JP2013054481A - Order processing device, order processing method and program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an order processing device capable of collectively and appropriately ordering commodities which a plurality of customers order separately.SOLUTION: The order processing device comprises: an order reception part 101 which receives order reception information including customer identification information which is identification information of each of a plurality of customers, commodity identification information which is identification information of commodities which the plurality of customers order separately, and quantity information which shows quantity of commodities; an order information acquisition part 104 which counts quantity shown by the quantity information included in the order reception information received by the order reception part 101, for each piece of the commodity identification information included in the same order reception information as the quantity information, and acquires order information which includes counted quantity information showing the counted quantity and commodity identification information corresponding to the quantity; and an order information output part 105 which outputs the order information acquired by the order information acquisition part 104.

Description

  The present invention relates to an order processing apparatus and the like for ordering products with a plurality of customers.

  As a conventional technique, a member having a function in which each member of a plurality of members of the same group orders food and drinks separately by using a mobile phone and settles only what he ordered is disclosed (for example, Patent Document 1).

JP2003-256522A (first page, FIG. 1 etc.)

  However, in the conventional order processing apparatus, there is a problem that there is no apparatus that can appropriately order products that are individually ordered by a plurality of customers. For example, in a conventional order processing apparatus, as a result of a plurality of customers ordering products, it is not possible to properly show how much each product is finally provided by an image or the like. I could n’t place an order after knowing how many items I ’d like to receive.

  In addition, in a conventional order processing apparatus, one customer arbitrarily obtains a product that is not ordered by one customer (ie, a product ordered by another person) out of products provided to one or more customers. Even in such a case, there has been a problem that it is impossible to detect and warn that an inappropriate product has been acquired.

  The order processing apparatus of the present invention includes customer identification information that is identification information of each of a plurality of customers, product identification information that is identification information of a product ordered by each of the plurality of customers, and a quantity that is information indicating the quantity of the product. An order receiving unit that receives the order receiving information, and the quantity indicated by the quantity information included in the order receiving information received by the order receiving unit for each product identification information included in the same order receiving information as the quantity information. The order information acquisition unit for acquiring the order information having the total quantity information that is the information indicating the total quantity and the product identification information corresponding to the quantity, and the order information acquired by the order information acquisition unit are output. And an order information output unit.

  With this configuration, products ordered individually by a plurality of customers can be put together and appropriately ordered.

  The order processing apparatus of the present invention is the order processing apparatus, wherein the product identification information, the quantity designation information which is information for designating the quantity, and the product to be converted are different from each other only in quantity. A converted product correspondence information storage unit that stores converted product correspondence information having converted product identification information that is the product identification information of the product, and the order information acquisition unit indicates the converted product correspondence information in the aggregated quantity information The quantity indicated by the quantity designation information included in the converted merchandise correspondence information of the quantity indicated by the quantity information associated with the merchandise identification information that matches the merchandise identification information is designated in advance, associated with the converted merchandise identification information. This is an order processing apparatus for changing to the aggregated quantity information of the quantity.

  With such a configuration, it is possible to automatically convert the products for the quantity specified by the quantity specification information into one or more products that differ only in the quantity and make an order. Thereby, for example, it becomes possible to recommend a profitable product having substantially the same content to the user.

  Further, the order processing apparatus of the present invention is a product having product identification information, quantity information, and product image information that is product image information indicated by the product identification information for the quantity indicated by the quantity information in the order processing apparatus. An image information storage unit for storing image management information, an image information acquisition unit for acquiring product image information corresponding to the product identification information and quantity information received by the order receiving unit from the image information storage unit, and image information acquisition The order processing apparatus further includes an order screen output unit that outputs an order screen, which is a screen used for receiving an order, on which product image information acquired by the unit is arranged.

  With this configuration, it is possible to output an order screen having product images for the quantity to be ordered.

  Further, the order processing device of the present invention is the order processing device, wherein the product identification information, the quantity information, the number information indicating the number of people, and the product indicated by the product identification information for the quantity indicated by the quantity information. And an image information storage unit that stores product image management information having product image information that is product image information distributed in the number indicated by the number information, and the order reception unit further receives the number information, The acquisition unit is an order processing apparatus that acquires product image information corresponding to the product identification information, the quantity information, and the number of people information received by the order receiving unit from the image information storage unit.

  With such a configuration, it is possible to show an image in which all the products to be ordered are distributed.

  In the order processing device of the present invention, in the order processing device, product identification information, quantity information, and product image information that is image information of the product indicated by the product identification information for the quantity indicated by the quantity information are stored. An image information storage unit, an image information acquisition unit for acquiring product image information corresponding to the product identification information and the aggregate quantity information included in the order information acquired by the order information acquisition unit, from the image information storage unit, and an image The order processing apparatus further includes an order screen output unit that outputs an order screen, which is a screen used for receiving an order, on which product image information acquired by the information acquisition unit is arranged.

  With this configuration, it is possible to output an image in which commodities to be ordered by a plurality of customers are arranged for a plurality of customers.

  Moreover, the order processing apparatus of the present invention is the acquired customer identification information which is customer identification information of a customer who acquires at least a part of a product provided to one or more customers according to the order information in the order processing apparatus. A product customer information acquisition unit that acquires product identification information of the product, and a combination of the product identification information acquired by the product customer information acquisition unit and the acquired customer identification information in the order reception information received by the order reception unit A determination unit that determines whether or not there is order reception information that includes a combination of product identification information and customer identification information that match, and if the determination unit determines that there is no order reception information, The order processing apparatus further includes a warning output unit that outputs a warning regarding acquisition.

  With such a configuration, it is possible to prevent the customer from improperly acquiring the product provided to one or more customers according to the order information. For example, it is possible to warn that a customer who has not placed an order acquires a product that has not been ordered.

  Further, the order processing apparatus according to the present invention is a condition for determining whether or not a condition in which the product is provided satisfies a non-warning condition that is a condition for not outputting a warning specified in the order processing apparatus. A determination unit is further provided, and the warning output unit is an order processing device that does not output a warning when the condition determination unit determines that the condition is satisfied.

  With this configuration, it is possible to prevent a warning about acquisition of an inappropriate product depending on the situation.

  The order processing apparatus of the present invention further includes a provision time acquisition unit that acquires a provision time of a commodity provided to one or more customers and commodity identification information of the commodity in the order processing apparatus, and a non-warning The condition is a condition that indicates that the product provided to the customer according to the order information has an elapsed time from the provision to the customer that is equal to or longer than a predesignated time. The elapsed time until the present time for the product indicated by the product identification information acquired by the customer information acquisition unit is acquired using the provided time acquired by the provided time acquisition unit for the product identification information. It is an order processing apparatus that determines whether or not the above is satisfied.

  With such a configuration, the above warning can be prevented if the elapsed time of the provided product is longer than a predetermined time.

  The order processing apparatus according to the present invention includes a provision time acquisition unit that acquires a provision time of a commodity provided to one or more customers and commodity identification information of the commodity in the order processing apparatus, and one or more customers. And a free area detecting unit for detecting a free area of a predesignated area in which no product is arranged in an area in which the product to be provided is arranged, and the non-warning condition is a free area detection. The product indicated by the product identification information acquired by the product customer information acquisition unit is currently provided to the customer in accordance with the order information when the unit cannot detect a free space of a predetermined size. Is a condition indicating that the length of the elapsed time since being provided to the customer is a product up to a pre-specified rank counted from the longest, and the condition determination unit is a free space detection unit Pre-designated sky When the area cannot be detected, the provision time acquired by the provision time acquisition unit for the product indicated by the product identification information acquired by the product customer information acquisition unit and the provision time acquisition unit for other products currently provided It is an order processing device that acquires the provided time and determines whether or not a non-warning condition is satisfied using the obtained provided time.

  With this configuration, when there is no free space, the above warning can be prevented from being performed when a product with an early provision time is acquired.

  In the order processing apparatus of the present invention, in the order processing apparatus, the product customer information acquisition unit acquires an increase in the weight of the product, which is an increase in the quantity of the product acquired by each customer, and increases the weight. Acquisition customer identification information acquisition means for acquiring acquisition customer identification information that is customer identification information of each customer and acquisition customer identification information acquisition means when the amount is a positive value equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold value. An order processing apparatus comprising: product identification information acquisition means for acquiring product identification information about a product for which an increase in weight has been acquired when acquiring information.

  With this configuration, it is possible to determine the customer who acquires the product and the acquired product from the change in the weight of the product provided to the customer and the change in the weight of the product acquired by each customer.

  In the order processing apparatus of the present invention, in the order processing apparatus, the product customer information acquisition unit is a product that is an image including one or more products provided to one or more customers and a product acquired by each customer. Image acquisition means for sequentially acquiring related images, customer area management information storing means for storing customer area management information having customer areas on product related images and customer identification information of customers, product related images and customers Using the area management information, a change in the position of a product acquired by each customer is detected among one or more products provided to one or more customers, and each customer is detected using the detected change in position. It is an order processing apparatus provided with the product identification information of the detected product, and the identification information acquisition means which acquires the acquisition customer identification information which is the customer identification information of a customer.

  With this configuration, it is possible to determine a customer who wants to acquire a product and a product that the customer acquires from the change in the position of the product detected from the image.

  In the order processing apparatus of the present invention, in the order processing apparatus, the product customer information acquisition unit is a product that is an image including one or more products provided to one or more customers and a product acquired by each customer. An image acquisition unit for sequentially acquiring related images, a customer location management information storage unit for storing customer location management information having a customer location on a product-related image and customer identification information of the customer, and a product area Product area information and product identification information as information are acquired from the product related image, and the area indicated by the acquired product area information and the customer position indicated by the customer identification information on the product related image indicated by the customer position management information If an intrusion of an object is detected in one product customer area, the product identification information of the product corresponding to this product customer area and the customer identification information corresponding to this product customer area Get certain An identification information acquiring means for acquiring the customer identification information, is an order processing apparatus having a.

  With this configuration, by detecting the intrusion of an object into the product customer area, it is possible to determine which customer is trying to acquire the product and which product is being handed.

  According to the order processing apparatus of the present invention, products ordered individually by a plurality of customers can be put together and appropriately ordered.

  Further, according to the order processing apparatus of the present invention, it is possible to issue a warning when a customer who has not ordered this product attempts to acquire it from products provided to one or more customers.

The block diagram of the order processing apparatus in Embodiment 1 of this invention Flow chart for explaining the operation of the order processing apparatus Flow chart for explaining the operation of the order processing apparatus Flow chart for explaining the operation of the order processing apparatus Conceptual diagram of an order processing system equipped with the order processing apparatus The figure which shows the figure which shows the customer management information of the order processing apparatus The figure which shows the seat apparatus management information of the order processing apparatus The figure which shows an example of the order screen of the order processing apparatus The figure which shows the image information management information of the order processing apparatus The figure which shows an example of the order screen of the order processing apparatus The figure which shows the order reception information of the order processing apparatus The figure which shows the order information of the order processing apparatus The figure which shows the conversion goods corresponding information of the order processing apparatus The figure which shows the order information of the order processing apparatus The figure which shows the order screen for confirming the order of the same order processing device The figure which shows an example of the total weight management information of the order processing apparatus The figure which shows the image on the table which the empty area detection part of the order processing apparatus acquired The figure which shows the example of a warning of the order processing apparatus The figure which shows the example of a display of the order screen of the order processing apparatus The block diagram of the order processing apparatus in Embodiment 2 of this invention Flow chart for explaining the operation of the order processing apparatus Conceptual diagram of the order processing device The figure which shows the customer area management information of the order processing apparatus The figure which shows the goods related image of the order processing apparatus (FIG. 24 (a), (b)) The figure which shows an example of the merchandise area management information of the order processing apparatus The figure which shows the goods related image of the order processing apparatus (FIG. 26 (a), (b)) The figure which shows the goods related image of the order processing apparatus (FIG. 27 (a), (b)) Block diagram of an order processing apparatus in Embodiment 3 of the present invention Flow chart for explaining the operation of the order processing apparatus The figure which shows the customer location management information of the order processing apparatus The figure which shows the goods related image of the order processing apparatus The figure which shows the figure which shows the merchandise customer area management information of the order processing apparatus The figure which shows the goods related image of the order processing apparatus (FIG. 33 (a), (b)) The figure which shows an example of the external appearance of the computer system in each embodiment of this invention The figure which shows an example of a structure of the computer system

  Hereinafter, embodiments of an order processing apparatus and the like will be described with reference to the drawings. In addition, since the component which attached | subjected the same code | symbol in embodiment performs the same operation | movement, description may be abbreviate | omitted again.

(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an order processing apparatus 1 in the present embodiment.

  The order processing apparatus 1 includes an order reception unit 101, an order reception information storage unit 102, a converted product correspondence information storage unit 103, an order information acquisition unit 104, an order information output unit 105, an image information storage unit 106, an image information acquisition unit 107, An order screen output unit 108, a merchandise customer information acquisition unit 109, a provision time acquisition unit 110, a free space detection unit 111, a condition determination unit 112, a determination unit 113, and a warning output unit 114 are provided.

  The product customer information acquisition unit 109 includes two or more weight measurement units 1090, an acquired customer identification information acquisition unit 1091, and a product identification information acquisition unit 1092.

  The order reception unit 101 receives order reception information. The order reception information includes customer identification information for each of a plurality of customers, product identification information for a product ordered by each of the plurality of customers, and quantity information indicating the quantity of the product. For example, the order reception information is information received by the order reception unit 101 as a result of a plurality of customers individually ordering products.

  The product described here may be any product as long as it is tangible. The product is, for example, a food or drink provided at a restaurant.

  The customer identification information is customer identification information, and may be any information as long as the customer can identify the information. The customer identification information may be, for example, the customer's name, customer's membership number, customer's mobile phone number, customer's credit card number, cash card number, or the like. Moreover, the character string (a number is also included) temporarily allocated with respect to the customer may be sufficient. Moreover, the identification information etc. which show the seat etc. which a customer uses may be sufficient. The product identification information is product identification information. The product identification information may be any information as long as it is information that can identify the product, such as a product name or a product code. The quantity information is information indicating the quantity of the product. The quantity is, for example, the number (number) or weight of products. It is. The quantity information is, for example, a value indicating the number of products or the amount of products. The value indicating the number of products is, for example, one, two, one cup, two cups, one serving, two servings, or the like. Moreover, it is a value indicating the quantity of the product, a value indicating the quantity such as large, medium or small, or a value such as 100 g, 200 g or 200 ml. The unit of quantity information does not matter. The quantity information may or may not include unit information. Further, when the designation of quantity information is not received from the customer, default quantity information (for example, “1”, etc.) may be received.

  The order receiving unit 101 may further receive the number information. The number-of-persons information is the number of a plurality of customers who order the product. It may be the number of groups of customers who order products. The number information is information on the number of people. The number of people information is, for example, information on the number of people who use or consume the ordered product. For example, the order receiving unit 101 may receive number information input by a customer via an input device (not shown). In addition, a pressure sensor, a proximity sensor, and the like are provided for detecting that a person is sitting in each seat or the like where a customer orders a product, and the order receiving unit 101 indicates the number of sensors that detect the person among these sensors. May be counted, and the order receiving unit 101 may receive the count value as the number of people information. In addition, the order reception unit 101 stores the information in which the seat where the customer sits and the customer identification information of the customer sitting in the seat in advance is stored in a storage unit (not shown). A value obtained by counting the number of pieces of customer identification information stored in the department may be acquired as the number information.

  In the present embodiment, as an example, a case will be described in which the order reception unit 101 stores order reception information received from a customer in an order reception information storage unit 102 described later.

  The reception here is reception of information input from an input device such as a keyboard, mouse, touch panel, reception of information transmitted via a wired or wireless communication line, a recording medium such as an optical disk, a magnetic disk, or a semiconductor memory. This is a concept including reception of information read out from. The order reception unit 101 may receive order reception information input to an information terminal for receiving order reception information prepared in advance via, for example, a wireless or wired communication unit. Further, such an information terminal may be given to each customer, and each customer may input order acceptance information via this information terminal. Further, in this case, the customer identification information in the order reception information is input to the information terminal in advance and can be stored in a storage medium (not shown) in the information terminal before placing an order. When the product identification information and the quantity information of the product ordered by the customer are received from the customer, the customer identification information stored in the storage medium is read, and the received product identification information and the quantity information are stored in the order receiving unit 101. You may make it transmit.

  The order reception information storage unit 102 stores the order reception information received by the order reception unit 101. Note that the order reception information stored in the order reception information storage unit 102 may be information obtained by excluding quantity information from the order reception information. The order acceptance information storage unit 102 is preferably a non-volatile recording medium, but can also be realized by a volatile recording medium. This also applies to other storage units.

  The converted product correspondence information storage unit 103 stores product identification information, quantity specification information that is information for specifying a quantity, and product identification information of a product to be converted that differs only in quantity from the product indicated by the product identification information. The converted product correspondence information having the converted product identification information is stored. The quantity designation information is, for example, information indicating the quantity of products necessary for conversion. The quantity is, for example, the weight, volume or number of products. If the product is in a container, the quantity may be considered as the internal volume. The products that differ only in quantity are, for example, glass wine and bottle wine in the same brand of wine, glass beer and pitcher beer, and normal size and party size food. The product to be converted is specifically a product to be converted by the image information acquisition unit 107 described later. The product to be converted is, for example, the product indicated by the corresponding product identification information that is larger than the total amount when the product indicated by the corresponding product identification information is prepared for the quantity designation information. It is a product whose price is the same or cheaper than the total price when only the specified information is prepared. Or, for example, the product indicated by the corresponding product identification information is the same as the total amount when the product indicated by the corresponding product identification information is prepared for the quantity specification information, and the product indicated by the corresponding product identification information is prepared for the quantity specification information. If the product is cheaper than the total price. The conversion will be described later. The quantity designation information is, for example, information that designates the quantity of the conversion source product.

