Programmable apparatus for storing displaying and serving food and drink

• US 5,357,426 A
• Filed: 02/01/1993
• Issued: 10/18/1994
• Est. Priority Date: 01/30/1992
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sanyo Electric Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sanyo Electric Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Morita, Minoru, Sekiguchi, Toshihiro, Kumagai, Mitsumasa
• Primary Examiner(s): Envall, Jr., Roy N.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Shingala, Gita
• Application Number:
  US08/012,285
• Time in Patent Office: 624 Days
• Field of Search: 364/400, 364/401, 364/405, 364/402, 312/248, 312/246, 99/477, 99/483, 99/486
• US Class Current: 700/90
• CPC Class Codes: A47F 10/00 Furniture or installations specially adapted to particular types of service systems, not otherwise provided for conveyor aspects B65G; building aspects E04H; coin-freed apparatus G07F
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/12 Hotels or restaurants
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/0014 for vending, access and use of specific services not covered anywhere else in G07F17/00 meter-controlled dispensing of liquid, gas or electricity G07F15/00
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 9/105 Heating or cooling means, for temperature and humidity control, for the conditioning of articles and their storage dispensers for food articles requiring a processing by temperature treatment or conditioning before they are ready for dispensing G07F17/0064

Abstract

A party production apparatus allows a party program to be stored in advance and automatically serves various dishes in accordance with the progress of the party to produce the party successfully. The party production apparatus comprises a kitchen counter, a table counter, and a controller. The kitchen counter includes cooking device. The table counter includes a frame, a table provided on the frame, a food displaying section formed on the table, a storage chamber provided in the frame for accommodating a plurality of dishes therein, and a transport apparatus for transporting a selected dish or dishes accommodated in the storage chamber to the food displaying section. The controller includes a register for storing therein a party program including a plurality of operations to be executed successively in a time series relationship and controls the transport apparatus in accordance with an order sequence stored in the register to transport the dish or dishes to the food displaying section.

Claims

1. A party production apparatus, comprising:

a table counter including a frame, a table provided on said frame, a food displaying section formed on said table, a storage chamber provided in said frame for accommodating a plurality of dishes therein, and a transport apparatus for transporting a selected dish or dishes accommodated in said storage chamber to said food displaying section, and

a controller connected to said table counter for control of the operation of portion of said table counter, said controller including register means for storing therein a party program including a plurality of operations for execution successively in a time series relationship in accordance with said program, and means for controlling said transport apparatus of said table counter in accordance with an order stored in said register means to transport at least one of the selected dishes to said food displaying section.

2. A party production apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

said controller further includes controlling means for executing party program operations, instructing means for instructing said controller to advance the control sequence thereof to a next operation, and instruction confirming means, and

said controller executes the party program operations in accordance with the order stored in said register means and in response to an instructing operation to said instructing means, and when said controller advances the control sequence to a next operation, said controller prompts the instructor by means of said instruction confirming means to effect an instructing operation to said instructing means.

3. A party production apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

said controller further includes controlling means for executing party program operations, instructing means for instructing said controlling means to advance the control sequence thereof to a next operation, display means, and confirming operating means for confirming a progressing condition of the party program, and

said controlling means has a watch function, executes the operations in accordance with the order stored in said register means and in response to an instructing operation to said instructing means, and causes said display means to display a progressing condition of the party program in response to an operation by said confirming operating means.

4. A party production apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

said controller further includes controlling means for executing party program operations, instructing means for instructing said controlling means to advance the control sequence thereof to a next operation, and fast feeding operating means for skipping one of the operations in the party program, and

said controlling means executes the party program operations in accordance with the order stored in said register means and in response to an instructing operation to said instructing means, and advances the control sequence thereof to a next operation skipping a particular operation in the party program in response to an operation of said fast feeding operating means.

5. A party production apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

said controller further includes speech recognizing means for inputting a speech and recognizing the speech, display means for displaying information, and controlling means for executing the operation in accordance with the order stored in said register means and in response to contents of the speech recognized by said speech recognizing means, and said controlling means causes said display means to display contents of speech inputted to said speech recognizing means, and

said controlling means causes said display means to display the contents of a spoken instruction inputted to said speech recognizing means in order to execute the operation.

6. A party production apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

said controller further includes speech recognizing means for inputting a speech and recognizing the speech, display means for displaying information, and controlling means for executing the operations in accordance with the order stored in said register means and in response to contents of spoken instructions recognized by said speech recognizing means, and

said controlling means causes said display means to display a result of recognition by said speech recognizing means.

7. A party production apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

said table includes, at least at an upper face thereof, a light transmitting member and includes, in the inside thereof, a plurality of illuminating means for illuminating said upper face of said table, and position detecting means for detecting the position of an article on said table, and

said controller includes illumination controlling means for causing said illuminating means to selectively emit light in relation to the position of the article detected by said position detecting means.

8. A party production apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

said table counter further includes a door apparatus for opening and closing said food displaying section,

said door apparatus including a pair of door members each having an arcuate cross section, and a support apparatus for supporting said door members for pivoting motion around the center of the arcs such that said door members are advanced and retracted from opposite sides of said food displaying section,

said support apparatus causing, when said food displaying section is closed, said door members to project from said table and contact each other above said food displaying section, when said food displaying section is opened, said support apparatus accommodating said door members in said table.

