CA1189193A

CA1189193A - Restaurant or retail vending facility

Info

Publication number: CA1189193A
Application number: CA000390109A
Authority: CA
Inventors: Gary O. Sandstedt
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1980-11-17
Filing date: 1981-11-16
Publication date: 1985-06-18
Also published as: US4415065A; GB2087614B; GB2087614A

Abstract

RESTAURANT OR RETAIL VENDING FACILITY

Abstract Disclosed is a vending system particularly adapted for a restaurant or retail sales outlet which includes a hand held portable data entry terminal having an operator addressable, programmable memory containing a repertoire or library of sales or menu items address-able by entering a product code. The hand held terminal upon receiving an operator entered order entry, relays the order to an order filling station as well as to a local and remote data processor over a pollable non-hardwired bi-directional communications link. An alpha-numeric print out of an order inputted to the hand held terminal and other transactional information is provided by the terminal as well as the local data processor.
The programmable memory is adapted to be reprogrammed from a programmer either directly or remotely through the bi-directional communications link. Each terminal also includes transceiver apparatus for bi-directional communications e.g. paging, with a plurality of customer order stations containing like customer operated trans-ceiver apparatus.

Description

RESTAURANT OR RE~AIL VENDING FACILITY
Background Informatlon This invention relates generally to vending apparatus and more particularly to a vending systern particularly adapted for a restaurant or retail facility.
While various types Or interactive systems are known employing portable data entry devices which com-municate with central data processing systems, these systems typically have been implemented for ~tail in-ventGry repJlenishment and are accordingly limited forsuch use. Also~ systems are known which include point of sale terminals which replace conventional cash registers for checking out multiple items such as articles in a grocery store or the like. Such systems are used to t-ally the i.tems purchased and to provide a printed readout of the transaction3 while at the same time relaying the necessary ln~ormation concern-ed with the particular transaction to a central pro-; cessor where in addition to inventory control; book~
keeping, payroll, general ledger and other functionsare carried ouk. While these systems perform in the manner i.ntended~ they more or less have been llmited in flexability and overall systems expediency.
It is an ob~ect of.the present i.nvention, therefore, to provide an improvement in vending appara-tus.
It is another ob~ect Or the present invention to provide an improved vending system part~cularly ,~

-3~

adaptable to being utilized ln connection with a facility wherein paging of service personnel is desired.
Still another ob~ec~ of the present invention is to provide an improved ~ending system for use in a restaurant facility where a portable terminal is util-ized for handling customer orders.
These and other obJects of the present inven-tion are provided for in accordance with a hand-held portable data entry terminal including, in addition to operator instruct,ional means, a programmable memory containing stored data representative of sales or order items addressable by entry of a product code and which is accessed by means of a keyboard, bar code or OCR
pick up device. The portable terminal interacts with a local and remote data, processor through a pollable interface and a bi-directional communications link selectively utilizing, for example, optical RF~ audio or inductive energy. An alpha-numeric print Ollt of an order inputted to the hand held terminal by an operator is provided along with other desired transactional in-formation such as arithmetic calculation for purposes of billing. The programmable memory is adapted to be reprogrammed by an external programmer through a direct connection or a bi-directional communications link. Additionally~ each terminal includes receiver indicator means for bi~directional paging communica-tions from any number of a plurality of customer stations which contain respectlve customer operated 3~