  The order information acquisition unit 104 aggregates the quantity indicated by the quantity information included in the order reception information received by the order reception unit 101 for each product identification information included in the same order reception information as the quantity information. Then, the order information acquisition unit 104 acquires order information including total quantity information that is information indicating the total quantity and product identification information corresponding to the quantity. To sum up for each product identification information, specifically, two or more pieces of quantity information included in the order reception information having the same product identification information (in other words, a quantity associated with the same product identification information) The quantity indicated by (information) is to be added. If there is no quantity information associated with the same product identification information, the quantity is not added. Note that, here, the quantity information in which the quantity is not finally added is also one of the aggregation results, and is therefore handled as the aggregated quantity information. Aggregation of the quantity information for each product identification information by the order information acquisition unit 104 is performed, for example, every time the order information acquisition unit 104 receives the order information.

  Further, the order information acquisition unit 104 is included in the converted product correspondence information of the quantity indicated by the quantity information associated with the product identification information that matches the product identification information indicated by the converted product correspondence information in the aggregated quantity information. The quantity indicated by the quantity designation information may be changed to the aggregate quantity information of the quantity designated in advance associated with the converted product identification information. That is, instead of the quantity indicated by the total quantity information included in the order information having the product identification information that matches the product identification information indicated by the converted product correspondence information, the quantity indicated by the quantity designation information included in the converted product correspondence information. Order information including product identification information included in the converted product correspondence information and quantity designation information of a quantity designated in advance may be acquired. For example, the order information acquisition unit 104 acquires product identification information from the one order information acquired as described above, and specifies the quantity specified in association with the product identification information that matches the product identification information. The information and the converted product identification information are read from the converted product correspondence information stored in the converted product correspondence information storage unit 103. Then, it is determined whether or not the quantity indicated by the quantity designation information is included in the quantity indicated by the aggregate quantity information included in the one order information acquired above. If included, the quantity indicated by the quantity designation information is subtracted from the total quantity information included in the one order information acquired above, and the product identification information indicated by the converted merchandise identification information and the quantity specified in advance Order information having total quantity information is newly acquired. The quantity designated in advance is, for example, “1”. The reception information whose value is “0” after subtraction may be deleted. If the quantity indicated by the quantity specification information includes a plurality of quantities indicated by the quantity specification information, the total obtained by multiplying the number indicated by the quantity specification information by the number specified by the quantity specification information. Order information having quantity information is acquired, and a plurality of quantities indicated by the quantity designation information are subtracted from the aggregated quantity information of the original order information. Note that the previously specified quantity may be different for each converted product correspondence information, or a preliminarily prepared amount associated with each converted product correspondence information may be read.

  Below, an example in the case of converting is demonstrated. For example, it is assumed that the product identification information included in one order reception information is glass beer identification information, and the quantity information included in the same order reception information is information indicating the quantity “5”. The converted product correspondence information storage unit 103 stores the converted product correspondence information having the same product identification information as the glass beer identification information, and the quantity indicated by the quantity designation information of the converted product correspondence information is “4”. It is assumed that the converted product identification information is product identification information of the same beer pitcher (large container) as the glass beer. In addition, this beer pitcher has the same capacity as four glass beers and is a low-priced product. The order information acquisition unit 104 subtracts the value “4” indicated by the quantity designation information from the value “5” indicated by the quantity information, and acquires one converted product identification information of the beer pitcher. Further, the remaining quantity “1” is used to update the total quantity information of the order information including the product identification information of the glass beer. As a result, order information of a beer pitcher with a low price is acquired instead of four glasses of beer.

  When the aggregate quantity information is changed, the customer identification information associated with the order receipt information of the change source product is acquired, and the customer identification information and the product identification information of the product added by the change are obtained. The order acceptance information having the previously specified quantity may be generated and stored in the order acceptance information storage unit 102. Further, the order acceptance information of the product before the change may be deleted when the value of the total quantity information becomes “0”.

  There is no limitation on the timing at which the order information acquisition unit 104 acquires the order information. For example, the order information may be acquired when the order reception unit 101 receives the order reception information. In addition, after receiving the order reception information, the order information may be acquired when an instruction for generating the order information or an instruction for outputting the order information is received. Further, the order information acquisition unit 104 may acquire order information further including the above-described number information.

  The order information output unit 105 outputs the order information acquired by the order information acquisition unit 104. For example, the order information output unit 105 transmits the order information acquired by the order information acquisition unit 104 to a transmission destination designated in advance via a network or a communication line. The transmission destination designated in advance is, for example, a server device (not shown) that is a notification destination of order information. The notification destination of the order information is, for example, a trader that provides products according to the order contents indicated by the order information, a server device for receiving the order information, or the like. The order information output unit 105 may display the order information on a monitor or the like, or may print it out on paper or the like using a printer or the like.

  There is no limitation on the timing or trigger at which the order information output unit 105 outputs the order information. For example, it may be transmitted when the order information acquisition unit 104 acquires the order information, or after the order information acquisition unit 104 acquires the order information, an instruction to transmit the order information from the customer via a reception unit (not shown) or the like May be transmitted when received.

  Output described here includes display on a display, printing on a printer, sound output, transmission to an external device, storage on a recording medium, delivery of processing results to other processing devices or other programs, etc. It is a concept that includes. The same applies to other outputs.

  The order information output unit 105 may or may not include an output device such as a display. The order information output unit 105 can be realized by communication means for communicating information via a network or the like, driver software of an output device, driver software of an output device and an output device, or the like. The same applies to other output units such as the order screen output unit 108 and the warning output unit 114.

  The image information storage unit 106 stores one or more pieces of product image management information including product identification information, quantity information, and product image information that is product image information indicated by the product identification information for the quantity indicated by the quantity information. Is done. The product image information of the product corresponding to the quantity indicated by the quantity information is, for example, information on the product image in a state where the products are arranged or arranged by the quantity indicated by the quantity information. For example, it is image information obtained by arranging products corresponding to the quantity indicated by the quantity information and shooting with a camera or the like. For example, image information in which three products A are arranged as product image information corresponding to product identification information indicating product A treated as a product in quantity units and quantity information indicating three quantities is stored as image information. Stored in the unit 106. In addition, for example, the product image information corresponding to the product identification information indicating the food and drink B having the number of people such as 1 serving and 2 servings as the unit of the product quantity and the quantity information indicating the quantity of 3 servings is 3 people. The image information of the food / beverage B which put the food / beverage B of the quantity on the plate etc. may be sufficient. In addition, if the image which merchandise image information shows is an image which can grasp | ascertain that the merchandise for the quantity which quantity information shows has gathered, the merchandise for the quantity which quantity information will necessarily display on the image. It doesn't have to be a thing. For example, instead of images indicating six canned beverages, image information indicating images of six can packs of the same canned beverage may be stored as product image information.

  In the image information storage unit 106, the product identification information, the quantity information, the number information indicating the number of people, and the number indicated by the number information indicate the number of items indicated by the product identification information corresponding to the quantity indicated by the quantity information. One or more pieces of product image management information having product image information that is image information of products distributed in (1) may be stored. As an example, product image information stored in association with product identification information indicating product A treated as a product in units of pieces, quantity information indicating eight quantities, and number information indicating the number of four persons. Is image information of a product in a state where eight products A are distributed to four (four people), specifically, a product image in which four sets of two products A are arranged. . In addition, the product stored in association with the product identification information indicating the product B handled as the product in weight units, not in number units, quantity information indicating 200 quantities, and number information indicating the number of five people The image information is image information of a product in a state where 200 g of product B is distributed to five (5 persons), and specifically, a product image in which five 40 g of products B are prepared. Note that the product image management information having the number information and the product image management information having no number information are stored in the image information storage unit 106, and the input received by the order receiving unit 101 is the number information. If the image information acquisition unit 107 has the number information, product image information having the number information may be used. If the number information does not have the number information, the product image information without the number information may be used.

  The product image information may be image information obtained by actually photographing the product, image information generated by CG (computer graphics) or the like, or image information of product illustrations. It may be. The product image information may be moving image information or still image information. Moreover, the data type of product image information, a file format, etc. are not ask | required. In the product image information, product information such as the price of the product may be arranged as an image showing a character string.

  There is no limitation on the timing, trigger, or the like at which the product image information is stored in the image information storage unit 106. For example, the image information storage unit 106 may store one or more pieces of product image information in advance. Further, the storage here may be a concept including temporary storage. For example, the product identification information generated by the image information acquisition unit 107, which will be described later, by CG, image synthesis, or the like according to the product identification information and quantity information included in the order reception information received by the order reception unit 101 Image information prepared for the quantity indicated by the quantity information may be temporarily stored in the image information storage unit 106. In addition, the product identification information generated by the image information acquisition unit 107 and the like, which will be described later, by CG, image synthesis, or the like according to the product identification information and the total quantity information included in the order information acquired by the order information acquisition unit 104 Image information prepared for the quantity indicated by the total quantity information for the product indicated by the information may be temporarily stored in the image information storage unit 106.

  Further, the image information storage unit 106 may further store other information related to the product such as the product price in association with the product identification information.

  The image information acquisition unit 107 acquires product image information corresponding to the product identification information and quantity information included in the order information received by the order reception unit 101 from the image information storage unit 106. For example, product image information in which product identification information and quantity information corresponding to the product identification information and quantity information included in the order reception information are associated with each other is searched from the image information storage unit 106, and the detected product image information is obtained. get. In addition, image information (hereinafter, unit image information) indicating a minimum unit quantity (for example, one piece, one dish, or a specified weight) of a product indicated by one or more product identification information in a storage medium or the like not shown in advance. The unit image information corresponding to the merchandise identification information received by the order receiving unit 101 is extracted from this, and this is duplicated and combined by the amount information received. The product image information that is the image information of the composite image obtained in the above may be temporarily stored in the image information storage unit 106 described above and read out from the image information storage unit 106. When combining, it is necessary to arrange each copied image at a position where at least a part of each image does not overlap. For example, prepare the image information of the product for the minimum unit (for example, one) of the quantity that hides the part other than the product with a so-called clipping path or mask, and the distance indicated in advance on the background image specified in advance The product image information is generated by arranging (combining, for example) combining the image information corresponding to the quantity indicated by the quantity information by shifting (horizontally, if necessary) while shifting in the horizontal or vertical direction. Further, the vertical and horizontal lengths of the product image information are acquired, and the total value of the horizontal lengths of the plurality of pieces of image information arranged in the horizontal direction while shifting by a predetermined distance as described above is obtained in advance. If the specified product image information exceeds the horizontal length, the image information that is determined to exceed the horizontal length again starts from the position shifted by a predetermined distance in the height direction. The product image information may be acquired by arranging and synthesizing a minimum amount of image information. The shifting distance may be equal to or longer than the horizontal length of the image information of the product for the minimum unit, or longer than the vertical length. Further, the image information of the minimum unit product may be arranged along a grid prepared in advance. The image information acquisition unit 107 also includes modeling data of a three-dimensional object corresponding to a minimum unit of the product indicated by one or more product identification information prepared in advance in a storage medium (not shown), texture data of the product, and the like. From the modeling data and texture data corresponding to the product identification information received by the order receiving unit 101, the modeling data is duplicated by the quantity indicated by the quantity information, and the position designated in advance, the rule designated in advance, etc. The product image information indicating the quantity of products is generated by mapping the read texture data to the modeling data and rendering it, and temporarily storing it in the image information storage unit 106. Information may be read from the image information storage unit 106. For example, the arrangement of the plurality of modeling data may be performed according to the same rule as the arrangement rule when the image information of the product for the minimum unit is arranged.

  When the product image information stored in the image information storage unit 106 is associated with the number information, and the order reception information includes the number information, the image information acquisition unit 107 includes the order reception unit 101. The product image information corresponding to the product identification information, the quantity information, and the number of people information included in the received order information may be acquired from the image information storage unit 106. Specifically, for example, product image information in which product identification information, quantity information, and number information that match the product identification information, quantity information, and number information included in the order information received by the order receiving unit 101 are associated with each other. Is acquired from the image information storage unit 106. Further, as described above, the image information acquisition unit 107 obtains the product identification information, the quantity information, the number of people information included in the order reception information, the unit image information corresponding to the product identification information, the modeling data, and the like. The product image information in a state in which the product is distributed by the number of people indicated by the number information is generated, and the generated product image information is temporarily stored in the image information storage unit 106, and the product image information is acquired as image information. The unit 107 may read out from the image information storage unit 106.

  Further, the image information acquisition unit 107 may acquire the product image information corresponding to the product identification information and the total quantity information included in the order information acquired by the order information acquisition unit 104 from the image information storage unit 106. good. For example, product image information in which product identification information and quantity information that respectively match the product identification information and the total quantity information included in the order information are searched from the image information storage unit 106, and the detected product image information is obtained. get. In addition, in the order information, as described above, the product identification information according to a part of the total quantity information of one product identification information using the converted product correspondence information stored in the converted product correspondence information storage unit 103. When order information including product identification information of a product to be converted that differs only in quantity from the product indicated by is generated, the product image included in the generated order information and the product identification information that is the conversion source indicate You may acquire the product image information which shows the image which synthesize | combined the image of the remaining quantity of goods remaining without conversion of goods. For example, the product image information corresponding to the product identification information included in the order information obtained by the conversion and the product image corresponding to the product identification information included in the order information including the product identification information to be converted Information, and the product image information obtained is superimposed and combined (combined) by shifting the images by a predetermined distance so that the products indicated by the product image information do not overlap each other. Product image information may be acquired. When combining, it is preferable to combine the images in an image combining mode (for example, a multiplication mode, an overlay mode, or the like) in which a portion other than the background color of the back image is displayed on the front surface. Also, the product color of the product image information is detected by detecting the background color, etc., and the image information is generated by clipping the region other than the detected region with a clipping path or a mask. Similar to the processing when combining image information, the combined image information may be acquired by arranging and combining the image information on the background image so that at least a part does not overlap.

  When the order information includes the number information, the image information acquisition unit 107 corresponds to the product identification information, the total quantity information, and the number information included in the order information acquired by the order information acquisition unit 104. Information may be acquired from the image information storage unit 106. For example, the image information storage unit 106 is searched for product image information in which product identification information, quantity information, and number of people information corresponding to the product identification information, the total quantity information, and the number of people information included in the order information are matched, The detected product image information is acquired.

  There is no limitation on the timing or trigger at which the image information acquisition unit 107 acquires the product image information. For example, the product image information may be acquired when the order reception unit 101 receives the order reception information. Further, when the order information acquisition unit 104 acquires order information, the product image information may be acquired. Further, for example, when a customer inputs product identification information, quantity information, number of people information, etc. on an input interface screen for inputting order information to the order receiving unit 101, for example, The product image information may be acquired using the input product identification information, quantity information, or the like. Moreover, it is preferable that the image information acquisition part 107 acquires the product image information according to the input information, whenever the input product identification information, quantity information, etc. are changed.

  The order screen output unit 108 outputs an order screen, which is a screen used for receiving an order, on which the product image information acquired by the image information acquisition unit 107 is arranged. For example, the order screen output unit 108 displays an order screen, which is a screen used for receiving an order, on which the product image information acquired by the image information acquisition unit 107 is arranged. For example, the order screen output unit 108 generates image information for displaying the order screen, and displays the order screen by displaying the image information. Here, one or more of the product image information may be converted product image information acquired by the image information acquisition unit 107 described above. For example, the order screen output unit 108 generates an image for displaying the order screen and displays the order screen.

  The order screen is, for example, an interface screen output by the order screen output unit 108 for receiving an order for a product. For example, the order screen is a screen that receives product identification information and quantity information of a product ordered by the user, a screen that displays the received value, a product image of the received product, and the like. The order screen is, for example, a screen on which product image information acquired by the image information acquisition unit 107, product identification information about a product indicated by the product image information, an image such as a button for receiving an order, and the like are arranged. The image such as the button may be associated with a program for receiving order reception information including product identification information, quantity information, and the like. However, the order screen may not be a screen functioning as an interface screen for receiving an order or the like as long as it is a screen used for receiving an order as a result. For example, the order screen is an order for displaying product images, product identification information, quantity information, etc., such as product menu screens and catalog screens for salesclerks to accept orders via oral or telephone. It may be a screen to be used. In this case, a button for receiving an order as described above may be omitted. For example, the order screen may be a screen on which product image information acquired by the image information acquisition unit 107 is displayed. The order screen may be composed of a plurality of screens including a screen used for receiving an order. For example, the order screen may include a screen for displaying the above-described product image information, a screen on which buttons for receiving an order for the product indicated by the product image information, and the like are arranged. In addition, the order screen may further include information about a store or the like, advertisement information, and the like. Further, product information such as a product price corresponding to the product identification information read from the image information storage unit 106 or the like may be further arranged on the order screen.

  The order screen output unit 108 uses, for example, an order prepared in advance for the product image information acquired by the image information acquisition unit 107, the product identification information received by the order reception unit 101, and the quantity information in accordance with rules specified in advance. Image information for displaying the order screen is generated by placing the screen in an area defining the screen or in a template or the like designated in advance, and the order screen is output. Here, a case where a product order can be accepted via the order screen will be described as an example. The template information may be stored in advance in, for example, a template information storage unit configured with a storage medium or the like (not shown). Further, the order screen output unit 108 may temporarily store the generated image information of the order screen in a storage medium (not shown), and read the image information to display the order screen.

