JPH0656633B2 - Meal card settlement device in restaurants such as restaurants - Google Patents

Description

[Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention discloses that a customer purchases a meal card with cash by an automatic card vending machine (card issuing machine) at a restaurant such as a restaurant or a restaurant, and eats or drinks with this meal card. The present invention relates to a meal card settlement device in a restaurant such as a restaurant, which enables settlement of the price of goods.

(Technical background of the invention and its problems) Conventionally, in cafeterias such as restaurants, especially in cafeterias in companies or in communal cafeterias and school cafeterias in buildings in which multiple companies live, cash or magnetic cards, etc. Often operated by the method of. In these methods, the customer purchases a mixture of several kinds of denomination tickets and pays in combination according to the purchase price, or uses a method of making a uniform set meal with a coupon ticket method. There was a problem that the issue settlement process could not be performed without the need for.

(Object of the Invention) The present invention has been made under the circumstances described above.
The purpose of the present invention is to reduce the labor cost by using a meal card for the menu purchase and settlement system in a cafeteria such as a restaurant or restaurant that has conventionally relied on a meal ticket. To provide a device.

(Summary of the Invention) The present invention relates to a meal card settlement device in a cafeteria such as a restaurant, and a register for calculating a meal fee by inputting a meal menu, a fee, etc. brought by a customer, and a bill inserted from a slot. A meal card reading / writing device for reading the balance of the meal card, subtracting and updating the meal charge calculated in the register, and recording it, and when a shortage occurs in the balance in the inserted meal card,
A meal card issuing device that issues a new meal card by adding a value obtained by subtracting the above shortfall from the cash amount based on the cash amount of the predetermined new meal card purchase amount newly input in the register It is possible to purchase a new meal card when paying at the cash register.

(Embodiment of the Invention) One or a plurality of meal card settlement devices in a cafeteria such as a restaurant and a restaurant according to the present invention are installed in the cafeteria. A customer inserts money into a meal card issuing machine (vending machine) in advance, selects and purchases a meal card corresponding to a predetermined amount, and has a menu selected by his / her own self-service from the display shelf. You can go to the cash register (cash clearing station) and pay for your meal with your meal card or cash, and if the balance of your meal card is insufficient at the cash register, you can get a new meal card with cash. Is something that can be purchased.

The device of the present invention will be described in detail below.

FIG. 1 shows an outline of a dining room in which one meal card settlement apparatus of the present invention is installed. In this dining room, a meal card issuing machine 10 for selling a meal card 2 described later to a customer is provided.
A display shelf 160 for the customer to select a desired menu (dish) by self-service and a checkout office 130 for the cashier to settle the amount of the customer's menu. And at the checkout office 130, register 100,
A display unit 116 connected to the register 100 for displaying the amount of money, a meal card issuing machine 115 for issuing the meal card 2 at the time of payment, and a counter portion of the checkout place 130 for the customer to set his / her meal at the time of payment A card slot 118 for inserting the card 2, a card reader / writer 117 for reading out the information written in the meal card 2 inserted through the slot 118, and writing necessary information, and this card reader / writer A collection box 120 for collecting the meal card 2 determined to be unnecessary by 117, and a card outlet 119 provided in the counter portion for returning the meal card 2 to the customer by being conveyed from the card reader / writer 117 are provided. ing. Similarly, the counter 100 on the opposite side of the register 100 and the meal card issuing machine 115 is also provided with a device for inserting, processing, collecting, and returning a card. Register 10
In addition to the normal register function, meal card issuing machine 115
And a function for operating with the card reader / writer 117 are added, and the cashier operates these functions using a keyboard (not shown) provided in the register 100.

