JPH11272784A - Seat management system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a seat management system which can guide a visitor to a proper seat without increasing the personnel cost and can cope with artificial considerations or an accidental condition. SOLUTION: It is discriminated whether each seat is idle or not based on the detection result of a seating sensor 3 of each seat by a controller 4, and the idle seat condition is displayed on an operation panel 1 for visitors provided at the entrance of a shop in accordance with the discrimination result, and a constitution is given such as requests for seats by visitors are inputted to this panel, and then, visitors can be guided to idle seats without additional personnel. When the state that a seat is idle but is forcibly made busy or is actually in the midst of preparation is displayed on the operation panel 1 for visitors, the shop side can cope with conditions requiring artificial considerations or an accidental condition. Further, when a seat to which a visitor should be guided is discriminated in accordance with a preliminarily set rule or pattern and the detection results of seating sensors and this seat is emphasized or only this seat is displayed as an idle seat on the operation panel 1 for visitors, the visitor can be guided to the most suitable seat in accordance with requests of the shop side and the visitor.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a seat management system in a store where a large number of seats are arranged, and more particularly to a seat management system suitable for a restaurant or the like where guidance to a seat is desired. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for example, in a large restaurant having a large number of seats, it is necessary to consider the wishes of the customer when visiting the customer, and also to consider the overall balance, the image viewed from the outside, the order, the ease of serving, and the like. Guide to the appropriate seat
It was an important process to improve work efficiency, turnover rate and sales image.

[0003]

However, since a clerk who receives an order or carries a meal usually guides a customer to a seat, it is not always possible to guide a customer to an appropriate seat.
In some cases, the distribution of seats used by customers is biased, and the above-described work efficiency and turnover rate are reduced.

[0004] In addition, there is a case where a specialized information clerk only for guiding customers is provided at the entrance of the store, but there has been a problem that personnel costs rise.

The present invention has been devised to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and it is possible to guide (guide) a visitor to an appropriate seat without increasing personnel costs. It is an object of the present invention to provide a seat management system that can cope with human considerations and unexpected situations.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, there is provided a seat management system in a store in which a large number of seats are arranged, and a system for detecting that a customer is using the system. A seating sensor provided at each seat, a customer operation panel provided at the entrance of the store for the customer to operate, for displaying the vacant seat status and for inputting the customer's seat request, and the detection result of the seating sensor And a control device for determining whether each seat is vacant or not based on the result of the determination, and displaying a vacancy status on the visitor operation panel according to the determination result. You. In particular, a control operation panel capable of displaying on the visitor operation panel that the seat determined to be vacant by the control device is forcibly being used or being prepared is provided, or the control device is Determining a seat to guide a visitor according to the detection result of the seating sensor, and highlighting the seat to be guided on the visitor operation panel or displaying only the seat to be guided as an empty seat. I hope it is.

[0007]

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of a seat management system to which the present invention is applied. This seat management system includes a touch-sensor-type visitor operation panel 1 arranged at the entrance of a store, a touch-sensor-type control operation panel 2 provided in a place isolated from customers, such as a kitchen or an office. It has a seating sensor 3 provided in each seat, a guest operation panel 1, a control operation panel 2, and a control device 4 connected to each seating sensor 3.

The seat sensor 3 provided for each seat is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 2, the ultrasonic sensor is provided inside the backrest of the chair S, and when a person sits down, the signal is transmitted to the control device 4. Here, in order to distinguish between a case where a person sits down and a case where a person places the baggage by detecting a baggage or the like, 1
It is good to arrange a plurality of sensors with different positions in the width direction and / or the height direction in one chair, but it is possible to distinguish between sitting and luggage by adjusting the position and detection range of one sensor. It is.

Actually, the load sensor may be used to determine whether the person is sitting or the temperature sensor may be used to determine whether the person is sitting. Alternatively, an image sensor may be arranged above the seat, and the presence or absence of the seat, the number of seats, and the like may be determined by comparing the image when the seat is empty and the image when the seat is seated.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 3, the visitor operation panel 1 is provided with a seat arrangement display section 1a, a smoking selection section 1b, and a number selection section 1c on its screen. Then, when the user selects whether or not to smoke in the smoking selection section 1b and inputs the number of persons in the number selection section 1c, the seat corresponding to the seat arrangement display section 1a flashes, and after a desired seat is selected from among them. , You will head to that seat.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 4, the control operation panel 2 has a seat arrangement display section 2a for displaying the current use status of the seats on its screen, and a visitor operation panel 1
And an item selection unit 2b for changing the display content of the item. The item selection section 2b has items such as "change", "clearing end", "reservation", "non-smoking seat", "use prohibition", "automatic / manual switching", and the like. Select the seat to be used. However, a seat is not selected in the item of "automatic / manual switching".

The control device 4 receives a signal from each of the seating sensors 3 and outputs a “clearing end” signal from the control operation panel 2.
The actual vacancy status is obtained by inputting, and the month, day, day of the week, time zone, current number of passengers, number of vacant seats, and non-smoking seats, except for the seats that are “reserved” or “banned” from the control operation panel 2 One or a plurality of seats to be guided according to the presence or absence of smoking input by the customer and the number of seats so that the pattern is close to the optimal layout pattern set in advance with the number of vacant seats and the like as parameters. These are displayed on the customer operation panel 1 as vacant seats, that is, guideable seats.

The operation of the seat management system having the above configuration will be described below. The seat number is displayed on the seat arrangement display section 1a of the customer operation panel 1 in FIG. 40
-No. It is assumed that 47 is set as a non-smoking seat, no seat is set as “reserved” or “use prohibited”, and the mode is set to “automatic”.

