IMPROVED SERVICE SYSTEM

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to customer service and, in particular, to a customer service system.

The invention has been developed primarily for use in establishments vending food and/or beverages and will be described hereinafter with reference to this application. However, it will be appreciated that the invention is not limited to this field of use.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In conventional establishments that vend food for consumption on the premises a customer may queue up at one or more central points in the establishment to deliver their order. The customer pays for the order at the end of the ordering process or at some other time. Alternatively, the customer is seated and must wait for a waiter to come and collect their order. This is similarly the case for establishments that vend beverages, however, it is more common in these cases that the customers need to queue at one or more central beverage dispensing points or counters to order and receive their goods.

As a significant number of people will attest, food and beverage vending establishments occasionally get very busy where they are unable to service all their customers within a desired period of time. This also introduces the situation where some customers will jump ahead of other in a queue to save themselves time which results in the food or beverage vendors not being able to serve the customers on any preferred basis such as first-come, first-served. This situation not only leads to unsatisfied customers through at least a perceived lack of service, but translates into a loss of business not only from dissatisfied customers but also due to the inability to service customer orders or even receive the orders.

Notwithstanding the difficulty in servicing customers during such busy situations, the food or beverage vendors themselves may also face difficulties through lack of stock to be

vended to the customers or lack of staff available to actually receive orders and/or payment and serve the customers. This can arise when the establishment experiences an unplanned or otherwise random busy period.

It is also noted that in the case of food vending establishments, for example at bistros or the like, that a meal board is displayed to provide customers with an indication of any specials or unusual items that can be ordered by the customer. These are typically disposed adjacent a central ordering area or counter where customers need to queue to order, or adjacent an entrance area of the establishment. Unfortunately, not all customers see these boards reducing their effectiveness.

A number of systems are known that utilise service terminals linked to a central processor for use in restaurants, bars and entertainment complexes. A customer seated at a table may review a menu or list of goods and services by viewing the service terminal, and may order and electronically pay for goods and services via the terminals. Examples of such systems are disclosed in US patent application publication no. 2003/0078793 Al (Toth), International patent publication no. WO 2005/015463 (O'Byrne) and US2005/0203811 Al (David).

One of the drawbacks of being seated at a table of a conventional restaurant, bar, or cafe, is that in many such establishments serving staff do not record the exact seat location of customers ordering food and/or drinks but rather just bring the food and drinks to the table and ask "who ordered what". In some instances this leads to inefficient delivery of food and services, particularly if the establishment is busy and/or has a noisy environment.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide a customer service system that will overcome or substantially ameliorate one or more of the deficiencies of the prior art, or to provide a useful alternative.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to a first aspect the present invention is an establishment customer service system including: a central processor disposed in the establishment; at least one service terminal in communication with the central processor and disposed in the establishment proximate to a plurality of customer locations of the establishment wherein said terminal is configured to display a menu presenting to the customer goods and/or services vendible by the establishment, said terminal including a menu item selector such that actuation of the selector by the customer causes an order signal to be transmitted to the central processor which returns an order confirmation signal, the order signal including information indicative of goods and/or services desired by a customer, said service terminal is movable such that it can be used by any customers located at said plurality of customer locations characterised in that a positioning means is integral with or connected to said service terminal that allows for recording the position of the service terminal and therefore the location of the customer causing the order to be transmitted to the central processor.

Preferably said positioning means comprises a rotary unit having an angle sensor for use in determining the angular position of said service terminal. Additionally said rotary unit may be movably mounted to a linear track having a linear position sensor for use in determining the linear position of said service terminal.

Preferably said positioning means is mounted to a table used by a plurality of customers and said positioning means may be used to identify the location of a customer ordering goods and/or services.

Preferably said service terminal comprises a biometric scanning ID unit. Preferably said biometric scanning ID unit is a finger print scanning unit.

According to a second aspect the present invention is an establishment customer service system including: a central processor disposed in the establishment; at least one service terminal in communication with the central processor wherein said terminal is configured to display a menu presenting to the customer goods and/or services vendible by the establishment, said terminal including a menu item selector such that actuation of the selector by the customer causes an order signal to be transmitted to the central processor which returns an order confirmation signal, the order signal including information indicative of goods and/or services desired by a customer characterised in that said service terminal is portable and GPS enabled.

Preferably said service terminal comprises a biometric scanning ID unit. Preferably said biometric scanning ID unit is a finger print scanning unit.

Preferably said service terminal is able to be used for navigation and tour guiding.

Preferably said service terminal comprises a digital camera.

Preferably said service terminal can be used for tracking the expenses of a customer.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Preferred embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: FIG. 1 is a plan view of a service terminal used with a establishment customer service system according to a first preferred embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a service terminal used with a establishment customer service system according to a first preferred embodiment;

FIGS. 3a and 3b are elevation views of a service terminal used with a establishment customer service system according to a third preferred embodiment; and

FIG. 4 is an elevation view of a service terminal used with a establishment customer service system according to a fourth preferred embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The disclosure of US Patent Application Publication US2005/0203811 Al (David) entitled

"Service System" is incorporated herein by reference.

Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown a plan view of a round table 21 surrounded by six seats 22 for use with an establishment customer service system in a first embodiment. The six seats 22 are labelled "seat 1", "seat 2", "seat 3" and so on. The seats 22 equally separated from each other at about 60 degree intervals. The service system is located in a restaurant (not illustrated), however, it will be appreciated that the service system can be located in a bar or hotel, or other service establishment.