  The merchandise customer information acquisition unit 109 acquires acquired customer identification information, which is customer identification information of a customer who acquires at least a part of the products provided to one or more customers according to the order information, and the product identification of the products Get information and. The product provided to one or more customers according to the order information means, for example, a product indicated by the order information output by the order information output unit 105. The product provided here may be considered as a product that can be distributed by one or more customers, for example. One product provided to one or more customers is, for example, food or drink for one or more customers arranged in a container such as a dish. For example, it is a food and drink for sharing among one or more customers provided in a form arranged on one platter. One or more customers may be considered a group of customers. "Customer who acquires at least a part of a product" refers to a customer who has acquired at least a part of the product and an attempt to acquire at least a part of the product regardless of whether or not the product is actually acquired. Means both with customers. The product identification information acquired by the product customer information acquisition unit 109 is product identification information of a product acquired by the customer among products provided to one or more customers. The product acquired by the customer is, for example, a product that each customer separates from products provided to one or more customers. For example, it is the food and drink which each customer distributes from one dish where food and drinks are arranged. The customer who acquires at least a part of the product may be a customer who acquired a part of the product, or a customer who is trying to acquire a part of the product.

  It does not matter how the product customer information acquisition unit 109 acquires the acquired customer identification information and the product identification information of the acquired product. For example, the product customer information acquisition unit 109 uses the product identification information of the product provided to one or more customers according to the order information, and the weight of the product acquired by the customer associated with the customer identification information. Thus, the identification information of the customer who acquires the product and the product identification information of the acquired product are acquired. The product customer information acquisition unit 109 acquires, for example, the amount of the product acquired by each customer using a change in the weight of the product, for example, an increase or decrease in the weight, and the increase amount of the acquired product is If it is a positive value that is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold value, customer identification information associated with this customer is acquired. The customer identification information corresponding to each customer is, for example, customer identification information associated in advance with a device or the like that measures the amount of products acquired by each customer. In addition, the product customer information acquisition unit 109 acquires product identification information by reading product identification information given to a product provided to one or more customers, for example. Thereby, the product customer information acquisition unit 109 acquires, for example, the customer identification information of the customer who acquired the product and the product identification information of the product. In the present embodiment, in particular, the product customer information acquisition unit 109 includes two or more weight measuring units 1090, an acquired customer identification information acquisition unit 1091, and a product identification information acquisition unit 1092. An example of acquiring customer identification information of a customer who acquires a product and product identification information of the product will be described.

  The two or more weight measuring units 1090 measure the weight of the product acquired by each customer for each customer. The two or more weight measuring means 1090 are provided in association with a plurality of customers, for example, and measure the weight of the product acquired by each customer. The weight measuring unit 1090 is a device that measures the weight, such as a weigh scale or a weight sensor. Further, the weight measuring unit 1090 has, for example, measuring unit identification information for identifying each. For example, the measuring unit identification information is stored in a storage medium (not shown) in the weight measuring unit 1090. The measuring means identification information may be, for example, a serial number of an apparatus that measures the weight constituting the weight measuring means 1090, or an IP address. For example, the weight measuring unit 1090 outputs the acquired product weight and the measuring unit identification information to the acquired customer identification information acquiring unit 1091 described later. The weight measuring unit 1090 and the acquired customer identification information acquiring unit 1091 may be connected in any way as long as information can be transmitted and received, for example, may be connected by a signal line or a bus, It may be connected by a wired network or the like. When connected via a network, the weight measuring unit 1090 and the acquired customer identification information acquiring unit 1091 may each include a communication unit for communication via the network. Here, the case where each weight measuring means 1090 is a part of the order processing apparatus 1 will be described. However, each weight measuring means 1090 may constitute an apparatus outside the order processing apparatus 1.

  For example, when the product is a food or drink, the weight measuring means 1090 is attached to a container such as a plate or a cup used for food or drink, and the food or drink allocated to this container is used. It is preferable to be able to measure the weight because the labor of measuring the weight can be saved.

  The acquired customer identification information acquisition unit 1091 acquires the increase amount of the product weight, which is the increase amount of the product amount acquired by each customer. Then, when the increase in weight is a positive value that is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold value, acquired customer identification information that is customer identification information of each customer is acquired. For example, the acquired customer identification information acquisition unit 1091 acquires the weight that is the amount of the product acquired by each customer acquired by the one or more weight measurement units 1090 and the measurement unit identification information of each weight measurement unit 1090, The data is sequentially stored in a storage medium (not shown). Instead of the measurement means identification information, customer identification information associated with the measurement means identification information may be acquired and stored as described later. Each time a new weight and measurement means identification information are acquired from the weight measurement means 1090, the same measurement means identification information as the newly acquired measurement means identification information is selected from the weights stored in a storage medium (not shown). , The weight in which the order of acquisition (or the order of accumulation) is one or more before the newly acquired weight is read, and the difference between the read weight and the newly acquired weight (ie, the amount of change) is read out. calculate. Here, it is preferable to read out the weight whose acquired order (or the stored order) is one before the newly acquired weight. If the difference is a positive value greater than a predetermined threshold value, it is determined that the customer associated with the weight measuring unit 1090 has acquired the product, and the customer identification associated with the measuring unit identification information is determined. Get information. Note that “greater than the threshold value” here may be considered as a concept including the same case as the threshold value. Further, instead of calculating the difference in weight, the weight measuring unit 1090 always acquires the change amount (increase or decrease) of the weight from the previous weight measurement, and acquires this. Customer identification information acquisition unit It may be output to 1091.

  The customer identification information associated with the measurement means identification information is acquired as follows, for example. For example, the storage means or the like (not shown) in the acquired customer identification information acquisition unit 1091 has the measurement unit identification information of each weight measurement unit 1090 and the customer identification information of the customer who uses each weight measurement unit 1090 associated with each other. Weight customer management information is stored in advance. The acquired customer identification information acquisition unit 1091 acquires customer identification information corresponding to the measurement unit identification information acquired from the weight measurement unit 1090 from the weight customer management information. Thereby, the acquired customer identification information acquisition unit 1091 acquires the weight of the product acquired by one customer and the customer identification information of the customer. If the measurement means identification information is associated with the customer identification information, the customer identification information can be obtained as a result from the measurement means identification information. Therefore, the measurement means identification information is considered to be the same as the customer identification information. You may do it. In addition, when the customer identification information acquisition unit 1091 receives an input of weight via one input port, the customer identification information is associated with an input port or the like that receives the output of each weight measuring unit 1090. In addition, customer identification information of this input port may be acquired. The process by which the weight customer management information is stored in the storage medium does not matter. Further, customer identification information may be used as measurement means identification information. In this case, the acquired customer identification information acquisition unit 1091 does not need to convert the measurement unit identification information into customer identification information. As described above, when the acquired customer identification information acquisition unit 1091 receives input of information such as weight acquired by two or more weight measurement units 1090, the acquired customer identification information acquisition unit 1091 inputs information such as weight. It may be considered as an input interface to accept. Further, two or more weight measuring means 1090 may be considered as part of the acquired customer identification information acquiring means 1091.

  The product identification information acquisition unit 1092 acquires the product identification information about the product for which the increase in weight is acquired when the acquisition customer identification information acquisition unit 1091 acquires the acquisition customer identification information. The product identification information acquisition unit 1092 acquires, for example, the product identification information of one product provided when the acquisition customer identification information acquisition unit 1091 acquires the acquisition customer identification information. In addition, when there are a plurality of products provided to one or more customers, the acquired customer identification information acquisition unit 1091 sequentially acquires the amount of change in the total weight of each product provided to the customers. The product identification information of the product whose total weight is reduced when the identification information is acquired is acquired.

  It does not matter how the product identification information acquisition unit 1092 acquires product identification information corresponding to products provided to one or more customers. For example, product identification information acquisition means 1092 is assigned to a product provided to one or more customers by providing product identification information to a product provided to one or more customers in advance. The product identification information is acquired by reading the existing product identification information. In this case, the product identification information may be given to the product in any way. For example, a barcode indicating product identification information may be assigned to the product, and the product identification information may be acquired by reading the barcode with a barcode reader (not shown). For example, when the product is a food or drink, the bar code is placed in a container such as a plate where the food or drink is placed. When the product is provided to the customer, the customer You may make it read with the barcode reader installed in the table, counter, etc. to be used. Alternatively, a barcode is provided on the top surface of a container such as a plate, an image on the table is taken with a camera or the like (not shown), and the portion where the barcode is provided is recognized from the taken image, The recognized barcode may be read to obtain product identification information. The process of detecting a portion provided with a barcode is known in image recognition technology and the like, and has already been put into practical use in, for example, a camera such as a mobile phone. In addition, an RFID tag storing product identification information is attached to the product in advance, and when the product is provided to the customer, an RFID tag reader / writer (not shown), etc. Thus, the product identification information may be read out. For example, when the product is a food or drink, the food or drink is provided with an RFID tag in which product identification information is stored in a container such as a dish, and the customer uses a table or the like. An RFID tag reader / writer or the like is provided in advance. And you may make it read merchandise identification information with an RFID tag reader / writer etc. from the RFID tag provided to the container by which the food / beverage put on the table is arrange | positioned. In addition, when a product is provided to a plurality of customers by storing information including a product image for pattern matching and product identification information in a storage medium (not shown) in advance, this image is displayed. An image is acquired by photographing the image, and an image that matches the product is detected from the acquired image by pattern matching or the like from the image for pattern matching, and the product associated with the detected image You may make it acquire identification information. Instead of the image for pattern matching, the feature amount of the image may be used.

  Note that the product identification information acquisition unit 1092 may be considered to include a barcode reader, an RFID tag reader / writer, or the like that is used to acquire the product identification information. It may be considered that the product identification information is acquired using the information acquired by these devices outside the product, or the product identification information acquired by these devices outside the order processing device 1 is received.

  The provision time acquisition unit 110 acquires the provision time of the product provided to one or more customers and the product identification information of the product. The provision time acquisition unit 110 may acquire the provision time and the product identification information in any way. For example, you may receive the provision time and merchandise identification information which the merchandise provider outputs. Further, as described above, the product identification information of the product provided to one or more customers acquired by the product identification information acquisition unit 1092 and the time when the product identification information is acquired may be acquired as the provision time. Further, the product identification information acquisition means 1092 uses the same configuration as the configuration for acquiring the product identification information, etc., and the product identification information of the product provided to one or more customers, and the time when the product identification information is acquired. You may acquire provision time. This configuration may or may not be provided by the provision time acquisition unit 110. In addition, since the provision time here is used to acquire the duration for which the product is provided, the provision time may be set as a time measurement start time (for example, 0:00). Here, it is considered that the provision time of the product is substantially acquired. The provision time can be acquired from, for example, a clock (not shown).

  The vacant area detection unit 111 detects an vacant area having a predesignated size in which no merchandise is arranged in an area in which merchandise provided to one or more customers is arranged. For example, the free space detection unit 111 acquires an image of a region where a product provided to one or more customers can be arranged, and detects a free space of a predetermined size in this image. It may be considered that detecting a free area having a predesignated size is detecting a free space having a predesignated size or more. The area where the product can be placed is, for example, a table. The vacant area detection unit 111 may include an imaging unit that captures an image of an area where a product can be placed, or may accept an image acquired by an external imaging unit or the like. The photographing means is, for example, a camera. The image acquired by the empty area detection unit 111 may be a still image or a moving image. In the case of a still image, it may be an image that is sequentially acquired at a predetermined or indefinite timing specified in advance, or may be an image that is acquired when an empty area is detected. For example, a region where an object such as a product is arranged is detected in an image of a region where the product can be arranged. For example, such a region can be detected by using the background color of the region where no object is arranged. Then, areas having a predetermined size and shape are arranged while sequentially shifting in the image, and it is sequentially determined whether there is an arrangement that does not overlap any of the areas detected above. If there is a non-overlapping arrangement, a pre-designated empty area has been detected, otherwise it has not been detected. Alternatively, an area where no object is arranged is detected, and it is determined whether or not an area having a predetermined size and shape can be accommodated in this area. You may judge that there is. Alternatively, it may be determined whether there is a free area by calculating a distance between objects detected from the image. It does not matter how the free area is detected.

  The condition determination unit 112 determines whether or not the state in which the product is provided satisfies a non-warning condition. The state in which the product is provided may be considered as information indicating the state in which the product is provided. The non-warning condition is a condition specified in advance for not outputting a warning. The warning will be described later. Non-warning conditions are stored in advance in, for example, a storage medium (not shown).

  For example, the non-warning condition is a condition indicating that the time elapsed since the product provided to the customer according to the order information has been provided to the customer is equal to or longer than a predetermined time. The predesignated time may be considered as a threshold value. Here, this non-warning condition is referred to as a first non-warning condition.

  Further, the non-warning condition is, for example, that the product indicated by the product identification information acquired by the product customer information acquisition unit 109 is ordered when the free space detection unit 111 cannot detect a free space of a predetermined size. Of the products currently offered to customers according to the information, the length of elapsed time since being provided to the customer indicates that the product is up to a pre-specified order counting from the longest It is a condition. For example, when the pre-designated rank is “first place”, the product from the longest to the pre-designated rank is the product with the longest elapsed time. In addition, for example, when the pre-specified rank is “third place”, the products from the longest to the pre-designated rank are the ones from the longest elapsed time up to the third It is a commodity. For example, here, this non-warning condition is referred to as a second non-warning condition.

  Hereinafter, the determination process performed by the condition determination unit 112 for determining whether or not the non-warning condition is satisfied will be described for cases where the non-warning condition is the first non-warning condition and the second non-warning condition. Needless to say, the condition determination unit 112 may appropriately perform both the determination based on the first non-warning condition and the determination based on the second non-warning condition.

(1) Judgment Processing Using First Non-Warning Condition The condition judgment unit 112 provides, for example, the elapsed time up to the present time for the product indicated by the product identification information acquired by the product customer information acquisition unit 109, the provision time acquisition unit 110. Is acquired using the provided time acquired for the product identification information, and it is determined whether or not the acquired elapsed time satisfies the non-warning condition. The elapsed time until the present time for the product indicated by the product identification information acquired by the product customer information acquisition unit 109 is, for example, the elapsed time until the time when the product identification information is acquired. For example, first, a first non-warning condition including a predesignated time in the first non-warning condition is accumulated in a storage medium (not shown) in advance. Then, the condition determination unit 112 acquires the provision time associated with the product identification information that matches the product identification information acquired by the product customer information acquisition unit 109 from the provision times acquired by the provision time acquisition unit 110. To do. The product customer information acquisition unit 109 acquires the time at which the product identification information is acquired from a clock or the like (not shown), and the product customer information acquisition unit 109 acquires the time and the provision time acquired above. The elapsed time from the time when the product indicated by the product identification information is provided to the customer to the time when the product identification information is acquired is calculated. Instead of the time when the product customer information acquisition unit 109 acquires the product identification information, the current time when the calculation of the elapsed time is started may be used. The condition determination unit 112 reads the above-described predetermined time from a storage medium (not shown), and determines whether the calculated elapsed time is equal to or longer than the read time. If it is longer than the read time, a determination result indicating that the first non-warning condition is satisfied is output, and if not longer than the time, a determination result indicating that the first non-warning condition is not satisfied is output. In addition, when the provision time acquired by the provision time acquisition unit 110 is a time indicating the start of counting elapsed time, from the provision time as the elapsed time until the product customer information acquisition unit 109 acquires the product identification information. You may make it acquire the time until the time of acquiring the counted product identification information.

(2) Judgment Processing Using Second Non-Warning Condition The condition judgment unit 112 is acquired by the product customer information acquisition unit 109 when the free space detection unit 111 cannot detect a free space of a predetermined size. The provision time acquired by the provision time acquisition unit 110 for the product indicated by the product identification information and the provision time acquired by the provision time acquisition unit 110 for other products currently provided are obtained and the obtained provision time is obtained. To determine whether a non-warning condition is met. The empty area having a predesignated area may be considered as an empty area having a predesignated area or more. For example, first, a second non-warning condition including a pre-specified order is accumulated in advance in a storage medium (not shown). Here, in the currently provided products, products whose elapsed time is longer than that of one product are products whose provision time is earlier than this one product. For this reason, here, as an example, the determination process is performed assuming that the provision time is early and the elapsed time is long. When the free space detection unit 111 outputs a result indicating that a free space having a predetermined size cannot be detected, the condition determination unit 112 presents each currently provided to one or more customers. The providing time corresponding to the product is acquired from the providing times acquired by the providing time acquisition unit 110, respectively. Then, when the provision times are sorted in order from the earliest time, the merchandise customer information acquisition unit 109 receives the merchandise identification information corresponding to the merchandise identification information that matches the merchandise identification information from the earliest provision time. It is determined whether or not the rank is within the rank specified in advance. If the rank is within the rank, it is determined that the second non-warning condition is satisfied. If the rank is not within the rank, the second non-warning condition is not satisfied. to decide. In addition, instead of using the time indicated by the provision time as the elapsed time, the elapsed time is obtained from the provision time, as in the case of the determination process of the first non-warning condition, It may be determined whether or not a non-warning condition is satisfied.

  Note that the condition determination unit 112 may also determine whether or not the condition in which the product is provided satisfies a condition for performing a warning prepared in advance, and as a result, the non-warning condition is satisfied. Since it is possible to obtain the same determination result as that for determining whether or not a non-warning condition is satisfied, it may be considered as an aspect of determining whether or not a non-warning condition is satisfied. In this case, the result that satisfies the condition for performing the warning corresponds to the result that the non-warning condition is not satisfied, and the result that the result that does not satisfy the condition for performing the warning corresponds to the result that the non-warning condition is satisfied. It becomes.

