JP2023073305A - Communication apparatus, communication method, program and communication system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To efficiently determine the order for an entire group while each customer in the group selects dishes according to their tastes.

SOLUTION: A communication apparatus that communicates with a plurality of terminals respectively used by a plurality of users, comprises: a group management unit for grouping the plurality of terminals; a receiving unit for respectively receiving, from the plurality of grouped terminals, information on order candidates selected from a pre-registered product list; and a transmitting unit for transmitting, to another terminal among the plurality of grouped terminals, the information on the order candidates for one of the plurality of grouped terminals.

SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

COPYRIGHT: (C)2023,JPO&INPIT

Description

The present invention relates to a communication device, communication method, program, and communication system.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when a group including a plurality of customers dine together at a restaurant or the like, each customer may order his/her favorite drink, food, or the like from the restaurant clerk. In addition, after all the customers in the group have ordered, each customer may place additional orders at their own timing. Moreover, in such a dinner, customers included in the group may participate in the dinner later than the start time of the dinner, or may return home in the middle of the dinner.

In such a dinner, a group includes customers who order only the amount of food and drink for themselves, customers who order the amount of food and drink that others will eat and drink, and customers who order at a different timing than others. The total order sometimes exceeded the amount that all the customers wanted to eat and drink. In addition, customers may choose the same dish, making it difficult to determine appropriate orders for the entire group.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of these points, and aims to enable each customer in the group to select dishes according to their tastes and to efficiently determine orders for the entire group. aim.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a communication device for communicating with a plurality of terminals used by a plurality of users respectively, comprising: a group management unit for grouping the plurality of terminals; a receiving unit that respectively receives information on the order candidate selected from the plurality of grouped terminals, and the information on the order candidate of one terminal of the plurality of grouped terminals, the and a transmitter that transmits to other terminals among the plurality of grouped terminals.

The communication device further includes an order confirmation unit that confirms the order of the group, and the transmission unit transmits the order of the group to a store terminal installed in the store when the order confirmation unit confirms the order of the group. Information indicating that the order has been confirmed may be transmitted.

The communication device sets, among the plurality of grouped terminals, (1) the terminals from which the receiving unit has not received the information of the order candidate in an unselected state, and (2) the receiving unit causes the In response to receiving the information on the order candidates, the terminal that is the transmission source of the information on the order candidates is placed in a selected state, and (3) the receiving unit confirms the order candidates from the terminal in the selected state. setting the terminal in the selected state to the confirmed state in response to receiving the instruction, and setting each of the plurality of grouped terminals to either the offline state or the online state according to a predetermined condition; You may further provide a state management part which sets it as the state of.

The order confirmation unit may not confirm the order of the group when at least one terminal among the plurality of grouped terminals is in a selected state and an online state. wherein at least one terminal among the plurality of grouped terminals is in a selected state and an offline state, and all other terminals included in the group are in either an unselected state or a confirmed state; In some cases, a notification prompting confirmation of the order may be sent to the terminal in the selected and offline state.

wherein at least one terminal among the plurality of grouped terminals is in a selected state and an offline state, and all other terminals included in the group are either in an unselected state or in a confirmed state. , the order for the group may be confirmed.

wherein at least one terminal among the plurality of grouped terminals is in a selected state and an offline state, and all other terminals included in the group are in either an unselected state or a confirmed state; In some cases, a notification prompting confirmation of the order of the group is sent to at least one of the other terminals, and the order confirmation unit receives an instruction to confirm the order of the group from the other terminal. The order for the group may be confirmed accordingly.

When the order confirmation unit confirms the order of the group, the state management unit sets the terminal in the selected and offline state to an unselected state, and deletes the received order candidate information from the terminal. may The state management unit, when a first terminal among the plurality of grouped terminals is in a selected state and an offline state and a second terminal is in an online state, is configured to receive an instruction from the second terminal. , the first terminal may be changed to the confirmed state or the unselected state.

The group management unit may exclude other terminals from the group based on an instruction from one of the plurality of grouped terminals. The state management unit may stop accepting input or confirmation of the order candidates from the plurality of terminals in response to the lapse of a predetermined time.

The communication device further includes an accounting management unit that calculates and manages both accounting information for the group and accounting information for each terminal based on the information on the order candidates received by the receiving unit from the plurality of terminals. The transmission unit may transmit at least one of accounting information of the group and accounting information of the terminal to the terminal in response to a request from the terminal included in the group.

In a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a communication method for communicating with a plurality of terminals used by a plurality of users respectively, comprising: grouping the plurality of terminals; a step of receiving the information on the candidate orders thus obtained from the plurality of terminals grouped, respectively; and transmitting to other terminals among the plurality of terminals.

A third aspect of the present invention provides a program that, when executed by a computer, causes the computer to function as the communication device of the first aspect.

A fourth aspect of the present invention comprises the communication device of the first aspect, and a plurality of terminals used by a plurality of users communicating with the communication device, each of the plurality of terminals a display unit for displaying list information; an input unit for accepting selection of the candidate orders from among the products included in the product list from the user of the terminal; and information on the candidate orders selected from the product list. and a communication unit that transmits to the communication device.

According to the present invention, it is possible to efficiently determine the orders of the entire group while each of the customers in the group can select dishes according to their tastes.

1 shows a configuration example of a communication system 10 according to this embodiment. An example of the operation flow of the communication system 10 according to this embodiment is shown. 2 shows a first display example of the display unit 22 of the terminal 20 according to the present embodiment. 3 shows a second display example of the display unit 22 of the terminal 20 according to the present embodiment. 3 shows a third display example of the display unit 22 of the terminal 20 according to the present embodiment. 2 shows an example of part of the operation flow of the communication system 10 according to the present embodiment. A modification of the communication system 10 according to the present embodiment is shown.

<Configuration example of communication system 10>
FIG. 1 shows a configuration example of a communication system 10 according to this embodiment. FIG. 1 shows an example in which a communication system 10 is configured in a store such as a restaurant, and receives orders for drinks, food, etc. from mobile terminals or the like used by a plurality of customers. In this embodiment, it is assumed that the customer who visits the store is the user of the terminal. A communication system 10 includes a plurality of terminals 20 , a store terminal 30 and a communication device 100 .

