KR20210121385A - Network server and method to communicate information with plurality of client terminals - Google Patents

Abstract

An operation method of a network server includes the steps of: sending first delivery orders to a plurality of client terminals according to requests from first user terminals; receiving processing alarms for first delivery orders from the plurality of client terminals; determining order throughput per unit time respectively corresponding to the plurality of client terminals with reference to the processing alarms; and transmitting information associated with a second client terminal different from the first client terminal to the second user terminal, when a request corresponding to the first client terminal among the plurality of client terminals is received from the second user terminal. Accordingly, a user can conveniently check information of other stores related to user selection.

Description

A network server and method for communicating information with a plurality of client terminals

The present invention relates to a network system, and more particularly, to a network server and method for communicating information with a plurality of client terminals.

In general, to order delivery items such as delivery food, after checking the menus that can be ordered through the flyer or website provided by the store, selecting one of them, and calling the store to place an order. Since it takes a lot of time and effort to select a desired menu through the above processes for each of numerous stores, an order relay service that has recently entered into an affiliate relationship with a number of stores, organizes the menus they provide, and provides it to the user terminal is appearing Furthermore, such an order relay service provides a service for receiving a delivery order for a menu selected by a user and delivering it to a terminal of a store so that the store owner can know the delivery order.

Among the stores provided by the order relay service, there are stores that accept a large number of delivery orders, while there are stores that accept a smaller number of delivery orders. Such a difference may occur according to various factors such as the location and exposure frequency of in-store advertisements in the order relay service as well as user preferences, and geographic locations of stores. If a large number of delivery orders are accumulated in the store where the user requested the delivery order, it will take a long time for the requested delivery order to be processed, and even if the user is informed of the delivery time, this is a negative factor for the user. If the user does not necessarily want to place an order for delivery to the store, the long turnaround time may be a more negative factor for the user.

The above description is only for helping the understanding of the background of the technical spirit of the present invention, and therefore it cannot be understood as the content corresponding to the prior art known to those skilled in the art of the present invention.

SUMMARY Embodiments of the present invention are to provide a network server that provides an order relay service with improved user convenience and an operating method thereof.

The operating method of a network server for communicating information with a plurality of client terminals through a network according to an embodiment of the present invention is to send first delivery orders to the plurality of client terminals according to requests from first user terminals. transmitting; receiving processing alarms for the first delivery orders from the plurality of client terminals; determining order throughputs per unit time respectively corresponding to the plurality of client terminals with reference to the processing alarms; and when a request corresponding to a first client terminal among the plurality of client terminals is received from a second user terminal, transmitting information associated with a second client terminal different from the first client terminal to the second user terminal. Including, wherein the step of transmitting the information associated with the second client terminal to the second user terminal, second delivery orders transmitted to the first client terminal and orders per unit time corresponding to the first client terminal calculating a first expected waiting time corresponding to the first client terminal based on the throughput; calculating a second expected waiting time corresponding to the second client terminal based on the third delivery orders transmitted to the second client terminal and the order throughput per unit time corresponding to the second client terminal; and when the second expected waiting time is shorter than the first expected waiting time, transmitting the information associated with the second client terminal to the second user terminal.

The method may further include storing data for classifying the plurality of client terminals into a plurality of groups, wherein the second client terminal is to be classified into the same group as the first client terminal among the plurality of groups. can

The request corresponding to the first client terminal may include information for selecting the first client terminal.

The method may further include storing menu identifiers corresponding to each of the plurality of client terminals, wherein each of the first delivery orders, the second delivery orders, and the third delivery orders is a client terminal to be transmitted. may include at least one of the menu identifiers corresponding to .

The request corresponding to the first client terminal may include information for selecting at least one of the menu identifiers corresponding to the first client terminal.

Any one of the menu identifiers corresponding to the second client terminal may match the menu identifier included in the request.

Calculating the first expected waiting time may include determining the first expected waiting time by dividing the number of the second delivery orders by the order throughput per unit time corresponding to the first client terminal and calculating the second expected waiting time includes determining the second expected waiting time by dividing the number of the third delivery orders by the order throughput per unit time corresponding to the second client terminal can do.

The information associated with the second client terminal may include the second expected waiting time.

