Needless to say.

  The present invention can be implemented in various other forms without departing from the spirit or main features thereof. Therefore, the above-described embodiment is merely an example in all respects and should not be interpreted in a limited manner. The scope of the present invention is indicated by the scope of claims, and is not restricted by the text of the specification. Further, all modifications, various improvements, alternatives and modifications belonging to the equivalent scope of the claims are all within the scope of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 101 Ordered information acquisition part, 102 Order candidate information acquisition part, 103 Required time information acquisition part, 104 Preparation start time acquisition part, 104 Preparation start time acquisition part, 105 Preparation completion time calculation part, 106 Completion information acquisition part, 107 Order Candidate display area.

Claims (10)

An ordered information acquisition unit that acquires order information indicating an ordered target that has been ordered to a plurality of stores;
An order candidate information obtaining unit for obtaining order information indicating an order candidate target that is an order candidate in each of the plurality of stores;
A required time information acquisition unit for acquiring required time information indicating a required time from the start of preparation of an order object indicated by the order information to completion of preparation, each of which is associated with the acquired order information; ,
A preparation completion time calculating unit for calculating a time when preparation of the order candidate target can be completed when the order candidate target is ordered based on the required time information acquired;
An order operation support system comprising: The order operation support system according to claim 1,
A preparation start time acquisition unit for acquiring an actual preparation start time of an ordered target indicated by each of the acquired order information;
The preparation completion time calculation unit calculates a time obtained by subtracting an elapsed time from the preparation start time from the required time indicated by the required time information for each ordered target, and integrates the calculation results for each ordered target. The order operation support system calculates the time when the preparation of the order candidate object can be started when the order candidate object is ordered. In the order operation support system according to claim 1 or 2,
A completion information acquisition unit for acquiring completion information indicating completion of preparation of the order object indicated by the order information acquired by the ordered information acquisition unit;
The preparation completion time calculation unit is an order operation support system that excludes an order object for which the completion information has been acquired from an accumulation object. In the order operation support system according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The preparation completion time calculating unit calculates a time at which preparation can be completed for each of a plurality of order candidate targets that can be ordered at each of the plurality of stores.
An order operation support system further comprising an order candidate display unit that displays a list of each of the plurality of order candidate targets in an order that can be quickly prepared. In the order operation support system according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
The ordered object includes an order operation support system including an order object whose order is temporarily determined. Obtain order information that indicates the order that has been ordered to multiple stores,
Obtaining order information indicating an order candidate object that is an order candidate in each of the plurality of stores;
Obtaining the required time information indicating the required time from the start of the preparation of the order object indicated by the order information to the completion of the preparation, each of which is associated with the acquired order information;
An order operation support method for calculating a time at which preparation of the order candidate target can be completed when the order candidate target is ordered based on the required time information acquired. The order operation support method according to claim 6,
Acquire the actual preparation start time of the ordered target indicated by each of the acquired order information,
By calculating the time obtained by subtracting the elapsed time from the preparation start time from the required time indicated by the required time information for each ordered target, and integrating the calculation results for each ordered target, An order operation support method for calculating a time when preparation of the order candidate target can be started when an order is placed. The order operation support method according to claim 6 or 7,
Acquiring completion information indicating completion of preparation of the order object indicated by the acquired order information;
An order operation support method for excluding an order object for which completion information has been acquired from an accumulation object. The order operation support method according to any one of claims 6 to 8,
For each of a plurality of candidate candidates that can be ordered at each of the plurality of stores, calculate a time when preparation can be completed,
An order operation support method for displaying each of the plurality of order candidate objects in a list in an order that can be quickly prepared. The order operation support method according to any one of claims 6 to 9,
The order completion support method includes an order operation support method including an order target whose order is temporarily determined.