In such a configuration, the customer inserts money into the meal card issuing machine 10 and purchases the meal card 2 corresponding to a desired amount (for example, 1000 yen or 5000 yen) in advance, that is,
The meal card 2 used in this invention is shown in FIGS. 2 (A) and (B).
As shown in (B of the figure is a cross-sectional view taken along the line XX of the (A) of the figure), a sheet-like rectangular shape similar to a cash card (quick card, bank card, etc.) that has been widely used in the past. It has a shape, and a magnetic stripe MS for writing and reading data is layered on a part of the surface.
Also, the meal card 2 is, for example, a substrate made of hard paper
A characteristic area CP, which is formed on the surface 20 and is used to write the characteristic peculiar to each meal card 2, is provided at a predetermined position on the surface. Above that, an issue code area MN that displays the issue store code and issue machine number that issued this meal card 2 each time it is issued, a serial number column CN that displays the serial number of the issue of this meal card 2, and this Amount area MV that prints the amount of money that can be used with meal card 2 and its balance, and deadline area MD that prints the issue date and expiration date of this meal card 2.
And the settlement area EE that displays the settlement of this meal card 2.
And are provided. Characteristic area CP of this meal card 2
The characteristic data of Japanese Patent Application No. 59-2619
As disclosed in No. 80, printed or layered so as to form the bar code bands 22 and 23 containing a plurality of specific magnetic materials having different holding powers, and issued from the meal card issuing machine 10. At this time, characteristic data unique to the meal card 2 is magnetically read from the bar code bands 22 and 23 formed on each meal card 2, and the characteristic data is recorded on the magnetic stripe MS. There is. Then, on the characteristic area CP on which the barcode bands 22 and 23 are printed,
A mask strip 21 made of an opaque, non-magnetic material is covered, and a bar code strip 2 is placed under the mask strip 21 for customers and third parties.
I cannot recognize that there are 2, 23. This mask strip 21 may be provided so as to cover the entire surface of the substrate 20, and as shown in FIG. 2 (A), a suitable picture, photograph, or character (in this example, "ABC restaurant") is provided. A column NM in which is printed may be provided. In addition, a management number of the issuing machine or the like that issued the meal card 2 is also recorded on the magnetic stripe MS. Furthermore, the magnetic stripe MS is provided with an area for recording the balance of the value of the meal card, which is updated and recorded each time it is used, the expiration date, and the like, as will be described later. On the upper surface of the meal card 2, there is further provided a name field KN in which the name of the card 2 (in this example, "meal card") is printed in advance. Then, on the back of the meal card 2, a caution column (not shown) displaying the handling precautions of the meal card 2
Is provided. It should be noted that these indications, entry fields, etc. on the meal card 2 can be rearranged in an arbitrary arrangement, and the front and back can be interchanged and arranged freely.

Such a meal card 2 is purchased at the meal card issuing machine 110 having a panel configuration shown in FIG.
That is, the customer inserts money from the coin slot 11 or the banknote slot 12 provided on the front of the meal card issuing machine 10,
If you operate the selection button 13 corresponding to the amount you want to purchase while checking the numerical value (amount) displayed on the display device 16 provided on the upper front and operation guidance etc., the amount of money that can be used with this meal card Is printed in the amount area MV, the issuance date and expiration date of this meal card are respectively printed in the expiration area MD, and the amount of money, the expiration date, the number of this meal card, etc. are recorded in the magnetic stripe MS, and the characteristic area Meal card 2A with characteristics unique to CP recorded
Will be discharged from the card issuing port 17 of the meal card issuing machine 10. Here, the meal card number is automatically assigned in sequence every time the meal card issuing machine 10 issues the meal card 2.

As described above, the customer purchases one or more meal cards 2 of his / her own in advance with the card issuing machine 10. And
When having a meal in the dining room, while proceeding in the direction of arrow A → B in FIG. 1, self-service selects a desired menu from the display rack 160, and after completing all selections, goes to the checkout office 130. Meal card 2 in the order of C
When is inserted from the card insertion slot 118, the meal card 2 is automatically taken in the direction of arrow D, and the menu fee is input to the cashier register 100. The card reader / writer 117 reads the fetched meal card 2 data to check the balance, prints the amount in the amount area MV of the meal card 2, and magnetically records this balance on the magnetic stripe MS, and then Then, the meal card 2 is conveyed in the E direction and discharged from the card discharge port 119 and returned. In this case, if the balance of the inserted meal card 2 is insufficient for the menu price, the cashier asks the customer whether to issue a new meal card or pay the shortage in cash. In either case, the inserted meal card 2 is discarded, transported in the direction F in the figure, collected in the collection box 120, and the display 116 of the register 100 displays the amount of shortage.
In the case of cash payment, the cashier receives this deficient amount from the customer in cash, and the register 100 performs termination processing. If the customer wants to purchase a new meal card in the above-mentioned shortage condition, the cashier receives the cash from the customer and the cashier 10
Input the meal card purchase of the customer's desired amount to 0,
The meal card issuing machine 115 issues a meal card to which the amount of money deducted from the shortfall is given to the customer.