In the middle of table 21 is a rotary unit 23, which may be rotated fully through 360 degrees about a vertical axis 24. The rotary unit 23 comprises a service terminal 25 and two display units 26. The display units 26 may display menu items, specials or other advertising and information. Service terminal 25, which has a touch screen 31 is in communication with a central processor of the type described in US2005/0203811 Al, in the form of a computer server. The service terminal 25 is mains powered, however, any preferred power source such a batteries can be used.

Service terminal 25 is configured to display a menu of goods and/or services vendible by the establishment to the customer. Each service terminal 25 includes a menu selector for use by the customer to order goods and/or services from the establishment.

Like the system disclosed in US2005/0203811 a customer causes an order signal to be transmitted to the central processor which returns an order confirmation signal. The order signal includes information indicative goods and/or services desired by the customer. The service terminal 25 also include an automated payment device disposed in or adjacent

thereto. Also like the system disclosed in US2005/0203811 the system can be used for stock control.

However, an important feature of the present embodiment is that the rotary unit 23 has an angle sensor (or digital compass) 28 integral therewith or attached thereto that allows the angular position of the service terminal 25 to be recorded. The central processor is preprogrammed with the locations of the seats 22. Thus, at the time a customer is inputting an order into service terminal 25, the angle sensor 28 allows for the central processor to record the seat location of the customer placing the order. As can be seen in Fig 1, service terminal 25 is oriented in front of "seat 4" that is one of six seats 22. As such, if a customer is seated at "seat 4" and inputting an order, the system would readily identify the location of that customer. This would then assist establishment staff to efficiently deliver the ordered goods to that customer, as the order would identify the table and the seat location of the customer.

Referring to FIG. 2, there is shown a plan view of a long table 21a surrounded by twelve seats 22a for use with an establishment customer service system in a second embodiment. The twelve seats 22a are labelled "seat 1", "seat 2", "seat 3" and so on.

Like that of the first embodiment, table 21a is provided with rotary unit 23a, which may be rotated about a vertical axis 24a. Also like that of the first embodiment the rotary unit 23a comprises a service terminal 25a and two display units 26a. Service terminal 25a has a touch screen 31a. The rotary unit 23 is mounted to a linear track 27, which allows the rotary unit 23a to be moved therealong. As such, service terminal 25a may be used by any customers seated at seats 22a, as rotary unit 23 a allows for rotation of service terminal 25 a, and linear track 27 allows rotary unit 23a to be moved linearly along the table.

In this second embodiment, like that of the first embodiment, rotary unit 23a has an angle sensor 28a (or digital compass) integral therewith or attached thereto that can allow the angular position of the service terminal 25a to be recorded. Also, the linear track 27 has a

linear position sensor 29 integral therewith or attached thereto, that allows the linear position of rotary unit 23a to be recorded. Like that of the first embodiment, the central processor is preprogrammed with the locations of seats 22a.

Thus, at the time a customer is inputting an order into service terminal 25a, the angle sensor 28a of rotary unit 23a in combination with linear position sensor 29 allows for the central processor to record the seat location of the customer placing the order. As can be seen in Fig 2, service terminal 25a is oriented in front of "seat 7" that is one of twelve seats 22a. As such, if a customer is seated at "seat 7" and inputting an order, the system would readily identify the location of that customer. This would then assist establishment staff to efficiently deliver the ordered goods to that customer, as the order would identify the table and the seat location of the customer.

An advantage of the abovementioned embodiments is that the positioning means in the form of sensors 28 and sensors 28a, 29 not only allows for identifying where a customer order is located, they can also be used to identify the location of VIP guests, birthday guests and the like. Furthermore, if a customer or patron endeavours to use a declined/stolen credit card or other fraudulent credit card, the manager of the establishment can readily identify where that customer is seated.

Figs 3a and 3b depicts an alternative third embodiment of service terminal 25b, which incorporates a finger print scanning ID unit 30. This finger print scanning ID unit 30 may for instance be used in an establishment where a customer is a "guest" such as in a hotel or resort for a period of time, or is a "member' of a club such as a country club, golf club or the like. In such an embodiment the guest or member may voluntarily provide a fingerprint scan to the establishment, which may be used to identify the guest or member.

The abovementioned finger print scanning ID unit 30 may be used in conjunction with the service terminals 25,25a of the first arid second embodiments. It may also be used with other service terminals. For instance as shown in Fig 4 in accordance with a fourth

embodiment, mobile GPS service terminal 25c is shown with a finger print scanning ID unit 30 and may include in-built "smart-card" technology. Again such a terminal 25c could be used at an establishment such as a hotel, resort, golf club etc. This mobile GPS service terminal 25c, may connect to a master server and/or central processor via satellite. In addition to allowing customers, guests or members to place orders for goods and services at the relevant establishment, the GPS function in the portable service terminal 25c may be used for easy navigation and tour guiding. Also the guest or member may use the service terminal 25b for expense tracking. Furthermore the portable service terminal 25c may incorporate a digital camera, similar to those provided in cell phones and other portable devices.

In a not shown embodiment the mobile GPS service terminal 25c, may whilst being used in a resort or hotel or club, be carried to a hotel suite or a food or dining area with tables. The portable terminal 25c may be able to be used to identify to establishment staff the location of guests, members or other customers. It may also be removably placed in a cradle mounted to a rotary unit 23 similar to the first and second embodiment, and be used in the same way as those earlier embodiments

In other not shown embodiments the service terminals 25 may be mounted to some other positioning means other than those described in the first and second embodiments. For example a service terminal may be mounted on a pivoting arm that comprises a sensor for sensing the position of the service terminal. It should also be understood that in other not shown embodiments a service terminal may be suspended from the ceiling or a wall and include a sensor for sensing the position of the service terminal relative to the customer location.

In another not shown embodiment the finger print scanning ED unit 30 may be replaced by some other biometric scanning ID unit, such as a retinal scanner or the like.