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Description  |
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FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to automated order/delivery systems in general, and
in particular to automated food order/delivery systems that include
related businesses catering to customers who eat at home.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
It has become common practice for consumers to "order out" for food, e.g.,
pizza, have it delivered to their homes, and "dine in." Historically, the
suppliers of pizza have tended to occupy only one location, and a
customer's choice of a particular pizzeria has usually been based upon the
quality of food and the time within which his order can be filled. In the
case of franchised suppliers that provide a uniform quality of pizza, once
the customer has selected a franchise, his principal consideration is the
response time of the store that actually fills his order.
In those areas having more than one franchised supplier, customers
typically call the location closest to their home to achieve the quickest
response to their order. However, physical proximity of the store to the
customer may not always be the determinative criterion. Considerations
such as time of day, local traffic patterns, road construction, etc., may
affect the day to day ability of the closest store to serve a particular
customer. Thus a customer may mistakenly select a store that is incapable
of filling his order in a timely manner.
Each franchised supplier typically subscribes to a relatively expensive
telephone service that enables incoming calls to be queued for answering
on a first-in-first-out basis. The employees of the franchised store are
typically occupied with the preparation and delivery of the food and may,
especially during peak demand hours, become too busy to answer the
telephone in a timely manner to receive orders. Consequently, customers
may be put on hold for unacceptable periods of time.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to an order/delivery system by which a number of
affiliated stores all receive customer orders from a central location. A
computer at the central location is programmed to receive customer orders,
automatically assign a particular order to a particular store based upon a
predetermined market allocation, and transmit the order to that store. The
invention eliminates the need for expensive telephone service to each of
the stores and frees the store employees from answering the telephone to
take orders, thereby enabling those employees to concentrate on the
preparation and delivery of the food.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an automatic order/delivery system that
incorporates a presently preferred embodiment of the invention.
FIG. 2 is a data entry screen displayed by the terminals used in the
presently preferred embodiment of the invention.
FIG. 3 is a second data entry screen displayed by the terminals used in the
presently preferred embodiment of the invention.
FIG. 4 is a partial listing of a master street list used in the presently
preferred embodiment of the invention.
FIG. 5 is a flowchart describing the steps performed by the presently
preferred embodiment of the invention.
FIG. 6 is a detailed flowchart describing the order processing step
depicted in FIG. 5.
FIG. 7 is a detailed flowchart describing the queuing processing step
depicted in FIG. 5.
FIG. 8 is a detailed flowchart describing the call processing step depicted
in FIG. 5.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENTLY PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
As used herein, the term "store" is used in a broad sense, and is meant to
include restaurants, kitchens or any other commercial business that
prepares food. A store may or may not have a delivery service associated
with it and includes "take out" establishments that may or may not have
dining facilities.
FIG. 1 depicts a telephone center 10 located in a municipality or other
region served by a number of related or franchised stores 12. The
telephone center 10 houses operators that enter information into a
computer system adapted to automatically assign incoming orders to the
store best able to respond to those orders. Often, the assigned store will
be the one nearest the customer's residence, however, local factors such
as traffic patterns, time of day and road construction may dictate that a
store other than the nearest one will provide optimum service.
The aforementioned factors are taken into account in the programming of the
computer. Initially, the region to be served by the system is divided into
market areas, each of which is to be served by a particular store. This
market allocation can be defined in any number of ways, such as by zip
code, telephone area code or exchange number or by street address. All
that is required is that each potential customer within the service region
is assigned to a store. In the presently preferred embodiment, the
software includes a street maintenance file containing an entry for each
street in the region. Each entry contains a range of addresses to be
served by a particular store which is assigned a numerical code. In
residential areas, an entire street may be assigned to one store, while
major thoroughfares that traverse a number of market areas may be served
by several stores. The market allocation data is stored on magnetic disk
or other acceptable storage device that can be accessed by the system
operating software. The street maintenance file is periodically updated to
take into account shifting market shares of particular stores, local road
construction, the addition of new housing developments and the like. FIG.
2 depicts a sample data entry screen that can be used to enter the market
allocation data. FIG. 4 is a partial listing of a street maintenance file
used in the presently preferred embodiment.
The telephone center 10 includes a central computer 14, a plurality of
interactive display devices such as CRTs 16, and a plurality of modems 18
adapted to communicate with remote devices such as printers 20 over a
standard telephone line. The telephone center 10 also includes a generator
or other source of back-up power (not shown) so that the system remains
operational in the event of a power failure. Since telephone service often
remains operational despite area-wide power outages, customers can be
served under less than ideal conditions.
The telephone center 10 also contains a station 22 that is normally used by
management to monitor the activity of the system including cash flow,
number of orders, inventory and any other information contained in the
database.
FIG. 1 shows several CRTs 16 and modems 18. Ideally, there should be one
modem per CRT, however, this is not absolutely necessary. The required
number of either device is dictated by the number of calls the telephone
center is expected to handle.
Each store 12 within the service area contains a printer 20 designed to
receive messages from the telephone center 10. In the preferred
embodiment, communication is provided via telephone line 24 from a modem
18 at the telephone center 10, however, other methods of communication are
possible. For example, order information could be transmitted from the
telephone center to the stores via satellite or radio.
There is no relationship between the number of modems 18 and printers 20.
As depicted in FIG. 1, the modems have access to the entire range of
telephone numbers in the local telephone network or trunk line 26, and can
therefore address any of the printers 20, however, any particular printer
can be accessed only on a single line 24. The expensive prior art
telephone service used at the store can be replaced by a single line for
intracompany use. In practice, the public is made aware that a single
telephone number, the number of the telephone center, is to be used when
ordering from the system. The telephone numbers of the individual stores
are not available to the public to ensure use of the central number.