Here, FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the entire configuration of the dining room, and FIG. 5 is a block configuration diagram showing the meal card issuing unit of the meal card issuing machine 10, 115. The details will be described below with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5.

First, the meal card issuing machines 10 and 115 will be described. Since the configurations of meal card transportation are almost the same, the meal card issuing machine 10 of FIG. 5 will be described.

The money inserted by the customer into the coin insertion slot 11 or the bill insertion slot 12 is identified by the currency identification device 95, the value is displayed on the display device 16, and then the selection button 13 selected and pressed by the customer. The amount data corresponding to is read from the RAM 92. Unused meal cards 2B aligned and stacked in the meal card storage unit 30 are taken out one by one by the meal card take-out mechanism 60 arranged at the lower end of the meal card storage unit 30. The meal card 2B sent from the take-out mechanism 60 is composed of a plurality of roller pairs and 2 wound around the roller pair.
It is incorporated into a meal card transport mechanism 40 which is composed of a pair of belts and is driven by a motor or the like. A print stop position detection sensor 83 including a light emitting / receiving element for optically detecting the meal card 2B being conveyed and stopping at a predetermined position for printing is provided in the middle of the meal card conveying mechanism 40. A printer 50 for printing the above data is provided at the predetermined position of the meal card 2B at the subsequent stage, and the meal card transport mechanism 40 is provided at the time of printing by the printer 50.
Is to be stopped. A write head 72 for writing the data processed by the control device to the magnetic stripe MS is provided at the subsequent stage. Further, at the end of the meal card transport mechanism 40, a characteristic detecting device for magnetically reading the characteristic peculiar to the meal card 2B from the bar code bands 22 and 23, for example, including a magnetizing means and a magnetic head. 70 is provided, and this characteristic detecting device 70 uses the detecting method shown in Japanese Patent Application No. 59-261980. Then, in the subsequent stage, a characteristic reading detection sensor 82 including a light emitting and receiving element for optically detecting that the meal card 2B has been conveyed to the characteristic detection device 70 is provided, and the end of the characteristic reading detection sensor 82 is a card. It has reached the issue port of 17. Inside this card issuing slot 17, meal cards that are being transported
A carry-out detection sensor 81 including a light emitting / receiving element for optically detecting 2B is provided.

This meal card issuing machine 10 is connected to a data management device 200 composed of a center computer via an input / output interface 96. On the other hand, the meal card issuing machine 115 installed in the clearinghouse 130 has the same issuing mechanism as that shown in FIG. 5, and the internal configuration is the same except that there is no currency identification device because cash is not input. Is. The register
Instead of inputting cash in 100, money received from the customer may be inserted in the meal card issuing machine 115 and processed similarly to the issuing machine 10. By the way, the card reader / writer 117 disposed below the counter portion has a structure as shown in FIG. That is, the card slot
The meal card 2 inserted from 118 is taken in by the card transport device 140, and the transport position is controlled according to the detections of the transport detection sensor 181, the characteristic reading detection sensor 182, and the print stop position detection sensor 183. Characteristic detector 170
The characteristic peculiar to the card is detected by and the printer 150 prints it. Also, the read head 171 reads card data, and the write head 172 writes necessary data to the card. The card reader / writer 117 is the data input / output interface 1
It is connected to the register 100 via 94.

The operation in the cafeteria having the above-mentioned configuration will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 6 and 7 (A) and (B).