bi-directional paging communications means of a selected energy type.
The invention is set ~orth ln greater detail in the specification hereina~l,er following by rererence to the accompanying drawings.
Brief Description of the _r~
Figure 1 is a bloclc diagram broadly i.llustra-tive of the pre~erred embodimen-t of the subJect inven-tion;
Figure lA is a schematic diagram illustrative o~ dif~erent types of energy coupling means utilizable by the subject invention;
Figure 2 is a block diagram broadly illustra-tive of a data processor;
Figure 3 is a perspective view of a hand held portable order entry terminal in accordance with the sub~ect invention;
Figure 4 i.s an electrical block diagram illus-trative of the portable terminal shown in Figure 3;
~ Figure 5 is a block diagram generally illus-trative of bi-directional paging apparatus utilized in connection ~ith the order entry terminal;
Figure 6 is an electrical block diagram illus-trative of one data input station, a polling station and terminal programmer for the embodiment shown in Figure ].;
F:igure 7 is an electrical block diagram illus-trative o:~ the RAM section included in the circuitry for the portable terminal shown i.n Figure 4;
~igure 8 is an electrical block diagram illus-trative of the EROM section included in the circuitry for the portable terminal shown in Figure L~;
~igure 9 is an electrical block dlagram illus-trative of the printer apparatus in the circuitry for the portable terminal shown in Figure Ll;
Figure 9~ is a diagram help.ful in understanding the operation of the apparatus shown in Fi.gure 9;
Figure 10 is an electrical block diagram o~ the bar code input apparatus included in the circuitry shown in Figure 4;
Figure 11 is an electrical block diagram of the opkical code reader (OCR) apparatus included in the circuitry shown in Figure 4.
Description.o~ the Prererred Embodiment Referring now to the drawings and more particu-larly to Figure 1, reference numberal 10 denotes gener-ally a commercial establishment such as a restaurant or other retail facility wherein customer orders are taken, filled and billed. For the sake of illustration, and because it relates to a preferred utilization, the following detailed description will be considered in terms of, but not limited to, a restaurant facility.
Figure ].:ls intended to provide an overview of such a system in which a hand held portable order entry terminal 12 shown in Figure 3, held by a waiter, for example, is paged by any one of several paglng t~ansceiver apparatus 141 ..ol4n located at respective customer stations where customer service is desired and an order entry is thereafter made~
Typically, such an order entry lnvolves enter~
ing the table number and number of parties at the specific customer station. An item on the menu is iden-tified by a code which is entered into the hand held terminal 12 whereupon an alph-numeri.c description of the item, together with the price, is printed out on a tape. The operator or waiter continues to enter the order items where they are loaded into and temporarily stored in a memory until the order transaction has been completed~ whereupon the hand held terminal 12 is taken to any o~eof a plurality of pollable input-output sta-ti.ons 161, 162 ~.. 16n coupled to a polling station 18 which sequentially interrogates each of the input-output stations looking for a terminal 12 coupled thereto.
~ ccess to an input~output station is made by a "hand s].~ake" procedure utiliæed in convention data processing systems wherein a plurality of satellite data processes are coupled to a central processing s~Jstern.
With polling station 18 in comrnunication with the pGrt-able terminal 12, the data stored therein is fed to an order printer and/or a CRT apparatus 20 located in the kitchen via a bi-directional data ~us 21 wherein the order taker notes the menu items desired and proceeds to fill the order. At the same.time, the order inforrna-tion on data bus 21 is fed to a local data processor 22 which maintalns a record of the particulars of the order fed lnto the terminal ]2 until the transaction has been completed and the part~ or parties desires to check out~ at which times a bill printer 24 con-nected to the cornputer 22~ maintaining a running bal-ance of the separate parties accounts at a particular table or station for additions~ corrections and/or up-dates~ inventory, etc., prepares a blll or bills, de-pending upon the initial billing separation desires of the parties concerned.
A pollable data logger 26, which may consist of a separate piece of apparatus or may be included as part of the local computer 22 is also coup]ed to a bi-directional data-bus 23 and has for its purpose the coup-ling of the data outputted from the processor 22 to acentral data processor 28 through a bi-directional communications llnk which may consist of, for example, telephone apparatus 30 coupled to a pair of modems 32 and 34 connected to either side thereof. When desirable, a direct on line, real time link may be utilized be-tween local processor 22 and central processor 28. The central data processor 28 maintains a hierarGhial posi-tion in the system and is adapted to be coupled to other similar facilities 10, not shown, for providing, among other things, a means of centralized record keeping and overall control of business operations. When desired, data logger 26 is eliminated and a direct on llne~ real time link is established between local processor 22 and central processor 28 by a bi-directional data bus 27.
Coupling between the hand held portable terminal 12 and the paging apparatus 141 .... 14n as well as the input stations 161 ... 16n is provided by a selected type energy means including but not limited to apparatus which as noted above employs optical, RF~ audio, or inductive energy. Schematically this is illustrated in Figure lA where, for example, reference numberals 131 and I32 designate light emltting diodes while reference numerals 151 and 152 designate photocells in a bidirec-tional optical communications link. For a bi-directional radio or RF communications linlc a pair of antennas 23 and 25 are shown. For an audio link microphone/speaker apparatus 33 and 35 are required. If an inductive type of link is desired, magnetically coupled inductive de-vices 43 and 45 would be utiliezed. The circuitry associated with these energy type means are well known and within the scope of skilled circuit designers.
Referring now to Figure 2~ the data processors 22 and 28 of Fig~re 1 are digital computers. As is well known, a t~pical digital computer consists Or generally three major parts, the central processor unit (CPU) 36, a memory 38, and a plurality of peripherals such as magnetlc disk 50 and printer 48 which are attached to CPU 36 through I/O ports 40. The memory 38 serves as a placet-o sto~ informati,on and typically consists of three storage elements~ namely an instructional storage 42, a program storage 44 and a data storage 46. The instructions contained in the storage 42 comprise coded bits of information that direct the activities of the central processor unit (CPU). These same instructions direct the activities of the data which are coded bits of information that are processed by the CPU. The pro-gram contained in the storage 44 comprises a group of logically related instructions that direct the activity o.f the CPU to produce predetermined usef'ul results from the data stored. The input/output ports 40 compri.se means by which CPU 36 communicates with the outside world, notably as illustrated, to peripheral line print-er 48 and/or-to perlpheral storage device disk unit 50.
Where, for :example the computer apparatus shown in Figure 2 is embodied in khe local data processor 22 shown in Figure 1~ the input/output ports 40 would also couple to the data bus 21 and 23 as shown in Figure 1 as well as the printer 24.
Havi.ng thus considered the inventlon in its general terms, certain specific details will now be con-sidered. Ref'erring to Figure 3, there is disclosed an illustrati.ve embodi.ment of' the hand-held portable ter~
minal 12 ref'erred to above and shown in Figure 1.
This piece of' apparatus includes a casing 52 resembling a conventi,onal hand held electronic calculator and houses the circuitry shown in block diagram form in 3~