9. A party production apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

said table counter further includes a door apparatus for opening and closing said food displaying section,

said door apparatus including a pair of door members each having an arcuate cross section, a pair of support arms for supporting said door members for pivoting motion around the center of the arcs such that said door members are advanced and retracted from opposite sides of said food displaying section to cause, when said food displaying section is closed, said door members to contact each other above said food displaying section, when said food displaying section is opened, said door members are accommodated in said table, driving means for driving said support arms to pivot to open or close said door members, a resilient connecting member for interconnecting said driving means and said support arms, and a damper for exerting a resisting force in a direction in which said door members are closed.

10. A party production apparatus according to claim 1 further including a kitchen counter connected to said controller,

said kitchen counter includes a show-case,

said show-case including an opening, a door member supported for pivoted motion in a vertical direction at an upper portion of said opening for opening and closing said opening, a driving apparatus for driving said door member to open and close, and an interconnecting member for interconnecting said driving apparatus and said door member to transmit the driving force of said driving apparatus to said door member,

said interconnecting member including an expansible damper having a predetermined resisting force to a force acting in a direction in which said door member is closed, said damper having a force, which acts in the opposite direction in which said door member is opened, to effect free opening of said door member.

11. A party production apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

said table counter further includes a movement duct which is formed in said storage chamber said duct extending downwardly from said food displaying section, a plurality of shelves provided adjacent said duct in said storage chamber, and food container held on each of said shelves for accommodating a food therein, and

said transport apparatus includes a base, a movable section provided for forward and backward movement from said base toward a corresponding one of said shelves or vice versa for holding any of the food containers thereon, an expansible rack apparatus being provided on said movable section, and a pinion provided on said base for meshing engagement with said rack apparatus,

said transport apparatus moving upwardly or downwardly in said movement duct to selectively feed the food containers to said food displaying section,

said pinion driving, when rotated, said movable section by way of said rack apparatus, said rack apparatus being expanded when said movable section is advanced toward any of said shelves, but contracted when said movable section is retracted toward said base.

12. A party production apparatus according to claim 1, further including a kitchen counter connected to said controller,

said kitchen counter includes a vessel mounted for advancing and retreating movement to the outside of said kitchen counter and having at the top thereof an opening which is closed when said vessel is retracted into a side of said kitchen counter, an article receiving liftable shelf disposed for upward and downward movement in said vessel, and an interlocking apparatus connected to said liftable shelf for lifting said liftable shelf in response to an operation of said vessel advancing to the outside of said kitchen counter and for lowering said liftable shelf in response to another operation wherein said vessel retreats into said kitchen counter.

13. A party production apparatus according to claim 1, further including a kitchen counter connected to said controller,

said kitchen counter includes a vessel having an opening at the top thereof and mounted for advancing and retreating movement to and from the outside of said kitchen counter, a temperature controller for controlling the temperature of the inside of said vessel, and a driving apparatus for driving said vessel to advance and retreat, for lowering said vessel to move said opening away from said kitchen counter at an initial stage of movement of said vessel to the outside of said kitchen counter, and for lifting said vessel to close said opening with said kitchen counter at a final stage of movement of said vessel to said kitchen counter side.

14. A party production apparatus, comprising:

a table including a food displaying section, a storage chamber for storing a plurality of dishes therein, and a transport apparatus for transporting an arbitrary one of the dishes accommodated in said storage chamber to said food displaying section; and

a controller connected to said table including register means for storing therein a party program including a plurality of operations for execution in a time series relationship, means for controlling said transport apparatus of said table in accordance with an order stored in said register means to transport the dishes to said food displaying section, speech recognizing means for inputting speech thereto and for recognizing the speech, and said controller executing the operation in response to the speech recognized by said speech recognizing means.

15. A party production apparatus, comprising:

a table counter including a frame, a table provided on said frame, a food displaying section formed in said table, a storage chamber formed in said frame for accommodating a plurality of dishes therein, and a transport apparatus for transporting an arbitrary one of the dishes accommodated in said storage chamber to said food transporting section;

a controller connected to said table counter for control of the operation of portions of said table counter, said controller including register means for storing therein a party program including a plurality of operations for successive execution in a time series relationship in accordance with said program, controlling means for controlling said transport means of said table counter to execute a plurality of operations to transport the dishes to said food displaying section, display means for displaying thereon information, confirming means for confirming a progressing condition of the party program, fast feeding operating means for skipping an operation in the party program, and speech recognizing means for inputting speech thereto and for recognizing the speech; and

a controller executing the operations in accordance with the order stored in said register means and in response to contents of the speech recognized by said speech recognizing means, to cause, when said controller advances the control sequence thereof to a next operation, said display means to display contents of speech input to said speech recognizing means, to cause said display means to display a result of recognition by said speech recognizing means, to cause said display means to display a progressing condition of the party program in response to an operation to said confirming means, and to advance the control sequence to a next operation skipping a particular operation in the party program in response to an operation to said fast feeding means.