First, in order to purchase the meal card 2, the customer inserts money from the coin insertion slot 11 or the bill insertion slot 12 of the meal card issuing machine 10 (step S1), and the meal card issuing machine 10 enters the meal card issuing operation. , The currency identification device 95 counts the amount of money input and displays it on the display device 16 (step S
2), for example, select button 13 that can be selected according to the input amount
Is displayed on the screen to prompt the customer to select the amount (step S
3). Here, in order to prevent the next customer from inserting money and requesting the issuance of the meal card 2, the money inserting ports 11 and 12 are closed by a shutter (not shown). Therefore, when the selection button 13 is pressed to specify the amount of money (step S4), one unused meal card 2 is taken out from the meal card storage unit 30 (step S5), and the meal card transport mechanism 40 is driven. Carry. During the transportation, when the print stop position detection sensor 83 detects the meal card 2, the print stop position sensor 83 stops at a predetermined position, and the printer 50 causes the management data, “issue date”, “expiration date”, and “usable amount”. Etc. are printed in a predetermined field, then the conveyance is restarted, and when the characteristic reading detection sensor 82 detects the meal card 2, the characteristic detecting device 70 reads the characteristic peculiar to the meal card 2, and then the meal is detected. The card transport mechanism 40 is reversed to return the meal card 2 and the read characteristic data is recorded on the magnetic stripe MS together with the above-mentioned data (step S
6). After that, the meal card transport mechanism 40 is reversed again, and the meal card 2A whose value is recorded from the card issuing port 17 is recorded.
Is issued (step S7). If the amount of money input is greater than the amount of money recorded on the issued meal card 2 and there is change (step S8), a change is issued from the money outlet 18 by a money output device (not shown) (step S9). ),
If there is no change in the above step S8, the management data and “payment amount”, “issued card amount”,
Data such as "changes" is output to the central data management device 200 via the interface 96 (step S10). Then, open the money insertion ports 11 and 12 (step S1
1) Return to step S1 to prepare for the next customer.

Here, in step S4, the customer has a meal card 2
If you press the return button 15 to cancel the purchase of (step S20), the money insertion ports 11 and 12 and the card issuing port
Both 17 are opened (step S21), the inserted money is returned from the money outlet 18 (step S22), and the process returns to step S1 to prepare for the next customer.

On the other hand, a method of eating and paying for a meal in the dining room using the meal card 2 thus issued will be described below.

Using the meal card 2 issued as described above, the customer selects the menu from the display shelf 160 and inserts the meal card 2 from the card slot 118 provided in the checkout office 130 for the payment (step S100), this card slot 118
When the conveyance detection sensor 181 provided in the card reader / writer 117 connected to the lower part of the table detects the front end of the inserted meal card 2, the register 100 enters the settlement operation via the data input / output interface 194. , The card insertion slot 118 is closed in order to prevent the next customer from mistakenly inserting the meal card 2 in order to pay for the meal (step S101). Then, the card carrying device 140 is driven via the CPU 190 to carry the food card 2 into the card reader / writer 117. During the transportation, the characteristic data recorded in the characteristic area CP of the meal card 2 is read by the characteristic detection device 170 and the “meal” written on the magnetic stripe MS by the read head 171. Management data such as "card number" and various data such as "expiration date", "balance", and characteristic data are read (step S102). Therefore, comparing the characteristic data read from the characteristic area CP with the characteristic data read from the magnetic stripe MS,
The authenticity of this meal card 2 is checked via the CPU 190 depending on whether the read "meal card number" is an issued number (step S103). If the meal card 2 is not "true", an alarm is issued (step S105),
If "true" (step S104), the magnetic stripe
This meal card 2 is checked via the CPU 190 according to the "expiration date" written in the MS, and if it has expired,
"Expired" is displayed (step S123), and if it is within the deadline (step S106), the customer's menu price is entered using the keyboard of the register 100, and the balance is displayed on the display 116 (step S107). Compare the minimum charge for the meal determined in step 2 above with the balance above (step S108),
If there is no menu available for meals with this balance, "payment" is displayed to inform that the current card should be newly repaid (step S122), and if the balance is greater than the minimum charge, the selection provided in the register 100 A button (not shown) is pressed to instruct payment of the menu price (step S110).
If the select button is not pressed, the card return button will be pressed to return the card to the customer (step S12).
Four). When the selection button is pressed, the CPU 190 determines whether or not the balance of the card is larger than the menu price entered from the register 100 (step S111), and if the balance is larger, the menu can be settled as it is. The head 172 records the new balance on the magnetic stripe MS of the meal card 2 again, and the printer 150 prints the amount area M.
It is printed on V and the updated balance is displayed on the display 1
It is displayed on 16 (step S120). Then, this updated balance is compared with the minimum charge of the menu of this restaurant, and if there is a menu where you can eat with this balance and this meal card 2 can still be used (step S12
1), the centralized data management device stores the data such as the amount of each settled menu and the updated balance of this meal card 2.
The data is output to 200 (step S125), the card slot 118 is opened for the next customer (step S126), and the customer's meal card 2 is returned from the card outlet 119 (step S127).