Figure 4. This circuitry is adapted not only to provide visual instructions to the operator, i.e. waiter3 for making a proper entry of the order data, but also to convert a stored product code of the entry into a visual alpha-numeric display and provide a hard copy print out of same. Accordingly~ the casing 52 includes an alpha~
numeric keyboard 54 for manually entering in~ormation into the device which is thereafter displayed on the electronic display 56. Ancillary to the keyboard 54 is a hand held scanning device 58, commonly referred to as a wand, which is utilized to optically enter in-formation into the device in a manner to be described.
In addition to the alpha-numeric display 56, an opera-tional instruction display 60 is provided adjacent to the keyboard 54 as well as input-output paging trans-ceiver apparatus which is adapted to signal to the opera-tor that a particular station(s) or table(s) in the restaurant facility requires service and is also adapted to output a signal to a like transceiver located in a companion terminal or at a central location In addi-tion to the visual indicating devices included on the easing 52, a hard copy print out 64 is provided giving a permanent record of items selected as well as any other associated in~ormation such as number of people in a particular party, tahle or station number, date and time of day and item cost and sub-totals and totals, etc. of the transaction~ Also provided is an audlo device 66 whlch is adapted to provlcle an audible indlca-tion o~ an incorrect operational sequence being per~ormed by the operator. Once the operator has successfully entered customer orders and a billing arrangement there~
for, meaning the number of lndlvlduals to be included in each bllllng operation, this inrormation is coupled to an input~output co~lunications link 66 employing either optical, RF~ audio or inductive energy through a su~-assembly 68 located on the back of the casing 52 having the appropriate energy source and receptors, not shown, which are adapted to receive and transmit energy to like energy source and receptors located in one of the input stations 16n (Figure 1). A second audio de-vice 83 is also provided to indicate a valid transmission of data as will be explained.
Referring to Figure 4, the interior of casing 52 includes among other things, a multi-line parallel digital data bus 70 adapted to couple the keyboard 54 and the optlcal pick up device 58 with a random access memory (RAM) sectlon 72 and erasable read only memory (EROM) sectlon 74 as well as two read only memory (ROM) sectlons 76 and 78. The RAM section 72 is adapted to temporarily store the data inputted either from the key-board 54 cr the optical pick up device 58 and then trans fer it to the local data processor 22 and/or the central processor 28 over the bi-directional communications link 66. Inasmuch as transmission of data over the communica-tions link 66 is transmitted in serial fashion and where-as a digital memory such as RAM 72 is adapted to handle data in parallel fashion, parallel to serial and serial to parallel conversion of digital data is provided by a pair of data. converters 80 and 82 in the form of a "Uni-versal Synchronous or Asynchronous Receiver and Trans-mitter" (USARTs) 3 a typical example Or which comprises a Fairchild F3843 USART. The USARTs 80 and 82 respec~
tively couple to an electromagnetic energy source 84 and an electromagnetic energy receptor 86 through an output amplifier 88 and an input amplifier 90. As noted, the energy medium of the communications link 66 can be either optical, audio, inductive or RF in nature. Accordingly, the source 84 and recptor 86 are.adapted to operate in the required mode. Where, for example the desired means for implementing the communications li.nk 66 operates in the optical range of the electromagnetic spectrum, the source 84 would consist of, for e~ample, a light emitting diode while the receptor 86 would consist of a photo-detector diode. The RAM section 72, as noted, is adaptedto temporarily store the transactional data entered. The display device 56 is coupled to the RAM section 72 for providing an indication of the data being entered. An item selected from a menu, for example~ by the waiter operating the keyboard 54 also calls out a "cell" or section memory means, not shown, contained in the EROM
section 74 for printi.ng the alpha-numeric representation of the particular entry item and its cost along with other pertinent information. The EROM section 74 is coupled to a hard copy printer unit 92 and a micro-processor 94 to provide a copy of all items ordered, along with their cost as well as providing a billing thereof in accordance with a sequence of programmed instructions contained in a pre-programmed memory in the form of ROM 78. Additionally, as data entry takes place the ROM 76 provides the necessary sequence of in-structions on the display 60 to provide a fail proofmethod of entering the data into the hand held terminal 12 as shown in Figure 1.
Thus, the terminal operator, upon being paged by paging apparatus disclosed in Figure 5, takes the hand held terminal 12 to the calling station whereupon he enters the order. At the end of the order entry, the data is transferred from the RAM section 72 to the local data processor 22 where a running account of the transaction is recorded, for example, on a magnetic disk such as shown in Figure 2 by reference numeral 50. At the same time, the order is printed and/or displayed on a printer or CRT 20 for purposes of the order taker.
In addition, the data is sent along to the central pro-cessor 28 at the desired time. When the party or parites check out, the data recorded on the magnetic disk 50 is retrieved and a cashier, for example, located near the exit enters the table or station number in the local processor 22 through an auxiliary keyboard~ not shown~
whereupon the bill printer 24 provides a correct bill for each of the parties that have been served at that particular table or station. The circuitry by which the hand held terminal 12 communicates with the local data processor 22 and the central processor 28 as noted, involves the use of at least one input station 161 which is adapted to complete the input/output communications link 66 with the polling station 18.
As to the bi-directional paging feat~re of the subject invention, each customer station (Figure 1) 16 ..~ 16n as shown in Figure 5 includes transmitter/re-ceiver (transceiver) apparatus 96 which is adapted to communicate with a like;transceiver 98 located in the casing 52 of the hand held terminal 12 by means of a bl-directional input/output communicatlons link 99 employ-ing ei.ther optical, RF, audio, or inductive energy ~Fig-ure lA) coupled between respective energy transmission/

receiving elements 100 and 102. In its present form, RF
energy is considered to be the pre~erred energy type.
The transceiver apparatus is also adapted to communicate with other like transceiver apparatus located at another order station, or-a random or a central location, not shown. In order to properly operate the transceivers 96 and 98~ each device also couples to a console type of device 101 and 103 with the devide 103 at the terminal including at least a small paging indlcator 62 and key-board 63 loca-ted on the front face of terminal 12. Llke means are also included in the console 101. Also audio devices can be included when desirable to provlde audible speech type communication between the paging station and hand held terminal.
~ eferring now to Figure 6, reference numeral lG6 comprises an electromagnetic energy receptor associated with input station 161 which is adapted to communicate with the source 84 shown in Figure 4 while a source 108 is adapted to communicate with receptor 86. Where, for example, the optical link is desired, the receptor 108 would consist of a light emitting diode. Since bi-direc-tionallty is required of the communications link 66, energy received from the terminal 12 at the receptor 106 is amplified-by amplifier 110 while the data to be trans-mitted thereto via the energy source 108 is first ampli-fied by amplifier 112. The amplifiers 110 and 112 couple to the polling station 18 by means of signal gates 114 and 116. The polling station 18 samples each input station 161 ... 16n in a sequential order by means of polling station selector or scanner 118, looking for a response from a hand held terminal 12. The polling station will pause for a specified time period at each lnput station and transmit thereto a "hand shake7' signal. If no re-response is returned, the scanner 118 will move on to the next input station and again look for a response by sending out another "hand shaking7'signa]. If a correct .q,~

