Customer self-ordering system using information displayed on a screen

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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of The Invention

The present invention relates to a method and a system capable of accepting and processing customer input retail orders. More specifically, the present invention relates to a point of sale system and operating method therefor which reduces labor costs and general overhead while enhancing or improving customer service.

2. Description of The Related Art

Retail stores, such as fast food restaurants and the like, have traditionally been labor intensive industries. Employees of retail establishments have traditionally been paid at or near the minimum wage. Since chances for advancement are minimal, such stores have found it difficult to retain quality employees, and the employee turnover rate is very high. Further, given that the employees handle virtually all of the receipts and products at some point in time during the day-to-day operations of such stores, and managers cannot watch all of the employees all of the time, employee theft is a very serious problem.

Additionally, managing retail stores can be quite complicated. Sales projections must be made, labor requirements estimated, employees scheduled for work, products ordered and kept on hand in sufficient quantities, receipts counted, sales reports prepared, daily, weekly and monthly activity reports prepared, etc. To date, many of these actions and decisions associated therewith are made based on estimates or intuition. Wrong decisions or miscalculations can result in, for example, out-of-stock items or too few or too many employees on duty. These can result in loss of customer patronage or unnecessary labor expenses. Further, given that managers have control over what their superiors are informed about store operations, manager oversight is difficult, and dishonest managers are hard to uncover until losses have already occurred.

To further complicate the above situation, demographics indicate that the labor pool for such service oriented industries is shrinking, while at the same time the demand for employees in the service industries is ever increasing. However, since the cost of technology has been decreasing, applications of technology to service industries has been on the rise. This is evidenced by the use of automatic teller machines in the banking industry, automatic fare card machines in public transportation systems, automated security systems to supplement or replace guards in the private security industry, etc. However, the marriage of high technology and retail sales outlets has been slow in coming. This is in part due to public resistance to anything new, to anything perceived as not easy to use, understand or dehumanizing, and to computers in general. Additionally, the costs involved with such systems, the human factor in having such systems relate to employees and having employees capable of interfacing with such devices, and the flexibility that such devices would need in order to be able to respond to the day to day changes in the retail world have yet to be addressed.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,553,222 of Kurland, et al. describes a previous attempt to combine computer technology and customer inputting of orders in a sales environment in an attempt to reduce labor costs. In this system, restaurant customers order food through table station terminals located at their tables. Under control of a central computer, food orders are collected from the various table station terminals and displayed on central kitchen and bar monitors. Integrated into the system is an entertainment capability, which enables restaurant patrons to select entertainment through their table station terminals and interactively play video games and the like through their terminals.

While in theory the Kurland system would save costs related to a waitress taking orders from patrons at a table, many real life problems remain unaddressed. For example, some degree of computer literacy would be required in order for a patron to be able to interact with the rather complicated computer system required. Assistance for those not familiar with computers or those unable or unwilling to use computers is not readily available, and would tend to discourage some potential customers. Additionally, start-up costs for the required computer system would be high. The central computer would have to be relatively sophisticated and have large amounts of storage capacity, since it must be able to store all the data related to both entertainment and food ordering functions. Additionally, each table station terminal comprises a microprocessor having local storage capabilities for storing downloaded data from the central computer, as well as equipment which allows customers to play interactive games with the computer. Thus, the Kurland system is directed to a sit down restaurant that caters to computer literate clientele. The needs of a retail system, namely ease and simplicity of use, cost effectiveness and flexibility, are not addressed. The computer is part of the attraction of the restaurant, rather than a solution to the needs of a retail establishment.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,675,515 of Lucero discloses a credit card payment device for a drive-thru portion of a fast food restaurant. The pertinent portion of this patent is that a customer inputs his or her order directly into an ordering system at a drive-thru kiosk. The customer selections are displayed at a monitor in the main building of the fast food restaurant, and the selections can be displayed at a CRT video display at the kiosk. A CPU totals the selections, adds tax, and generates a total, which can be displayed at the kiosk. The rest of this patent concentrates on automated credit card payment for the order from the kiosk without any employee intervention.

Like the Kurland patent, the Lucero patent fails to address many factors that must be taken into consideration when designing an interactive ordering system. Simplicity of design, customer assistance issues, and system flexibility are simply not addressed. Further, beyond its basic function, the Lucero patent does not aid in the overall running of the restaurant. Clearly, a computer-based system is needed that will not simply reduce labor costs without addressing other problems. The system must not alienate customers, while at the same time have flexibility and improve the day to day operations and oversight of a retail store.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with the purpose of the invention and as embodied and broadly described herein, a customer operable ordering system is based on individual clusters, each cluster having an interactive cashier terminal, at least two interactive customer terminals for receiving customer input orders, and a processor for operating the cashier terminal and customer terminals. More than one cluster can be used in a system, with the processors of the various clusters being connected for communication therebetween. Each cluster may also include an interactive employee terminal located adjacent to the cashier terminal for selectively displaying customer input orders. Further, the plurality of clusters can be connected to a central processor which collects and consolidates order data from each cluster, and aids in the operation of management functions. The central processor may have an interactive control terminal associated therewith, and the system may further include a preparation terminal for displaying customer orders in an order preparation area.

Software is included for operating the above-described system so that when a customer inputs an order from one of the customer ordering terminals, the order is displayed at the associated cashier terminal. Selected items can be displayed at the cashier terminal instantaneous with when the items are selected by the customer, when the customer changes menu screens, or when the customer has finished ordering. A running total and list of items ordered is displayed at the customer ordering terminal during ordering, and at the end of ordering, the processor automatically calculates the total amount of the order and displays the total amount due at both the customer ordering terminal and the interactive cashier terminal. After a cashier inputs the amount of money tendered by the customer, the processor displays the amount due and calculates and displays the change due at both the cashier and customer terminals. If two customer orders are being input at one time, the cashier can manipulate the cashier terminal so that one or both of the orders are selectively displayed.

The present invention also provides a method for automatically calculating the effect of a coupon on the amount due for a customer order. Either a coupon identification code is input by the cashier or a bar code reader is used to read a bar code on the coupon to obtain the coupon identification code. The processor accesses stored data corresponding to the coupon identification code, checks the order to make sure that an item for which the coupon is valid has been ordered, and calculates the discount to be taken and recalculates the total due. Error messages are displayed if the customer order does not include a valid item, or the c