Another aspect of the present invention relates to a network server that communicates information with a plurality of client terminals through a network. The network server may include: a communicator connected to the network; and a processor configured to control the communicator, the processor configured to: send first delivery orders to the plurality of client terminals according to requests from first user terminals; receive processing alarms for the first delivery orders from the plurality of client terminals; determine order throughputs per unit time respectively corresponding to the plurality of client terminals with reference to the processing alarms; and when a request corresponding to a first one of the plurality of client terminals is received from a second user terminal, information associated with a second client terminal different from the first client terminal is transmitted to the second user terminal; , the processor, based on the second delivery orders transmitted to the first client terminal and the order throughput per unit time corresponding to the first client terminal, the first expected waiting time corresponding to the first client terminal calculate; calculating a second expected waiting time corresponding to the second client terminal based on the third delivery orders transmitted to the second client terminal and the order throughput per unit time corresponding to the second client terminal; and when the second expected waiting time is shorter than the first expected waiting time, send the information associated with the second client terminal to the second user terminal.

The network server may further include a storage medium, wherein the processor stores data for classifying the plurality of client terminals into a plurality of groups in the storage medium, and is identical to a first client terminal of the plurality of groups. and select a client terminal of the group as the second client terminal.

The request corresponding to the first client terminal may include information for selecting the first client terminal.

The network server may further include a storage medium, and the processor may be configured to store menu identifiers corresponding to each of the plurality of client terminals in the storage medium, wherein the first delivery orders, the second Each of the delivery orders and the third delivery orders may include at least one of the menu identifiers corresponding to the client terminal to be transmitted.

The request corresponding to the first client terminal may include information for selecting at least one of the menu identifiers corresponding to the first client terminal.

Any one of the menu identifiers corresponding to the second client terminal may match the menu identifier included in the request.

The information associated with the second client terminal may include the second expected waiting time.

When the processor receives a command requesting cancellation of an order for one of fourth delivery orders sent to an nth client terminal of the plurality of client terminals, the processor displays the order information on a web page accessible through the network. It may be configured to include a menu of the delivery order for which cancellation is requested.

According to embodiments of the present invention, a network server that provides an order relay service with improved user convenience and an operating method thereof may be provided. For example, the network server and its operating method may provide the user terminal with information on other stores associated with the store selected by the user terminal, so that the user can conveniently check information on other stores associated with their selection. It is also possible to order delivery to either of the two.

1 is a block diagram showing a network system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an order relay server according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing any one of the first to nth order queues of FIG. 2 .
4 is a diagram conceptually illustrating an embodiment of order throughput information of FIG. 2 .
FIG. 5 is a diagram conceptually illustrating an embodiment of the client-related information of FIG. 2 .
6 is a diagram conceptually illustrating another embodiment of the client-related information of FIG. 2 .
7 is a flowchart illustrating an order relay method that may be performed by an order relay server according to an embodiment of the present invention.
8 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of step S110 of FIG. 7 .
9 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of step S140 of FIG. 7 .
10 is a block diagram showing an order relay server according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that in the following description, only parts necessary for understanding the operation according to the present invention are described, and descriptions of other parts will be omitted so as not to obscure the gist of the present invention. Also, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described herein and may be embodied in other forms. However, the embodiments described herein are provided to explain in detail enough to easily implement the technical spirit of the present invention to those of ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention pertains.

Throughout the specification, when a part is "connected" with another part, this includes not only the case of being "directly connected" but also the case of being "indirectly connected" with another element interposed therebetween. . The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments and not for limiting the present invention. Throughout the specification, when a part "includes" a certain element, it means that other elements may be further included, rather than excluding other elements, unless otherwise stated. “At least any one of X, Y, and Z” and “at least any one selected from the group consisting of X, Y, and Z” means one X, one Y, one Z, or two of X, Y, and Z or It can be interpreted as any combination of more (eg, XYZ, XYY, YZ, ZZ). Herein, "and/or" includes any combination of one or more of the elements.

1 is a block diagram showing a network system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1 , the network system 100 includes a network 105 , first to m-th user terminals 111 to 11m, an order relay server 120 , and first to n-th client terminals 131 to 13n) may be included.

Network system 100 may include a plurality of devices, servers, and/or software components that operate to perform various methods according to embodiments of the present invention described herein. The devices and/or servers shown in FIG. 1 may be configured in different ways, and the operations and services provided by the devices and/or servers may be combined or separated for the embodiments described herein. and may be performed by more or fewer devices and/or servers.

The network 105 includes various components in the network system 100 such as the first to m-th user terminals 111 to 11m, the order relay server 120, and the first to n-th client terminals 131 to 13n. connect the elements Network 105 may include at least one of a public network, at least one private network, a wired network, a wireless network, another suitable type of network, and combinations thereof. The first to m-th user terminals (111 to 11m), the order relay server 120, and the first to n-th client terminals (131 to 13n) each include at least one of a wired communication function and a wireless communication function. and thus may communicate with each other via the network 105 .

