System and method for charging using data carrier

• US 6,793,126 B2
• Filed: 02/10/1998
• Issued: 09/21/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 10/16/1997
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Original Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Inventors: Hashimoto, Ken
• Primary Examiner(s): St. Cyr, Daniel
• Application Number:
  US09/021,370
• Publication Number:
  US 20010013539A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,415 Days
• Field of Search: 235/375, 235/378, 235/381, 235/385, 235/487, 705/1, 705/15, 705/17, 705/16
• US Class Current: 235/375
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/0723 the record carrier comprising an arrangement for non-contact communication, e.g. wireless communication circuits on transponder cards, non-contact smart cards or RFIDs
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/07758 arrangements for adhering the record carrier to further objects or living beings, functioning as an identification tag
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G07G 1/0045 with a code reader for reading of an identifying code of the article to be registered, e.g. barcode reader or radio-frequency identity [RFID] reader

Abstract

A data carrier which can be read from and written to in a non-contact state is embedded in the bottom of tableware, and in which data such as price, etc. are written. When a customer selects dishes or drinks and places the dishes or drinks on a tray, all the data are simultaneously read from the data carriers on the tray, and the total amount of charge is calculated.

Claims

1. A charging system for automatically calculating a charge for a dish or drink selected by a customer, comprising:

writing means for writing data in at least two re-writable data carriers, each of the re-writable data carriers being attached to a container of a dish or drink;

reading means for reading data in a non-contact state from the re-writable data carriers by repeating an inquiry, each of the re-writable data carriers including a communication control logic to cause each of the re-writable data carriers to enter a state of waiting a predetermined random period before answering the inquiry from the reading means, to answer the inquiry from the reading means, to communicate with the reading means, and to enter a state of not answering another inquiry from the reading means after communicating with the reading means for a predetermined period; and

calculating means for calculating the charge using the read data and displaying the charge.

2. A charging system for automatically calculating a charge for a dish or drink selected by a customer, comprising:

input means for inputting data to be used to calculate a charge; and

writing means for writing the data in at least two re-writable data carriers each of which is attached to a container of a dish or drink and each of the re-writable data carriers entering a state of waiting a predetermined random period before answering an inquiry from the writing means, to answer the inquiry from the writing means, to communicate with the writing means, and to enter a state of not answering another inquiry from the writing means after communicating with the writing means for a predetermined period.

3. The charging system according to claim 2, wherein said writing means writes one of a kind and price of the dish or drink in the data carriers.

4. The charging system according to claim 2, further comprising:

measuring means for measuring a weight of the dish or drink, wherein

said writing means writes one of a measured weight and a price corresponding to the measured weight in the data carriers.

5. A charging system for automatically calculating a charge for a dish and drink selected by a customer, comprising:

reading means for reading data in a non-contact state from at least two re-writable data carriers by repeating an inquiry, attached to a container of one or more dishes or drinks selected by the customer, each of the re-writable data carriers entering a state of waiting a predetermined random period before answering the inquiry from the reading means, to answer the inquiry from the reading means, to communicate with the reading means, and to enter a state of not answering another inquiry from the reading means after communicating with the reading means for a predetermined period and

calculating means for calculating the charge using the read data.

6. The charging system according to claim 5, wherein the data carriers are attached to the bottom of the container, and

said reading means reads the data collectively from the data carrier of one or more containers placed on a tray.

7. The charging system according to claim 5, wherein said reading means reads price data of said dish or drink from the data carriers, and

said calculating means adds up the price data of each dish or drink, and calculates the charge for the one or more dishes or drinks.

8. The charging system according to claim 5, wherein said reading means reads data indicating a kind of said dish or drink from the data carriers, and

said calculating means includes an output means for outputting a kind of the dishes or drinks selected by the customer together with the charge for the dishes or drinks.

9. The charging system according to claim 5, further comprising

storing means for storing a correspondence relation between a kind and a price of each dish or drink, wherein

said reading means reads data indicating a kind of said dish or drink from the data carriers, and

said calculating means obtains price data corresponding to the kind data of each dish or drink referring to the correspondence relation, adds up the price data of each dish or drink, and calculates the charge for the one or more dishes or drinks.

10. A container used in connection with reading means for reading data for an automatic calculation of a charge of a dish or drink selected by a customer, comprising:

means for holding the dish or drink; and

at least two re-writable data carrier means for selectively recording data to be used to calculate the charge, each of the re-writable data carrier means being attached to a container of the dish or the drink and entering a state of waiting a predetermined random period before answering an inquiry from the reading means, to answer the inquiry from the reading means, to communicate with the reading means, and to enter a state of not answering another inquiry from the reading means after communicating with the reading means for a predetermined period.

11. A calorie calculating system for automatically calculating calories of a dish or drink selected by a customer, comprising:

reading means for reading data in a non-contact state from at least two re-writable data carriers by repeating an inquiry, each of the re-writable data carriers being attached to a container of one or more dishes or drinks selected by the customer, each of the re-writable data carriers entering a state of waiting a predetermined random period before answering the inquiry from the reading means, to answer the inquiry from the reading means, to communicate with the reading means, and to enter a state of not answering another inquiry from the reading means after communicating with the reading means for a predetermined period; and

calculating means for calculating calories of the one or more dishes or drinks using read data and displaying the calories.