response is receivedg scanning ceases and a lock-on mode is established wherein gates 114 and 116 are held en-abled to input and output data formatters (i~e. ~SARTs) 120 and 122. The a~orementioned operations are accom-panldshed in the following manner. A free running clock124 outputs pulses through a controlled gate 126 to a polling addressor 128 which comprises a counter coupled to the scanner 118 whose output i,s adapted to turn on gates 114 and 116 coupled to the input-output amplifiers 10 110 and 112 respectively. Along with the gate selection, the clock 124 triggers a one shot circuit 130 which is adapted to enable a gate cut-off control circuit 132 ~or a predetermined time period, The one shot circuit 130 also triggers a delay circuit 134 which outputs a pulse : 15 on line 136 which instructs the output USART 122 to issue a "hand shakel'.signal or "ENQ" code to the gate 116 which is thereafter coupled to the electromagnetic energy source 10~.
Assuming that the portable terminal 12 is in communication wit-h the input station 161, a "hand shake"
signal is returned and a data stream is inputted frcm said terminal 12 through enabled gate 114 to the input USART 120,which is adapted to output data to the bus 21 shown in Figure 1 which in Figure 6 is interpreted to be 25 data bus 138 and clock strobe line 140. The appe~rance of the incoming data stream out of gate 114 continuously retriggers one-shot circuit 142 for the duration of the ~17--data streamg thereby engaging control circuit 132 which further disables the clock gate 126 permitting scanner 118 to pause at the active polling station long enough to access the incoming data stream. l~ the data inputted to the USART 120 is in error, the input USART 120 will output a sîgnal on line 143 which actlvates one shot cir-cuits 144 and 146. The output of one-shot circuit 144 triggers one-shot 148 which engages gate control circuit 132 to further disable the gate 126. The one-shot cir-cuit 146 meanwhile outputs a signal on line 150~ thus initiating another "hand shake" or ENQ code seeking another validation. If the data inputted to the input USART 120 is valid, the one-shot circuit 148 will not be triggered, whereupon the gate circuit 152 will be trigger-ed by the restor~tion o~ gate cut off control circuit 132, through line 133 at the termination of the success-ful data stream, thus coupling a valid data response signal to the output USART 122. Thereafter, the gate control circuit 132 again enables the gate 126, whereupon the clock 124 will cause the polling address counter 128 to advance the scanner 118 to the next station. Also shown in Figure 6 is a counter circuit 154 and a one-shot circuit 156 coupled to USART 120 error output line 143 and the gate cut off circuit 132. The purpose of these circuit elements is to detect and register an in-valid input data transmission. An invalid input trans-mission for three successive timesactivates the output q3~

of counter 154 and triggers one-shot 156 to gate off control circuit 132, thus allowing gate 126 to again direct clock 124 pulses to polling addressor 128 so the next input station can be engaged by scanner 118.
Figure 6 also discloses a source 19 cf pro-gramming or re-programming the EROM section 71l shown in Figure ll. The programmer 19 shown in Figure 6 con-sists of a CRT device 158, a typical example being a Televideo Model TVl 920B, which when properly loaded feeds a serial data stream of program material to output amplifier 112 via buffer amplifier 162. The output amplifier 112 coupled to the electromagnetic energy source 108 couples the data to the energy receptor 86 shown in Figure 4-where it is then reconverted to a parallel for-mat in USART 82. The parallel data program material isthen fed to the R~M 73 where it is then transferred to the EROM section 74. This will be discussed further when the details of Figure 8 are considered.
Referring now to Figure 7, in order to provide a digital representation of the various keys activated on the keyboard 54 by the operator of hand held portable terminal 12, an encoding circuit 559 not heretofore showng is adapted to output corresponding multi-bit digital words - in a parallel format on data bus 70 along with a strobing signal on the line 170. To begin operation, an operator presses a reset key, now shown, on the keyboard 511 which transmits a reset signal on line 172 to a memory counter ~ D3 174 and to address counter 176 through buf~er 177.
Thereafter~ the operator enters an item to be ordered by pressing a particular key on the keyboard 54. The data outputted from the encoding circuit 55 is entered into a random access memory (RAM) 178 with one-shot circuit 180 being triggered by a strobe signal from the encoding circuit 55. The one-shot circuit 180 outputs a signal f'or a predetermined time after being acti~ated by encoding circuit 55, so as to strobe load RAM 178.
After the predetermined loading period3 the one-shot circuit 180 restores and in so doing triggers one-shot circuit 182 which advances the memory counter 174 and address counter 176 one increment. Buffering between the counters is provided by means of buffer amplifier 184. The output of address counter 176 indexes the ad-dress location of the RAM 178 through address bus 186.
After all Or the d;ata has been entered into the RAM 178 from the keyboard 54g the operator activates either a manual transmit signal on line 188 or places the portable terminal 12 into a polling input station 16n whereupon an automatic transmit signal is supplied therefrom through USART 82 on line 190. Both lines 188 and 190 couple to a one-shot circuit 192 which resets the address counter 176 through line 194 while not affecting the 25 memory counter 174 due to the presence o~ the buffer amplifier 177. Upon restoration of the one shot circuit 192, one-shot cir~uit 198 is triggered thusly to turn 3:~33 on latch 200. The latch 200 enables gate 202 which couples a free running clock 204 to activate the one-shot, circuit 206 which in turn operates to strobe data from RAM 178 over the data bus 208 through the output USART ~0 which is coupled to the output amplifier 88 (F'igure 4~. After every output data strobe by one shot circuit 206 to USART 80, one-shot circuit 206 restoreg and triggers one-shot circuit 210 which is coupled to address counter 176 through the buffer arnplifier 212 and advances the address counter 176 one memory position each time a new character is strobed through output USART
80 from RAM 178 by one-shot 206. When the address counter 176 advances far enough to match the count in memory counter 174 which was incremented to its count position when the RAM 178 was initially loaded, a comparator 214 coupled to both counters senses the match and triggers one-shot circuit 216 which resets latch 200, causing gate 202 to become disable until a new entry cycle ~s either initiated manually or automaticallyO Thus each character or data word initiated from the keyboard 54 is first fed in para~lIel format to the RAM 178 where it is first stored and on command, shi.fted out to the USART 80 in parallel and converted by said USART 80 into a serial data stream for presentation to the electromagnetic energy source 84 (Figure 4) for coupling to the communi-cations link 66.
As noted above, the hand held terminal 12 is ~a~