A plurality of terminals 20 are terminals used by a plurality of users communicating with the communication device 100 . The terminal 20 may be a terminal owned by each user, or may be a terminal prepared and rented by a store. Each of the terminals 20 is, for example, a communicable device such as a mobile phone, a smart phone, a game device, a tablet PC, a compact PC, and a notebook PC. For example, the communication system 10 is configured by a customer entering a store and accessing the communication device 100 using the customer's own terminal 20 . Each terminal 20 has a display section 22 and an input section 24 .

The display unit 22 displays information and the like accompanying the operation of the terminal 20 . For example, when the terminal 20 receives information on a pre-registered product list from the communication system 10, the display unit 22 displays the information on the product list. The display unit 22 is, for example, a display having a liquid crystal or the like.

The input unit 24 receives input of numerical values, characters, and the like to the terminal 20, instructions for operations, and the like. The input unit 24 receives, for example, a selection of order candidates from among the products included in the product list from the user of the terminal 20 . For example, the display unit 22 is a touch panel display. In this case, the input portion 24 is at least part of such a display portion 22 . The user selects a product to be ordered by touching the display unit 22 while looking at the product list displayed on the display unit 22 .

Moreover, the terminal 20 further includes a communication unit that communicates with the outside. The communication unit is provided inside the terminal 20 , for example, and communicates with the communication device 100 . The communication unit, as will be described later, transmits to the communication device 100 information on the order candidates selected from the product list. The communication unit can communicate wirelessly. The communication unit communicates with the communication device 100 via the Internet, LAN, or the like, for example.

The shop terminal 30 is a terminal used in the shop. The store terminal 30 is, for example, a terminal used by a store clerk. Also, the store terminal 30 may be a terminal installed in a store. Also, a plurality of store terminals 30 may be used in the store. For example, each store clerk who serves customers may have the store terminal 30, or a store clerk who cooks in the kitchen may have it. Alternatively, the manager of the store may possess it.

The store terminal 30 is, for example, a communicable terminal such as a mobile phone, a smart phone, a tablet PC, a compact PC, and a notebook PC. The store terminal 30 communicates with the communication device 100 to exchange information regarding the customer's order. For example, the store terminal 30 installed in the kitchen displays the food ordered by the customer (hereinafter, mainly "food" will be described as an example, but the present invention can be similarly applied to orders for drinks, in-store services, etc.). It is also applicable to group orders for products other than food and drinks.) is transmitted. Further, information such as the completion of cooking, the number of dishes that can be served, the time until the dishes can be served, etc. may be input to the store terminal 30 provided in the kitchen, and the information may be transmitted to the communication device 100. . The store terminal 30 may be capable of communicating by wire and/or wirelessly. The store terminal 30 communicates with the communication device 100 via, for example, the Internet or LAN.

The communication device 100 communicates with multiple terminals 20 used by multiple users. The communication device 100 also communicates with the store terminal 30 . The communication device 100 receives, for example, information on dishes selected from menus prepared by the store. The communication device 100 transmits information on the selected dish to the store terminal 30 . Thus, the communication device 100 has a function of accepting orders from customers of the store. The communication device 100 is, for example, a computer such as a server. Communication device 100 is, for example, a cloud server.

Orders for drinks, food, etc. according to each customer's preference are input to the communication device 100 as described above. In this case, depending on the customer, an order including the portion of other customers who eat together may be entered. In addition, each customer may enter an additional order at their own timing after the orders of all members of the group including the customer. Moreover, in such a dinner, customers included in the group may participate in the dinner after the start time of the dinner, or may return home during the dinner.

In such a case, the entire group's order may exceed the amount of food and drink that all the customers would like to eat. In addition, customers may choose the same dish, making it difficult to determine appropriate orders for the entire group. Therefore, the communication device 100 according to the present embodiment enables each of the customers in the group to select dishes according to their tastes and to efficiently determine orders for the entire group. The communication device 100 includes a receiving section 110 , a group management section 120 , a storage section 130 , a state management section 140 , an order confirmation section 150 and a transmission section 160 .

The receiving unit 110 receives information transmitted from the terminals 20 . The receiving unit 110 receives access requests respectively transmitted from a plurality of terminals 20, for example. In addition, the receiving unit 110 receives information on order candidates selected from a pre-registered product list from each of the plurality of terminals 20 .

The group management unit 120 groups multiple terminals 20 . The group management unit 120 includes, for example, an existing group or creates a new group and includes it in the new group according to the access destination address of the terminal 20 . Alternatively, the group management unit 120 may group one terminal 20 based on information included in an access request transmitted from one terminal 20 . As an example, the group management unit 120 includes a plurality of terminals 20 that have accessed a common address in one group. Also, the group management unit 120 may include, in one group, a plurality of terminals 20 that have transmitted access requests containing a common code. A QR code (registered trademark), for example, can be used as a means for realizing access to a common address or an access request containing a common code, as will be described later.

The storage unit 130 stores information of the terminals 20 that have accessed. When the terminals 20 are grouped, the storage unit 130 stores the information of the terminals 20 in association with the information of the group. In addition, the storage unit 130 stores the information on the candidate order received from each terminal 20 in association with the information on the terminal 20 that transmitted the information on the candidate order. It is preferable that the storage unit 130 updates and stores the information on the candidate orders each time the receiving unit 110 receives the information on the candidate orders from each terminal 20 . Further, the storage unit 130 may update and store the information on the order candidates for each group.

In addition, the storage unit 130 may store information on an OS (Operating System) that functions as the communication device 100 and application software. Further, the storage unit 130 may store various information including a database that is referred to when executing the application software. For example, a computer such as a server executes a program stored in the storage unit 130 to perform at least the reception unit 110, the group management unit 120, the storage unit 130, the state management unit 140, the order determination unit 150, and the transmission unit 160. function as part of

The storage unit 130 includes, for example, a ROM (Read Only Memory) that stores a BIOS (Basic Input Output System) of a computer or the like, and a RAM (Random Access Memory) that serves as a work area. The storage unit 130 may also include a large-capacity storage device such as a HDD (Hard Disk Drive) and/or an SSD (Solid State Drive). Also, the computer may further include a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) or the like.