The first to mth user terminals 111 to 11m may communicate with the order relay server 120 through the network 105 . Each of the first to mth user terminals 111 to 11m may use the order relay service after registering user information such as a user ID and a user's address in the order relay server 120 . Each user terminal accesses the order relay server 120 to receive the sales information of the store corresponding to each of the first to n-th client terminals 131 to 13n, display the received sales information, and respond to the user's selection. Accordingly, the delivery order may be transmitted to the order relay server 120 . The delivery order may include a selected store, a selected menu, an order quantity for the selected menu, and the like. The order relay server 120 may transfer the received delivery order to the corresponding client terminal.

As an embodiment, each of the first to mth user terminals 111 to 11m is a computer, an Ultra Mobile PC (UMPC), a workstation, a net-book, a Personal Digital Assistants (PDA), and a portable computer. , information such as web tablet, wireless phone, mobile phone, smart phone, e-book, PMP (portable multimedia player), portable game machine, etc. may include a device capable of transmitting and receiving in a wired and/or wireless environment.

The ordering relay server 120 may be a network server capable of communicating with components on the network 105 . The order relay server 120 may communicate with the first to mth user terminals 111 to 11m and the first to nth client terminals 131 to 13n through the network 105 . The order relay server 120 may provide the user terminal with sales information of a store corresponding to each client terminal in response to a request from the user terminal. In this case, the sales information may include various types of information related to the store, such as a store, a location of the store, menus of the store, detailed information on each of the menus, and the like.

The order relay server 120 may receive a delivery order corresponding to any one of the first to n-th client terminals 131 to 13n from the user terminal. The order relay server 120 may transmit the received delivery order to the corresponding client terminal.

The order relay server 120 may store order queues corresponding to the first to nth client terminals 131 to 13n, respectively. When the order relay server 120 transmits the delivery order to the client terminal, the delivery order is input to the corresponding order queue, and then, when a processing alarm is generated from the client terminal, the delivery order may be deleted from the order queue. The client terminal can access the order queue, and the user of the client terminal can process the delivery orders included in the order queue in the order they are entered in the order queue, and when the processing of each delivery order is completed, the user input into the client terminal can provide The client terminal may generate the above processing alarm in response to the user input. Such an order queue may also be stored in each client terminal.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the order relay server 120 when a request corresponding to any one of the first to n-th client terminals 131 to 13n is received from the user terminal (eg, one store When this is selected to request sales information related thereto), information associated with another client terminal may be provided to the user terminal. This is explained in more detail with reference to FIG. 2 .

The first to nth client terminals 131 to 13n may communicate with the order relay server 120 through the network 105 . In embodiments, the first to nth client terminals 131 to 13n may be point of sale systems that are located in stores, for example, restaurants to perform payment. Each of the first to nth client terminals 131 to 13n may receive delivery orders from the order relay server 120 , and in response to a user input, a processing alarm for each delivery order is sent to the order relay server 120 . can provide However, embodiments of the client terminal are not limited to the POS system. For example, the client terminal may be a computer device capable of communicating with the order relay server 120 via the network 105 .

2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an order relay server according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing any one of the first to nth order queues of FIG. 2 . 4 is a diagram conceptually illustrating an embodiment of order throughput information of FIG. 2 . FIG. 5 is a diagram conceptually illustrating an embodiment of the client-related information of FIG. 2 . 6 is a diagram conceptually illustrating another embodiment of the client-related information of FIG. 2 .

1 and 2 , the order relay server 200 may include an order relay 210 , a memory 220 , and a storage medium 230 .

The order repeater 210 may communicate with the first to m-th user terminals 111 to 11m and the first to n-th client terminals 131 to 13n on the network 105 . The order repeater 210 provides sales information of stores corresponding to the first to n-th client terminals 131 to 13n to the first to m-th user terminals 111 to 11m, and the first to m-th users By transmitting the delivery orders received from the terminals 111 to 11m to the first to n-th client terminals 131 to 13n, an order relay service may be provided. According to an embodiment of the present invention, when receiving a request for an arbitrary client terminal (or store) from the user terminal, the order repeater 210 provides information associated with another client terminal (or another store) to the user terminal. can

The order relay 210 may include a user interface 211 , a client interface 212 , an order processing unit 213 , a throughput calculating unit 214 , a waiting time prediction unit 215 , and a client information providing unit 216 . have.