adapted to provide a prlnted representation Or the entries made through the keyboard 54 or the optical pick up de-vice 58 and in so doing requires local storage to provide a library of menu items in digital form which can be con-verted from a digital data stream appearing on the databus 70 into an alpha-numeric representation and thus hard copy. This as noted is provided by means of the EROM
section 74 (Figure 4). The details of this section are shown in Figure 8. Referring now to Figure 8, shown therein is a data latch 218 consisting of three four bit registers 220, 222 and 224 which are coupled to the data bus 71 which is coupled to data bus 70 (Figure 7). The data stored in these registers represent an address, for each encoded entry from the keyboard 54, or optical pick up device 58, to an erasable read only memory 226 con-sisting o~ four EROMs 228~ 230, 232 and 234~ each con-sisting of' 2048 by$es of memory, thus providing up to 102 full 20 character blocks in each E~OM memory for a total of 408 twenty character blocks. The four EROMs are coupled to a common bi-directional data bus 236 and ! are enabled individually through a binary to decimal decoder 238 and commonly addressed by counter 248. Ac-cordingly, any item selected on the keyboard 54 will have its alpha-numeric representation outputted on data bus 236 to a printer mechanism shown in Figure 9 in re-sponse to a "print command" signal initiated from the keyboard 54 on line 239. The same command can originate from the optical input device 58. The print cor~mand is adapted to turn on a latch 240 which is conflgured to eanable a gate 242 connected to a free running clock 244.
Pulses from the clock 244 are fed to a divide by 20 counter 246 as well as EROM address counter 248 through buffer amplif`iers 250 and 252 respectivel.y. ~or every 20 clock pulses from clock 2411 g the cascaded counters 254 and 256 advance one count, thereby defining a 20 charact-er block. When the count in the counters 254 and 256 match the binary input stored in registers 220 and 222, comparators 258 and 260 sense the match and output a signal to one-shot 262 which turns off latch 240.
Since the registers 220 and 222 together can store up to a count of 99 and register 224 can select one of four EROMs., a total of three hundred ninety six 20 character data blocks representing a 20 character print-out can be stored and read out selectively on the data bus 236 to the printer whose circuitry is illustrated in Figure 9. It should be pointed out that the four EROMs 228~ 230, 232 and 234 can be convent~ionally programmed via the RAM 73 (Figure 4) over data bus 254 which is coupled to data bus 236 since eàch of the EROMs 228, 230, 232 and 234 include bi-directional input~output data buses 229, 231, 233 and 235 which are connected to the common data bus 236.
At the time the clock 244 output is gated and advancing the colmters 254 and 256, the clock is also advancing the address counters 248 through the buffer amplifier 252. When the one-shot circuit 262 turns off latch 240, it also outputs a signal on bus 256 to turn on the printer (Figure 9). Every time a character ls 5 printed, the address counter 248 is advanced one incre-ment by a signal from the printer circuitry on line 258 which is coupled to address counter 248 through buffer amplifier 260, whereupon the entry from the keyboard 54 or OCR wand 58 stored in data latch 218 will address EROM
memory 226 whose selected memory section will output on data bus 236 which feeds a print head shown in ~igure 90 The printer circuitry shown in Figure 9 consists primarily of a print mechanisrn and control circuitry. As shown in Figure 8, an "on cycle" signal applied to cir-cuit line 256 from EROM section 749 turns on latch 262 which enables gate 264 coupled to free running clock 266 which applies pulses to the "down" or forward input of an up/down counter 268. The up/down counter 268 isadapted to operate a stepper motor 270 through motor 20 drive 272. The stepper motor is mechanieally coupled to a conventional matrix print head 274 which is driven by print drive circuit 275. In the l'count down" or for-ward mode the matrix print head 274 advances from left to right until a limit switch 276 is activated. When 25 the matrix print head 274 reaches the limit switch 276, it closes, causing a signal to be coupled to latch 262 through line 278 which turns off and in turn disables

-2~1-gate 26L1. At the same ti.me, the signal turns on a latch 280 which enables a gate circuit 282 coupled to clock 266 which thereafter couples clock signals to the "up" or reverse input of the up/down counter 268 which reverses the stepper motor 270, causing the matrix print head to tra.vel from right to left toward the limlt switch 28L~
which upon bei.ng closed turns the latch 280 of r, where-upon pulses ~rom elock eircuit 266 are removed from the input of the up/down counter 268. The print mechanism thus remains in the quiet state until another print command is issued from EROM memory 226 shown in ~igure 8.
It can thus be seen that limit switches 276 and 284 aet as margin stops for the print head 274. It should also be pointed out that the closure of the right hand limit switeh 276 also aetivates a solenoid drive eireuit 286 whieh is adapted to aetivate a paper feed solenoid 288 for advaneing a reeord medium 290 which is adapted to provide a prlnted copy of the output of the print head 274. At the same time up/down counter 268 is advancing the print head 274 from left to right across the medium 290, the eloek 266 is also advancing a counter in "charac-ter generator" ROM 292 such as the MOSTEK MK 2302P.
This partlcular character generator RO~ produces a print-ed eharacter by outputting a possibility of seven print impressions in a vertieal row five times,side by side as its assoeiated pri.nt head 274 moves from left to right aeross the paper to form what is known as a 5 x 7 dot matrix image. Such an image is shown for the character "A" in Figure 9A. The output of this character genera-tor usually drives either seven vertically spaced sole-noids with print wires that impact a ribbon onto the paper to produce an image o:ra thermal print head com-pr~sed of seven vertical heat elements which heat sensi-tized paper and create the same image as the solenoid impact mechanism does. In the present invention, matrix print head 274 is preferably of the thermal type. For each character printed, the output of EROM storage 226 is held static for five pulses from clock 266~ Figure 9, until the prink head 274 has scanned five vertical dot positions on the paper and produced the 5 x 7 dot image character, and an additional clock pulse to produce a ; 15 spacing between characters, for a total of six clock pulses. At this point the counter in character generator ROM 292 outputs an EROM memory advance pulse on line 258 which through buffer 260 (Figure 8) is coupled to address counter 248 which in turn advances one increment and brings up on bus line 236 the next character to be interpreted by character generator ROM 292 (Figure 9) and outputted to print head 274 for printing on copy 290. This process is repeated continuously until the print head 274 engages limit switch 276 and stops the process. It should be pointed out that this particular system is designed to print one line at a time between "print commandsl' and that each line is defined as a maxi-~26-mum of 20 characters in length as determined by EROM
section 74 support circuitry, specif'ically divide by 20 circuit 245 in Figure 8. However, other formats of various print configurations can be implemented through circuit modifications. Additionally, it should be noted that the character generator ROM 292 is only engaged while the matrix print head 274 is moving across the copy 290 from left to right. T's~is is so the printer will not try to print during a "carriage returnl' cycle. Line 294 in Figure 9 enablescharacter generator ROM 292 only in the forward print direction. After the matrix print head 274 has returned to the left hand margin it will remain there in standby until another "print command" is initia-ted. Additionally, the ROM character generator 292 15 through data bus 298 and latch 262 through "onl7 cycles line 300 receives like information from microprocessor 94 sho~n in Figure 4 for printing subject matter such as bill sub-tokals and totals for the ordering parties at the site of origin. Microprocessor 9l1 can assume many roles in the general system configuration of terminal 12.
These can include not only the functions of a simple calculator chip for sub-totaling and totaling bills and figuring taxes~ but also can implement the expanded role of total supervisory manipulations of the entire terminal.
As noted, the portable hand held terminal 12 contains a library of information corresponding f'or ex-ample~ to rslenu items in the ROM section 74. The manner . . .