  The determination unit 113 includes, in the order reception information received by the order reception unit 101, product identification information and customer identification information that match the combination of the product identification information acquired by the product customer information acquisition unit 109 and the acquired customer identification information. It is determined whether or not there is order reception information having a set of For example, this process may be considered as a process for determining whether or not a customer who acquires one product is a customer who has ordered the one product. Then, the determination result is delivered to the warning output unit 114.

  When the determination unit 113 determines that there is no order reception information, the warning output unit 114 outputs a warning regarding inappropriate acquisition of the product. The warning regarding inappropriate acquisition of a product is, for example, a warning indicating that one customer is trying to acquire (or has acquired) a product that has not been ordered. The warning output here is, for example, display of a character or image indicating a warning, output of sound indicating a warning, output of light indicating a warning, or the like. Alternatively, transmission of information used for outputting these outputs by a device or the like that can output an external warning (not shown) may be used. This warning may include the product identification information acquired by the product customer information acquisition unit 109 as the product identification information of the product acquired inappropriately. Moreover, you may make it have the acquisition customer identification information which the merchandise customer information acquisition part 109 acquired as customer identification information of the customer who acquires goods inappropriately. For example, when a plurality of customers have a device or monitor that can output a warning or the like associated with the customer identification information of each customer, the device or monitor corresponding to the customer identification information of the plurality of customers In response to this, a warning may be output, or a warning may be selectively output to the device or monitor for the acquired customer identification information acquired by the product customer information acquisition unit 109. For the device or monitor corresponding to the customer identification information included in the order reception information associated with the product identification information acquired by the product customer information acquisition unit 109 in the order reception information received by the order reception unit 101 The tendency may be selectively output.

  The warning output unit 114 may not output a warning when the condition determination unit 112 determines that the above-described non-warning condition is satisfied. For example, when the condition determination unit 112 determines that any one of the first non-warning condition and the second non-warning condition described above is satisfied, the warning output unit 114 may not output a warning. In addition, when the condition determination unit 112 determines that the above-described non-warning condition is satisfied, the condition determination unit 112 also satisfies the above-described non-warning condition even when a warning is not output from the warning output unit 114 as a result. It may be considered that the warning output unit 114 does not output a warning according to the determination result.

  Next, the operation of the order processing apparatus 1 will be described using the flowchart of FIG. Here, an example in which product image management information including product identification information, quantity information, number of people information, and product image information is stored in the image information storage unit 106 in advance will be described.

  (Step S201) The order receiving unit 101 determines whether or not there is input of product identification information and quantity information. If there is an input, the process proceeds to step S202. If there is no input, the process proceeds to step S213.

  (Step S202) The order receiving unit 101 determines whether there is an input of the number information. If there is an input, the process proceeds to step S203, and if there is no input, the process proceeds to step S204.

  (Step S203) The image information acquisition unit 107 acquires the product image information corresponding to the product identification information and the quantity information received in Step S201 from the image information storage unit 106. In step S202, since the input of the number information is not accepted, for example, product image information associated with the number information “1” is acquired here.

  (Step S204) The image information acquisition unit 107 receives the product image information corresponding to the product identification information received in step S201, the product image information corresponding to the quantity information, and the number of people information received in step S202, as image information. Obtained from the storage unit 106. This image information is product image information indicating a state in which the product indicated by the product image information acquired in step S203 is distributed according to the number of people information.

  (Step S205) The order screen output unit 108 generates and outputs an order screen including the product image information acquired in step S203 or step S204, the product identification information received in step S201, and quantity information. Further, an order screen further including the number information received in step S202 may be output.

  (Step S206) The order receiving unit 101 receives an instruction (not shown) for determining to input the product identification information and the like input on the order receiving screen output in step S205 as information for ordering the product. It is determined whether or not it has been received from the customer via the like. The instruction to determine is output in response to pressing a determination button or the like output on the order screen, for example. If an instruction to determine input is accepted, the process proceeds to step S207. If not accepted, the process proceeds to step S210.

  (Step S207) The order receiving unit 101 determines whether there is an input of customer identification information. If there is input of customer identification information, the process proceeds to step S208, and if not, the process proceeds to step S210.

  (Step S208) The order receiving unit 101 receives order receiving information including the product identification information received in step S201, the quantity information, and the customer identification information received in step S207. The received order information is temporarily stored in a storage medium (not shown).

  (Step S209) The order processing apparatus 1 performs an order information output process using the order reception information received in step S208. Details of this processing will be described later. Then, the process returns to step S201.

  (Step S210) The order receiving unit 101 determines whether an order change has been received. For example, it is determined whether the merchandise identification information received in step S201 or a change in quantity information has been received. If accepted, the process returns to step S202. If not accepted, the process proceeds to step S211.

  (Step S211) The order receiving unit 101 determines whether an instruction to cancel the reception of information input in step S201 or the like has been received from a customer via a not-shown receiving unit or the like. If accepted, the process returns to step S201. If not accepted, the process returns to step S206.

  (Step S212) The order receiving unit 101 determines whether an instruction to cancel the reception of the information input in step S201 or the like has been received from a customer via a receiving unit (not shown). If accepted, the process returns to step S201. If not accepted, the process returns to step S207.

  (Step S213) The provision time acquisition unit 110 determines whether or not product identification information of a product newly provided to one or more customers according to the order information has been acquired. For example, the product identification information of a new product is input by a product provider or the like when the product is provided. Alternatively, a device that outputs product identification information such as an RFID tag is attached to the product, and the product identification information output by this device using a tag reader / writer or the like in the area where the product is provided. The product identification information of a new product may be acquired by repeating the process of detecting. If acquired, the process proceeds to step S214. If not acquired, the process proceeds to step S215.

  (Step S214) The provision time acquisition unit 110 acquires the current time as the provision time of the product corresponding to the product identification information newly acquired in Step S213. Then, the process returns to step S201.

  (Step S215) The merchandise customer information acquisition unit 109 determines whether there is one or more products provided to one or more customers. For example, it may be determined whether there is product identification information associated with the provided time acquired by the provided time acquisition unit 110, and if there is, it may be determined that there is a product. If there is a product, the process proceeds to step S216; otherwise, the process returns to step S201.

  (Step S216) The order processing apparatus 1 performs a determination process related to the acquisition of a product. Details of this processing will be described later. Then, the process returns to step S201.

  In the flowchart of FIG. 1, the process ends when the power is turned off or the process ends.

  Next, the operation of the order information output process of the order processing apparatus 1 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. This process is a process corresponding to step S209 in FIG.

  (Step S301) The order information acquisition unit 104 totals the quantity information for each product identification information with respect to the order reception information received in step S208 of FIG. 2, and acquires order information having the total quantity information and the product identification information. To do. The acquired order information is stored in a storage medium (not shown).

  (Step S302) The order information acquisition unit 104 substitutes 1 for the value of the counter m.

  (Step S303) The order information acquisition unit 104 determines whether or not the order information acquired in step S301 includes the m-th order information. If there is m-th order information, the process proceeds to step S304, and if not, the process proceeds to step S310.

  (Step S304) The order information acquisition unit 104 converts the quantity designation information associated with the product identification information that matches the product identification information included in the mth order information and the converted product identification information into the converted product correspondence information storage unit. 103.

  (Step S305) The order information acquisition unit 104 divides the total quantity information included in the m-th order information by the quantity designation information acquired in step S304.

  (Step S306) The order information acquisition unit 104 determines whether or not the integer value obtained as a division result is “0”. If it is “0”, the process proceeds to step S307, and if it is not “0”, the process proceeds to step S308.

  (Step S307) The order information acquisition unit 104 adds the order information having the converted product identification information acquired in step S304 as the product identification information and the integer value that is the division result in step S306 as the total quantity information. For example, this order information is added to a storage medium (not shown).

  (Step S308) The order information acquisition unit 104 updates the value of the aggregate quantity information included in the m-th order information to a numerical value indicated by the remainder obtained by the division performed in Step S305. If the remainder is “0”, the m-th order information may be deleted.

  (Step S309) The order information acquisition unit 104 increments the value of the counter m by 1. Then, the process returns to step S303.

  (Step S310) The image information acquisition unit 107 obtains product image information corresponding to the product identification information included in the order information acquired by the order information acquisition unit 104 from the product image information storage unit 106, as in step S203 described above. get.

  (Step S311) The order screen output unit 108 generates and outputs an order screen using the order information and the product image information acquired in step S310. Here, unlike the order screen output in step S205, the order screen to be output is an order screen for finalizing the final order by counting the products input as products ordered by one or more customers. You may think.

  (Step S312) The order information output unit 105 determines whether or not an instruction to confirm an order is received from the order information displayed on the order screen. For example, when the button for confirming the order displayed on the order screen is pressed, the order information output unit 105 may accept an instruction for confirming the order. If accepted, the process proceeds to step S313, and if not accepted, the process proceeds to step S314.

  (Step S313) The order information output unit 105 outputs order information. Then, the process returns to the upper process.

  (Step S314) The order information output unit 105 determines whether an instruction not to confirm an order has been received. For example, when a customer wants to add a product, an instruction indicating that the order is not confirmed is input. If not accepted, the process returns to step S312, and if accepted, the process returns to the upper process.

  In the flowchart of FIG. 3, the process ends when the power is turned off or the process is terminated.

  Next, the operation of the determination process related to the acquisition of the product by the order processing apparatus 1 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. This process is a process corresponding to step S216 in FIG. Here, each product provided to one or more customers is provided with a weight measuring means (not shown) for measuring the total weight of each product, similar to the weight measuring means 1090 described above. It shall be. This weight measuring means is referred to herein as total weight measuring means. Assume that the total weight measuring means outputs the product identification information of the product to be measured and the measured value of the total weight of the product to the product identification information acquiring means 1092.

  (Step S401) The merchandise customer information acquisition unit 109 substitutes 1 for a counter n.

  (Step S402) The product identification information acquiring unit 1092 determines whether there is product identification information of the nth product provided to one or more customers. For example, it may be determined whether or not the product identification information associated with the provision time acquired by the provision time acquisition unit 110 includes the nth product identification information. If there is the product identification information of the nth product, the process proceeds to step S403, and if not, the process returns to the upper process.

  (Step S403) The product identification information acquisition unit 1092 acquires the total weight of the nth product from the total weight acquisition unit provided in the nth product.

  (Step S404) The product identification information acquisition unit 1092 acquires the product identification information of the nth product.

  (Step S405) The product identification information acquisition unit 1092 associates the total weight acquired in step S403 with the product identification information of the nth product acquired in step S404, and stores it in a storage medium (not shown). When accumulating, accumulation is performed so that the accumulation order can be understood. For example, the data may be stored side by side in the storage order, stored in association with information indicating the storage order, or stored in association with stored items.

  (Step S406) The merchandise item identification information acquisition means 1092 is stored in association with the same nth item identification information from the total weight associated with the nth item identification information accumulated in step S405. Subtract the total weight previously accumulated. Then, the merchandise item identification information acquisition unit 1092 determines whether or not the subtracted value is a negative value that is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold value. As a result, it is determined whether or not the total weight of the nth product is decreasing. The threshold value is provided in order to ignore errors and the like, and the threshold value can be omitted. If the negative value is equal to or smaller than the threshold value, the process proceeds to step S407.

  (Step S407) The two or more weight measuring units 1090 set the current weight to “0 g”.

  (Step S408) The acquired customer identification information acquisition unit 1091 substitutes 1 for the value of the counter m.

  (Step S409) The acquired customer identification information acquisition unit 1091 determines whether or not the m-th customer identification information is included in the customer identification information associated with the weight measurement unit 1090. If there is, the process proceeds to step S410, and if not, the process returns to step S408.

  (Step S410) The acquired customer identification information acquisition unit 1091 acquires the mth customer identification information when the weight measurement unit 1090 associated with the mth customer identification information acquires. Here, the amount of increase in weight is a measured value of the weight measured by the weight measuring unit 1090 because the weight is set to “0 g” in step S407.

  (Step S411) The acquired customer identification information acquisition unit 1091 determines whether or not the increase in weight acquired in Step S410 is a positive value that is greater than a predetermined threshold value. If it is a positive value larger than the threshold value, the process proceeds to step S412, and if it is not a positive value larger than the threshold value, the process proceeds to step S423.

  (Step S412) The acquired customer identification information acquisition unit 1091 acquires the m-th customer identification information as acquired customer identification information.

  (Step S413) The condition determination unit 112 reads the provision time associated with the product identification information acquired in Step S404 from the provision times acquired by the provision time acquisition unit 110. Also, the current time is acquired, and the provision time is subtracted from the current time, and the elapsed time since the product indicated by the product identification information acquired in step S404 is acquired.

  (Step S414) The condition determining unit 112 determines whether or not the elapsed time acquired in Step S413 satisfies the first non-warning condition. If satisfied, the process proceeds to step S422. If not satisfied, the process proceeds to step S415.

  (Step S415) The condition determining unit 112 acquires image information obtained by capturing an area where a product is placed from an imaging unit (not shown).

  (Step S416) The condition determining unit 112 determines whether or not there is a free area having a shape and size specified in advance in the image information acquired in Step S415. If there is a free area, the process proceeds to step S422, and if not, the process proceeds to step S417.

  (Step S417) The condition determination unit 112 reads the provision time associated with the product identification information acquired in Step S404 from the provision times acquired by the provision time acquisition unit 110. Also, the provision time associated with the merchandise identification information of other merchandise provided to one or more customers is read out.

  (Step S418) The condition determining unit 112 determines whether the second non-warning condition is satisfied using the provision time acquired in Step S417. For example, it is determined whether or not the provision time associated with the product identification information acquired in step S404 is the oldest. If satisfied, the process proceeds to step S422. If not satisfied, the process proceeds to step S419.

  (Step S419) The determination unit 113 acquires order acceptance information having product identification information that matches the nth product identification information.

  (Step S420) The determination unit 113 determines whether any of the order reception information acquired in step S419 has customer identification information that matches the acquired customer identification information. If there is, the process proceeds to step S422, and if not, the process proceeds to step S421.

  (Step S421) The warning output unit 114 outputs a warning indicating that there has been an inappropriate acquisition of a product. For example, a warning indicating that the customer indicated by the acquired customer identification information acquired in step S412 is about to acquire the product indicated by the product identification information acquired in step S404 that has not been ordered is output. Then, the process proceeds to step S422.

  (Step S422) The merchandise customer information acquisition unit 109 increments the value of the counter n by 1. Then, the process returns to step S402.

  (Step S423) The acquired customer identification information acquiring unit 1091 increments the value of the counter m by 1. Then, the process returns to step S409.

  In the flowchart of FIG. 4, the process ends when the power is turned off or the process ends.

  Hereinafter, a specific operation of the order processing apparatus 1 in the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram of an order processing system provided with the order processing apparatus 1. Here, as an example, the order processing system can display an order screen used when the order processing apparatus 1 and a plurality of customers place orders for products, and can accept input from customers. A plurality of customer terminal devices 10 are provided. Here, as an example, the number of customer terminal devices 10 is four, and each customer terminal device is represented by customer terminal devices 10a to 10d. Here, it is assumed that the order processing device 1 and each customer terminal device 10 are connected by wireless communication. However, a wired connection may be used. Here, it is assumed that the product to be ordered is a food or drink provided at a restaurant. It is assumed that the order processing device 1 and the customer terminal device 10 are installed in the same restaurant.

  Each customer terminal device 10 is assumed to be installed in association with each seat on which a customer is seated, for example, in each table in a restaurant. Each customer terminal device 10 has terminal identification information, which is identification information for identifying each device, in a storage medium (not shown), and the information input to the customer terminal device 10 is stored in the order processing device 1. When transmitting to the terminal, the terminal identification information is added and transmitted. Further, it is assumed that the customer terminal device 10 has a touch panel arranged on a monitor and can perform a touch panel operation.

  In addition, here, four customer trays 15 are provided in front of the seats used by the four customers of the table on which the food and drink are arranged, and each tray 15 has a weight measuring means. Assume that 1090 is provided. Here, the weight measuring means 1090 is a weight sensor, and measures the weight of the product placed on the pan 15. Each weight measuring unit 1090 has measuring unit identification information in an internal storage medium (not shown) or the like, and outputs the measuring unit identification information and the weight measurement result to the acquired customer identification information acquiring unit 1091. In addition, each dish 15 is represented by the dishes 15a-15d here. Further, the weight measuring means 1090 of the respective dishes 15a to 15d are represented by weight measuring means 1090a to 1090d.

  A card reader 16 that reads information such as a card number from a credit card is provided in front of each seat where a customer sits. The card reader 16 has reader identification information that is identification information for identifying the card reader in an internal storage medium (not shown). When the four customers on the table read the information of each credit card into the card reader 16 provided at each seat, the credit card number and the reader identification information are transmitted to the order processing apparatus 1. . Here, each customer's credit card number is used as customer identification information.

  As an example, the order processing apparatus 1 includes, as an example, an internal storage medium (not shown), identification information (for example, a seat number) of each seat where a customer sits, and a customer terminal device 10 installed for the seat, It is assumed that seat device management information having terminal identification information, measuring means identification information, and reader identification information associated with the plate 15 and the card reader 16 is stored in advance. When the card reader 16 reads the customer's credit card information, the reader identification information and the credit card number are transmitted from the card reader 16 to the order processing device 1, and the order processing device 1 is received by a receiving unit (not shown). Upon receiving these pieces of information, it is assumed that customer management information having the received reader identification information and a credit card number (that is, customer identification information here) is stored in a storage medium (not shown). With this customer management information and the above-described seat device management information, customer identification information, terminal identification information, and measuring means identification information are associated with each other.

  In this specific example, description will be given of a case where order acceptance information of each customer is received via the customer terminal device 10, but the order processing device 1 is directly input by each customer without via the customer terminal device 10. Order reception information to be received may be received.

  Here, first, assuming that four users have each card reader 16 read each credit card for one table in a restaurant, each customer's credit card number and each card reader's It is assumed that the reader identification information is transmitted from the card reader 16 to the order processing apparatus 1, and customer management information including the received credit card number and the reader identification information is accumulated in a storage medium (not shown).

  FIG. 6 is a diagram showing customer management information stored in a storage medium (not shown) of the order processing apparatus 1. The customer management information includes items of “customer ID” that is customer identification information and “reader ID” that is reader identification information.

  FIG. 7 shows seat device management information stored in advance in a storage medium (not shown) of the order processing device 1. The seat management information includes “seat ID” that is seat identification information, “terminal ID” that is terminal identification information, “reader ID” that is the same as the above “reader ID”, and “measurement” that is measurement means identification information. Means ID ”. In the customer management information and the seat device management information, “customer ID”, “terminal ID”, and “measurement means ID” between records having the same “reader ID” are associated with each other.

  First, if a plurality of users activate the customer terminal device 10 for one table of a restaurant, the order screen output unit 108 of the order processing device 1 generates information for displaying a default order screen. Then, this information is transmitted to the customer terminal device 10, and each customer terminal device 10 that has received this information displays a menu screen on the monitor. This menu screen is, for example, pre-designated product identification information of product image information stored in the image information storage unit 106 in a menu screen template stored in a storage medium (not shown) in advance. Assume that the screen is created by reading out and arranging corresponding product image information.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of a default order screen displayed on the monitor of the customer terminal device 10 immediately after activation. On the order screen, product image information corresponding to one or more product identification information specified by default, product name and price information are arranged. A quantity input field 42 and an enter button 44 are provided beside each product image information. A number input field 43 is provided at the top of the screen.

  The quantity input field 42 constitutes a drop-down type list menu. When the button next to the quantity input field 42 is pressed, a list showing a plurality of quantities is displayed. By placing the mouse or touching one item on this list on the touchpad, the focus information is focused on one of the quantity values in the list, and the quantity information indicating the focused quantity and the quantity input field 42 A program or the like that is sent in advance to the order receiving unit 101 of the order processing apparatus 1 in association with the terminal identification information and the product identification information of the product displayed beside the item is preset in the quantity input field 42 And Since the configuration of such a list menu is a known technique, the description thereof is omitted here. Note that the default value of the quantity input field 42 is “1”, and the image displayed by the product image information displayed by default is an image when there is one product (or a single serving or one plate). And

  The number of people input field 43 is an input field for inputting number of people information, and is “(not specified)” by default. The number input field 43 also constitutes a list menu indicating the number of persons in the same manner as described above. Here, when a click or tap on the focused number of persons is performed, the order receiving unit 101 displays the number information. Shall be accepted.

  The determination button 44 is a button used to determine an input for a product corresponding to the product image information. When the determination button 44 is pressed, the product identification information corresponding to the product image information next to the determination button 44 and the number of people information input in the field 43 are transmitted to the order processing apparatus 1 together with the terminal identification information. The determination button 44 is associated with a program or the like so that the order receiving unit 101 receives these pieces of information.

  Here, first, the customer whose “customer ID” is “4567885...” Operates the touch panel of the customer terminal device 10a whose terminal ID is “100101”, and the product code as product identification information is “F001”. A quantity list menu is displayed in the quantity input field 42 located next to a product whose product name is “shrimp fried”, a finger is placed on the item indicating the number “4”, and the item “4” is displayed. Suppose that it is in focus. The product identification information (product code) may be considered as dish identification information.

  When the number item “4” in the list menu is focused, the customer terminal device 10 with the terminal ID “100101” has the product identification information “F001”, the quantity information “4”, and the terminal ID “100101”. Is transmitted to the order processing apparatus 1, and the order receiving unit 101 of the order processing apparatus 1 receives these pieces of information.

  FIG. 9 is a diagram showing image information management information for managing product image information stored in the image information storage unit 106. The image information management information includes items such as “ID”, “product ID”, “quantity information”, “number of people information”, “product image information”, “product name”, and “price”. "Is identification information for managing the record of the image information management information. “Product ID” is product identification information. “Quantity information” is quantity information, and “number information” is number information. Here, “product image information” indicates the file name of the product image information.

  From the image information management information shown in FIG. 9, the image information acquisition unit 107 receives “product ID” and “quantity information”, product identification information “F001” received by the order reception unit 101, and quantity information “4”. Find records that match. Here, since the number information is not received, a record having “1” as the “number information” is further detected from the detected records. Then, the product image information “F001 — 4.jpg” of the detected record is read out. In addition, the image information acquisition unit 107 reads the product identification information “F001 — 4” corresponding to the product image information, other price information, and the like from the image information management information. If the order receiving unit 101 has not received the number information, the product image information obtained by distributing the products for the number of people cannot be searched. Therefore, here, the number information is set to “1” and the product is substantially The product image information in a state where is not distributed is searched.

  The order screen output unit 108 generates an order screen in which the acquired image file “F001 — 4.jpg” is arranged. For example, the image file “F001 — 4.jpg” obtained by the image information obtaining unit 107 for the product image information corresponding to the quantity input field 42 used for receiving the quantity information in the default order screen illustrated in FIG. By changing the image shown in FIG. 5 and changing the value of the price, information for displaying the order screen is generated and transmitted to the customer terminal device 10a whose “terminal ID” is “100101”. The customer terminal device 10a displays an order screen using the received information.

  FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of an order screen displayed by the customer terminal device 10a. The order screen displays an image 70 indicated by the image file “F001 — 4.jpg”, a product ID “F001” of the product indicated by the image 70, a product name, and information 71 including the changed price. It is assumed that the image 70 is an image in which four shrimp flies are arranged in one dish. In addition, information such as the product name and the total price of the product of the quantity indicated by the quantity information is also displayed.

  When the user operates the touch panel or the like to press (tap) the determination button 44 located beside the image 70 indicated by the image file “F001 — 4.jpg”, the customer terminal device 10a is displayed on the order screen. The product ID “F001”, the quantity information “4”, and the terminal ID “100101” are transmitted to the order processing apparatus 1 together with information indicating that the input of the order has been determined. When the order receiving unit 101 of the order processing apparatus 1 receives these pieces of information, the order receiving unit 101 stores the “customer ID” corresponding to the received terminal ID “100101” in the customer management information shown in FIG. Judge whether or not. First, “1001”, which is the “reader ID” corresponding to the terminal ID “100101”, is read out in the seat device management information shown in FIG. 7, and the reader ID “1001” is handled in the customer management information shown in FIG. The attached “customer ID” is searched. Here, since the customer ID “4567885...” Is searched, the order receiving unit 101 determines that the customer identification information is received, and the customer ID “4567885...” And the product ID “F001” received above. ”And quantity information“ 4 ”are stored in the order reception information storage unit 102. If customer identification information is not received, an input screen for prompting customer identification information may be output.

  FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating the order reception information stored in the order reception information storage unit 102. Here, it is assumed that other order reception information has already been stored. The order acceptance information includes items of “customer ID”, “product ID”, “quantity information”, and “confirmation information”. “Confirmation information” is information indicating whether or not the order has been confirmed. The value “1” indicates that the order has been confirmed, and the value “0” indicates that the order has not been confirmed. When the order reception information is stored in the order reception information storage unit 102, the value of the “confirmation information” is “0”, and the “confirmation” of the order reception information corresponding to the order information output from the order information output unit 105 “Information” is changed to “1”.

  The order information acquisition unit 104 sequentially searches the order reception information shown in FIG. 11 with the same “product ID” in the order reception information whose confirmation information is “0”. The total quantity information is acquired by adding the quantity information of the same order reception information. Then, the acquired total quantity information is stored in a storage medium (not shown) in association with the “product ID”. For example, in FIG. 11, first, a record whose “product ID” is “F001” is detected, and all the values of “quantity information” of the detected record are added to obtain total quantity information “6”. Order information in which the aggregate quantity information “6” is associated with the product ID “F001” is stored. Further, in the remaining order acceptance information, a record having “product ID” “D001” is detected, and the total quantity information “4” is obtained by adding all the values of “quantity information” of the detected record. Order information in which the total quantity information “4” and the product ID “D001” are associated with each other is stored. Similarly, order information in which the product ID “F005” is associated with the total quantity information “3” is acquired and stored.

  FIG. 12 is a diagram showing order information stored in a storage medium (not shown). The order information includes “product ID” and “total quantity” which is total quantity information.

  FIG. 13 is a diagram showing the converted product correspondence information stored in the converted product correspondence information storage unit 103. The converted product correspondence information includes “product ID”, “quantity specifying information” that is quantity specifying information, and “converted product ID” that is converted product identifying information.

  Next, the order information acquisition unit 104 reads the product ID “F001” corresponding to the total quantity information acquired above, and searches for the “product ID” matching this in the converted product corresponding information shown in FIG. Here, since no match is detected, the product ID “D001” corresponding to the next aggregate quantity information is read, and the “product ID” matching this is searched in the converted product corresponding information shown in FIG. This product ID “D001” is assumed to be the “product ID” of the glass wine. Here, since a record having “D001” as the “product ID” is detected in the converted product correspondence information, the quantity designation information “4” and the converted product ID “DL001” of this record are read out. The converted product ID “DL001” is product identification information of bottled wine. Then, “4” that is “quantity information” corresponding to the product ID “D001” is divided by the quantity designation information “4”. The value “1” is obtained by division. Here, no remainder is generated. Since the value of the division result is “1”, the order information acquisition unit 104 uses the converted product identification information “DL001” acquired above and the order information using the value “1” of the division result as total quantity information as shown in FIG. Add to the order information shown in. Further, since the value of “total quantity” corresponding to the product ID “D001” is “0” because there is no remainder by the above division, the value of “total quantity” corresponding to the product ID “D001” is changed. Update to “0” or delete the order information corresponding to the product ID “D001”. Here, the deletion is performed. As a result, the order information for four glass wines is converted into the order information for one bottle of wine. If there is a remainder, the value of “total quantity” corresponding to the product ID “D001” is updated with this remainder. In addition, since the record having the “product ID” “F005” is not detected in the converted product corresponding information, the order information having the “product ID” “F005” is not changed.

  FIG. 14 is a diagram showing the order information converted using the converted product correspondence information in this way.

  Since the product ID “DL001” is the “product ID” acquired corresponding to the product ID “D001”, the “confirmation information” of the product ID “D001” of the order reception information illustrated in FIG. All “product IDs” of records that are not “0” are updated to “DL001”, the quantity information is left blank, and the aggregated quantity information “1” is divided by the number of records with the product ID “D001”. It is good also as a value.

  Next, the order screen output unit 108 includes an image having “product ID” and “quantity information” that match a set of “product ID” and “total quantity” included in the order information shown in FIG. A record of information management information is acquired from the image information management information shown in FIG. 9, and the “product image information”, “quantity information”, “product name”, “price”, and the like are acquired. For example, the product image information “F001 — 6.jpg”, the quantity information “6”, the product name “shrimp fried”, and the like are acquired from the order information corresponding to the product ID “F001”. The same applies to other order information. For example, image information with a file name “r_wine01.jpg” is read from the product ID “DL001” and the quantity information “1”.

  Then, the order screen output unit 108 uses the acquired product image information and the like to generate information for displaying an order screen for receiving information for confirming the order, and transmits the information to the customer terminal device 10. Here, the customer terminal device 10 may be only the customer terminal device 10a whose “terminal ID” is “100101”, or may be all the customer terminal devices 10 or a customer terminal device 10 designated in advance. It may be. The customer terminal device 10 that has received this information displays an order screen using the received information.

  FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating an order screen for confirming an order displayed on the customer terminal device 10. The image 90 is an image indicated by the image file “r_wine01.jpg”, and is an image of the same wine bottle as the glass wine indicated by the product identification information “D001”. For example, if the price for 4 glasses of wine is higher than the price of 1 bottle of wine and the amount of wine for 4 glasses of wine is less than the amount of wine for 1 bottle of wine, When specified, instead of displaying an image showing four glasses of wine, by displaying bottled wine with the same contents, it is possible to make a profitable product proposal without wasting the user. Advantageous proposals can be made automatically, increasing customer satisfaction.

  When the customer presses the confirmation button, the order information shown in FIG. 14 is transmitted to a server device (not shown) that receives and manages orders from the customer, for example, in a restaurant kitchen or the like. It should be noted that identification information such as a table on which the order processing device 1 is arranged is stored in advance in a storage medium (not shown) of the order processing device 1, and the identification information such as this table is used as information on the destination of the dish. As mentioned above, it is preferable to transmit it together with order information. Thereby, in the kitchen, the dish indicated by the order information is prepared and provided to the customer who placed the order.

  Here, the store clerk carrying the ordered dish carries the dish 18a on which the dish with the product identification information “F001” is placed and the dish 18b on which the dish with the product identification information “F005” is placed on the table. Suppose it was made. It is assumed that a total weight measuring unit 1095 similar to the above-described weight measuring unit 1090 is provided in each of the dishes 18a and 18b. Also, it is assumed that each total weight measuring unit 1095 stores in advance product identification information of a product for which the total weight is measured. It is assumed that the product identification information of the product on the plate 18a is “F001”, and the product identification information of the product on the plate 18b is “F005”. The weight measured by each total weight measuring unit 1095 is transmitted to the product identification information acquiring unit 1092 by wireless communication together with the product identification information included in each total weight measuring unit 1095. The product identification information and the identification information of the total weight measuring means 1095 that measures the total weight of the product indicated by the product identification information are associated in advance and stored in advance in a storage medium (not shown) in the order processing apparatus 1. As described above, the gross weight measuring means 1095 transmits the identification information of the gross weight measuring means 1095 instead of sending the merchandise identification information, and the merchandise identification information is obtained from this identification information using the above information. You may make it do.

  The total weight measuring means 1095 provided on the plates 18a and 18b sequentially measure the total weight of the dishes at predetermined timings and the like, and use the measured values and the product identification information as the product identification information. It outputs to the acquisition means 1092. Here, the product identification information acquisition unit 1092 at the time of acquiring the weight for each product identification information acquires this information and stores it in a storage medium (not shown) in association with the acquired time. Then, the difference between the newly accumulated total weight and the accumulated total weight associated with the previous product identification information is calculated. Then, it is determined whether or not the difference is a negative value that is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold value. The threshold value is assumed to be “−3 g”, for example. This threshold is for excluding errors. If it is negative below the threshold, the product identification information acquisition unit 1092 determines that at least a part of the dish indicated by the product identification information has been acquired by the customer, and acquires the product identification information.

  FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating an example of total weight management information including the total weight acquired and accumulated by the product identification information acquisition unit 1092 and the product identification information. The total weight management information includes “total weight”, “product ID”, and “measurement time” indicating the time when the total weight is measured.

  Also, the provision time acquisition unit 110 acquires the oldest “measurement time” acquired for each product identification information as the provision time when the product indicated by each product identification information is delivered. For example, the provision time of the commodity with the commodity ID “F001” is “18:19:50”, and the provision time of the commodity with the commodity ID “F005” is “18:20:00”. The acquired provision time is temporarily stored in a storage medium (not shown).

  Here, for example, it is assumed that a customer whose customer identification information is “2567887...” Picks up one product from the dish 18a. Assuming that the latest total weight measured by the total weight measuring means 1095 of the dish 18a immediately after the customer picks up the product is "350 g", the total weight measuring means 1095 has the total weight "350 g" The product identification information “F001” associated with the total weight measuring unit 1095 of the dish 18a is output to the product identification information acquiring unit 1092. The product identification information acquisition unit 1092 stores these pieces of information in association with the acquired time information, and the same product identification information “F001” from the total weight stored before the latest total weight. The total weight associated with the latest measurement time is acquired. Here, the total weight “400 g” of the record whose “measurement time” is “18:20:30” is acquired. Then, the total weight “400 g” immediately before this is subtracted from the latest weight “350 g” to obtain a value “50 g”. As a result of comparing this value with the above threshold, it is determined that the value is equal to or greater than the threshold. Then, the product identification information “F001” is acquired and temporarily stored in a storage medium (not shown).

  Since the product identification information acquisition unit 1092 has acquired the product identification information “F001”, the weight measurement units 1090a to 1090 provided on the plates 15a to 15d in front of the customer's seats respectively indicate the currently measured weights “ 0g ". Then, the acquired customer identification information acquiring unit 1091 sequentially determines whether or not each of the weight measuring units 1090a to 1090d has measured a weight equal to or greater than a threshold value.

  Here, it is assumed that a customer whose customer identification information is “2567887...” Places a product picked up from the plate 18a on his plate 15c. When the product is placed, the weight measuring means 1090c of the pan 15c measures the weight of the product. The acquired customer identification information acquisition unit 1091 determines whether or not the weight transmitted from the weight measurement unit 1090c together with the measurement unit identification information “50053” of the weight measurement unit 1090c is equal to or greater than a threshold (for example, 3 g). Here, if it is determined that the weight is equal to or greater than the threshold value, the acquired customer identification information acquisition unit 1091 acquires customer identification information corresponding to the measurement unit identification information as acquired customer identification information. Here, the reader ID “1003” corresponding to the measuring means identification information “50053” of the weight measuring means 1090c is acquired from the seat device management information shown in FIG. 7, and the customer ID “2567887 corresponding to this reader ID“ 1003 ”is acquired. ... ”Is acquired from the customer management information shown in FIG. 6 as acquired customer identification information.

  The provision time acquisition unit 110 acquires the provision time associated with the product identification information “F001” acquired by the product identification information acquisition unit 1092 as described above. Here, as described above, in the total weight management information shown in FIG. 16, “18:19:50”, which is the oldest “measurement time” associated with the product identification information “F001”, is used as the provision time. get. Then, the provided time acquisition unit 110 acquires the current time “18:22:50” from a clock or the like, and acquires “3 minutes” that is the difference as the elapsed time. Then, the condition determining unit 112 determines whether or not this elapsed time satisfies the first non-warning condition. Here, assuming that the first non-warning condition is a condition that “the elapsed time since the product was provided to the customer of the product is a predetermined time of 15 minutes or more”, the elapsed time acquired above. Since “3 minutes” is a value less than “15 minutes”, it is determined that the condition is not satisfied. If this elapsed time exceeds 15 minutes, it is determined that the condition is satisfied.

  For this reason, the vacant area detection unit 111 acquires an image on a table provided with a dish, which is taken by an imaging device (not shown) such as a camera provided on the table, and detects an vacant area.

  FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating an image on a table acquired by the free space detection unit 111.

  In this image, the vacant area detection unit 111 uses the color of the surface of the table specified in advance, for example, the area where the surface of the table is not visible, that is, the area where the dish 18 or the dish 15 is arranged. Is detected. Then, while moving an area having a shape and size specified in advance on the image in units of pixels, it is sequentially determined whether or not there is an overlapping portion between this area and the area where the surface of the table is not visible. To do. If the shape and size of this area is the same size as the size of the dish 18 placed on the table, etc., it is determined that there is no overlapping portion, there is an empty area where a new dish can be placed, It will indicate that it is on the table. Here, for example, if an arrangement in which the regions do not overlap is detected, the condition determination unit 112 does not determine whether the situation in which the product is provided satisfies the second non-warning condition.

  Then, the determination unit 113 determines the order reception information having the product ID that matches the product identification information “F001” from the order reception information shown in FIG. 11 (or updated order reception information if updated). It is determined whether or not there is a “customer ID” that matches the acquired customer identification information “2567887...” In the detected order acceptance information. Here, it is determined that there is no match. This may be considered to indicate that the customer has acquired a product that has not been ordered. For this reason, the warning output unit 114 outputs a warning. Specifically, the warning output unit 114 generates information for outputting a warning and transmits the information to each of the customer terminal devices 10a to 10d. Here, it is assumed that the information for outputting the warning is information including acquired customer identification information “25667887...” And product identification information “F001”.

  Each of the customer terminal devices 10a to 10d displays a warning screen on a monitor or the like (not shown) using the received information.

  FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating a display example of a warning displayed by the customer terminal device 10.

  Here, in the process of the determination unit 113, if there is a “customer ID” that matches the acquired customer identification information “25667887...” In the order reception information that has a product ID that matches the product identification information “F001”. If it is determined, it is determined that the dish ordered by the customer has been acquired, and therefore processing for outputting a warning is not performed.

  Further, it is assumed that the free area detection unit 111 cannot detect a free area having a predetermined size. In this case, the condition determination unit 112 determines whether or not the second non-warning condition is satisfied. The second non-warning condition is “the product indicated by the product identification information acquired by the product identification information acquisition unit 1092 is the current time of the product provided to the customer among the products currently provided to the customer. It is assumed that the length is “a condition indicating that the product is up to the first order, which is a pre-specified order counted from the longest”.

  First, the condition determination unit 112 includes the service time acquired by the service time acquisition unit 110 for the product indicated by the product identification information “F001” acquired by the product identification information acquisition unit 1092 and other products currently provided. To get. Then, it is determined whether or not the oldest provision time is for the product indicated by the product identification information “F001”. If the product is indicated by the product identification information “F001”, it is determined that the second non-warning condition is satisfied. Otherwise, it is determined that the second non-warning condition is not satisfied, and the same processing as described above is performed. Do.

  Note that when the condition determination unit 112 satisfies at least one of the first non-warning condition and the second non-warning condition, a determination process for determining whether to perform a warning by the determination unit 113 described above, or a warning output unit 114 Does not output a warning.

  In the above, when the customer inputs the product identification information and the quantity information to the customer terminal device 10, if the number information is also input, the order screen output unit 108 displays the input product. Product image information corresponding to the identification information, quantity information, and number of people information is acquired, and an order screen on which the product image information is arranged is displayed. For example, if the product ID “F001”, the quantity information “4”, and the number information “4” are input to the customer terminal device 10a, the image information acquisition unit 107 uses the image information management information illustrated in FIG. The product image information “F001 — 4 — 4.jpg” associated with the product ID “F001”, the quantity information “4”, and the number of people information “4” is read out. And the information for displaying the order screen using this product image information etc. is generated, and it transmits to customer terminal unit 10a. The customer terminal device 10a displays an order screen using the received information.

  FIG. 19 is a diagram illustrating a display example of an order screen displayed by the customer terminal device 10a.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to aggregate and order products that each of a plurality of customers intends to order. Thereby, a plurality of customers can freely order products, and the convenience when the products ordered by the plurality of customers are collectively settled can be improved.

  Moreover, according to this Embodiment, when the customer who has not ordered the goods acquires the goods, a warning can be output.

  In the present embodiment, when only one product is provided to a plurality of customers at a time, the weight measured by each weight measuring means 1090 is the one product provided. Therefore, the total weight measuring means for measuring the total weight of the product as described above can be omitted. In addition, since the product identification information of the product provided to the customer needs to be given to the product identification information acquisition unit 1092, for example, the product is provided in a container (for example, a dish) in which the product is placed. A bar code reader (not shown) for reading the bar code or the like when the merchandise is delivered to the customer is provided, and the bar code reader uses the bar code reader to obtain the merchandise identification information indicated by the read bar code. You may make it hand over to. Alternatively, the product identification information may be transmitted to the product identification information acquisition unit 1092 from a unit (not shown) that transmits the product identification information attached to a container such as a dish on which the product is arranged. . Note that any means other than those described above may be used as means for giving such product identification information to the product identification information acquisition means 1092.

(Embodiment 2)
In the order processing apparatus 2 according to the present embodiment, the product customer information acquisition unit 209 detects the product acquired by the customer and the destination from the consecutive images obtained by capturing the product provided to the customer. The customer identification information of the customer who acquired the product and the product identification information of the product are acquired.

  FIG. 20 is a block diagram of the order processing apparatus 2 in the present embodiment.

  The order processing apparatus 2 includes an order reception unit 101, an order reception information storage unit 102, a converted product correspondence information storage unit 103, an order information acquisition unit 104, an order information output unit 105, an image information storage unit 106, an image information acquisition unit 107, An order screen output unit 108, a merchandise customer information acquisition unit 209, a condition determination unit 112, a provision time acquisition unit 110, a free space detection unit 111, a determination unit 113, and a warning output unit 114 are provided.

  The merchandise customer information acquisition unit 209 includes an image acquisition unit 2091, a customer area management information storage unit 2092, and an identification information acquisition unit 2093.

  In the order processing device 2, the configuration other than the merchandise customer information acquisition unit 209 is the same as that of the first embodiment, and thus detailed description thereof is omitted here.

  The merchandise customer information acquisition unit 209 acquires acquired customer identification information that is customer identification information of a customer who acquires at least a part of a product provided to one or more customers according to the order information, To get. The product customer information acquisition unit 209 uses, for example, a product related image that is an image including one or more products provided to one or more customers and a product acquired by each customer, to one or more customers. Among the provided products, the product acquired by one customer is detected, the product identification information of this product is acquired, and the customer of the customer who acquired this product is detected by detecting the destination of this product. Identification information is acquired. In the present embodiment, in particular, the product customer information acquisition unit 209 includes an image acquisition unit 2091, a customer area management information storage unit 2092, and an identification information acquisition unit 2093. An example of acquiring the customer identification information of the customer to be acquired and the product identification information of this product will be described.

  The image acquisition unit 2091 sequentially acquires product related images. The product-related image is one or more images including one or more products provided to a plurality of customers and products acquired by each customer. The product-related images may be a plurality of images including at least one of one or more products and products acquired by each customer. The product-related image is, for example, one or more images photographed so as to include one or more products provided to a plurality of customers and a product acquired by each customer among the products. For example, it is an image obtained by photographing a peripheral region including one or more products provided to a plurality of customers. For example, when the product is a food and drink provided at a restaurant, the product-related image is shot so that the food and drink arranged on the table and the vicinity of a plurality of customers who separately acquire the food and drink are captured. It is an image that was made. The product related images acquired continuously may be, for example, a moving image having the product related images acquired sequentially as a frame image, or a plurality of images sequentially captured at a predetermined or indefinite time interval specified in advance. Still images may be used. When the product-related image is a frame image constituting a moving image, the frame image remaining after the frame image is appropriately thinned out from the moving image may be considered as the sequentially obtained product-related image. The image acquisition unit 2091 may include an imaging unit (not shown) that captures a product-related image. The imaging means is, for example, a camera provided with an imaging element. Further, the imaging unit may be provided outside the image acquisition unit 2091. Further, the image acquisition unit 2091 may acquire a product-related image acquired by an imaging unit provided outside the order processing apparatus 1.

  The customer area management information storage unit 2092 stores customer area management information having a customer area on the product-related image and customer identification information of the customer. The customer area is an area associated with the customer, for example, an area in the vicinity of the customer position or an area used by the customer. In addition, the customer area may be an area indicating a container such as a plate in which the product acquired by the customer is placed. The customer area is composed of one or more pixels. The customer area on the product-related image may be considered as information indicating the customer area on the product-related image. The customer area on the product-related image is, for example, information that defines the coordinates of one or more pixels constituting the customer area and the outline of the customer area. The storage here is a concept including temporary storage. For example, the identification information acquisition means 2093, which will be described later, detects the area of each customer from the above product-related image, stores the customer area management information in association with the information indicating the customer area and the customer identification information. The information may be temporarily stored in the means 2092.

  The identification information acquisition means 2093 is provided to one or more customers using the product related images sequentially acquired by the image acquisition means 2091 and the customer area management information stored in the customer area management information storage means 2092. Among the above products, a change in the position of the product acquired by each customer is detected. And the product which each customer acquired is detected using the change of the detected position, and the product identification information of the detected product and the acquired customer identification information which is the customer identification information of the customer are acquired. The identification information acquisition unit 2093 may detect any change in the position of the product. For example, a product that indicates that a product that has decreased in one region has moved to another region when it has been detected that the amount of product has increased in another region after the product amount has decreased in one region It is also possible to detect a change in the position. Further, a change in the position of the product may be detected by tracking the product moved from one region.

  For example, the identification information acquisition unit 2093 first detects an area of a product provided to one or more customers in successive product related images. For example, the product area is detected by pattern matching using one or more product images prepared in advance on a storage medium (not shown) or by detecting the feature amount (for example, color or shape) of the product image. Is possible. Since processing for detecting an image of a specific object from within an image is a known technique, detailed description thereof is omitted here. For example, the image of the product is sequentially detected for each of the continuous images constituting the product-related image. For example, when the product is a dish arranged on a table, the dish may be detected using the shape or feature amount of the dish to obtain information indicating the area, or the dish on which the dish is arranged By detecting the shape, color, etc., the dish may be detected from the product-related image, and information indicating the area may be acquired. Alternatively, a dish may be detected by arranging an image of a specific shape on the surface of a dish or the like and detecting this image from the product-related image. And the information which shows the area | region where the image of the detected goods is displayed, for example, the information of the outline of an area | region, is acquired. This image detection is preferably performed first, for example, when a product is provided to a plurality of customers. Alternatively, after the product image is first detected, the product image may not be re-detected, or may not be performed until a predesignated timing or trigger is generated.

  Further, the identification information acquisition unit 2093 acquires product identification information for each product image detected above. For example, a barcode indicating product identification information is assigned to each product, and the barcode is detected in the image of each product detected above, and the barcode information is read to identify the product. Get information. A technique for detecting a barcode from an image and reading the barcode information is known in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-174461. Further, instead of the barcode, an image of a specific shape or color associated with the product identification information may be arranged on the surface of the product, and this image may be detected by pattern matching or the like. Alternatively, the product identification information may be acquired by detecting the color of the product by associating the product color and the like with the product identification information. Then, product position information including the acquired product identification information and information indicating an area in which an image of the product for which the product identification information is acquired is displayed is stored in a storage medium (not shown).

  The identification information acquisition unit 2093 detects an image of an object that has moved from an area in which the image of each product detected above is displayed using a plurality of continuous product-related images. For example, by obtaining a difference between a plurality of consecutive product-related images, it is possible to detect an image of an object that has moved from a product region associated with one product identification information. For example, when it is detected from a difference between a plurality of consecutive product-related images that one or more objects are decreasing in one product area, it is determined that at least a part of the product has moved. Alternatively, when one or more objects moving from one product area are detected from the difference between the product related images, it may be determined that at least a part of the one product is moving. . In addition, when one product previously provided to a plurality of customers is a product group composed of a plurality of products, an image of one product constituting the product group is illustrated in advance in association with product identification information. It may be stored in a storage medium that is not used, and it may be detected that an image that matches this image or an image with a high degree of similarity has moved from the product area. Here, the object whose movement has been detected as described above may be considered as, for example, a product acquired by each customer, or a part acquired by the customer, among products provided to one or more customers. . The identification information acquisition unit 2093 associates the product with the area where the product is displayed when the movement of the product from the area where the image of one product is displayed, that is, when the movement of the product acquired by the customer is detected. The product identification information stored in this way is acquired as the product identification information of the moving product.

  Further, when the identification information acquisition unit 2093 detects the movement of an object (that is, the product acquired by the customer) from the area where the image of one product is displayed, the detected object is indicated by the customer area management information. It is determined which area has moved to the customer area associated with the customer identification information. And when it is judged that it moved to the area | region of one customer, the customer identification information matched with this area | region is acquired as customer identification information of the customer who acquired goods. For example, the identification information acquisition unit 2093 detects whether or not the number of objects has increased for each of the customer areas indicated by the customer area management information after detecting the movement of one object. It detects from the difference of. If an increasing area is detected, customer identification information corresponding to this area is acquired. The identification information acquisition unit 2093 detects the position of the object by detecting the movement of one object and then tracking the detected object in a plurality of consecutive product-related images acquired thereafter. Then, it is detected whether or not the detected position has entered any of the customer areas indicated by the customer area management information. Then, when entering any area, customer identification information corresponding to this area is acquired. Since the technique for tracking an object is known as a technique for motion tracking or the like, description thereof is omitted here. Regarding the technique of motion tracking, refer to the document “About Motion Tracking” (http://help.adobe.com/ja_JP/AfterEffects/9.0/WS3878526689cb91665566c1103906c6dea-7c5da.html).

  Note that the identification information acquisition unit 2093 has acquired one or more customers from the product-related image by a process similar to the process of detecting the image of the product provided to one or more customers from the product-related image as described above. An area where a product is placed (for example, a dish on which a dish as a product is placed) may be detected as a customer area. For example, customer identification information of a customer corresponding to this area is acquired, and customer area management information having this customer identification information and the detected area in association with each other is stored in the customer area management information storage unit 2092. Anyway. In addition, in order to acquire customer identification information corresponding to the detected area, for example, in a product-related image, each customer's position or region from which a product can be acquired in advance is associated with the customer identification information of the customer. Store in a storage medium (not shown), etc., and detect the position or area closest to the area where the product detected from the product-related image is placed from among these positions or areas, What is necessary is just to acquire the customer identification information matched with this detected area | region. Further, for each detected area, customer identification information of a customer who uses each area may be input by each customer via a reception unit (not shown).

  FIG. 21 is a flowchart for explaining the main part of the operation of the order processing apparatus 2 of the present embodiment. The operation of the order processing apparatus 2 of the present embodiment is different from the operation of the order processing apparatus 1 of the first embodiment in the operation of step S216 in FIG. 2, that is, the operation shown in the flowchart of FIG. Therefore, here, only the main part of the operation of the present embodiment corresponding to the details of the process of step S216 will be described, and description of the other operations will be omitted. 21, the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 4 indicate the same or corresponding parts.

  (Step S501) The image acquisition means 2091 acquires a product related image. For example, the product-related image acquired here is a still image. Acquired product-related images are stored in a storage medium or the like (not shown) so that the acquisition order can be understood. Accumulation so that the acquisition order can be understood means that, for example, product-related images may be stored together with the acquisition time, or may be stored together with identification information (for example, serial numbers) indicating the acquisition order. Then, they may be stored in the order of acquisition.

  (Step S502) The identification information acquisition unit 2093 performs processing for detecting one or more product images (hereinafter referred to as product images) from the product-related information acquired in Step S501.

  (Step S503) The identification information acquisition unit 2093 determines whether one or more product images are detected in step S502. If detected, the process proceeds to step S504. If not detected, the process returns to step S501.

  (Step S504) The identification information acquisition unit 2093 acquires the product identification information from each of the one or more product images detected in Step S502 of the product related image acquired in Step S501. For example, the barcode associated with the product identification information is detected from each of the one or more product images, and the detected barcode information is read to acquire the product identification information.

  (Step S505) The identification information acquisition unit 2093 uses the product identification information acquired in step S504 for each of the one or more product images detected in step S502 as information indicating the area in which each product image is displayed (hereinafter, It is stored in a storage medium (not shown) in association with the product area information.

  (Step S506) The identification information acquisition unit 2093 substitutes 1 for the counter n.

  (Step S507) The identification information acquisition unit 2093 corresponds to the nth product identification information using the latest product related information acquired in step S501 and one or more product related information acquired one or more times before. It is determined whether or not the products in the area indicated by the product area information to be reduced are decreasing. For example, the presence or absence of a reduced object can be determined by detecting, for example, a change in the image in the area indicated by the product area information corresponding to the nth product identification information using the difference between the product related images. . For example, if there is a change in the image, it is determined that at least some of the products have decreased. That is, it can be determined that at least some of the products have been acquired by the customer, that is, moved. If the decrease can be detected, the process proceeds to step S508. If the decrease cannot be detected, the process proceeds to step S512.

  (Step S508) The identification information acquisition unit 2093 acquires the product identification information of the nth product.

  (Step S509) The identification information acquisition unit 2093 substitutes 1 for the counter p.

  (Step S510) The identification information acquisition unit 2093 uses the latest product related information acquired in Step S501 and one or more product related information acquired one or more times before, in the area of the pth customer. Determine whether the product has increased. The p-th customer area is, for example, an area indicated by information indicating the customer area included in the p-th customer area management information. For example, using the difference of the product related image between the latest product related information acquired in step S501 and one or more product related information acquired one or more times ago, the image change in the p-th customer area Can be determined by detecting. For example, if there is a change in the image, it may be determined that at least some of the products have increased. Alternatively, it may be determined that the number of products has increased when the image of the object has actually increased. It may be considered that the increase in the product means that the customer has acquired the product. If the product has increased, the process proceeds to step S511. If the product has not increased, the process proceeds to step S514.

  (Step S511) The identification information acquisition unit 2093 acquires customer identification information corresponding to the p-th area. Then, the process proceeds to step S413.

  (Step S512) The identification information acquisition unit 2093 increments the value of the counter n by 1.

  (Step S513) The identification information acquisition unit 2093 determines whether or not the product identification information of the nth product is included in the product identification information to be accumulated in Step S505. If there is, the process proceeds to step S507, and if not, the process returns to the upper process.

  (Step S514) The identification information acquisition unit 2093 increments the value of the counter p by 1.

  (Step S515) The identification information acquisition unit 2093 determines whether or not there is a p-th customer area image. If there is, the process returns to step S510, and if not, the process proceeds to step S516.

  (Step S516) The image acquisition unit 2091 acquires a new product-related image. Then, the process returns to step S509.

  In the flowchart of FIG. 21, the product related image information acquired immediately before may be acquired as the image information acquired in the process of step S415.

  Hereinafter, a specific operation of the order processing apparatus 2 in the present embodiment will be described. Here, the conceptual diagram of the order processing apparatus 2 is FIG. Here, as in the specific example of the first embodiment, in FIG. 21, the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 5 denote the same or corresponding parts. Further, customer identification information, product identification information, and the like are assumed to be the same as the specific example of the first embodiment. In this order processing apparatus 2, it is assumed that the image acquisition unit 2091 is connected to a camera 310 that captures the upper surface of the table from above. Assume that the camera 310 repeatedly captures images on the table at a predetermined timing and outputs a still image to the image acquisition unit 2091.

  In addition, description about the process until the goods ordered by the customer are delivered to the customer's table is omitted here.

  First, the image acquisition unit 2091 acquires in advance an image taken by the camera 310 on a table in which the plate 15 is placed in front of a seat where a customer sits. Then, the identification information acquisition unit 2093 detects the dish 15 from the image by pattern matching or the like. For example, an image of a plate is prepared in advance, and an image similar to the image of the plate 15 is detected. And the information which shows the outline of the detected image is acquired. This contour information is information indicating the customer's area. Then, this contour information is stored in association with the closest seat identification information. As in the specific example of the first embodiment, when the customer's credit card is inserted into the card reader attached to the seat, customer identification information that is a credit card number read from the credit card, Identification information acquisition means 2093 stores customer area management information storage means 2092 in correspondence with customer area management information in which the identification information of the seat 15 to which the card reader is attached is associated with the contour information of the image of the plate 15 associated therewith. To accumulate.

  FIG. 23 is a diagram showing customer area management information stored in the customer area management information storage unit 2092. The customer area management information includes “area ID” that is identification information of the customer area, “customer ID” that is customer identification information, and “area outline” that indicates the customer area. Here, the “region outline” is a coordinate group constituting the outline of the customer's region.

  For example, if a plurality of customers order three dishes whose product identification information is “C002”, “C008”, and “C009”, these dishes are placed on the plate 18 and placed on the table. The It is assumed that a bar code 19 indicating the product identification information of the product placed further is disposed on the upper surface of the plate 18.

  The image acquisition unit 2091 acquires one product-related image at a timing specified in advance. Here, an image on the table taken by the camera 310 is acquired as a product-related image.

  FIG. 24A is a diagram illustrating a product-related image acquired by the image acquisition unit 2091. Here, suppose that the dish on which the dish with product identification information “C002” is placed is the dish 18a, the dish on which the dish with product identification information “C008” is placed is the dish 18b, and the product. The dish on which the dish with the identification information “C009” is arranged is referred to as a dish 18c.

  The identification information acquisition unit 2093 detects a product image from the image shown in FIG. 24A by, for example, pattern matching. For example, here, assuming that information indicating a rectangular shape is stored in a storage medium (not shown) as information indicating the shape of a dish on which a dish as a product is arranged, information indicating the rectangular shape Is read by the identification information acquisition means 2093, and an image matching the read shape is detected in the product-related image.

  Here, for example, as shown by a dotted line in FIG. 24B, from the image shown in FIG. 24A, two regions, that is, the images of the plate 18a, the plate 18b, and the plate 18c are respectively displayed as product images. Detected.

  Next, the identification information acquisition unit 2093 first detects an area where the barcode 19 is arranged in the product image of the one dish 18a, and reads the information of the barcode 19 so that the barcode is previously stored. The indicated product identification information “C002” is acquired. And it is information which has this merchandise identification information and merchandise area information which is information which shows the outline of the field where the merchandise image of dish 18a is arranged, here, the field corresponding to dish 18a detected by pattern matching. Certain product area management information is stored in a storage medium (not shown). The product area information is, for example, a set of coordinates of contour pixels.

  Similarly, the product identification information “C008” and “C009” is acquired for the plates 18b and 18c, and the product region management information is accumulated.

  FIG. 25 is a diagram illustrating an example of the product area management information accumulated by the identification information acquisition unit 2093. “Product ID” is product identification information, and “Product Area” is product area information.

  When the image acquisition unit 2091 acquires the product-related image information, the identification information acquisition unit 2093 uses a difference between the latest acquired product-related image information and the product-related image information acquired before the product region management. For each product image region indicated by each product region information managed by the information, processing for detecting the presence or absence of a reduced product is performed. For example, in a difference image between the same regions, an image of a portion considered to be a product (here, a dish) is detected, and whether or not the area (or the number of pixels) of the image is reduced in the latest product-related image information. to decide. The part considered to be a product is, for example, a part other than a color similar to the color of the dish 18 specified in advance. Or the part except the area | region of the similar color continuous from the outline of the plate | plate 19 may be sufficient. If it has decreased, it is determined that at least a part of the product has been acquired by the customer. Moreover, when it is not decreasing, it judges that goods are not acquired. Note that it may be determined that the product has been acquired only when there is a decrease in the product exceeding the threshold. If a reduced object cannot be detected in any product image area, product-related image information is acquired and the same processing is repeated. Note that, instead of determining the decrease in the area of the cooking portion, it may be determined whether or not there has been any image change. Usually, in the case of cooking or the like, since the amount of cooking on the plate 18 does not increase, the change in the image is considered to be a decrease in cooking. In addition, a cooking image, a cooking image pattern, etc. are prepared in advance in a storage medium (not shown) for each product identification information, and the cooking image corresponding to the product identification information read from the barcode is a pattern, etc. May be read out to determine whether or not the area of these similar images or patterns has decreased.

  Here, in one product-related image acquired by the image acquisition unit 2091, a decrease in objects, that is, a decrease in products is detected in the region of the plate 18a indicated by the “product region” whose “product ID” is “C006”. Suppose.

  FIG. 26A and FIG. 26B are a product-related image acquired immediately before the movement of an object is detected, and a product-related image in a state where the movement is detected. Since the object 50 has been removed from the plate 18a, it is determined that the area of the portion determined to be a product in the region of the plate 18a is reduced in one product-related image and the previous product-related image. Suppose.

  Therefore, the identification information acquisition unit 2093 acquires “C002”, which is the “product ID” corresponding to the area of the dish 18a, and temporarily stores it in a storage medium (not shown).

  Further, the identification information acquisition unit 2093 obtains the product acquired immediately before by the image acquisition unit 2091 for each customer region indicated by the “region outline” of the customer region management information shown in FIG. The difference from the related image is obtained, and it is determined whether or not the product is increasing as in the case of the plate 18 described above. When an increasing area is detected, a “customer ID” corresponding to the “area outline” indicating this area is acquired.

  FIG. 27A and FIG. 27B are diagrams illustrating product-related images sequentially acquired by the image acquisition unit 2091 after detecting a decrease in products. In the figure, an object 50 is a moving product, and areas 191 to 194 indicated by dotted lines are customer areas indicated by "area outlines" managed by the customer area management information shown in FIG. The regions 191 to 194 correspond to the region IDs “1” to “4”, respectively.

  For example, if the customer area determined that the area of the product image has increased is the area indicated by the “area outline” of the customer area management information whose “area ID” is “4”, the identification information The acquisition unit 2093 reads “1567218...” That is “customer ID” of the record whose “area ID” is “4” from the area customer management information shown in FIG. 23, and temporarily stores it in a storage medium (not shown). .

  Thereby, the identification information acquisition means 2093 can acquire the product identification information of the product acquired by the customer and the customer identification information of the customer. Since the subsequent processing is the same as the specific example of the first embodiment, description thereof is omitted here.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the product identification information can be acquired using the product-related image, or the customer identification information of the customer who acquired the product can be acquired. Because it is possible to omit a dedicated device for reading from a dish or a device for measuring the weight of a product acquired by a customer, the configuration of the order processing device and the system including the order processing device is simplified. can do.

(Embodiment 3)
The order processing apparatus 2 according to the present embodiment detects an intrusion of an object in an area between a product provided to one or more customers and the position of each customer in the order processing apparatus according to the first embodiment. When the intrusion of an object is detected, the customer identification information of the customer who acquired the product and the product identification information of the product are acquired by acquiring the product and customer identification information corresponding to this area. It is what you do.

  FIG. 28 is a block diagram of the order processing apparatus 3 in the present embodiment.

  The order processing apparatus 3 includes an order reception unit 101, an order reception information storage unit 102, a converted product correspondence information storage unit 103, an order information acquisition unit 104, an order information output unit 105, an image information storage unit 106, an image information acquisition unit 107, The order screen output unit 108, the product customer information acquisition unit 309, the provision time acquisition unit 110, the free space detection unit 111, the condition determination unit 112, the determination unit 113, and the warning output unit 114 are provided.

  The merchandise customer information acquisition unit 309 includes an image acquisition unit 2091, a customer location management information storage unit 3092, and an identification information acquisition unit 3093.

  In the order processing apparatus 3, the configuration other than the merchandise customer information acquisition unit 209, the customer location management information storage unit 3092, and the identification information acquisition unit 3093 is the same as that of the first embodiment, and therefore detailed description will be given here. Is omitted.

  The merchandise customer information acquisition unit 309 acquires acquired customer identification information, which is customer identification information of a customer who acquires at least a part of a product provided to one or more customers according to the order information, To get. The product customer information acquisition unit 309 uses, for example, a product-related image, which is an image including one or more products provided to one or more customers and a product acquired by each customer, to one or more customers. Of the provided products, the product acquired by one customer and the customer identification information of the customer are acquired. In the present embodiment, in particular, the product customer information acquisition unit 309 includes an image acquisition unit 2091, a customer location management information storage unit 3092, and an identification information acquisition unit 3093. An example of acquiring the customer identification information of the customer to be acquired and the product identification information of this product will be described.

  The customer location management information storage unit 3092 stores the customer location on the product-related image and the customer identification information of the customer. The customer position included in the customer position management information is specifically information indicating the position of the customer. Specifically, the position of the customer is a position associated with the customer on the product-related image. The position of the customer is, for example, a position where there is a customer who can obtain the product or a position near the position. Further, the position of the customer may be the position of the seat where the customer is sitting, the position in front of the seat, or the like. The position of the customer is represented by, for example, coordinates on the product-related image. The customer position described here may not be a single point, and may be a plurality of positions on a continuous straight line, for example. In addition, as the customer position, the customer area described in the second embodiment may be used as the customer position in the present embodiment. The storage here is a concept including temporary storage. For example, identification information acquisition means 3093, which will be described later, detects the position of each customer from the above product-related image, stores the customer position management information in association with the information indicating the customer position and the customer identification information. It may be temporarily stored in the means 3092.

  The identification information acquisition unit 3093 acquires product region information and product identification information, which are information indicating the product region, from the product related image, and the product related image indicated by the region indicated by the acquired product region information and the customer location management information. A product customer area is set between the customer position indicated by the above customer identification information. When an intrusion of an object is detected in one product customer area, product identification information of the product corresponding to the product customer area and acquired customer identification information that is customer identification information corresponding to the product customer area get.

  The identification information acquisition unit 3093 acquires product position information from the product-related image, similarly to the identification information acquisition unit 2093 of the second embodiment. And the product customer area which is an area between the area where the product image indicated by the product area information included in each product position information is displayed and the position indicated by the information indicating the position of each customer indicated by the customer position management information Get information to set. It is preferable that the product customer area does not include an area on the product image. The product customer area is, for example, an area between the product and the customer. The information for setting the product customer area is information indicating the outline of the product customer area, for example. The information for setting the product customer area may be the coordinates of one or more pixels constituting the product customer area. The identification information acquisition means 3093 is, for example, a tangent drawn from the position of each customer on the product-related image indicated by the customer location management information to the area of each product image indicated by each product location information acquired from the product-related image. Information indicating an area surrounded by is acquired as information for setting a product customer area. Instead of the tangent line, an area surrounded by a curved line drawn with respect to the image area of each product may be set as the product customer area. In addition, information indicating an area indicated by a locus when the area of each product image indicated by each product position information acquired from the product related image is moved to the position of each customer on the product related image indicated by the customer position management information May be acquired as information for setting the product customer area. In addition, you may make it exclude the area | region where merchandise customer areas overlap from each other or one merchandise customer area. Information for setting each product customer area (hereinafter referred to as product customer area setting information) includes product identification information corresponding to product area information indicating a product image area between each product customer area and each customer. Is stored in a storage medium or the like (not shown) in association with customer identification information associated with information indicating the position of the user.

  Then, the identification information acquisition unit 3093 determines whether an object has entered each area indicated by the product customer area setting information acquired above using the product-related images sequentially acquired by the image information acquisition unit 107. . The object is, for example, an instrument such as a hand, chopsticks, fork, or spoon for taking a product. However, what the object is may or may not be determined. For example, whether or not an object has entered can be determined by obtaining the difference between one product-related image and the product-related image acquired immediately before it for each region indicated by the product customer region setting information. is there. For example, it is determined that an object has entered when different pixels that are equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold value are detected based on the difference. Alternatively, reference images such as chopsticks and forks are stored in advance in a storage medium (not shown), and the product customer area setting information in each product-related image acquired by the image information acquisition unit 107 indicates For each region, pattern matching using a reference image may be performed, and it may be determined that an object has entered when a matching image is detected. And the identification information acquisition means 3093 acquires the product identification information matched with the product customer area | region setting information determined that the object entered, and customer identification information.

  FIG. 29 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the main part of the operation of the order processing apparatus 3 of the present embodiment. The operation of the order processing apparatus 3 according to the present embodiment is different from the operation of step S216 in FIG. 2, that is, the operation shown in the flowchart of FIG. 4, in the operation of the order processing apparatus 1 according to the first embodiment. Therefore, here, only the main part of the operation of the present embodiment corresponding to the details of the processing will be described in step S216, and the description of the other operations will be omitted. 29, the same reference numerals as those in FIGS. 4 and 21 denote the same or corresponding processing steps.

  (Step S601) The identification information acquisition unit 3093 compares the region of one or more product images detected in the product-related image and the position of each customer indicated by the customer location management information stored in the customer location management information storage unit 3092. For each combination, product customer area setting information is acquired. For example, the identification information acquisition unit 3093 acquires information for setting, as a product customer region, a region surrounded by a tangent drawn from the position of each customer with respect to each product image region and the contour of the product image region. The product merchandise area setting information acquired, the customer identification information included in the same customer position management information as the information indicating the position of the customer used when acquiring the merchandise customer area setting information, and the merchandise customer area setting information. Is stored in a storage medium (not shown) in association with the product identification information acquired in step S504.

  (Step S602) The identification information acquisition unit 3093 substitutes 1 for the value of the counter n.

  (Step S603) The identification information acquisition unit 3093 uses a difference between images in the nth product customer area between the latest product-related image acquired in step S501 and the product-related image acquired and stored immediately before. To determine whether an object has been detected. If an object is detected, the process proceeds to step S604, and if not detected, the process proceeds to step S605.

  (Step S604) The identification information acquisition unit 3093 acquires product identification information and customer identification information corresponding to the nth product customer area setting information. Then, the process proceeds to step S413.

  (Step S605) The identification information acquisition unit 3093 increments the value of the counter n by 1.

  (Step S606) The identification information acquisition unit 3093 determines whether there is n-th product customer area setting information. If there is, the process returns to step S602, and if not, the process returns to the upper process.