The user interface 211 may interface between the first to mth user terminals 111 to 11m and the order repeater 210 . The user interface 211 transmits data received from the first to mth user terminals 111 to 11m to appropriate components of the order repeater 210, and data from each component of the order repeater 210 It is configured to transmit to the first to m-th user terminals (111 to 11m).

The client interface 212 may interface between the first to nth client terminals 131 to 13n and the order repeater 210 . The client interface 212 transmits data from each component of the order repeater 210 to the first to n-th client terminals 131 to 13n, and from the first to n-th client terminals 131 to 13n. and forwarding the received data to appropriate components of the order repeater 210 .

The order processing unit 213 communicates with the first to m-th user terminals 111 to 11m through the user interface 211 , and the first to n-th client terminals 131 to 13n through the client interface 212 . can communicate with The order processing unit 213 may provide, to the user terminal, sales information of a store corresponding to each of the first to nth client terminals 131 to 13n in response to a request from each user terminal. The sales information may be stored in a database of the order relay server 200 such as the storage medium 230 . The order processing unit 213 may receive a delivery order corresponding to any one of the first to nth client terminals 131 to 13n from the user terminal, and may transmit it to the corresponding client terminal.

The order processing unit 213 may manage the first to nth order queues QUE1 to QUEn in the memory 220 , and the first to nth order queues QUE1 to QUEn are the first to nth order queues, respectively. It corresponds to the client terminals 131 to 13n. Referring to FIG. 3 , the first order queue QUE1 corresponding to the first client terminal 131 may include sequentially input first to kth delivery orders OR1 to ORk. Each delivery order may include information indicating at least one menu, information indicating its quantity, and a time stamp. In FIG. 3 , information included in the second delivery order OR2 is illustrated by way of example. The second delivery order OR2 is a first menu identifier (MNID1), a quantity corresponding to the first menu identifier (MNID1) (Q1), a second menu identifier (MNID2), a quantity corresponding to the second menu identifier (MNID2) (Q2), and a time stamp (TS). At this time, the time stamp (TS) may indicate the time the second delivery order (QR2) was transmitted.

The order processing unit 213 may input the delivery order into the corresponding order queue when transmitting the delivery order to the client terminal, and delete the delivery order from the order queue when a processing alarm is received from the client terminal.

The order processing unit 213 may receive a command to cancel the transmitted delivery order from the user terminal. In this case, the order processing unit 213 may remove the corresponding delivery order from the order queue. For example, if a command to cancel the second delivery order OR2 is received from the user terminal, the order processing unit 213 may delete the second delivery order OR2 from the first order queue QUE1 .

In this case, the order processing unit 213 may search whether a delivery order including the same menu identifier as at least one of the menu identifiers included in the removed delivery order exists in the order queue. For example, if a command for canceling the second delivery order OR2 is received from the user terminal, the first and first It may be searched for whether there is one including the same menu identifier as at least one of the two menu identifiers MNID1 and MNID2. If there is, the order processing unit 213 may notify the client terminal that the searched delivery order includes the same menu. Accordingly, in the case where the client terminal accesses the order queue and the user processes the delivery order in the order queue, the user can use it for another delivery order when the user is in progress or completes the processing of the removed delivery order. .

The order processing unit 213 may provide a web page informing of the menus of the removed delivery order to the first to mth user terminals 111 to 11m. The web page is accessible via network 105 . Accordingly, the first to mth user terminals 111 to 11m may order the menu included in the corresponding web page at a discounted price. For example, users of the first to mth user terminals 111 to 11m may participate in a bidding for a menu included in a corresponding web page, and the user who offered the highest price may win the bid for the menu.

Referring back to FIGS. 1 and 2 , the throughput calculating unit 214 refers to the processing alarms received from the first to n-th client terminals 131 to 13n, and the first to n-th client terminals 131 to 13n. ) to determine the order throughput per unit time (hereinafter referred to as reference order throughput) respectively corresponding to the . The reference order throughput may indicate the number of delivery orders that the store corresponding to the client terminal can process for a unit time (eg, one hour). In embodiments, the throughput calculating unit 214 may determine the reference order throughput according to the number of processing alarms received from the client terminal during a unit time. In other embodiments, the throughput calculating unit 214 determines the average value of the difference between the time the delivery order is transmitted (eg, TS in FIG. 3 ) and the time the processing alarm is received, and the reference order throughput according to the determined average value can be decided In addition, the throughput calculating unit 214 may determine the reference order throughput in various ways with reference to the processing alarms received from the client terminal.