The storage unit 130 may also store information such as setting values used by the communication device 100 . The storage unit 130 may also store intermediate data generated (or used) in the process of operation of the communication device 100, calculation results, thresholds, parameters, and the like. In addition, the storage unit 130 may supply the stored data to the request source in response to a request from each unit within the communication device 100 . Furthermore, the storage unit 130 may supply the stored data to the request source in response to a request from each unit within the communication system 10 .

The state management unit 140 manages states of the plurality of terminals 20 . The state management unit 140 determines each terminal 20 to be in one of the "unselected state", "selected state", and "confirmed state" according to a predetermined condition. Here, the "unselected state" is a state in which the terminal 20 has not received any food order candidates from the user. The “selected state” is a state in which the terminal 20 has received at least one candidate for ordering food from the user. The “confirmed state” is a state in which the terminal 20 accepts and completes the confirmation of the food order candidate from the user.

For example, the state management unit 140 puts a terminal 20 in an unselected state from among a plurality of grouped terminals 20 for which the reception unit 110 has not received information on an order candidate. In addition, when the receiving unit 110 receives information on at least one order candidate among a plurality of grouped terminals 20, the state management unit 140 selects the terminal 20 that is the transmission source of the information on the order candidate. is selected. In addition, the state management unit 140 selects the terminal 20 in the selected state in response to the receiving unit 110 receiving an instruction to confirm the order candidate from the terminal 20 in the selected state among the grouped terminals 20. be in a definite state.

The state management unit 140 may further put each of the grouped terminals 20 into either the “offline state” or the “online state” according to a predetermined condition. Here, the “offline state” is, for example, a state in which the terminal 20 is not connected to the communication device 100 due to hibernation, sleep, power off, battery exhaustion, or the like. Also, the “online state” is, for example, a state in which the terminal 20 is connected to the communication device 100 . For example, the state management unit 140 determines whether the state is online or offline depending on whether the connection with the terminal 20 has been established. The state management unit 140 may store and manage the state of the terminal 20 in association with the information of the terminal 20 in the storage unit 130 .

The order confirmation unit 150 confirms the order of the group. For example, the order confirmation unit 150 confirms the order of the group in response to receiving an instruction to confirm the order of the group from one terminal 20 included in the group. Also, the order confirmation unit 150 may confirm the order for the group according to the states of the terminals 20 included in the group. Also, the order confirmation unit 150 may decide not to confirm the order for the group according to the states of the terminals 20 included in the group.

The transmitting unit 160 transmits information about orders in the group to each of the plurality of grouped terminals 20 . The transmission unit 160 transmits, for example, information on a product list registered in advance to each of the plurality of terminals 20 . Here, the product list is, for example, a store menu. Also, the transmitting unit 160 transmits, for example, the information of the order candidate of one terminal 20 among the plurality of grouped terminals 20 to the other terminals 20 among the plurality of grouped terminals 20 . In addition, the transmission unit 160 may transmit a notification prompting confirmation of the order of the group to the terminals 20 in the group.

Further, when the order confirming unit 150 confirms the order of the group, the transmitting unit 160 can transmit information indicating that the order of the group has been confirmed to the store terminal 30 installed in the store. For example, the transmission unit 160 transmits information as to whether or not the order for the group has been confirmed in response to a request from the store terminal 30 . In addition, the transmission unit 160 may transmit information on the details of the order confirmed by the group in response to a request from the store terminal 30 . Alternatively, the transmission unit 160 may transmit information indicating that the order for the group has been confirmed to the store terminal 30 in response to the order for the group has been confirmed. In this case, the transmitting unit 160 may transmit to the shop terminal 30 including information on the details of the order confirmed by the group.

The communication device 100 according to the present embodiment as described above groups a plurality of terminals 20, receives information on order candidates from the terminals 20 in the group, and transmits and shares the received information on the order candidates to the terminals 20 in the group. Let As a result, the users of the terminals 20 included in the group can use their own terminals 20 to check information on order candidates input by other users in the group.

In other words, each user can easily confirm the information of the order candidate input by the entire group without any discussion among the users, and can select his or her favorite order candidate while confirming the order candidate of the entire group. can be entered. Therefore, according to the communication system 10 of the present embodiment, the user can input an appropriate quantity of order candidates corresponding to the group, and can confirm the order for the entire group. The operation of such communication system 10 will now be described.

<Operation Flow of Communication System 10>
FIG. 2 shows an example of the operation flow of the communication system 10 according to this embodiment. In the operation flow shown in FIG. 2, terminals 20 used by a plurality of users who have visited the store and a communication device 100 on the store side constitute the communication system 10, and the operation of confirming an appropriate order for the entire group within the store is performed. It is an example of a flow to be executed. In this embodiment, users of terminals 20 grouped into one group are described as members of the one group. The flow also includes an example of a flow in which the communication device 100 communicates with a plurality of terminals 20 used by a plurality of users.

First, a user visiting a store accesses the communication device 100 using the terminal 20 used by the user (S310: Yes). Here, it is desirable for the store clerk to guide a plurality of users visiting the store to access the communication device 100 from the terminal 20 used by each of the users. For example, a store clerk presents a code or the like indicating a common address or the like to a plurality of users forming a group, and causes them to access the common address from their respective terminals 20 . The receiving unit 110 receives an access request from the terminal 20 when the terminal 20 accesses the common address.

In this case, the code shown to the user is preferably a code that can be easily read by the terminal 20, such as a QR code (registered trademark). Also, it is desirable that the common address or the like be an updatable access destination. The common address or the like may be updated every time a predetermined period of time, such as half a day or one day, has elapsed, or every time a group's settlement is completed. As a result, for example, even if the address read by the terminal 20 is stored and re-accessed after the group settlement is completed, access to the communication device 100 is not established, and spoofing, useless information transfer, etc. occur. can be prevented.

The store clerk, for example, presents the user with a piece of paper on which a code or the like is printed, and prompts the user to access from the terminal 20 . Also, the store clerk may display the code or the like on the display unit of the shop terminal 30 and present it to the user. Also, the code or the like may be displayed on a display device or the like provided on a table or the like in the store. In this case, the display device or the like may be the store terminal 30 . In this case, the communication device 100 may generate a code indicating the user's access destination and supply it to the store terminal 30 . For example, even if the customer arrives at the store at a different time than other customers, the store clerk presents a code indicating a common address corresponding to the group if the customer is a member of the same group.