12. A charging system for automatically calculating a charge for goods selected by a customer, comprising:

reading means for reading data in a non-contact state from at least two re-writable data carriers by repeating an inquiry, each of the re-writable data carriers being attached to a container of one or more items of goods selected by the customer, each of the re-writable data carriers entering a state of waiting a predetermined random period before answering the inquiry from the reading means, to answer the inquiry from the reading means, to communicate with the reading means, and to enter a state of not answering another inquiry from the reading means after communicating with the reading means for a predetermined period; and

calculating means for calculating the charge for the one or more items of goods using read data and displaying the charge.

13. The charging system according to claim 12, wherein the one or more items of goods are arranged flatly so that directions of the attached re-writable data carriers are the same, and said reading means reads the data collectively from the re-writable data carriers of the one or more goods arranged flatly.

14. A computer-readable recording medium encoded with a program for controlling a computer, the program comprising:

inputting data to be used to calculate a charge for a dish or drink selected by a customer; and

writing the data in at least two re-writable data carriers each of the re-writable data carriers being attached to a container of the dish or drink, each of the re-writable data carriers entering a state of waiting a predetermined random period before answering an inquiry from a reading means, to answer the inquiry from the reading means, to communicate with the reading means, and to enter a state of not answering another inquiry from the reading means after communicating with the reading means for a predetermined period.

15. A computer-readable recording medium encoded with a program for controlling a computer, the program comprising:

reading data in a non-contact state from at least two re-writable data carriers, each of the re-writable data carriers being attached to a container of one or more dishes or drinks selected by a customer, each of the re-writable data carriers entering a period of waiting a predetermined random period before answering an inquiry from a reading means, to answer the inquiry from the reading means, to communicate with the reading means, and to enter a state of not answering another inquiry from the reading means after communicating with the reading means for a predetermined period;

calculating a charge for the one or more dishes or drinks using the read data; and

displaying the charge.

16. A charging method for automatically calculating a charge for a dish or drink selected by a customer, comprising:

writing data in at east two re-writable data carriers, each of the re-writable data carriers being attached to a container of a dish or drink;

reading data in a non-contact state from the data carriers of one or more dishes or drinks selected by the customer by repeating an inquiry, each of the re-writable data carriers entering a state of waiting a predetermined random period before answering the inquiry from a reading means, to answer the inquiry from the reading means, to communicate with the reading means, and to enter a state of not answering another inquiry from the reading means after communicating with a reading means for a predetermined period;

calculating said charge using read data; and

displaying said charge.

17. A charging system for automatically calculating a charge for a dish or drink selected by a customer, comprising:

a writing unit writing data in at least two re-writable data carriers by repeating an inquiry, each of the re-writable data carriers being formed as part of a container of a dish or drink;

a reading unit reading data in a non-contact state from the re-writable data carriers, each of the re-writable data carriers entering a state of waiting a predetermined random period before answering the inquiry from the reading unit, to answer the inquiry from the reading unit, to communicate with the reading unit, and to enter a state of not answering another inquiry from the reading unit after communicating with the reading unit for a predetermined period; and

a calculating unit calculating the charge using the read data and displaying the charge.

18. The charging system according to claim 17, wherein each of the selectively re-writable data carriers are adhered to the container of the dish or drink.

19. The charging system according to claim 17, wherein each of the selectively re-writable data carriers is embedded within the container of the dish or drink.

20. A container used in connection with reading means for reading data for automatic calculation of a charge of a dish or drink selected by a customer by repeating an inquiry, comprising:

tableware to hold the dish or drink; and

at least two re-writable data carriers to record data to be used to calculate the charge, each of the re-writable data carriers being attached to a container of the dish or drink, and each of the re-writable data carriers entering a state of waiting a predetermined random period before answering the inquiry from the reading means, to answer the inquiry from the reading means, to communicate with the reading means, and to enter a state of not answering another inquiry from the reading means after communicating with the reading means for a predetermined period.

21. The container used in an automatic calculation of a charge of a dish or drink according to claim 20, wherein said re-writable data carrier further comprises:

an antenna;

a voltage generator circuit to provide power to said data carrier in response to electromotive force received from the antenna; and

a memory unit to record the data to be used to calculate the charge.

22. The container used in an automatic calculation of a charge of a dish or drink according to claim 21, wherein said re-writable data carrier further comprises:

a modulator/demodulator to communicate modulated data between the antenna with the memory unit.

23. The container used in an automatic calculation of a charge of a dish or drink comprising:

an antenna;

a memory;

communication control logic to record data in at least two re-writable data carriers to be used to calculate the charge in said memory, each of the re-writable data carriers being attached to a container of the dish or the drink, and

a voltage generator circuit to provide power to said memory and said communication control logic in response to electromotive force received from said antenna,

each of the re-writable data carriers entering a state of waiting a predetermined random period before answering an inquiry from the communication control logic after communicating with the communication control logic.

24. The container used in an automatic calculation of a charge of a dish or drink according to claim 23, further comprising:

a modulator/demodulator to communicate modulated data between said antenna and said memory unit.