The throughput calculating unit 214 may store reference order throughputs corresponding to the first to nth client terminals 131 to 13n, respectively, as order throughput information (CPI) in the storage medium 230 . Referring to FIG. 4 , the order throughput information CPI may include first to nth reference order throughputs CPI1 to CPIn in association with the first to nth client identifiers CT1 to CTn, respectively.

Referring back to FIGS. 1 and 2 , the waiting time prediction unit 215 is configured to calculate an expected waiting time corresponding to the client terminal based on the order throughput information (CPI). The waiting time prediction unit 215 is based on the number of delivery orders being sent to the selected client terminal and being processed (or delivery orders remaining in the order queue of the selected client terminal) and the reference order throughput corresponding to the selected client terminal, An expected waiting time corresponding to the selected client terminal may be calculated. For example, the waiting time prediction unit 215 may calculate the expected waiting time by dividing the number of delivery orders remaining in the order queue by the reference order throughput.

When a request (eg, a request for sales information) corresponding to one of the first to nth client terminals 131 to 13n is received from the user terminal, the order processing unit 213 describes the received request above. It can be processed as

In parallel with this operation, the waiting time prediction unit 215 may select a client terminal corresponding to the request and calculate an expected waiting time corresponding to the selected client terminal as described above. Also, the waiting time prediction unit 215 refers to the client association information (CAI), selects another client terminal associated with the selected client terminal as the target client terminal, and calculates the expected waiting time corresponding to the target client terminal as described above. can be calculated.

The client association information (CAI) is previously stored in the storage medium 230 . In embodiments, the client association information (CAI) may include data for classifying the first to nth client terminals 131 to 13n into a plurality of groups. For example, stores of the same franchise may be classified into a group. Referring to FIG. 5 , the client association information CAI′ indicates a group GR to which each of the first to nth client identifiers CT1 to CTn belongs. The first to n-th client identifiers CT1 to CTn may be divided into first to z-th groups GR1 to GRz (z is an integer less than n), for example, first and second client identifiers (CT1, CT2) are in the first group GR1, the third to fifth client identifiers CT3 to CT5 are in the second group GR2, and the nth client identifier CTn is the z-th group GRz may belong to The waiting time prediction unit 215 refers to the client association information (CAI'), selects a client terminal classified into the same group as the selected client terminal as a target client terminal, and calculates an expected waiting time corresponding to the target client terminal. can

In embodiments, the client association information (CAI) may indicate menus of a store corresponding to each client terminal. Referring to FIG. 6 , the client association information CAI′′ may include menu identifiers corresponding to the first to nth client identifiers CT1 to CTn, respectively. The menu identifier is an identifier for indicating a menu. In FIG. 6 , the client association information CAI″ includes first to fourth menu identifiers MNID1 to MNID4 corresponding to the first client identifier CT1, fourth and fourth menu identifiers MNID1 to MNID4 corresponding to the second client identifier CT2. The fifth menu identifiers MNID4 and MNID5 and sixth to eighth menu identifiers MNID6 to MNID8 corresponding to the nth client identifier CTn may be included.

The request received from the user terminal may include data for selecting one of menus (or menu identifiers). The waiting time prediction unit 215 may select a store having the same menu as the menu selected in the request by referring to the client association information (CAI), and calculate an expected waiting time corresponding to the store. That is, the request may include a menu identifier. In this case, the waiting time prediction unit 215 refers to the client association information (CAI) and selects a client terminal having the same menu identifier as the menu identifier as the target client terminal, , it is possible to calculate an expected waiting time corresponding to the target client terminal. For example, when the first client terminal 131 and the fourth menu MNID4 are selected according to the request and sales information is requested, the waiting time prediction unit 215 may configure the second client terminal 131 having the fourth menu MNID4. The client terminal 132 may be selected as the target client terminal and an expected waiting time corresponding to the second client terminal 132 may be calculated.

Referring back to FIGS. 1 and 2 , the client information providing unit 216 receives the expected waiting times from the waiting time prediction unit 215 , and is shorter than the expected waiting time of the client terminal corresponding to the request received from the user terminal. If the expected waiting time of the target client terminal is short, information related to the target client terminal may be provided to the corresponding user terminal. For example, the information associated with the target client terminal may include information indicating a corresponding store, an expected waiting time corresponding to the target client terminal, sales information corresponding to the target client terminal, and the like.

In this way, the client information providing unit 216 may recommend a corresponding store by transmitting information related to the target client terminal to the user terminal. Since information on the store selected by the user as well as other stores related thereto is additionally provided to the user, the order relay server 200 providing improved user convenience may be provided.

The memory 220 is coupled to the order relay 210 . The memory 220 is configured to store the first to nth order queues QUE1 to QUEn respectively corresponding to the first to nth client terminals 131 to 13n in response to the control of the order relay 210 . . The memory 220 may function as a working memory and/or buffer memory of the order repeater 210 . In embodiments, the memory 220 may include a computer-readable volatile storage medium such as random access memory (RAM).

The storage medium 230 is connected to the order relay 210 . The storage medium 230 is configured to store order throughput information (CPI) and client association information (CAI) in response to control of the order relay 210 . The storage medium 230 may include various types of computer-readable storage devices. In embodiments, the storage medium 230 may include a volatile storage medium such as RAM. In this case, the storage medium 230 may be integrated with the memory 220 . In other embodiments, the storage medium 230 may include various types of nonvolatile storage media that retain stored data even when power is cut off, for example, a flash memory, a hard disk, and the like. have. In this case, the storage medium 230 may function as a database of the order relay server 200 .

7 is a flowchart illustrating an order relay method that may be performed by an order relay server according to an embodiment of the present invention. 8 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of step S110 of FIG. 7 .

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 7 , in step S110 , the order relay server 120 determines reference order throughputs corresponding to the first to nth client terminals 131 to 13n, respectively.

More specifically, referring to FIGS. 1 and 8 , the order relay server 120 sends delivery orders according to requests from the first to m-th user terminals 111 to 11m, first to n-th client terminals. It is transmitted to the ( 131 to 13n ) ( S210 ), and may receive processing alarms for delivery orders from the first to nth client terminals ( 131 to 13n ) ( S220 ). In embodiments, the order relay server 120 manages an order queue corresponding to each client terminal, inputs a delivery order to the order queue whenever a delivery order is transmitted to the client terminal, and sends a processing alarm corresponding to the delivery order. Each time it is received, the corresponding delivery order can be removed from the order queue.

The order relay server 120 may determine reference order throughputs corresponding to the first to nth client terminals 131 to 13n with reference to the processing alarms received from the client terminal (S230). The order relay server 120 may determine the reference order throughput in various ways. In embodiments, the order relay server 120 may determine the reference order throughput according to the number of processing alarms received from the client terminal for a unit time. In other embodiments, the order relay server 120 determines the average value of the difference between the time when the delivery order is transmitted (eg, TS in FIG. 3 ) and the time the processing alarm is received, and according to the determined average value, the reference order The throughput can be determined.

Referring back to FIGS. 1 and 7 , in step S120 , the order relay server 120 receives a request corresponding to the x-th client terminal 13x from any one of the first to m-th user terminals 111 to 11m. Receive (x is an integer less than or equal to m).

In step S130, the order relay server 120 refers to the client association information (CAI' and CAI'') as described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5, and the y-th client associated with the x-th client terminal 13x. It is determined whether the terminal 13y exists (y is an integer less than or equal to m). Of course, the order relay server 120 also performs general operations for the request of step S120. For example, the order relay server 120 may receive a request for sales information on any one of the menus of the store of the x-th client terminal 13x and/or the sales information on the store of the x-th client terminal 13x. In this case, the order relay server 120 will provide sales information. As another example, the order relay server 120 may receive a delivery order for any one of the menus of the store of the x-th client terminal 13x. In this case, the order relay server 120 sends the delivery order to the x-th client terminal 13x. It can be transmitted to the client terminal 13x.

In step S140, the order relay server 120 selects the y-th client terminal based on the reference order throughput. The order relay server 120 calculates the first expected waiting time by referring to the delivery orders of the order queue corresponding to the x-th client terminal 13x and the corresponding reference order throughput, and corresponding to the y-th client terminal 13y. The second expected waiting time may be calculated by referring to the delivery orders of the order queue and the corresponding reference order throughput, and the y-th client terminal 13y may be selected when the second expected waiting time is shorter than the first expected waiting time.

In step S150, the order relay server 120 provides information associated with the y-th client terminal 13y to the user terminal. For example, the information associated with the y-th client terminal 13y includes information indicating a corresponding store, an expected waiting time corresponding to the y-th client terminal 13y, sales information corresponding to the y-th client terminal 13y, and the like. can do.

