Commodity order system

• US 7,467,101 B2
• Filed: 02/18/2003
• Issued: 12/16/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 02/18/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Columbia Peak Ventures, LLC (Dominion Harbor Enterprises, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation (Seiko Group)
• Inventors: Honda, Susumu, Kanisawa, Hiroaki
• Primary Examiner(s): ZURITA, JAMES H
• Application Number:
  US10/491,792
• Publication Number:
  US 20050086117A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,128 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26
• US Class Current: 705/15
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0637 Strategic management or analysis, e.g. setting a goal or target of an organisation; Planning actions based on goals; Analysis or evaluation of effectiveness of goals
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/12 specially adapted for electronic shopping systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/40 Authorisation, e.g. identification of payer or payee, verification of customer or shop credentials; Review and approval of payers, e.g. check credit lines or negative lists
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/4014 Identity check for transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0603 Catalogue ordering
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0617 Representative agent
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/12 Hotels or restaurants

Abstract

The object of the present invention is to provide a product ordering system, product ordering method and program thereof that is capable of promoting the sales of a product or service by managing order information by identifying an orderer and using information presented to ordering terminals.

The product ordering system of the present invention is equipped with a plurality of ordering terminals installed at predetermined locations which acquire order information by prompting an orderer to select and order desired products or services, the ordering terminals are equipped with an identification information acquisition unit that acquires orderer identification information that identifies the orderer, and an order information management unit that manages the order information acquired from the order terminals by correlating with the orderer identification information acquired by the identification information acquisition unit equipped on the ordering terminals.

Claims

1. A product ordering system comprising:

a plurality of ordering terminals installed on tables which acquire order information by prompting an orderer to select and order desired products or services,

an identification information acquisition section, provided in each ordering terminal, that acquires orderer identification information that identifies the orderer;

an order information management section that manages order information acquired from the ordering terminals by correlating with orderer identification information acquired by the identification information acquisition section equipped on the ordering terminals; and

a seating information management section which manages seating information that contains table identification information that identifies the tables and the ordering terminals, and information correlated with the orderer identification information of the orderer which is seated at one of the tables, the seating information management section comprising,

a seating information generation section that generates seating information that correlates the table identification information of the table at which the orderer is seated and the orderer identification information when the identification information acquisition section of the ordering terminal installed at the table acquires the orderer identification information,

a seating information database that stores at least the seating information by correlating with generation time in the form of information on a date and time at which the seating information was generated and that stores seating log information which refers to log information of past seating information that has been updated by movement of the orderer to a different table when the orderer specified with the orderer identification code has been moved to a different table, and

a seating information updating section that updates the seating information to a most recent seating information based on the generation time when there is a plurality of seating information containing the same orderer identification information in a seating information database.

2. The product ordering system according to claim 1, further comprising:

an inventory information database that stores product inventory information or service availability information as information as to whether or not a service can be provided by correlating with a product identifier that specifies a product or service; and

an inventory information referral section, provided in each ordering terminal, that prevents products for which there is no inventory or services that cannot be provided from being selected based on inventory information or service availability information referred to from the inventory information database when prompting the orderer to select a desired product or service.

3. The product ordering system according to claim 1, wherein the ordering tenninals further comprising a usage restriction unit section that allows usage of an ordering terminal after the identification information acquisition processing section has acquired the orderer identification information.

4. The product ordering system according to claim 1, wherein the order information management section manages order information of foods and beverages acquired by an ordering terminal by correlating with the orderer identification information in the case a product has been cooked after receiving an order, and

the product ordering system further comprising:

a cooking instructions section that presents cooking instructions for the foods or beverages to a food preparer; and

a cooking instructions information generation section that generates cooking instructions information for presenting cooking instructions to the cooking instructions section based on the order information managed by the order information management section.

5. The product ordering system according to claim 4, further comprising a cooking completion input section that allows input of the completion of the cooking of a food or beverage in the case cooking of the food or beverage has been completed according to the cooking instructions of the cooking instructions section.

6. The product ordering system according to claim 1, further comprising:

a serving instructions section that presents serving instructions so that a food or beverage for which cooking has been completed is served to the table where the orderer is seated; and

a serving instructions information generation section that generates serving instructions information for presenting serving instructions to the serving instructions section by referring to the seating information at the time cooking is completed from the seating information database based on orderer identification information that is correlated with order information of the food or beverage for which cooking has been completed.

