Information administering system for an eating house

• US 7,324,958 B2
• Filed: 08/02/2002
• Issued: 01/29/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/02/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Fujifilm Corporation (Fujifilm Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Fujifilm Corporation (Fujifilm Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Uchioke, Keizo, Goto, Satoru, Okoyama, Kazuo, Miyazaki, Takao
• Primary Examiner(s): CUFF, MICHAEL A
• Application Number:
  US10/209,920
• Publication Number:
  US 20030040967A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,006 Days
• Field of Search: 705/15, 705/16, 705/17, 705/18, 705/19, 705/20, 705/21, 705/22, 705/23, 705/24, 705/25
• US Class Current: 705/15
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/12 Hotels or restaurants

Abstract

A customer of an eating house orders refreshments by pressing a first touch panel provided at a customer'"'"'s seat, watching a liquid-crystal monitor on which a menu of the refreshment and an average cooking time thereof are displayed. A cook inputs cooking-state information with a second touch panel provided in a kitchen when cooking is started and is completed. The cooking-state information is displayed on the liquid-crystal monitor so that it is possible to confirm a cooking state of the ordered refreshment. When the ordered refreshment is untouched, the customer can cancel or urge the refreshment by pressing the first touch panel. Upon instructing a check with the first touch panel, the check is printed out from a printer. The customer can order, cancel and urge the refreshments without calling a waitperson.

Claims

1. An information administering system for an eating house, comprising:

a first information terminal-unit disposed at a customer'"'"'s seat of said eating house, said first information terminal-unit including a first touch panel on a display for inputting instruction information offered from a customer to said eating house, and guidance-information display means for displaying guidance information given from said eating house to said customer;

a second information terminal-unit disposed in a kitchen of said eating house, said second information terminal-unit including instruction-information display means for displaying said instruction information in said kitchen, and a second touch panel for inputting cooking-state information of refreshments cooked in said kitchen; and

a determining unit for determining whether cooking of refreshments has started or not, wherein a cancel button for allowing said customer to cancel the refreshments is displayed on the display of the first information terminal-unit when the determining unit determines that the cooking of the refreshments has not started.

2. An information administering system for an eating house according to claim 1, wherein said instruction information includes at least one of order information representing the refreshment to be ordered and a quantity thereof, cancel information for cancelling the ordered refreshment, reminder information for urging the ordered refreshment, and check information for instructing a check.

3. An information administering system for an eating house according to claim 2, wherein said first information terminal-unit includes print means for printing out the check in response to an input of said check information.

4. An information administering system for an eating house according to claim 2, wherein said guidance information includes at least one of menu information of the refreshments, price information thereof, image-picture information thereof, average-cooking-time information thereof, food-value information thereof, and cooking-state information thereof.

5. An information administering system for an eating house according to claim 4, further comprising:

a restaurant computer connected to said first and second information terminal-units via a network, said restaurant computer having at least one database concerning said respective information.

6. An information administering system for an eating house according to claim 5, wherein said at least one database is any of a menu database, a food-value database, a price database, a cooking-time database, an order information database, and a cooking-state information database.

7. An information administering system for an eating house according to claim 6, wherein said cooking-state information of the refreshment represents any of a served state, an undertaken state, and an untouched state;

and

wherein in said undertaken state, the second touch panel is pressed just before preparation of the refreshment is started, and in said untouched state, the second touch panel is not pressed and the preparation of the refreshment is not started.

8. An information administering system for an eating house according to claim 6, wherein said instruction information is inputted by pressing said first touch panel.

9. An information administering system for an eating house according to claim 8, wherein said guidance-information display means of said first information terminal-unit is a first liquid-crystal monitor.

10. An information administering system for an eating house according to claim 9, wherein said instruction-information display means of said second information terminal-unit is a second liquid-crystal monitor.

11. An information administering system for an eating house according to claim 10, wherein said cooking-state information is inputted by pressing said second touch panel.

12. An information administering system for an eating house according to claim 6, wherein said first information terminal-unit is a cellular phone connected to said second information terminal-unit via the Internet.