JPH10340389A - Sales management system for self service type restaurant - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To accurately and quickly adjust charges and to display the information of a calorie amount and a nutrient amount, etc., by reading the information of a selected article and adjusting the charge of the article from the information and the processing data of an area article management computer. SOLUTION: Every time the article 14 is placed on a sales stand, the identification information and individual information are transmitted and stored in the data storage part of a data carrier tag embedded to the container of the article. A desired article 14 is selected from the respective sales stands, the article 14 is mounted on a tray placed on a counter and it is placed on a mounting base on the side of a charge adjustment place area reader part 10D. The respective pieces of the article information of single or plural articles 14 on the tray are simultaneously read in the charge adjustment place area reader part 10D, the read information is calculated and summed up in a charge adjustment management computer and a host computer 23 and charge calculation and the calculated result of the calorie amount and the nutrient amount, etc., for the respective trays are displayed by a display device 19.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention is an application of a solid-state identification method using a battery-less data carrier tag in which different types of articles are accommodated in a unit of a container, and a charge settlement of the articles selected from these containers is performed. And a sales management system for a self-service cafeteria, which is performed automatically.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a self-service employee cafeteria or the like, a customer arbitrarily selects different types of foods (articles) displayed for sale, puts them on a tray or the like, and sends them to a charge settlement office. Carrying and settlement managers visually check the dishes in the tray, input the information (type, unit price, quantity, etc.) into a cash register or a computer, calculate the fee, and display the information at the same time. Then, based on the calculation result, the customer can use the meal ticket, employee ID card, prepaid card,
Payment is made by credit card or cash. Also,
Recently, a method of transmitting image information obtained by photographing different kinds of foods in a tray from a tray with a video camera to a computer, analyzing the image, and automatically identifying the image is being performed.

[0003]

[Problems to be solved by the invention]
There has been a strong demand that a person can visually check the different types of food items in the tray, manually input the information into a cash register or a computer, and automate a series of operations for calculating and setting a fee. Was. And
It is possible to save labor by using a card reader or a bill validator, etc., for the settlement process during the series of operations.However, different types of food items in the tray are visually identified and the information is manually registered in a cash register. And there was no way to automate the task of keying into a computer accurately and quickly.

[0004] As for this automation, the above-mentioned automatic identification method using a video camera is one of the solutions. However, in this method, it is unavoidable that the apparatus becomes large-scale and expensive, and unevenness of food items is not uniform. Misidentification due to gender remains as an issue.

An object of the present invention is to automatically, accurately and quickly read and identify different kinds of foods (articles) in a tray and to perform a charge settlement process, and at the same time, calorie content and nutrients of the foods. It is an object of the present invention to provide a sales management system of a self-service canteen in which information such as quantity can be displayed.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, a sales management system for a self-service cafeteria, which is a feature of the present invention, uses a non-battery type data carrier tag to control a data carrier tag by electromagnetic waves of a specific common frequency. A system applying a solid-state identification method capable of simultaneously reading and writing a plurality of articles by contact, wherein a data carrier tag is provided in each container for storing articles, while a plurality of article areas of different types are provided, and A transmission / reception antenna is provided for each area, the individual identification information in the data carrier tag storage section of the container containing the article is read by the transmission / reception antenna of the same article area, and the data carrier tag storage section is provided in another area. A means for storing the individual information of the article is provided, and an area article management command for performing arithmetic processing based on the individual identification information is provided. A computer, and reads information on an article selected from among the articles arranged in the article type area reader unit, and reads the read information and the processing of the area article management computer. It is constituted by a toll settlement area reader which is provided with an arithmetic processing means for adjusting the charge of the article based on the data.

[0007] The sales management system of the self-service cafeteria includes information on the amount of calories and nutrients for each item in the individual information, and calculates the amount of calories and nutrients of the selected item. The display on the receipt is effective in the diet management such as dietary restrictions.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In FIG. 1, 10
A, 10B, and 10C are an article type area reader unit and 10D.
Is an area reader section of a charge settlement station, 11 is a transmitter of each of the area reader sections 10A, 10B and 10C, 12 is a modulator / demodulator which is a signal control section of the area reader section of each article type, 13 is a transmitting / receiving antenna, Reference numeral 14 denotes an article for sale (such as a dish), reference numeral 15 denotes an area article management computer, and reference numeral 16 denotes a display provided as needed.