As such, the order relay server 120 may recommend a corresponding store by transmitting information associated with the y-th client terminal 13y to the user terminal. Since information on the store selected by the user as well as other stores related thereto is additionally provided to the user, an order relay method providing improved user convenience may be provided.

9 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of step S140 of FIG. 7 .

1 and 9, in step S310, the order relay server 120 based on the delivery orders being processed and transmitted to the x-th client terminal 13x and the standard order throughput of the x-th client terminal 13x. Calculate the first expected waiting time. The order relay server 120 may calculate the first expected waiting time by dividing the number of delivery orders remaining in the x-th order queue (QUEx, see FIG. 2 ) by the reference order throughput.

In step S320 , the order relay server 120 calculates a second expected waiting time based on the delivery orders being processed and transmitted to the y-th client terminal 13y and the reference order throughput of the y-th client terminal 13y. The order relay server 120 may calculate the second expected waiting time by dividing the number of delivery orders remaining in the y-th order queue (QUEy, see FIG. 2 ) by the reference order throughput.

In step S330, the order relay server 120 selects the y-th client terminal 13y according to whether the second expected waiting time is shorter than the first expected waiting time (S340).

10 is a block diagram showing an order relay server according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 10 , the order relay server 1000 is a bus 1100 , at least one processor 1200 , a system memory 1300 , a storage medium interface 1400 , a communication interface 1500 , a storage medium 1600 . , and a communicator 1700 .

The bus 1100 is connected to various components of the order relay server 1000 to transfer data, signals, and information. The processor 1200 may be either a general-purpose or a dedicated processor, and may control general operations of the order relay server 1000 .

The processor 1200 is configured to load program codes and instructions that provide various functions when executed into the system memory 1300 and process the loaded program codes and instructions. The system memory 1300 may be provided as a working memory of the processor 1200 . In embodiments, the system memory 1300 may include at least one of RAM, read only memory (ROM), and other types of computer-readable media.

The processor 1200 may load the order relay module 1310 that provides functions of the order relay 210 of FIG. 2 into the system memory 1300 when executed by the processor 1200 . Such program codes and/or instructions may be executed by the processor 1200 to perform the operations of the order repeater 210 described with reference to FIG. 2 . In addition, the system memory 1300 may function as a working memory and/or a buffer memory for the signal information collection module 1310 . In this case, the system memory 1300 may be provided as the memory 220 and/or the storage medium 230 of FIG. 2 . In FIG. 10 , the system memory 1300 is illustrated as being separate from the processor 1200 , but at least a portion of the system memory 1300 may be included in the processor 1200 . The system memory 1300 may be provided as two or more separate components.

Program codes and/or instructions may be loaded into the system memory 1300 from the storage medium 1600, which is a separate computer-readable recording medium. Alternatively, program codes and/or instructions may be loaded into the system memory 1300 through the communicator 1700 from outside the order relay server 1000 .

The storage medium interface 1400 is coupled to the storage medium 1600 . The storage medium interface 1400 may interface between the storage medium 1600 and components such as the processor 1200 and the system memory 1300 connected to the bus 1100 . Communication interface 1500 is coupled to communicator 1700 . The communication interface 1500 may interface between the components connected to the bus 1100 and the communicator 1700 .

In embodiments, the bus 1100 , the processor 1200 , and the system memory 1300 may be integrated into one board 1050 . In some embodiments, the bus 1100 , the processor 1200 , and the system memory 1300 may be mounted on one semiconductor chip. In embodiments, the board 1050 and/or one semiconductor chip may further include a storage medium interface 1400 and a communication interface 1500 .

The storage medium 1600 may include various types of nonvolatile storage media that retain stored data even when power is cut off, for example, a flash memory, a hard disk, and the like. In embodiments, the storage medium 1600 may be provided as at least a part of the storage medium 230 of FIG. 2 .

The communicator 1700, or transceiver, via the network 105, the order relay server 1000 and other devices in the network system 100 (see FIG. 1) (eg, 111-11m and 131-13n) and/or It can transmit and receive signals between servers.

Although specific embodiments and application examples have been described herein, these are only provided to help a more general understanding of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and those of ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention pertains Various modifications and variations are possible from this substrate as it grows.

Therefore, the spirit of the present invention should not be limited to the described embodiments, and not only the claims to be described later, but also all those with equivalent or equivalent modifications to the claims will be said to belong to the scope of the spirit of the present invention. .

