Apparatus and method for facilitating ordering and supply
First Claim
1. An ordering and collection facilitation system comprising:
- a database storing information including an identification of each of a plurality of items available for order and a value corresponding to a respective order therefore;
a plurality of portable data storage media;
at least one user terminal including a viewer for viewing a menu of said items available for order, a selector for selecting at least one of said items to produce selection information, a reader for reading one of said portable data storage media and a data associator for associating the selection information with data read from said portable data storage medium;
a database updator for updating the database with the selection information from said at least one user terminal associated with said data read from the data storage medium, so as to accumulate the selected quantity of each of said items and to store the accumulated quantity in said database;
a display for displaying the accumulated quantity; and
a display operable upon reading data from one of the portable data storage media to display the selection information associated therewith.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for ordering and facilitating the collection of items such as food items. A set of user terminals 12 may be distributed around a building, each user terminal 12 being connected to a central server 10. The central server 10 is also connected to one or more operator terminals 14 located in the building canteen. A user may order the food at the user terminal 12 by persuing a menu and making selections. The user also inserts a smart card which serves to identify the user as an account holder in the central server 10 database. After making selections, the information in stored in the central server 10 and is collated so that the food items selected by all the users requiring food from the canteen are known by the central server 10 before some defined cut-off point in time. The collated order is then sent by the central server 10 to the operator terminals 14 so that an appropriate number of each ordered food item can be prepared. To collect the food, the user simply inserts his smart card into an operator terminal 14 and his order is displayed. Preferably, the smart card is also used to transact payment of the food and the central server 10 may be connectable to the internet 22 so as to allow remote ordering by users and to allow the central server 10 to order raw materials from suppliers in accordance with how much raw material has been actually used.
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Citations
26 Claims
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1. An ordering and collection facilitation system comprising:
- a database storing information including an identification of each of a plurality of items available for order and a value corresponding to a respective order therefore;
a plurality of portable data storage media;
at least one user terminal including a viewer for viewing a menu of said items available for order, a selector for selecting at least one of said items to produce selection information, a reader for reading one of said portable data storage media and a data associator for associating the selection information with data read from said portable data storage medium;
a database updator for updating the database with the selection information from said at least one user terminal associated with said data read from the data storage medium, so as to accumulate the selected quantity of each of said items and to store the accumulated quantity in said database;
a display for displaying the accumulated quantity; and
a display operable upon reading data from one of the portable data storage media to display the selection information associated therewith. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22)
- a database storing information including an identification of each of a plurality of items available for order and a value corresponding to a respective order therefore;
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18. A method of ordering, and facilitating the collection of, items, said method comprising:
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displaying at a user terminal a menu of available items;
allowing a user to select at least one item;
reading a portable data storage medium;
accumulating selection information so as to calculate the total required quantity of said at least one selected item;
displaying a required quantity of said at least one selected item;
preparing a quantity of said at least one selected item based on said display;
displaying the identity of said at least one selected item in response to the reading of said portable data storage medium. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26)
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Specification