Here, in the above step S123, "expired"
Is displayed, the remaining amount recorded in the meal card 2 is insufficient in step S108, and the remaining amount updated in step S121 is insufficient, this meal is used for both meals. Since it is not possible to have a meal with the card 2, the remaining amount is displayed on the display 116 so as to be "paid" as described above, and the process proceeds to the data processing in step S125.

On the other hand, if the remaining amount of the meal card 2 is insufficient for the menu price in step 111 and the customer tells that he / she wants to pay the shortage in cash, the cashier receives cash from the customer and registers. When the amount is input to 100 (steps S112 and S113), the card reader / writer 117 discards the meal card 2 and collects the meal card 2 in the collection box 120 by the card carrier 140 (step S1).
14) Then, the card insertion slot 118 is opened so that the next customer can insert the card 2 (step S130), and the process returns to step S100 to repeat the above operation.

When the customer in step S112 indicates that he / she wants to purchase a new card 2 in cash at the checkout place 130 (step S11).
5), the cashier receives cash from the customer and inputs the cash amount into the register 100 (step S116). Register 100
The difference is subtracted from the amount input this time to calculate the amount, the meal card issuing machine 115 connected to the register 100 is operated, and the magnetic recording is performed by the write head and the printer is operated as described above. This difference amount is printed, a new meal card 2 is issued (step S117), and this data is output to the data management device 200 as described above (step S118). Further, the unnecessary card 2 is collected from the card reader / writer 117 into the collecting box 120 as described above (step S119), and step S130 for the next customer is performed in the same manner as described above, and the process returns to step S100 and is described above. It is designed to operate. Further, in step S110, when the customer requests the cashier to stop eating, the cashier pushes the return button of the register 100 (step S124). And the above card slot
118 is opened (step S126), the meal card 2 is returned from the card outlet 119 (step S127), and the process returns to step S100 to prepare for the next customer.

And these meal card issuing machines 10,115 and register 10
All data related to sales at 0 will be managed by the central data management device 200.

In the above description, the data management device such as the center computer manages the entire system, but the issuing machine, the register, and the settlement device may own and manage the data.

(Effects of the Invention) According to the meal card settlement device in a restaurant such as a restaurant of the present invention, it is possible to sell a meal ticket at a restaurant or the like, which requires a lot of time and labor, and to use the meal card for the settlement system. By doing so, it is possible to simplify and save labor, and a new meal card is issued at the time of payment at the cash register, saving the trouble of purchasing a new meal card from a separately installed meal card issuing device. It can be convenient for customers. Further, since the data regarding the sales of the meal card is also managed, it is possible to create a more planned restaurant.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an outline of a meal card issuing and adjusting system in a restaurant or the like which is an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 (A),
(B) is a diagram showing the external appearance of the meal card issuing machine of the present invention, FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of an external panel of the meal card issuing machine of the present invention, FIG. 4 is a block configuration diagram of the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 6 is a mechanism diagram of the card issuing machine, FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing the operation of the meal card issuing machine, and FIGS. 7 (A) and 7 (B) are flow charts showing a settlement method using a meal card at the cash register. 2,2A, 2B ... Meal card, 10,115 ... Meal card issuing machine, 1
6,116 ... Display unit, 17 ... Card issuing port, 20 ... Substrate, 21 ... Mask band, 22,23, ... Bar code band, 30 ... Meal card storage unit, 40 ... Meal card transport mechanism, 50,150 ... Printer, 60 ...
Meal card removal mechanism, 70,170 ... Characteristic detection device, 72,172 ...
Write head, 100 ... Register, 117 ... Card reader / writer, 118 ... Card input port, 119 ... Card output port, 120 ... Collection box, 130 ... Checkout office, 160 ... Display shelf, 171 ... Read head.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A register for calculating a meal charge by inputting a meal menu brought by a customer, a charge, and the like, and reading the balance of a meal card inserted from an insertion slot,
A meal card reading / writing device for subtracting and updating and recording the meal fee calculated in the register, and a new input to the register when a shortage occurs in the balance of the inserted meal card. A meal card issuing device for issuing a new meal card by adding a value obtained by subtracting the shortage amount from the cash amount based on the cash amount of a predetermined new meal card purchase amount, and comprising: A meal card settlement device for restaurants such as restaurants.