  In the above-described step S603, when an object is detected in one product customer area, the process may proceed to step S605 even if an object is detected for the same area until the object detection is once completed. For example, when an object is detected, flag information indicating that the object is detected is added to the product customer area, and when the object is detected, the object is not detected. The flag information indicating that the object has been detected may be provided, and the process may proceed to step S605 even if the object is detected while the flag information indicating that the object has been detected.

  Hereinafter, a specific operation of the order processing apparatus 3 in the present embodiment will be described. The conceptual diagram of the order processing apparatus 3 is the same as that in FIG.

  Here, one coordinate in front of each seat in the product-related image is designated in advance as information indicating the position of the customer, and this coordinate and the card reader 16 provided for each seat corresponding to this coordinate. Are previously associated with each other. When each customer reads the credit card into the card reader 16 provided in each seat, the customer identification information of the customer, which is the card number read from the credit card, and the card reader 16 that has read the credit card are read out. It is assumed that customer position management information having coordinates that correspond in advance to customer positions is accumulated in the customer position management information storage unit 3092.

  FIG. 30 is a diagram showing the customer location management information stored in the customer location management information storage means 3092. In the customer position management information, “coordinates” are coordinates indicating the position of the customer in the product-related image.

  Here, as in the specific example of the second embodiment, it is assumed that the product is a food and drink, and the description of the processing until the product ordered by the customer is delivered to the customer's table is omitted. Further, the product-related image captured by the camera 310 is the same as the product-related image of the specific example of the second embodiment, and processing for obtaining product region management information having product region information using the product-related image. Also, the acquired product area management information and the like are assumed to be the same as in the second embodiment. In this case, it is assumed that the customer orders a product whose “product ID” is “C002” and a product whose “product ID” is “C008”, and these products are delivered to the table.

  Similar to the specific example of the second embodiment, the image acquisition unit 2091 captures a table and obtains a product-related image.

  FIG. 31 is a product-related image acquired by the image acquisition unit 2091. In the figure, a plate 320a is a plate on which a product with a product ID “C002” is placed, and a plate 320b is a plate on which a product with a product ID “C008” is placed.

  The identification information acquisition unit 3093 detects the region where the product image is arranged and the barcode from the product-related image as shown in FIG. 31, and stores product region information indicating this region and the product of the product in this region. After acquiring the product area management information as shown in FIG. 25 having the identification information, the combination of the area indicated by each product area information and each “coordinate” indicated by the customer location management information shown in FIG. The product customer area setting information for setting the product customer area is sequentially acquired. For example, first, “coordinate” (x81, y81) of the customer location management information whose “customer ID” of the customer location management information in FIG. 30 is “4567885...” And “product ID” in FIG. “(X51, y51), (x52, y52)...” Of the “product area” of the merchandise area management information is a straight line passing through the coordinates (x81, y81). Two straight lines that intersect only at one point are calculated, and these two straight lines and the contours of the product image indicated by the product region “(x51, y51), (x52, y52). The product customer area setting information for setting the area surrounded by the coordinates (x81, y81) side separated by a straight line as the product customer area is acquired. Specifically, the line segment from the coordinates (x81, y81) of the above two lines to the product area “(x51, y51), (x52, y52)...” And the product area “(x51, y51) ), (X52, y52)... ”, Information that sets the portion on the coordinate (x81, y81) side sandwiched between the line segments as the contour is acquired as the merchandise customer region setting information. Then, the acquired product customer area setting information, the “customer ID” “4567885...” Associated with the coordinates (x81, y81) by the customer location management information, and the product area “(x51, y51), (x52, y52)... ”and merchandise customer area management information having a merchandise ID“ C002 ”associated therewith is temporarily stored in a storage medium (not shown).

  Similarly, merchandise customer area management information is acquired for the combination of the coordinates (x81, y81) and the “merchandise area” corresponding to the merchandise ID “C008”.

  Further, for the “coordinates” associated with other “customer IDs” of the customer position management information, the merchandise customer area management information is similarly acquired for the combination with the “product area”.

  FIG. 32 is a diagram showing the merchandise customer area management information acquired by the identification information acquisition unit 3093. The merchandise customer area management information includes “setting ID”, “customer ID”, “product ID”, which are identification information for managing records of merchandise customer area management information, and “area setting information, which is merchandise customer area setting information. ”.

  Next, the identification information acquisition unit 3093 sequentially stores the latest product related image and the product acquired and stored immediately before the “each region indicated by the region setting information” of the product customer region management information shown in FIG. A difference from the related image is obtained, and it is determined whether or not a difference between pixels equal to or greater than a predetermined number of pixels has been detected.

  FIG. 33 is a diagram showing the latest product related information in which the movement of the object is detected (FIG. 33A), and a diagram showing the product related image acquired immediately before the movement of the object is detected (FIG. 33 ( b)). In the figure, product customer areas 321 and 322 indicated by dotted lines are product customer areas indicated by “area setting information” included in the setting area management information whose “setting ID” is “001” and “002”. Further, it is assumed that the product customer areas 323 and 324 indicated by dotted lines are product customer areas indicated by “area setting information” included in the setting area management information whose “setting ID” is “003” and “004”. In this figure, illustration of the product customer area indicated by the “area setting information” included in the setting area management information with the “setting ID” from “005” to “008” is omitted.

  For example, in FIG. 33 (a), if a customer's hand holding chopsticks enters the merchandise customer area 321 for the first time, the difference between FIG. 33 (a) in the merchandise customer area 321 and FIG. 33 (b). Thus, the identification information acquisition unit 3093 detects the intrusion of the object 330 in the merchandise customer area 321. Then, the “product ID” and the “customer ID” corresponding to the detected product customer area 321, that is, the customer ID “4567885...” And the product ID included in the product customer area management information whose “setting ID” is “001”. “C002” is acquired. That is, since an object 330 (in this case, a hand with chopsticks) is detected between the seat where the customer with the customer ID “4567885...” Is sitting and the product with the product ID “C002”, the customer ID Indicates that it is determined that a customer whose product ID is “4566785...” Is trying to acquire a product whose product ID is “C002”. Then, the order processing apparatus 1 performs processing for outputting a warning using the customer ID “4567885...” And the product ID “C002”.

  The same processing is performed for other product customer areas, and the same processing is performed every time a product-related image is acquired.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to detect the movement of the customer and acquire the product identification information using the product-related image or acquire the customer identification information of the customer who acquired the product. Therefore, a dedicated device for reading the product identification information from the product dish or the like, or a device for measuring the weight of the product acquired by the customer can be omitted. It is possible to simplify the configuration of the system or the like that includes the system.

  Further, by detecting the movement of the customer and detecting the situation in which the customer acquires the product, it is possible to warn of improper acquisition of the customer's product immediately before the customer detects the product.

  In each of the above embodiments, each process (each function) may be realized by centralized processing by a single device (system), or by distributed processing by a plurality of devices. May be.

  Further, although cases have been described with the above embodiments where the order processing device is stand-alone, the order processing device may be a stand-alone device or a server device in a server / client system. In the latter case, the output unit or the reception unit receives an input or outputs a screen via a communication line.

  In each of the above embodiments, the order information acquisition unit 104, the image information acquisition unit 107, the product customer information acquisition unit 109, the acquisition customer identification information acquisition unit 1091, the product identification information acquisition unit 1092, the provision time acquisition unit 110, the free space The area detection unit 111, the condition determination unit 112, the determination unit 113, the product customer information acquisition unit 209, the image acquisition unit 2091, the identification information acquisition unit 2093, the product customer information acquisition unit 309, the identification information acquisition unit 3093, etc. Or a memory or the like. These processing procedures are usually realized by software, and the software is recorded in a recording medium such as a ROM. However, these may be realized by hardware (dedicated circuit).

  The software that realizes the order processing apparatus in each of the above embodiments is the following program. That is, this program is information indicating customer identification information that is identification information of each of a plurality of customers, product identification information that is identification information of a product ordered by each of the plurality of customers, and the quantity of the product. An order reception unit that receives order reception information having quantity information, and a quantity indicated by the quantity information included in the order reception information received by the order reception unit for each product identification information included in the same order reception information as the quantity information The order information acquisition unit for acquiring the order information having the total quantity information, which is information indicating the total quantity, and the product identification information corresponding to the quantity, and the order information acquired by the order information acquisition unit are output. It is a program for functioning as an order information output unit.

  In the program, the functions realized by the program do not include functions that can be realized only by hardware. For example, a function that can be realized only by hardware such as a modem or an interface card in an acquisition unit that acquires information or an output unit that outputs information is not included in the function realized by the program.

  Further, the computer that executes this program may be singular or plural. That is, centralized processing may be performed, or distributed processing may be performed.

  FIG. 34 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the appearance of a computer that executes the program and realizes the order processing apparatus according to the embodiment. The above-described embodiment can be realized by computer hardware and a computer program executed on the computer hardware.

  34, a computer system 900 includes a computer 901 including a CD-ROM (Compact Disk Read Only Memory) drive 905, an FD (Floppy (registered trademark) Disk) drive 906, a keyboard 902, a mouse 903, a monitor 904, and the like. Is provided.

  FIG. 35 is a diagram showing an internal configuration of the computer system 900. 35, in addition to the CD-ROM drive 905 and the FD drive 906, a computer 901 is connected to an MPU (Micro Processing Unit) 911, a ROM 912 for storing a program such as a bootup program, and the MPU 911. A RAM (Random Access Memory) 913 that temporarily stores program instructions and provides a temporary storage space, a hard disk 914 that stores application programs, system programs, and data, and an MPU 911 and a ROM 912 are interconnected. And a bus 915. The computer 901 may include a network card (not shown) that provides connection to the LAN.

  A program that causes the computer system 900 to execute the functions of the order processing apparatus according to the above embodiment is stored in the CD-ROM 921 or FD 922, inserted into the CD-ROM drive 905 or FD drive 906, and stored in the hard disk 914. May be forwarded. Instead, the program may be transmitted to the computer 901 via a network (not shown) and stored in the hard disk 914. The program is loaded into the RAM 913 when executed. The program may be loaded directly from the CD-ROM 921, the FD 922, or the network.

  The program does not necessarily include an operating system (OS) or a third-party program that causes the computer 901 to execute the functions of the order processing apparatus according to the above-described embodiment. The program may include only a part of an instruction that calls an appropriate function (module) in a controlled manner and obtains a desired result. How the computer system 900 operates is well known and will not be described in detail.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications are possible, and it goes without saying that these are also included in the scope of the present invention.

  As described above, the order processing apparatus according to the present invention is suitable as an apparatus for processing orders from a plurality of customers, and is particularly useful as an order processing apparatus that can be ordered individually by a plurality of customers.

1, 2, 3 Order processing device 10 Customer terminal device 101 Order reception unit 102 Order reception information storage unit 103 Conversion product correspondence information storage unit 104 Order information acquisition unit 105 Order information output unit 106 Product image information storage unit 107 Image information acquisition unit 108 Order screen output unit 109, 209, 309 Product customer information acquisition unit 110 Provision time acquisition unit 111 Free space detection unit 112 Condition determination unit 113 Determination unit 114 Warning output unit 1090 Weight measurement unit 1091 Acquisition customer identification information acquisition unit 1092 Product identification Information acquisition means 1095 Total weight measurement means 2091 Image acquisition means 2092 Customer area management information storage means 2093, 3093 Identification information acquisition means 3092 Customer position management information storage means

Claims (12)

Order reception having customer identification information that is identification information of each of a plurality of customers, product identification information that is identification information of a product ordered by each of a plurality of customers, and quantity information that is information indicating the quantity of the product An order reception department for receiving information;
The quantity indicated by the quantity information included in the order reception information received by the order reception unit is totaled for each product identification information included in the same order reception information as the quantity information, and the total quantity is information indicating the total quantity An order information acquisition unit for acquiring order information having information and product identification information corresponding to the quantity;
An order processing apparatus comprising: an order information output unit that outputs order information acquired by the order information acquisition unit. The product identification information, quantity designation information that is information for designating the quantity, and converted product identification information that is product identification information of a product to be converted that differs only in quantity from the product indicated by the product identification information. A conversion product correspondence information storage unit for storing conversion product correspondence information;
The order information acquisition unit includes, in the converted product correspondence information, the quantity indicated by the quantity information associated with the product identification information that matches the product identification information indicated by the converted product correspondence information in the aggregated quantity information. The order processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the quantity indicated by the quantity designation information is changed to aggregate quantity information of a quantity designated in advance, which is associated with the converted product identification information. An image information storage unit that stores product image management information including the product identification information, the quantity information, and product image information that is image information of the product indicated by the product identification information for the quantity indicated by the quantity information. ,
An image information acquisition unit that acquires product image information corresponding to the product identification information and quantity information received by the order reception unit from the image information storage unit;
The order according to claim 1, further comprising: an order screen output unit that outputs an order screen, which is a screen used for receiving an order, on which the product image information acquired by the image information acquisition unit is arranged. Processing equipment. The product identification information, the quantity information, the number information that is information indicating the number of people, and the number of items indicated by the product identification information for the quantity indicated by the quantity information are distributed by the number indicated by the number information. An image information storage unit that stores product image management information including the product image information that is image information;
The order receiving unit further receives the number of people information,
The order according to claim 1, wherein the image information acquisition unit acquires product image information corresponding to the product identification information, the quantity information, and the number of people information received by the order reception unit from the image information storage unit. Processing equipment. An image information storage unit that stores the product identification information, the quantity information, and product image information that is image information of the product indicated by the product identification information, for the quantity indicated by the quantity information;
An image information acquisition unit for acquiring product image information corresponding to the product identification information and the total quantity information included in the order information acquired by the order information acquisition unit from the image information storage unit;
The order according to claim 1, further comprising: an order screen output unit that outputs an order screen, which is a screen used for receiving an order, on which the product image information acquired by the image information acquisition unit is arranged. Processing equipment. Product customer information for acquiring acquired customer identification information, which is customer identification information of a customer who acquires at least a part of a product provided to one or more customers according to the order information, and product identification information of the product An acquisition unit;
An order having a set of product identification information and customer identification information that matches a set of product identification information acquired by the product customer information acquisition unit and acquired customer identification information in the order reception information received by the order reception unit A determination unit for determining whether there is reception information;
The order processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, further comprising a warning output unit that outputs a warning about inappropriate acquisition of a product when the determination unit determines that there is no order reception information. . A condition determination unit that determines whether or not a situation in which the product is provided satisfies a non-warning condition that is a condition for not outputting a warning specified in advance;
The order processing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the warning output unit does not output a warning when the condition determination unit determines that the condition is satisfied. A provision time acquisition unit for acquiring a provision time of the commodity provided to the one or more customers and commodity identification information of the commodity;
The non-warning condition is a condition indicating that the product provided to the customer according to the order information has an elapsed time from being provided to the customer that is equal to or longer than a predetermined time,
The condition determination unit acquires an elapsed time to date for the product indicated by the product identification information acquired by the product customer information acquisition unit, using the provision time acquired by the provision time acquisition unit for the product identification information. The order processing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein it is determined whether the acquired elapsed time satisfies the non-warning condition. A provision time acquisition unit for acquiring a provision time of a commodity provided to the one or more customers and commodity identification information of the commodity;
A free space detecting unit for detecting a free space of a predesignated area in which the product is not disposed in a region where the product provided to the one or more customers is disposed;
The non-warning condition is that the product indicated by the product identification information acquired by the product customer information acquisition unit is included in the order information when the free space detection unit cannot detect a free space of a predetermined size. In accordance with the condition that the length of the elapsed time since being provided to the customer among the products currently provided to the customer is the product up to the pre-specified order counting from the longest Yes,
The condition determination unit is configured to provide the provision time acquisition unit for the product indicated by the product identification information acquired by the product customer information acquisition unit when the free space detection unit cannot detect a free space of a predetermined size. Whether or not the provision time acquired by the provision time acquired by the provision time acquisition unit for other products currently provided and the non-warning condition is satisfied using the acquired provision time 8. The order processing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein Product customer information acquisition department
When each customer acquires an increase in the weight of the product, which is an increase in the quantity of the product acquired, and when the increase in the weight is a positive value equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold value, Acquisition customer identification information acquisition means for acquiring acquisition customer identification information which is customer identification information;
The product identification information acquisition means which acquires the product identification information about the goods which acquired the increase amount of the weight when the acquisition customer identification information acquisition means acquires the acquisition customer identification information. Any order processing apparatus. An order processing method performed using an order reception unit, an order information acquisition unit, and an order information output unit,
The order receiving unit is customer identification information that is identification information of each of a plurality of customers, product identification information that is identification information of a product that each of the plurality of customers orders, and quantity information that is information indicating the quantity of the product And an order receiving step for receiving order receiving information,
The order information acquisition unit totals the quantity indicated by the quantity information included in the order reception information received in the order reception step for each product identification information included in the same order reception information as the quantity information, and the aggregated quantity An order information acquisition step for acquiring order information including aggregated quantity information that is information indicating product identification information corresponding to the quantity;
An order processing method comprising: an order information output step in which the order information output unit outputs the order information acquired in the order information acquisition step. Computer
Order reception having customer identification information that is identification information of each of a plurality of customers, product identification information that is identification information of a product ordered by each of a plurality of customers, and quantity information that is information indicating the quantity of the product An order reception department for receiving information;
The quantity indicated by the quantity information included in the order reception information received by the order reception unit is totaled for each product identification information included in the same order reception information as the quantity information, and the total quantity is information indicating the total quantity An order information acquisition unit for acquiring order information having information and product identification information corresponding to the quantity;
The program for functioning as an order information output part which outputs the order information which the said order information acquisition part acquired.

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