~ 3~

in which EROM memory 226 in the EROM section 74 as shown in ~'igure 8 is programmed is through data bus 236 being presented with the desired bit configuration at the specific address location(s) while the EROM memory 226 is in the program mode as determined by a program mode control cirucit 302. The programming operation is as follows: programming data is down loaded from CRT pro-grammer 158 in Figure 6 out through electromagnetic energy source 108 and into terminal 12 through electro-magnetic energy receptor 86, Figure 4, through USART 82 out on data bus 304, through buffer 306~ Figure 7, which inputs to a code integrator 355 shown in Figure 8. For each valid transmission of data, the USART 82 will acti-vate the audio device 83 which constitutes a beeper type f device, Data is outputted from the code integrator 355 on line 357 to RAM 73 where it is stored. The purpose of code integrator 355 is to allow RAM 73 to be loaded with desired coding information, but to prevent control codes intended for program mode control 302 ~rom entering RAM 73. At this point a special program code is sent to program mode control circuit 302 on line 359 from code integrator 355. The program mode control circuit 302 then cycle loads EROM memory 226 from RAM 73 through common data bus 236 and common address bus 268 after first 25 resetting common address counter 248 to its starting point by strobing reset line 330. Thereafter, address counter 24~ is advanced during the program load cycle by clock output pulses from a clock, not shown, in the pro-gram mode control cirucit 302 over clock line 320.
Because the EROM memory 226 is programmed fr~om the input station side of the system, the programmer apparatus 19 shown in Figure 6 can, when deslred, be re-placed by suitable circuitry, not shown, which couples back, for example, to the central processor ~8 through modems 32 and 34 and the telephone interface 30 to be programmed remotely by a down loadi.ng operation, depend-ing upon the requirements of the particular system.
When desirableg the EROM memory 226 can be load-ed through a hard wire connection by directly connecting a local programmer through a plug attachment, not shown, coupling to data bus 236, address bus 268 and input line 359 on mode control 302. Since RAM 73 (Figure 8) can be loaded directly from input USART 82 (Figure 7~ and since data bus 236 also couples to print section~ Figure 9, a print out of data from an external source without calling on EROM library 74 can be had when desired because data bus 236 pro~ides the necessary link.
In order to now illustrate the manner in which the portable order terminal 12 can be utilized in con-nection with the optical pick up device 58 shown in Fig-ure 3, Figures 10 and 11 are included to illustrate two different versions of such apparatus. Figure 10, for example~ is intended to disclose the circuit means utilized with a wand type bar code type of pick up de-vice 58' and Figure 11 is intended to be utiliezed with a33 -2~-an optical character reader type of device 58 ~ ' . Re-ferring first to Figure 10~ reference numerals 332 and 334 represent data and clock bar code indicia, re-spectively, contained on a menu card or other source media, for example, 336. The pick up 58 ~ includes two pairs o~ light emitting diodes 380 and 381 and photo cells 340 and 341 which are adapted to illuminate and pick up, respectively, the bar code informatlon, where-upon the data and clock information sensed thusly is applied to amplifiers 342 and 344 respectively where it is is fed to a serial to parallel converter 346 such as a National Semiconductor, Inc. type 74164, whose output is applied in parallel fashion to data bus 70 in Figure 7 via data bus 70 ', As the pick up wand 58 ' scans bar code copy 336 and reads da~a bars 332 and clock bars 334, data and clock pick ups respectively 3~0 and 340 for data and 381 and 341 for clock output to serial to parallel converter 346, As the data is presented to serial to parallel converter 346 through amplifier 342, the clock 20 signal strobes that data into the converter 346 through amplifier 344, Meanwhile divide by 8 counter 350 accumu-lates the number of clock pulses strobed into converter 3li6. ~hen eight clock pulses are accumulated, one ei.ght bit data character will be present on the parallel out-25 put of serial to parallel converter 346, The eightbcount on counter 350 will then output to one-shot 352 which will strobe output line 170' and enter this parallel ~ 3 presentation on data bus 70' into RAM 178, Figure 7~ via data bus 70. This process is repeated continuously until all data is scanned by bar code pick up wand 58' on copy 336. Incoming clock pulses outputted ~rom aplifier 344 5 on line 345 activate continuously retriggerable one-shot - 356 which creates data envelope 357 on line 358. One-shot 360 whose output resets counters 174 and 176 in Figure 7 is activated on the leading edge of data enve-lope 358. The last character that the serial to parallel converter will output is the print character. I~ the pick up o~ the bar code indicia 332 and 334 by the wand 58 ' has been success~ul, everything will be in sequence and the last character on data bus 70' will be a print command which will be decoded by a ROM 363. One-shot 15 362 will activate on the trailing edge o~ the data enve-lope 357, which signi~ies the end of the serial clock stream and hence the end o~ the reading sequence. When one-shot 362 is activated, it enables ROM 363 which out-;~ puts a print command on line 239' which couples to line 2~ 239 of Figure 7, providing a valid print character isfeeding ROM 363 over data line 70'. It should be noted that clocking bars 334 are much narrower than data bars 332 and occur at midpoint to data bars so as to ensure an accurate presence or non-presence o~ data for the clock bars to strobe.
With respect to the OCR embod~ment shown in Fig-ure 11, the pick up wand 58" is shown consisting o~ an optical mosaic which is adapted to sense alpha-numeri.c in~ormation 368 contained on copy 336 ~ which as noted before is a menu card or other source media. The pi.ck up 58" feeds the information sensed to a character 5 storage memory 372. A~ter a sequence of characters have been read, a scanner 376 driven by a clock 374 steps a ROM 378 which contains a library of characters to be read and interpreted past character storage memory 372. Assuming that the ROM library 378 contains 100 characters, each character in storage memory 372 must be interrogated 100 timesby character ROM 378 looking ~or a match in comparator 380. For this reason a di-vide by 100 circuit 373 is inserted into clock line 375 so that ROM 378 cycles 100 characters for every 1 char-acter cycled by character storage memory 372. When acharacter in ROM 378 matches a character in character storage memory 372, a comparator circuit 380 outputs a strobe si.gnal through one-shot circuit 382 which is adapted to also enable gate circuit 384 which outputs a 20 code to data bus 70 ~ which is representative o~ the character interpreted. The strobe signal is applied to bus 170 ~ which loads data in ~AM 178 in Figure 7 via data bus 70. One-shot strobe 382 outputs to continu-ously retriggerable one-shot 386 which creates an output envelope 387 on line 389. One-shot 388 triggers on the leading ed~,e of envelope 387 and outputs a reset to line 172 in Flgure 7 via line 172 ~ .