The computer 14 is programmed to accept the customer's address and order
from the CRTs 14, access the market allocation database, identify the
correct store, and transmit the order to that store. The software includes
a number of files which can be cross-referenced. In the preferred
embodiment, customer files are initially accessed by the customer's
telephone number. The telephone number can be cross-referenced to an
identifier that is used to access the market allocation data base. In the
presently preferred embodiment, this identifier is the customer's home
address, however, the customer's zip code, area code or telephone exchange
number could also be used. The identifier is used to define the store that
is to receive the order. The code representing that store is then
cross-referenced to the telephone number of the modem that is to receive
the order. This file manipulation is accomplished by a relational
database, such as the Informix Relational Database System marketed by
Informax Systems, Inc. A program listing of software capable of performing
such functions is contained as an appendix in the original patent file
maintained in the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
In operation, a customer desiring a pizza, or any other type of food
provided by the supplier, dials the number of the telephone center 10. The
incoming call is automatically assigned to an available operator at one of
the CRTs 16 by the telephone service 28 employed by the center. It has
been determined that the Merlin System supplied by AT&T can be used to
provide this service.
Once the system is initialized, the CRTs display an order entry screen such
as shown in FIG. 3. The screen consists of a number of bracketed fields 30
that correspond to individual items of information such as name, address,
date and menu selections. Cursor controls located on the CRT enable the
operator to selectively enter the customer information in the appropriate
field. Since the speed with which a customer's order can be taken is
important, the software automatically performs data processing upon
exiting certain fields.
The automatic steps taken by the system can best be understood with
reference to FIG. 5. Customer order information is entered, and the store
assigned by the order processing subroutine 32 and stored as a file 34.
Order queuing processing subroutine 36 and call processing subroutine 38
then act upon the file to generate an order that is transmitted to the
assigned printer. FIGS. 6-8 are detailed flowcharts of the order
processing, order queuing and call processing subroutines respectively. As
shown in FIG. 6, the operator requests the customer's telephone number,
and enters that information in the appropriate data field displayed by the
terminal. The operator then directs the computer to search its customer
files by depressing the appropriate CRT key. In the preferred embodiment,
this search is performed whenever the operator exits the phone number data
field 35 (see FIG. 3).
If the customer is in the file, the terminal automatically displays a
completed data entry screen including the customer's home address and last
order. If the order is to be changed, the operator enters the menu
selections accordingly. Upon exiting the last field corresponding to a
menu selection, the software accesses price maintenance files and
calculates the total cost of the order.
If the customer is not already on file, the operator enters the customer's
name and address. The computer is programmed to immediately identify
whether the caller is in an area served by the system. A street address is
entered, followed by the street name. Upon exiting the street name data
field 40 (FIG. 3), the computer searches its database. If the street is
not found in the street maintenance file, the CRT displays an appropriate
message. If the caller is at a deliverable address, the data entry screen
is updated to include the store code 42 of the preassigned store.
When all the information has been entered, the customer order is stored in
the computer with the appropriate keyboard entry. Once stored, the order
information is accessible to report generating subroutines used by
management to monitor, for example the number of pizzas ordered, what
toppings are used and how many beverages are sold. Upon the entry of the
order information, the CRT is free to accept additional orders. It should
be noted that while the presently preferred embodiment contemplates
operator assisted order entry, other methods are within the scope of the
invention. For example, the telephone center may be equipped with voice
recognition circuitry capable of accepting verbal instructions.
Alternatively, order information may be entered by the customer using
telephone touch tone capabilities available in many areas.
The completion of the order activates the queuing processing subroutine 36.
As shown in FIG. 7, this subroutine opens the file, and determines which
store has been assigned to receive the order. It then assigns a sequential
transaction number for the assigned store and creates a file for the
receipt that is to be transmitted for printout at the store. The
transaction number is added to the file and permanently stored with the
order data when the file is closed. When the customer calls at a later
date, the transaction number will appear in the data entry screen
generated in response to his telephone number. The order containing the
transaction number is placed in a temporary file which is accessed
periodically by the call processing subroutine 38 that is resident in the
computer. That subroutine directs a modem 18, in a known manner, to dial
the telephone number assigned to the selected store code and transmit the
order. The basic steps performed by the subroutine are described in FIG.
8.
At the assigned store, the order is automatically printed out and the food
is prepared and delivered in accordance with the transmitted instructions.
The employees are thereby freed from answering the phone to take orders
and can devote their time to the production and delivery of the pizzas.
The advantages of the system are many. Because all orders in the network
are stored in the computer, management personnel at the central location
can monitor inventory and cash flow at particular stores or throughout the
system. The instant access provided by the computer allows early detection
of inventory shortages, waste of ingredients through overgenerous food
preparers, and can be used to detect accounting discrepancies and
discourage embezzlement of funds at any particular store.
It has been determined that an AT&T Model 3B2/400 computer with a hard disk
in combination with the appropriate software, a Televidio Model 955
Terminal and a Paradyne Model FDX 1200. (or Model FDX 2400+) modem can
accomplish the claimed features of the telephone center 10, although any
commercially available hardware should suffice. Model DX 2100 printers may
be used at the stores, although other commercially available printers are
also acceptable.
Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the system can be used in a
number of applications, and is not limited to the preparation and delivery
of pizza.
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