[0015] A customer enters from the entrance of the store, selects, for example, "smoking" on the customer operation panel 1, and inputs "4" as the number of people. Then, the control device 4 causes, for example, the seat N
o. 33-No. 39 are obtained as candidates, and these are blinked on the seat arrangement display section 1a. Then, for example, When 33 is selected, the selection is stored in the control device 4. Then, within a predetermined time, the seating sensor 3
At the seat No. When it is confirmed that the user has sat at the position 33, it is actually stored as "in use".

However, the seat No. Despite selecting No. 33, his mind changed, and seat No. 33 changed. Suppose you sat at 34. Then, this is detected by the seating sensor 3, and the seat No. of the seat arrangement display unit 2 a of the control operation panel 2 is displayed. 33
And 34 flash, prompting confirmation. Then, the employee confirms it, selects “change”, and selects the seat No. By selecting 34, the seat to be used is changed.

Next, another customer enters from the entrance of the store, and selects "smoking" on the customer operation panel 1 in the same manner as described above.
Enter "3" for the number of people. Then, by the control device 4,
Seat No. used No. 34 and the surrounding seat Nos.
Except for the seat No. 33, 35, 28, for example, the seat No. 27, 29
To 32 and 36 to 39 are obtained as candidates, and these are blinked and displayed on the seat arrangement display section 1a. Then, for example, When 39 is selected, the same processing as described above is performed.

Next, another customer enters from the entrance of the store, selects "no smoking" on the customer operation panel 1, and inputs "3" for the number of people. Then, for example, the seat No. 40 to 47 are obtained as candidates, and these are blinked on the seat arrangement display section 1a. Then, for example, When 47 is selected, the same processing as described above is performed.

Here, for example, when a reservation is made, the employee selects "reservation" on the control operation panel 2, and further selects the seat. With this processing, the reserved seats are not displayed as candidates on the customer operation panel 1. Also,
Even if it is desired to prohibit the use of a specific seat for some reason, such as a chair, table or sensor failure, select “prohibition” on the control operation panel 2 and further select that seat on the visitor operation panel 1. The reserved seat is no longer displayed as a candidate.

Next, when the customer returns, it is detected by the seating sensor 3 that the user has not been seated for a predetermined time or more, and this is displayed on the arrangement display section 2a of the control operation panel 2. At this point, the display is not displayed as vacant seats on the visitor operation panel 1, but when the employee completes the cleaning of the seat, the user selects "Clearing finished" on the control operation panel 2 and selects the seat. For the first time as an empty seat.

If necessary, an operation panel 2 for controlling the effect
By selecting “Non-smoking seat” at, and selecting a seat to be set as a non-smoking seat, the seat that blinks when “Non-smoking seat” is selected on the customer operation panel 1 can be changed.

Further, in a sudden situation, for example, when a seat is occupied by an undesired customer, if the operation is performed in the "automatic" mode, guidance to an appropriate seat cannot always be performed. In such a case, the "manual" mode is selected on the control operation panel 2 to display the contents on the control operation panel 2 when a customer comes and operates the visitor operation panel 1, and manually. The guiding seat can be displayed.

In the above embodiment, only the seat management is performed by the present apparatus. However, depending on the business form such as a meal ticket system, a menu is simultaneously displayed on the visitor operation panel 1 to accept an order, and the control operation panel 2 is displayed. It is also possible to display that effect and manage the order with the control device 4. Also, a plurality of operation panels for the visitor and the control may be installed under the control of the control device so as not to cause inconsistency such as overlapping reservations and overlapping seats.

[0024]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the seat management system of the present invention, the control device determines whether each seat is empty or not based on the detection result of the seating sensor provided for each seat. Then, according to the determination result, the vacancy status is displayed on the customer operation panel provided at the entrance of the store so that the customer can operate, and the request for the customer's seat is input to this operation panel, It is possible to guide (guide) visitors to vacant seats without increasing personnel costs. Also, by installing a control operation panel in the store that can be displayed on the visitor operation panel when a seat determined to be vacant by the control device is forcibly in use or in preparation, it is artificially installed. Considerations and sudden situations can be dealt with. Further, the control device determines a seat to guide the visitor in accordance with a preset rule or pattern and a detection result of the seating sensor, and highlights or displays the seat to be guided on the visitor operation panel. By displaying only the supposed seats as vacant seats, it is possible to guide (guide) the visitor to the most appropriate seat according to the wishes of the store and the visitor.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of a seat management system to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically showing an arrangement of a seating sensor as a component of the seat management system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a screen configuration of a visitor operation panel as a component of the seat management system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a screen configuration of a control operation panel as a component of the seat management system of FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF REFERENCE NUMERALS 1 visitor operation panel 1a seat arrangement display section 1b smoking selection section 1c number of people selection section 2 control operation panel 2a seat arrangement display section 2b item selection section 3 seating sensor 4 control device S chair

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A seat management system in a store where a large number of seats are arranged, comprising: a seating sensor provided at each seat for detecting that the customer is using the seat; A visitor operation panel provided at the entrance of the store for displaying vacant seat status and inputting a request for a visitor's seat, and judging whether or not each seat is vacant based on the detection result of the seating sensor, A control device for displaying the vacancy status on the operation panel according to the result. 2. The vehicle according to claim 1, further comprising a control operation panel capable of displaying on said visitor operation panel that a seat determined to be vacant by said control device is forcibly used or being prepared. The seat management system according to claim 1, wherein: 3. The control device determines a seat to guide a visitor according to a detection result of the seating sensor, and highlights the seat to be guided on the operation panel or displays only the seat to be guided. 3. The seat management system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein is displayed as vacant seats.