~ ~ ~6~ ~ ~ 3 A ROM 391 is sensitive to a print code on data line 70'.
When one-shot 390 activates on the trailing edge of data envelope 387, it outputs an enable on line 392 to ROM
391 whose output activates print command on line 239' which couples back to line 239 of Figure 7.
Considering again the overall sequence of opera-tion where, for example, a restaurant facility is imple-mented~ the operator, upon being paged, addresses the table to take the order and then enters the table or station number in the hand held terminal 12 and deter-mines the number of paying parties at a particular table along with the number of customers in each party, where-upon the operator enters the first party number followed by the number of people in that party. The party number and number of people in the party will be printed out.
Next, the operator enters the items ordered. For each itel-n ordered~ the product code indexed on the keyboard plus the alpha-numberic description of the product and the unit price for that product will be printed out on a single 20 character line. Optionally the total~ in-cluding tax can be printed for party one through the action of microprocessor 94, as shown in Figure 4. The above process is repeated for every separately billed party at that table or order station. While the product code, alpha-numeric item description and price are out-putted in a 20 character line on the printer of portable hand held terminal 12, the party number, number of people d3~L~3 in the pa.rty and optionally the date a.nd time of day are entered into a temporary storage RAM 178 of terminal 12 along with item codes for the products ordered.
After the order is loaded into the memory for a given table or order station and a printed record of the order is produced by the printer on the hand held terminal 12, the operator steps over to one of the several input stations 161 ...16n and automatically transmits the con-tents of the RAM 178 through the bi-directional communi-cations link 66 to a printer and/or a CRT terminal 20wherein the order is displayed to a person assigned to fill the order. Also, the contents of the order îs fed over the communications line 66 to a local computer 22 and when desirable, to a remote central hierarchial computer 28. The local computer which maintains, among other things, a running inventory, also keeps a current : running record of the order for a particular table(s) until such time as the party checks out. Upon check out from a particular table, the cashier optionally can key in the table number through a keyboard at the bill print-er station and any other number of individual party numbers from that table and produce individual bills or the cashier can through a single table number entry, produce all of the parties' bills for that particular table.
Having thus shown and described what is at pre-sent considered to be the preferred embodiment of the -31l-subJect invention, all mGdifications and alterations coming within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims are herein meant to be included.

Claims

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE
PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:

1. In a vending system including a portable data terminal adapted to interact with a data processor for implementing an order transaction, the combination comprising:
a plurality of ordering stations, each having respective bidirectional paging transceiver apparatus of a selected energy type adapted to communicate with like paging transceiver apparatus located in at least one portable hand held ordering terminal;
at least one portable hand held ordering terminal including, like transceiver apparatus of said selected energy type adapted to provide an indication of a page to an operator carrying said ordering terminal and to provide operator communications with said ordering stations and any other location having like transceiver apparatus of said selected energy type, a first digital memory, means for entering digital data corresponding to an order transaction into said first memory for temporary storage, a second digital memory and being of a down loaded reprogrammable type having stored data therein corresponding to a programmed library of product codes of orderable items and being operable to output an alpha-numeric code sequence of an ordered item in response to an order entry by said operator, means providing a print out of each ordered item in alpha-numeric form and means coupled to said first memory for transferring said data in temporary storage to a selectively addressed wireless communications link under program control;

said communications link comprising a pollable bidirectional wireless communications link of a selected type including a controlled polling station, a plurality of pollable input stations coupled to said polling station, said polling station being operable to repetitively interrogate said plurality of input stations and lock onto an input station in communication with said hand held ordering terminal to accept data therefrom and couple said data to means providing a visual representation of an order entry and to a data processor;
means coupled to said communications link and being responsive to the data from said temporary storage provided by said first memory to provide a visual representation of the order entry in said terminal, said visual representation means being located at an order filling location separate from said ordering station;
a data processor coupled to said communications link and being responsive to data translated thereto from said first memory of said hand held ordering terminal to maintain a running account of the transaction and provide billing information therefrom; and means coupled to said data processor for providing a printed record including a bill at the end of the transaction.

2. The system as defined in Claim 1 and additionally including means providing a visual instructional sequence to the operator for properly entering the order data into said first digital memory and providing error indicator for improper operator entry.

3. The system as defined by Claim 1 and additionally including indicator means on said portable hand held terminal for providing an indication of an order entry.

4. The system as defined by Claim 1 wherein said selected energy type include optical, radio frequency, audio and inductive energy.

5. The system as defined by Claim 3 wherein said paging transceiver apparatus and said like paging transceiver apparatus in said ordering terminal are both operable to communicate with other like apparatus located at any other ordering stations, hand held ordering terminals, or a central station.

6. The system as defined by Claim 1 or 2 wherein said means for entering digital data in said ordering terminal comprises an alpha-numeric keyboard.

7. The system as defined by Claim 1 or 2 wherein said means for entering digital data in said ordering terminal comprises an optical bar code pick up device.

8. The system as defined by Claim 1 or 2 wherein said means for entering digital data in said ordering terminal comprises an OCR pick up device.

9. The system as defined by Claim 1 or 2 wherein said wireless communications link is of the type which uses energy selected from optical, radio frequency, audio and inductive types of electromagnetic energy.

10. The system as defined by Claim l or 2 wherein said first memory comprises a random access memory and said second memory comprises a reprogrammable non-volatile read only memory.

11. The system as defined by Claim l or 2 and additionally including means for reprogramming said second memory on demand.

12. The system as defined by Claim l and additionally including means coupled to said communications link for download reprogramming said second memory via said communications link and for providing an acknowledging validation signal therefor.

13. The system as defined in Claim l and additionally including a hierarchial data processor for providing, among other things, a means of centralized record keeping and over all control of vending business operations, coupled to said first recited data processor and means including a bi-directional communications link coupling said hierarchial data processor to said first recited data processor.

14. The system as defined by Claim 12 and additionally including pollable data logger circuit means coupled between said first recited data processor and said last recited communications link.

15. In a vending system including a portable data terminal adapted to interact with a data processor for implement-ing an order transaction, the combination comprising:
at least one location having bidirectional paging transceiver apparatus of a selected energy type adapted to com-municate with like paging transceiver apparatus located in at least one portable hand held ordering terminal;
at least one portable hand held ordering terminal including like transceiver apparatus of said selected energy type adapted to provide an indication of a page to an operator carrying said ordering terminal and to provide operator commun-ications with said at least one location, a first digital memory, means for entering digital data corresponding to an order trans-action into said first memory for temporary storage, a second digital memory and being of a down loaded reprogrammable type having stored data therein corresponding to a programmed library of product codes of orderable items and being operable to output an alpha-numeric code sequence of an ordered item in response to an order entry by said operator, means providing a print out of each ordered item in alpha-numeric form and means coupled to said first memory for transferring said data in temporary storage to a wireless communications link;
said wireless communications link comprising a pollable bidirectional wireless communications link of a selected energy type and including means of said selected energy type for being coupled to said portable terminal and being operable to lock on and accept data from said portable terminal and couple said data to means providing a visual representation of an order entry and to a data processor;
means coupled to said communications link and being responsive to the data from said temporary storage provided by said first memory to provide a visual representation of the order entry in said portable terminal, said visual representa-tion means being located at an order filling location remote from said portable terminal;
a data processor coupled to said communications link and being responsive to data translated thereto from said first memory of said portable terminal to maintain a running account of the transaction and provide billing information therefrom;
and means coupled to said data processor for providing a printed record including a bill at the end of the transaction.

16. The system as defined in claim 15 and addition-ally including means providing a visual instructional sequence to the operator for properly entering the order data into said first digital memory and providing error indicator for improper operator entry.

17. The system as defined by Claim 15, and additionally including indicator means on said portable hand held terminal for providing an indication of an order entry.

18. The system as defined by Claim 15 wherein said selected energy type include optical, radio frequency, audio and inductive energy.

19. The system as defined by Claim 17 wherein said paging transceiver apparatus and said like paging transceiver apparatus are both operable to communicate with other like apparatus located at any other location , hand held ordering terminal , or a central station.

20. The system as defined by Claim 15 or 16 wherein said means for entering digital data in said ordering terminal comprises an alpha-numeric keyboard.

21. The system as defined by Claim 15 or 16 wherein said means for entering digital data in said ordering terminal comprises an optical bar code pick up device.

22. The system as defined by Claim 15 or 16 wherein said means for entering digital data in said ordering terminal comprises an OCR pick up device.

23. The system as defined by Claim 15 or 16 wherein said wireless communications link is of the type which uses energy selected from optical, radio frequency, audio and inductive types of electromagnetic energy.

24. The system as defined by Claim 15 or 16 wherein said first memory comprises a random access memory and said second memory comprises a reprogrammable non-volatile read only memory.

25. The system as defined by Claim 15 or 16 and additionally including means for reprogramming said second memory on demand.

26. The system as defined by Claim 15 or 16 and additionally including means coupled to said communications link for download reprogramming said second memory via said communications link and for providing an acknowledging validation signal therefor.

27. The system as defined in Claim 15 and additionally including a hierarchial data processor for providing, among other things, a means of centralized record keeping and over all control of vending business operations, coupled to said first recited data processor and means including a bi-directional communications link coupling said hierarchial data processor to said first recited data processor.

28. The system as defined by Claim 26 and additionally including pollable data logger circuit means coupled between said first recited data processor and said last recited communications link.