In the article type area leader unit 10A, a bowl 14a, in the article type area leader unit 10B, a dish 14b, and in the article type area reader unit 10C, a drink 14c are placed as articles 14 for sale. I have. On the other hand, toll settlement area reader 10D
Is composed of a transmitter 11d, a modulator / demodulator 12d, an antenna 17 for charge settlement, a charge settlement management computer 18, a display 19, a card reader 20, a receipt issuing machine 21, a currency discriminator 22, and a host computer 23. I have.

As shown in FIG. 2, each of the containers 14a, 14b and 14c, which are articles 14 for sale, is a battery-less data carrier tag 30.
Is buried. On the other hand, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4,
Each antenna 1 of the article type area reader units 10A to 10C
Numeral 3 is provided on a sales stand 24 on which the articles 14 are placed, and an antenna 17 of the toll settlement area reader 10D is provided on a placement table 25 on which the articles 14 carried from the sales stand 24 are temporarily placed. Each of the antennas 13 and 17 is formed in a spiral shape, and the distribution of electromagnetic waves generated from these antennas is uniform over a wide range, and the detection range is expanded.

A method of writing and reading information in a non-contact manner on a battery-less data carrier tag (or chip) applied to the present invention, that is, a non-contact and battery-less data by electromagnetic waves having a specific common frequency The carrier (multiple readable / writable solid-state identification device) system has already been developed by Toshiba Chemical Corporation (chip is a high tag manufactured by MIKRON)
More anti-collision type RFID (Radio-
Frequency-Identification)
A technology known as a system, and similar products are available from SCS (Single Chip System) of the United States
m) under the trade name of ID-LEBEL system. Also, British TTG (British Tec)
Super tag (Su)
perTag), and the present invention is applicable to any system.

By the way, an example of an anti-collision type RFID system of Toshiba Chemical Co., Ltd.
The operation state of the battery-less data carrier system will be described with reference to FIG. First, a radio wave having a frequency of 125 KHz is transmitted from the transmitter 1 of the reader unit (transmission / reading identification unit), and a signal for controlling a plurality of tag internal impedances from the management computer 2 and a data storage unit of the tag unit 6 are transmitted to the radio wave. The information signal (article area information) to be written into the tag section 6 is superimposed and modulated by the modulator 3, and the tag section 6 is transmitted via the antenna 4.
On the antenna 6a. 5 is a demodulator.

In the tag section 6, a part of the received signal is rectified, and the signal decoding indicator 6b and the data storage section 6c are rectified.
And the signal decoding supporter 6b detects the received signal.
Demodulated and sends a storage data signal corresponding to the data signal from the data storage unit 6c to the switch unit 6d.
Change the internal impedance of As a result, a radio wave having an amplitude corresponding to the identification data signal and the information data signal in the tag unit 6 is generated on the antenna 4 of the reader unit. That is, the reader unit is in the same state as when the AM modulated radio wave is received. By detecting and demodulating the AM modulated radio wave, the management computer 2 reads, identifies, and recognizes it.

Then, a signal for controlling the internal impedance of the next tag section 6 and an information signal to be written in the data storage section 6c are transmitted to the modulator 3, and an identification data signal and an information data signal are output to an external device. By repeating the operation, a plurality of tags are sequentially read, and the tags are identified and recognized. The transmitter 1, the management computer 2, the modulator 3 and the demodulator 5 and the antenna 4 in FIG. 5 correspond to the transmitter 11, the area article management computer 15, the modulator / demodulator 12 and the antenna 13 in FIG. The tag sections 6 correspond to the data carrier tags 30 in FIG.