When the terminal 20 accesses the communication device 100 (S310: Yes), the group management unit 120 groups the terminals 20 (S320). When multiple terminals 20 access the first address, the group management unit 120 groups the multiple terminals 20 into a first group. For example, when the first group of customers visits the store, when a customer visits the store alone, or when a group of customers rents out the store, the group management unit 120 generates a first group and stores the terminals used by the customers. 20 are included in the first group. As an example, the group management unit 120 stores the information of the plurality of terminals 20 in the storage unit 130 in association with the first group.

In addition, it is desirable that the information of the plurality of terminals 20 include identification information for identifying each terminal 20 . For example, when a plurality of terminals 20 access the first address, the group management unit 120 identifies them as “terminal A”, “terminal B”, “terminal C”, . Append the first name. Also, the group management unit 120 may add a nickname or the like, or alternatively, may cause the user of the terminal 20 to input his own nickname or the like.

Here, for example, when the next group of customers visits the store, the store clerk presents the user with a second address different from the first address. When the next customer accesses the second address using his own terminal 20, the group management unit 120 groups the terminals 20 that have accessed the second address into a second group. In this way, the group management unit 120 groups the terminals 20 based on common information such as access destinations. As a result, for example, even if a customer of the first group comes to the store later than other members, the group management unit 120 can transfer the customer's terminal 20 to the first group by presenting the first address by the store clerk. can be included.

In addition, the state management unit 140 sets the state of the grouped terminal 20 to the “unselected state”. In addition, the state management unit 140 further changes the state of such a terminal 20 to "online state". As described above, the communication device 100 groups the terminals 20 when an access from the terminals 20 occurs. Further, when there is no access from the terminal 20 (S310: No, S312: No), the communication device 100 continues waiting for access.

Next, the transmission unit 160 transmits the store menu information to the plurality of terminals 20 (S330). For example, the transmission unit 160 transmits the menu information to the terminal 20 in response to a request from the terminal 20 to browse the menu information of the store (however, without waiting for the request, for example, when the terminal 20 The menu information may be transmitted when the first address is accessed.). The store menu information may include additional information such as, for example, detailed descriptions of the dishes, related information, and where to access the related information. In addition, the additional information may include information such as today's recommended information, ingredients information, information on the number of dishes that can be served, and estimated time required for serving.

It is desirable that the transmission unit 160 transmits store menu information to the plurality of terminals 20 as part of the website information. In this case, the plurality of terminals 20 access the common address to view the food ordering site prepared by the restaurant with a browser. The web site is, for example, a site that displays menu information of a store and allows the user to select a dish from the menu as an order candidate. Such website information is stored in the storage unit 130 as an example.

Next, the terminal 20 displays the store's menu information via such a website and accepts order candidates from the user (S340). Further, when one terminal 20 has already accessed (S310: No, S312: Yes), the communication device 100 accepts order candidates from the accessed terminal 20 (S340). The user selects a dish included in the menu information as an order candidate by, for example, performing a touch operation on the display screen that is the input unit 24 .

FIG. 3 shows a first display example of the display unit 22 of the terminal 20 according to this embodiment. FIG. 3 shows an example in which the display unit 22 displays part of the menu information. The display example of FIG. 3 shows, for example, the result of the user operating the terminal 20 and selecting one dish included in the menu information. In this way, the website of this example is configured so that the user can browse the web page corresponding to the selected dish by selecting the dish displayed on the menu. The display unit 22 has a selected dish name 42, an explanation area 44, a submenu display 46, a setting area 48, and an icon area 52, for example.

The dish name 42 is a dish included in the menu. A description area 44 displays a detailed description of the dish. The description area 44 includes, for example, sentences, pictograms, illustrations, images, and the like. A sub-menu display 46 displays options and the like associated with cooking. A sub-menu display 46 is, for example, options for sauces, dressings, garnishes, and the like. The sub-menu display 46 may further include input fields for inputting requests such as removing disliked foodstuffs, increasing the amount of favorite foodstuffs, grilling method, boiled condition, and the like.

A setting area 48 is provided so that the number of dishes to be ordered can be input. In the example of FIG. 3, the number "1" indicates the number of orders, and tapping the display area of "+" increases the number of orders, and tapping the display area of "-" decreases the number of orders. 48 are provided.

The icon area 52 is provided with icons for instructing actions. For example, the menu icon 54 is an icon for returning to the menu display. That is, when the user taps the menu icon 54, the display returns to the menu display. Also, the order history icon 56 is an icon for viewing the order history. That is, when the user taps the order history icon 56, the order history up to now is displayed. Also, the order input icon 58 is an icon for inputting the selected dish as an order candidate. That is, when the user taps the order input icon 58 , the selected dish is input as an order candidate, and the information of the order candidate is transmitted from the terminal 20 to the communication device 100 .

As a result, the receiving unit 110 receives the information of the order candidate selected from the menu from each of the grouped terminals 20 (S350). The receiving unit 110 stores the received information of the candidate order in the storage unit 130 in association with the information of the terminal 20 that transmitted the information of the candidate order. In addition, when the receiving unit 110 receives the information on the order candidate, the state management unit 140 sets the state of the terminal 20 that has transmitted the information on the candidate order to the “selected state”. In addition, when the reception unit 110 receives the cancellation information of the order candidates and the order candidates of the terminal 20 that transmitted the cancellation information are all gone, the state management unit 140 changes the state of the terminal 20 from the “selected state” to "unselected state".

Next, the transmitting unit 160 transmits the information of the order candidate of one terminal 20 among the plurality of grouped terminals 20 to the other terminals 20 among the plurality of grouped terminals 20 (S360). For example, the transmission unit 160, in response to the first user of the first group performing an operation for checking the order status of other users in the first group, transmits information about the order candidates of the other users. is sent to the terminal 20 of the first user. In addition, when the receiving unit 110 receives the information on the order candidate from the terminal 20 of one user in the first group, the transmitting unit 160 sends the information on the candidate order to the terminal 20 of the user in the group. You may send.

FIG. 4 shows a second display example of the display unit 22 of the terminal 20 according to this embodiment. FIG. 4 shows an example in which the display unit 22 displays information on input order candidates. The display example of FIG. 4 shows, for example, the result of the user operating the terminal 20 and tapping the order entry icon 58 in the icon area 52 described with reference to FIG. The display unit 22 has an input information area 62, a member information area 64, an enter button 66, and an icon area 68, for example.

The input information area 62 displays information of order candidates input by the user of the terminal 20 . The input information area 62 preferably displays information such as the name and amount of the candidate order, the total number of input candidate orders, and the amount of money. In the input information area 62, for example, by tapping an order candidate, it may be possible to input cancellation of the input of the order candidate and/or change of the quantity of the order candidate.

Member information area 64 indicates the status of terminals 20 in the group. FIG. 4 shows an example in which four terminals 20 are included in the group. FIG. 4 also shows an example in which four terminals 20 are identified using the letters "A", "B", "C", and "D". Note that FIG. 4 shows an example in which a check mark is added to the portion indicated by "A", indicating that the terminal A has confirmed the order. As a modification, in the member information area 64, the information of the terminal used by the terminal 20 (A to D) in the group may not be displayed (for example, if the terminal C is used by the If there are, only A, B, and D are displayed.), thereby efficiently displaying the necessary information.

Also, the member information area 64 may be able to display whether each of the terminals 20 in the group is online. For example, the state of the terminal 20 is displayed so as to be identifiable by changing the color of the character identifying the terminal 20, the decoration of the character, or the like. FIG. 4 shows an example in which terminals B and D are online and terminal C is offline.

The decision button 66 is a button for confirming the input of the order candidate from the terminal 20 . The user of the terminal 20 taps the decision button 66 to decide to input his/her own order candidate.

The icon area 68 is provided with icons for instructing operations, similar to the icon area 52 described with reference to FIG. The menu icon 54 and the order history icon 56 are icons for executing substantially the same operations as those described with reference to FIG. Note that the order entry icon 58 may operate as an icon for updating the information of order candidates. Also, in icon area 68, the number of candidate orders entered by the user and/or the number of candidate orders entered by the group may be displayed. FIG. 4 shows an example in which the number of order candidates input by the user (5 points as an example) and the number of order candidates input by the group (11 points as an example) are displayed on the order input icon 58 .

Each user of the terminal 20 operates display screens as shown in the examples of FIGS. 3 and 4 to input their own order candidates. For example, the user selects a dish from the menu screen to display the screen shown in FIG. 3, inputs the submenu and quantity, and proceeds to the screen shown in FIG. Then, tap the menu icon 54 to return to the menu screen and select the next dish. In such a process, each of the users should be able to check the order status of the members of the group name. Therefore, the input information area 62 shown in FIG. 4 is configured to be able to display not only the information of the candidate orders input by the user of the terminal 20, but also the information of the candidate orders input by other users in the group.

FIG. 4 shows an example where the input information area 62 has tabs labeled "Me" and "Other Members". That is, FIG. 4 is an example showing an active state of the "self" tab for displaying the information of the order candidates input by the user himself/herself. Here, for example, when the user taps the "Other members" tab, the "Other members" tab becomes active, and the transmission unit 160 transmits the information of the other member's order candidates to the terminal 20. . As a result, the terminal 20 can display information on other members' order candidates.

FIG. 5 shows a third display example of the display unit 22 of the terminal 20 according to this embodiment. FIG. 5 is an example in which the display unit 22 displays information on other member's order candidates. The display example of FIG. 5 shows, for example, the result of the user operating the terminal 20 and tapping the "other members" tab in the input information area 62 described with reference to FIG. The display unit 22 displays an input information area 62 and an icon area 68 as an example. Since the icon area 68 has been described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4, the description thereof is omitted here.

The input information area 62 displays information about order candidates input by a user of a terminal 20 different from the terminal 20 in the group. The input information area 62 preferably displays information such as the name and amount of the candidate order, the total number of input candidate orders, and the amount of money. As a result, users in the group can switch between the "myself" tab and the "other members" tab to check the order trends of other members and input their own order candidates.

As described above, each user in the group operates his/her own terminal 20 to input an order candidate, and taps the enter button 66 to confirm the input of his/her own order candidate. The state management unit 140 puts the terminal 20 in the selected state into the confirmed state in response to the receiving unit 110 receiving an instruction to confirm the order candidate from the terminal 20 in the selected state. Here, the transmitting unit 160 may notify other terminals 20 in the group that one terminal 20 has entered the confirmed state. As a result, the user of each terminal 20 can grasp how many orders have been placed in the group.

For example, when the states of all the terminals 20 in the group are confirmed, the order confirmation unit 150 confirms the order of the group (S370: Yes). Here, the transmission unit 160 notifies the terminal 20 that has finally tapped the enter button 66 among the terminals 20 in the online state in the group to confirm whether or not to confirm the order of the group. may be sent. In this case, the order confirmation unit 150 confirms the order of the group in response to receiving an instruction to confirm the order of the group from the terminal 20 that transmitted the confirmation notice.

On the other hand, if at least one of the grouped terminals 20 is selected and online, the order confirmation unit 150 does not confirm the group order (S370: No). In other words, the order confirmation unit 150 does not confirm the order of the group if there is even one terminal 20 in the group that has only transmitted one or more order candidates. In this case, the communication system 10 receives order candidates from the user by one or a plurality of terminals 20 (S340), receives information on the order candidates by the receiving unit 110 (S350), and receives order candidates by the transmitting unit 160. The transmission of information (S360) is repeated until the order for the group is determined.

When the order confirmation unit 150 confirms the group order (S370: Yes), the transmission unit 160 transmits information indicating that the group order has been confirmed to the store terminal 30 installed in the store (S380). The transmission unit 160 may transmit information indicating that the group's order has been confirmed and information on the confirmed order details in response to a request from the store terminal 30 or the like, so that the salesclerk or the like can grasp the order details. can be done. For example, a kitchen clerk or the like can quickly start cooking based on the order information. In addition, the store clerk in charge of customer service can quickly prepare tableware and the like according to the dish.

As described above, each member of the group can use the terminal 20 owned by the group member to confirm the order content of the other member while confirming the order of the other member. Further, if the members of the group continue to eat and drink, etc., even after confirming the order (S390: No), the communication system 10 returns to the acceptance of order candidates in S340, thereby accepting additional orders for the group. be able to. In this case, each member in the group taps the order history icon 56 in addition to the order candidates of other members to input additional orders while checking the past order history in the group. be able to. That is, the communication system 10 repeats the operations from S340 to S380 until the group finishes eating and drinking.

When the eating and drinking of the group has ended (S390: Yes), for example, the store clerk accounts for the eating and drinking expenses of the group, and the members pay the bill. Here, the members in the group may input the end of eating and drinking from the terminal 20 , or alternatively, the store clerk may input the end of eating and drinking from the store terminal 30 . The state management unit 140 stops receiving input of order candidates or acceptance of confirmation from a plurality of terminals 20 in response to the reception unit 110 receiving the information of the end of eating and drinking (S400). As a result, erroneous input after payment from the terminal 20, nuisance, etc. can be prevented. It should be noted that the suspension of acceptance by the state management unit 140 is an example, and is not limited to this. For example, the receiving unit 110 may discard the received information to the common address corresponding to the group after accounting.

As described above, according to the communication system 10 according to the present embodiment, when a group including a plurality of members has a meal at a restaurant or the like, each member can use their own terminal 20 to enjoy their favorite drinks, foods, etc. can be ordered separately. Members in the group can determine group orders while checking other members' order statuses, past order details, and the like.

Therefore, by using the communication system 10, it is possible to prevent the selection of the same dish within the group and the order of the entire group from exceeding the quantity that the members want to eat and drink. You can confirm your order. In addition, since the communication system 10 repeats the operation of accepting such an order until the group finishes eating and drinking, even if each member orders an additional order at each timing after the group has ordered, the order will not be processed. Appropriately accepted and communicated to stores. Also, the store side can efficiently prepare dishes, tableware, etc., by accepting orders in a certain amount as a group rather than separately accepting orders within the group. In this embodiment, an example of ordering food at a restaurant has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this. In the case of karaoke, hotels, home delivery of food, etc., even when dishes are selected by a group, the order of the group can be determined in the same way.

In such a dinner, members included in the group may participate after the start time of the dinner. Even in such a case, the late member uses the terminal 20 used to access the address corresponding to the member's group, so that the communication device 100 can process it as a member of the same group.

Moreover, in such a dinner, members included in the group may return home in the middle of the dinner. In this case, for example, the group management unit 120 can exclude other terminals 20 from the group based on an instruction from one terminal 20 among the plurality of grouped terminals 20 . Thereby, even if some members in the group go home, the rest of the members can update the group and promptly execute the next ordering operation. In addition, it is possible to prevent erroneous input by members who have returned home.

Note that the group management unit 120 may be able to exclude from the group whether the terminal 20 is in an online state or an offline state. good too. Instead of enabling other terminals 20 to be excluded from the group, or in addition to this, the group management unit 120, based on an instruction from one terminal 20 of the plurality of grouped terminals 20, One terminal 20 may be excluded from the group. As a result, the group management unit 120 can quickly update the group when there is a declaration from the member himself/herself.

Also, deletion of a member from a group is not limited to being based on execution from the member side. For example, a store clerk notifies the communication device 100 from the store terminal 30 that the member is returning home. The reception unit 110 supplies such a notification to the group management unit 120 so that the group management unit 120 can exclude the information of the terminal 20 corresponding to the member from the group. As a result, the group management unit 120 can change the group to a group of only the remaining members, so that it is possible to confirm further orders in the group after the change.

The communication system 10 according to the present embodiment described above does not confirm the order of the group until the states of all the terminals 20 in the group are confirmed in S370 of FIG. Here, the communication device 100 may perform an operation to prompt the state of all the terminals 20 to be quickly determined using automatic determination processing, message transmission processing, and the like. The operation of such communication system 10 will now be described.

<Details of the flow for confirming group orders>
FIG. 6 shows an example of part of the operation flow of the communication system 10 according to this embodiment. FIG. 6 shows an example of more detailed operation of the communication system 10 at S370 of FIG. If none of the terminals 20 in the group are in the confirmed state (S500: No), the order confirmation unit 150 does not confirm the order for the group (S370: No). Further, the order confirmation unit 150 confirms the order of the group when the states of all the terminals 20 in the group are confirmed (S500: Yes, S510: Yes) (S540). On the other hand, if some of the terminals 20 in the group are in the confirmed state (S500: Yes) and some of the rest are not in the confirmed state (S510: No), the order confirmation unit 150 selects the terminals 20 that are not in the confirmed state. state (either unselected state or selected state) is confirmed (S520).

For example, when all the terminals 20 that are not in the confirmed state are in the unselected state, that is, when there is no terminal 20 in the selected state (S520: Yes), the order confirmation unit 150 confirms the order of the group (S540). . That is, the order confirming unit 150 may confirm the order on the assumption that some of the members have no intention of inputting at this opportunity of ordering. In this case, the order confirmation unit 150 may confirm the order for the group on the condition that the terminal 20 remains in the selected state beyond a predetermined time.

On the other hand, when some of the terminals 20 that are not in the confirmed state are in the selected state (S520: No), the order confirming unit 150 confirms whether or not the terminals 20 in the selected state are in the offline state (S530). Then, the order confirmation unit 150 determines that at least one of the grouped terminals 20 is in the selected and offline state, and all the other terminals 20 included in the group are either in the unselected state or in the confirmed state. If there is any (S530: Yes), the group order may be confirmed (S540). As described above, the communication system 10 may automatically confirm orders for a group according to the status of the terminals 20 in the group.

Alternatively, the communication device 100 may transmit a message for confirming the order to the terminals 20 that are not in the confirmed state, and confirm the order of the group after confirmation. For example, the transmission unit 160 determines that at least one of the grouped terminals 20 is in the selected state and in the offline state, and all other terminals 20 included in the group are either in the unselected state or in the confirmed state. In any case, a notification prompting confirmation of the order of the group is sent to at least one of the other terminals 20. - 特許庁

Alternatively or additionally, the transmitting unit 160 determines that at least one of the grouped terminals 20 is in the selected state and is in the offline state, and that the other terminals 20 included in the group are If all are in either the unselected state or the confirmed state, a notification prompting confirmation of the order of the group may be sent to the terminal 20 in the selected state and in the offline state.

In this case, the transmission unit 160 may send, for example, "Your order has not been confirmed. Please confirm your order", "There is a customer who is offline without confirming their order", etc. message to the terminal 20 in the confirmed state. Then, the order confirmation unit 150 confirms the order of the group in response to the receiving unit 110 receiving an instruction to confirm the order of the group from the terminal 20 that transmitted the notification. As a result, the communication device 100 can quickly prompt the customer who has not confirmed the order to confirm the order without the salesclerk or the like calling out to the customer.

Note that if the transmitting unit 160 transmits a message and the receiving unit 110 does not receive an instruction to confirm the order from the terminal 20 that transmitted the notification, the order confirming unit 150 does not need to confirm the order of the group.

Next, in response to the order confirmation unit 150 confirming the order of the group, the state management unit 140 sets the terminal 20 in the selected state and offline state to the unselected state, and the order candidate information already received from the terminal 20 may be deleted (S550). Then, S370 may be determined as Yes, and the next operation in the flow of FIG. 2 may be performed. As a result, even if the terminal 20 in the offline state becomes online after the order of the group is confirmed, the terminal 20 can be quickly added without contradiction because the information of the order candidate input in the past is deleted. input of order candidates can be accepted.

Further, the communication device 100 may transmit a message for confirming the order to the online terminals 20 that are not in the confirmation state, and confirm the order of the group after once confirming the order. For example, if at least one of the grouped terminals 20 is selected and online (S530: No), the transmission unit 160 sends a message to the terminal 20 that is selected and online. , a notification prompting confirmation of the order is sent (S560).

In this case, the transmission unit 160 may, for example, send messages such as "Your order has not been confirmed. Please confirm your order" and "Your order has not been confirmed yet." A message is sent to the terminal 20 in the online state. Then, the order confirmation unit 150 confirms the order of the group in response to receiving an instruction to confirm the order of the group from the terminal 20 that transmitted the message (S570: Yes) (S540). Here, if there is a terminal 20 in the selected state and offline state, the state management unit 140 may put the terminal 20 in the unselected state and delete the order candidate information received from the terminal 20 (S550).

On the other hand, when the transmitting unit 160 transmits a message and the receiving unit 110 does not receive an instruction to confirm the order from the terminal 20 that transmitted the notification (S570: No), the order confirmation unit 150 confirms the order of the group. you don't have to That is, S370 may be set to No, and the next operation in the flow of FIG. 2 may be performed.

In the operation of S550 of the communication system 10 according to the present embodiment described above, the state management unit 140 unselects the terminals 20 in the selected and offline state in response to the order confirmation unit 150 confirming the group order. Although an example of using the state has been described, the present invention is not limited to this. Alternatively or in addition to this, the state management unit 140 determines that the first terminal 20 among the grouped terminals 20 is in the selected and offline state, and the second terminal 20 is in the online state. , the first terminal 20 may be changed to the confirmed state or the unselected state based on an instruction from the second terminal 20 . Thereby, the members in the group can promptly confirm the order of the group.

In the operation of S560 of the communication system 10 according to the present embodiment described above, when at least one of the grouped terminals 20 is in the selected state and is online, the transmission unit 160 Although an example has been described in which a notification prompting confirmation of an order is sent to the terminal 20 that is both online and online, the present invention is not limited to this. Alternatively, for example, the transmission unit 160 may transmit a notification prompting confirmation of the order to the terminal 20 in the online state regardless of the selection state of the terminal 20 . For example, when a predetermined number of terminals 20 are in the confirmed state, the transmission unit 160 transmits a notification prompting confirmation of the order to the terminals 20 in the online state.

In the communication system 10 according to the present embodiment, an example has been described in which each member in the group can input additional orders until the group finishes eating and drinking, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the state management unit 140 stops accepting input or confirmation of order candidates from the plurality of terminals 20 when a predetermined period of time has elapsed. Also, the reception unit 110 may stop accepting information transmitted from a plurality of terminals 20 . As a result, the communication system 10 can restrict additional orders according to, for example, store closing time, deadline for accepting orders, time-limited order forms such as all-you-can-drink and all-you-can-eat.

In the communication system 10 of the present embodiment, an example has been described in which the order confirming unit 150 determines confirmation of an order according to the state of the terminal 20, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the transmission unit 160 may transmit the status of each terminal 20 to each terminal 20, and each terminal 20 may determine whether the order has been confirmed. Also, each terminal 20 may output a message prompting confirmation of an order. That is, each terminal 20 may be able to execute a part of the functions of the communication device 100 by executing the program transmitted from the transmission section 160 .

Although the communication system 10 according to the present embodiment has been described as an example in which an order confirmed by a customer is efficiently transmitted to a store, the communication system 10 is not limited to this. The communication system 10 may be connected to other systems, other devices, etc. on the store side. The communication system 10 may also have a function of performing accounting processing, for example. Examples of such are described below.

<Modified Example of Communication System 10>
FIG. 7 shows a modification of the communication system 10 according to this embodiment. The communication system 10 of the modified example further includes an accounting management unit 210 . The accounting management unit 210 manages the accounting information of the group based on the information of the order candidates received by the receiving unit 110 from the plurality of terminals 20 . For example, in response to a request from a terminal 20 included in the group, the transmission unit 160 transmits group accounting information from the accounting management unit 210 to the terminal 20 . In this case, the transmission unit 160 may transmit the accounting information of the group to the store terminal 30 .

As a result, the user of the terminal 20 can input his or her own order candidate while confirming the order status and accounting status within the group. In addition, since the user of the terminal 20 and the store clerk can quickly grasp the accounting information of the group, it is possible to smoothly shift to the accounting process of the group after eating and drinking is finished.

Further, the accounting management unit 210 may calculate and manage both group accounting information and accounting information for each terminal 20 based on the information of order candidates received by the receiving unit 110 from the plurality of terminals 20 . In this case, for example, the transmitting unit 160 transmits at least one of the accounting information of the group and the accounting information of the terminal 20 to the terminal 20 in response to a request from the terminal 20 included in the group. By managing the accounting information for each terminal 20 by the accounting management unit 210, the accounting for each member of the group can be quickly executed. In addition, since the accounting information is transmitted to the terminal 20, the payment can be easily completed by connecting the communication system 10 to the payment system or the like on the terminal 20 side.

In the communication system 10 according to the present embodiment, an example has been described in which each of the users of the terminals 20 accesses the communication device 100 from a plurality of terminals 20 and inputs their own order candidates. In this case, the communication device 100 may operate as a web application, for example, and the user may input order candidates on the web browser of his/her own terminal 20 . However, the communication system 10 is not limited to systems realized by web applications. For example, by accessing the communication device 100 from the terminal 20, an application can be installed on the terminal 20, and by installing and executing the application on the terminal 20, the user can input order candidates. good.

In the communication system 10 according to the present embodiment described above, an example in which each user of the terminal 20 accesses the communication device 100 and inputs his or her own order candidate when eating and drinking has been described, but the present invention is limited to this. never. The communication system 10 can be applied not only to orders for food and drink, but also to a case where a group selects and purchases products other than food and drink.

Although the present invention has been described above using the embodiments, the technical scope of the present invention is not limited to the scope described in the above embodiments, and various modifications and changes are possible within the scope of the gist thereof. be. For example, all or part of the device can be functionally or physically distributed and integrated in arbitrary units. In addition, new embodiments resulting from arbitrary combinations of multiple embodiments are also included in the embodiments of the present invention. The effect of the new embodiment caused by the combination has the effect of the original embodiment.

10 communication system 20 terminal 22 display unit 24 input unit 26 communication unit 30 store terminal 42 dish name 44 description area 46 submenu display 48 setting area 52 icon area 54 menu icon 56 order history icon 58 order input icon 62 input information area 64 member Information area 66 OK button 68 Icon area 100 Communication device 110 Reception unit 120 Group management unit 130 Storage unit 140 Status management unit 150 Order confirmation unit 160 Transmission unit 210 Accounting management unit

Claims (15)

A communication device that communicates with a plurality of terminals used by a plurality of users,
a group management unit that groups the plurality of terminals;
a receiving unit configured to receive, from each of the plurality of grouped terminals, information on an order candidate selected from a pre-registered product list;
A communication device comprising: a transmitting unit configured to transmit the information of the order candidate of one terminal among the plurality of grouped terminals to other terminals among the plurality of grouped terminals. further comprising an order confirmation unit that confirms the order of the group;
2. The transmission unit according to claim 1, wherein when the order confirmation unit confirms the order of the group, the transmission unit can transmit information indicating that the order of the group has been confirmed to a store terminal installed in the store. communication equipment. Among the plurality of grouped terminals, (1) the receiving unit puts the terminals that have not received the information of the order candidates into an unselected state, and (2) the receiving unit receives the information of the order candidates. (3) the receiving unit receives an instruction to confirm the order candidate from the terminal in the selected state in response to the reception; according to, the terminal in the selected state is set to the confirmed state,
Further, each of the plurality of grouped terminals is set to either an offline state or an online state according to a predetermined condition,
3. The communication device according to claim 2, further comprising a state manager. 4. The communication device according to claim 3, wherein said order confirmation unit does not confirm the order of said group when at least one of said grouped terminals is in a selected state and an online state. wherein at least one terminal among the plurality of grouped terminals is in a selected state and an offline state, and all other terminals included in the group are in either an unselected state or a confirmed state; In some cases, sending a notification prompting confirmation of the order to the terminal in the selected state and offline state,
4. A communication device according to claim 3. wherein at least one terminal among the plurality of grouped terminals is in a selected state and an offline state, and all other terminals included in the group are either in an unselected state or in a confirmed state. confirming an order for said group, if in
4. A communication device according to claim 3. wherein at least one terminal among the plurality of grouped terminals is in a selected state and an offline state, and all other terminals included in the group are in either an unselected state or a confirmed state; In some cases, sending a notification to at least one of the other terminals prompting confirmation of the order of the group;
The order confirmation unit confirms the order of the group in response to receiving an instruction to confirm the order of the group from the other terminal.
4. A communication device according to claim 3. When the order confirmation unit confirms the order of the group, the state management unit sets the terminal in the selected state and offline state to the unselected state, and deletes the received order candidate information from the terminal. ,
A communication device according to claim 6 or 7. The state management unit, when a first terminal among the plurality of grouped terminals is in a selected state and an offline state and a second terminal is in an online state, is configured to receive an instruction from the second terminal. Based on, the first terminal can be changed to a confirmed state or an unselected state,
A communication device according to any one of claims 6 to 8. The group management unit can exclude other terminals from the group based on an instruction from one of the plurality of grouped terminals,
A communication device according to any one of claims 3-9. 11. The state management unit according to any one of claims 3 to 10, wherein the state management unit stops accepting input or confirmation of the order candidates from the plurality of terminals when a predetermined time has elapsed. communication equipment. an accounting management unit that calculates and manages both accounting information for the group and accounting information for each terminal based on the information on the order candidates received by the receiving unit from the plurality of terminals;
The transmission unit transmits at least one of the accounting information of the group or the accounting information of the terminal to the terminal in response to a request from the terminal included in the group.
12. A communication device according to any one of claims 1-11. A communication method for communicating with a plurality of terminals used by a plurality of users,
grouping the plurality of terminals;
a step of receiving, from each of the plurality of grouped terminals, information on an order candidate selected from a pre-registered product list;
and transmitting the information of the order candidate of one terminal among the plurality of grouped terminals to other terminals among the plurality of grouped terminals. A program which, when executed by a computer, causes said computer to function as said communication device according to any one of claims 1 to 12. The communication device according to any one of claims 1 to 12;
and a plurality of terminals used by a plurality of users communicating with the communication device,
each of the plurality of terminals,
a display unit for displaying information on the product list;
an input unit that receives a selection of the order candidate from among the products included in the product list from the user of the terminal;
a communication unit that transmits information of the order candidate selected from the product list to the communication device;
Communications system.

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