111-11m: first to m-th user terminals
120, 200: order relay server
131 to 13n: first to n-th client terminals
210: order repeater
220: memory
230: storage medium

Claims (16)

A method of operating a network server for communicating information with a plurality of client terminals through a network, the method comprising:
sending first delivery orders to the plurality of client terminals according to requests from first user terminals;
receiving processing alarms for the first delivery orders from the plurality of client terminals;
determining order throughputs per unit time respectively corresponding to the plurality of client terminals with reference to the processing alarms; and
transmitting information associated with a second client terminal different from the first client terminal to the second user terminal when a request corresponding to a first client terminal among the plurality of client terminals is received from a second user terminal; including,
Transmitting the information associated with the second client terminal to the second user terminal comprises:
calculating a first expected waiting time corresponding to the first client terminal based on the second delivery orders transmitted to the first client terminal and the order throughput per unit time corresponding to the first client terminal;
calculating a second expected waiting time corresponding to the second client terminal based on the third delivery orders transmitted to the second client terminal and the order throughput per unit time corresponding to the second client terminal; and
and when the second expected waiting time is shorter than the first expected waiting time, transmitting the information associated with the second client terminal to the second user terminal. The method of claim 1,
Further comprising the step of storing data for classifying the plurality of client terminals into a plurality of groups,
and the second client terminal is classified into the same group as the first client terminal among the plurality of groups. 3. The method of claim 2,
The request corresponding to the first client terminal includes information for selecting the first client terminal. The method of claim 1,
Further comprising the step of storing menu identifiers corresponding to each of the plurality of client terminals,
Each of the first delivery orders, the second delivery orders, and the third delivery orders includes at least one of the menu identifiers corresponding to the client terminal to be transmitted. 5. The method of claim 4,
The request corresponding to the first client terminal includes information for selecting at least one of the menu identifiers corresponding to the first client terminal. 6. The method of claim 5,
any one of the menu identifiers corresponding to the second client terminal matches the menu identifier included in the request. The method of claim 1,
Calculating the first expected waiting time includes determining the first expected waiting time by dividing the number of the second delivery orders by the order throughput per unit time corresponding to the first client terminal,
Calculating the second expected waiting time includes determining the second expected waiting time by dividing the number of the third delivery orders by the order throughput per unit time corresponding to the second client terminal . The method of claim 1,
and the information associated with the second client terminal includes the second expected waiting time. A network server communicating information with a plurality of client terminals through a network, comprising:
a communicator connected to the network; and
a processor configured to control the communicator;
The processor is
send first delivery orders to the plurality of client terminals according to requests from first user terminals;
receive processing alarms for the first delivery orders from the plurality of client terminals;
determine order throughputs per unit time respectively corresponding to the plurality of client terminals with reference to the processing alarms;
and when a request corresponding to a first one of the plurality of client terminals is received from a second user terminal, information associated with a second client terminal different from the first client terminal is transmitted to the second user terminal; ,
The processor is
calculating a first expected waiting time corresponding to the first client terminal based on the second delivery orders transmitted to the first client terminal and the order throughput per unit time corresponding to the first client terminal;
calculating a second expected waiting time corresponding to the second client terminal based on the third delivery orders transmitted to the second client terminal and the order throughput per unit time corresponding to the second client terminal;
and when the second expected waiting time is shorter than the first expected waiting time, send the information associated with the second client terminal to the second user terminal. 10. The method of claim 9,
further comprising a storage medium;
The processor is
storing data for classifying the plurality of client terminals into a plurality of groups in the storage medium;
and select a client terminal of the same group as the first client terminal from among the plurality of groups as the second client terminal. 11. The method of claim 10,
The request corresponding to the first client terminal includes information for selecting the first client terminal. 10. The method of claim 9,
further comprising a storage medium;
the processor is configured to store menu identifiers corresponding to each of the plurality of client terminals in the storage medium;
Each of the first delivery orders, the second delivery orders, and the third delivery orders includes at least one of the menu identifiers corresponding to the client terminal to be transmitted. 13. The method of claim 12,
The request corresponding to the first client terminal includes information for selecting at least one of the menu identifiers corresponding to the first client terminal. 14. The method of claim 13,
any one of the menu identifiers corresponding to the second client terminal matches the menu identifier included in the request. 10. The method of claim 9,
and the information associated with the second client terminal includes the second expected waiting time. 10. The method of claim 9,
When the processor receives a command requesting cancellation of an order for one of fourth delivery orders sent to an nth client terminal of the plurality of client terminals, the processor displays the order information on a web page accessible through the network. A network server configured to include a menu of the delivery order for which cancellation is requested.

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