7. The product ordering system according to claim 1, wherein the order information management section manages the order information by correlating a plurality of orderer identification information with separately billed groups in units of orderers making payment.

8. The product ordering system according to claim 7, wherein the ordering terminals further comprising a group information input section that allows input of group information for correlating a plurality of orderer identification information with separately billed groups.

9. The product ordering system according to claim 1, wherein the order information management section uniquely assigns the orderer identification information to separately billed groups in units of orderers making payment.

10. The product ordering system according to claim 1, further comprising a predicted vacating time calculation seciton that calculates the predicted vacating time of a table at which an orderer is currently sitting by referring to the order status of the orderer and the elapsed time since the orderer sat down at the table based on order information managed in correlation with orderer identification information by the order information management section.

11. The product ordering system according to claim 1, wherein the ordering terminals further comprising an employee call section for enabling the orderer to call an employee that is providing the product or service.

12. The product ordering system according to claim 11, wherein the employee call section comprising a request selection section that prompts selection of a request for which the employee is called.

13. The product ordering system according to claim 1, wherein the ordering terminals further comprising:

an information presentation section that presents presented information containing presented product information for prompting orderers to select and order products or services; and

a presented information control section that allows the contents of the presented information presented by the information presentation section to be changed at arbitrary times.

14. A product ordering method in which a plurality of ordering terminals installed on tables are used that acquire order information by prompting an orderer to select and order a desired product or service, comprising:

a step in which the ordering terminals acquire orderer identification information that identifies the orderer along with the order information; and

a step in which the order information acquired by the ordering terminals is correlated with the orderer identification information; and

a step in which seating information is managed, the seating information including table identification information that identifies the tables and the ordering terminals, and information correlated with the orderer identification information of the orderer which is seated at one of the tables, the step in which seating information is managed further comprising,

generating seating information that correlates the table identification information of the table at which the orderer is seated and the orderer identification information when an identification information acquisition section of the ordering terminal installed at the table acquires the orderer identification information,

storing at least the seating information by correlating with generation time in the form of information on a date and time at which the seating information was generated, storing seating log information which refers to log information of past seating information that has been updated by movement of the orderer to a different table when the orderer specified with the orderer identification (inforamtion) - - code - - has been moved to a different table, and

updating the seating information to a most recent seating information based on the generation time when there is plurality of seating information containing the same orderer identification information in a seating information database.

15. The product ordering method according to claim 14, comprising an information presentation section that presents presented information to the ordering terminals that contains presented product information for prompting an orderer to select and order a product or service, and the information presentation section allows the contents of the presented information presented by the information presentation section to be changed at arbitrary times.

16. A program -- tangibly embodied in media -- for a product ordering system comprising a plurality of ordering terminals installed on tables which acquire order information by prompting an orderer to select and order desired products or services, -- said program tangibly embodying instructions executable by the computer,-- wherein the program causes a computer to perform:

a step in which the ordering terminals acquire orderer identification information that identifies the orderer along with the order information; and

a step in which the order information acquired by the ordering terminals is correlated with the orderer identification information

a step in which seating information is managed, the seating information including table identification information that identifies the tables and the ordering terminals, and information correlated with the orderer identification information of the orderer which is seated at one of the tables, the step in which seating information is managed further comprising,

generating seating information that correlates the table identification information of the table at which the orderer is seated and the orderer identification information when an identification information acquisition section of the ordering terminal installed at the table acquires the orderer identification information,

storing at least the seating information by correlating with generation time in the form of information on a date and time at which the seating information was generated,

storing seating log information which refers to log information of past seating information that has been updated by movement of the orderer to a different table when the orderer specified with the orderer identification (information) - - code - - has been moved to a different table, and

updating the seating information to a most recent seating information based on the generation time when there is a plurality of seating information containing the same orderer identification information in a seating information database.

17. The program according to claim 16, wherein the product ordering system comprising an information presentation section that, -- when executed by a computer, -- executes instructions that present presented information to the ordering terminals that contains presented product information for prompting an orderer to select and order a product or service, and

the program -- further contains executable instructions that cause a computer to perform -- processing that allows the contents of the presented information presented by the information presentation section to be changed at arbitrary times.