Next, the operation of the system of the present invention will be described. In FIG. 1, information such as an article name (food item name), a unit price, a calorie amount, a nutrient amount, etc. is input to a host computer 23 of an area reader section 10D of the fee settlement station (as necessary, each area article). Management computer 1
5 and the corresponding information is displayed on each display 16, and each time the article 14 is placed on the sales stand 24, the data carrier tag 3 embedded in the container of the article 14 is transmitted.
The identification information and the individual information are transmitted and stored in the data storage unit 0 (see FIG. 2). Then, when the customer selects an article 14 (such as a bowl 14a, a dish 14b, and a drink 14c) from the sales stand 24, the article information is displayed on the antenna 13
Is input to the area item management computer 15 and the item information is transmitted to the host computer 23.

As described above, the desired article 1 can be obtained from each sales stand 24.
4 and counter 2 as shown in FIGS.
The article 14 is placed on the tray 27 placed on the tray 6 and placed on the placement table 25 on the side of the area reader unit 10D of the fare checkout station (or placed close to the area antenna 17). The fare settlement area reader 10D simultaneously reads information on each item of the single article or a plurality of articles 14 on the tray 27, and reads the read information into the fare settlement management computer 1.
8 and the host computer 23 calculate and add
The display unit 19 displays the calculation result of the charge for each 7 and the calculation results such as the calorie amount and the nutrient amount. As a result, the employee ID
When the payment is made by a card such as a card or a credit card or by cash, a charge payment process and receipt issuance are performed.

On the other hand, at the same time as the above operation, management materials such as sales, inventory, order, purchase, etc. relating to the articles for sale are also recorded in the host computer 23, and the recorded materials can be issued. If the user attempts to remove the tray 27 without adjusting the charge at the charge adjustment stage, it is detected that the communication with the data carrier tag 30 on the article 14 has been interrupted, and an alarm is issued to prevent the so-called "run away". Is programmed to

[0018]

The present invention is as described above, and identification information or identification / individual information of a plurality of different types of articles can be read simultaneously without contact, and the read information is totaled by a cash register or a computer. Calculates and displays the charge calculation and calorie amount calculation for each tray, and can issue a receipt.Conventionally, different items in the tray are visually checked by a person, and the type, unit price, number, etc. are manually calculated by computer. In addition to being able to automate (labor saving) a series of operations for which fees have been calculated by inputting the information to a user, etc., payment can be made quickly and accurately (elimination of erroneous identification and erroneous input). It is very effective in eliminating.

In addition, it is possible to know the caloric amount and the nutrient amount of each selected article or each used food material, which is convenient for managing dietary restrictions, and that the payment operation can be completely unmanned. Therefore, its industrial value is enormous. The present invention can be applied not only to the conveyor belt sushi restaurant, but also to the sales management of bread and cakes.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged front view of a part of each article shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a plan view illustrating a moving state of the article shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a front view of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a circuit diagram showing an example of a data carrier system used in the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10A, 10B, and 10C are article type area readers 10D is a fare checkout area reader section 13 is an antenna 14 is an article 15 is an area article management computer 17 is an antenna 18 is a fare adjustment management computer 23 is a host computer 30 is a data carrier tag

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A system applying a solid-state identification method capable of simultaneously reading and writing a plurality of battery-less data carrier tags in a non-contact manner by using electromagnetic waves of a specific common frequency, wherein each of the individual units accommodates an article. While a data carrier tag is provided on the container, a plurality of article areas of different types are provided, and a transmitting / receiving antenna is provided for each of the article areas, and the transmitting / receiving antenna of the same article area contains the data carrier of the container containing the article. A means for reading the individual identification information in the tag storage unit and storing the individual information of the article in another area of the data carrier tag storage unit, and an area article management computer for performing arithmetic processing based on the individual identification information is provided. The provided product type area leader section and the articles arranged in the product type area reader section are selected. Toll-reading station area reader unit provided with arithmetic processing means for reading the information of the taken-out article and performing the price adjustment of the article based on the read information and the processing data of the area article management computer. A sales management system for a self-service cafeteria, comprising: 2. The individual information includes information on the amount of calories and the amount of nutrients for each article, and is configured to display the amount of calories and the amount of nutrients of the selected article on a receipt for payment. The sales management system for a self-service cafeteria according to claim 1, wherein: