Unlted States Patent [191

[11] Patent Number:

Cotter

[45]

Date of Patent:

[54] FOOD ORDER/DELIVERY SYSTEM

Jeffrey J- Cotter, Orlando, Fla-

[73] Assignee:

Jeno F. Paulucci, Sanford, Fla.

A Haas, Pizza Wars, US. Air Magazine, Apr. 1988,

pp' 79_85'

Primary Examiner-Jerry Smith

Assistant Examiner-Steven G. Kibby

[21] Appl. No.: 30,878

_

Jan. 10, 1989

OTHER PUBLICATIONS

[75] Inventor!

[22] Flled=

49 797 9 818

Attorney, Agent, or FirmWillian Brinks Olds Hofer

M?- 26, 1987

Gilson & Lione Ltd.

[51]

Int. c1. ............................................ .. G06F 15/21

[57]

[52]

US. Cl. ........................................... .. 364/401

A com

[58]

Field of Search ............... .. 364/401; 235/381, 383

food service industry includes a central computer that

[56]

ABSTRACT
putenzed
order/dchvery
system for use in
the

accepts customer food orders and, based on a customer

U s pAlrg?csoclcgENTs

identi?er, automatically selects the store that is to pre

- -

pare the food and transmits the required information to

4,128,757 12/1978 Garner ..................... ..' ....... .. 235/383

4,388,689

6/1983

Hayman

......

. . . . . ..

4,567,359

l/ 1986 Lockwood ........................ .. 235/381

that Imam"

364/401

7 Claims, 6 Drawing Sheets

F__,__T_____
| 16

_______.___x

28

rmmsmsm'
STATION

}
l

COMPUTER

[
[O

'5

l8
moan

Ia

Ljuoosm

Is
.

mount

K
L_

__

_.'_

i
__

TELEPHONE TRUNK

._:"

by
T
L [;_J
PRINTER

PRINTER

as
.

2\
.

F?
LI; _i
PRINTER

to

US. Patent

Jan. 10, 1989

4,797,818

Sheet 2 0f 6

"Fl g__ 2_
PIZZA mm:
***~*********************x-~x- STREET MOINTENANCE SCREEN ***************w****1'

********1->l~k**:i'******I'*~I****-X"**'X'***'N"****-I'***-*1E"X************************i*i~k~eq

Street Name:
Store Code:

E
cm

Street Range Start:

Street Range End:

1
1

E12!
E

Map Location:

3
J

**********-X'N***'X'****

*****HH*'**~"***

Phone U
Voi d/Cancel
Delivery
_Lastname
Address

E
E J
E 3
E
E

F'i:::a liwil;

F'--U E
Time E
40
1533/,

City
E
Directions E
Cakes
Pizza Type E

- Pizza Order/Customer-

I]
3

Zipcode

Order Info:
Check? E 1
J

Scr'een

Order Taken By
E
Date EIYJKZl/GHZIIIZHZU
Time
E
Sent?
E 3
Trans" E
,
First E
?pt/Suite H E
J

m1 t. Order c
Diet Cakes;
Coupon
E

13]
J

J
3

Grn_ Pepper
Beef

1
El]
1

E
E

Store Code

Cherry Cokes E El]

Total Items
E 4D]

J
3

Jalepeno
Pineapple

E
E

3
J

Sausage

L'

Ham

f-lncnovie

Elk.

Olive

Sauce

Union 30 )E

Grn. Olive

Thick Crust E 3

ilriwaaanriraxarnamnnnt

***********~K***********

GQSPARILLA

GASPARILLA ?V
GASTON FOSTER RD
GATE (W
GATE TREE
GATEHDUSE .CT
GATEHEJUSE DR
GATEL'JDDD DR
GATLIN AV
GATLIN AV
GATLIN AJ
GATLIN GROVE DR
GATLIN GROVE Bl)
GATLIN OM15 LN

II

Mushroom

GASLIGHT APTS
ISASLIGHT CR
GASLIGHTS APTS

1
(21]

42

Extra Cheese I.
Pepperoni
E

Street Name

**i********'"**"*

cgpyriqhl;

1986; Profit; Master-5,

'

Sprites
Soda Amt.

Pizza Amt.
Coupon Amt.

E El]
E
$121.60]

Discount

Subtotal

Total w/Tax
Inc,

ZIELLM]
SLhlZHZl
150.1210

$121. m1]

4451.013!

**\~R*i*ilikiftt+r

MASTER STREET LIST - 92/28/87

Map

Start

Stop

Delivering Store
0151 ALOMA
GEM - ALOHA
001 - ALOHA

BEG/l
DDLUS

095 - CURRYFDRD

DDQS
DDQJZ

(2)1215
2105
(505
016
@136,
O10
(305
00B
(M35
005
EH55
(J05
G05

SD12

DMD/1
DDKZVI
DDFJ/l
DCOS
DCEJS
DDFJS

121210
351210

2390
511790
55015

CURRYFORD
CURRYFEJRD
CURRYFORD
LONGNDDD
LAKE MARY/SANFORD
LDNGMDOD
CURRYFURD
D. D. T.
CURRYFDRD
CURRYFORD
CURRYFDRD
CURRYFORD
CURRYFORD

US. Patent

Jan. 10, 1989

Sheet 3 0f 6

4,797,818

77:_z_ g_5'_

ORDER

ORDER

ENTRY

ENTRY

ORDER

ENTRY

SCREEN

SCREEN

SCREEN

ORDER
32
PROCESSING r4

ORDER
ENTRY
FILE

36

ORDER

L, QUEUEING

34

MQggNT

PROCESSING

CALL

353/ PROCESSING

ORDER
RECORD

US. Patent

Jan. 10, 1989

Sheet 4 of6

START

4,797,818

ENTER CUSTOMER s
TELEPHONE NUMBER

IS

CUSTOMER

DISPLAY CUSTOMER
+PREV|OUS ORDER

YES

ENTER CUSTOMER
NAM E+ADDRESS

VERIFY CUSTOMER

NAME +ADDRESS

V
A

CUSTOMER

'

"

ADDRESS IN

No

STREET MAINTENANCE

YES
'ASSIGN

DELIVERING
STORE

V
CALCULATE
PRICE

II
AGENT COMPLETES ORDER
0 )PRODUCT OPTIONS

b) PAYMENT OPTIONS
J

TV

STORE ORDER
IN FILE

1V

Z)

>

-'

DISPLAY

NONDELIVERABLE
ADDRESS

US. Patent Jan. 10, 1989

Sheet 5 0f 6

ii

GD
OPEN ORDER
FILES.

ORDER,STORES
STREET.

TIME" NBTT
TRANSACTION
NUMBER FROM
STORE FILE

CREATE FILE
FOR RECEIPT

PRINTOUT

POST

TRANSACTION
NUMBER IN

ORDER FILE.

4,797,818

US. Patent

Jan. 10, 1989

Sheet 6 0f 6

OPEN
ORDER
FlLES

MESSAGE FILE

WRITE'STORE NIJMBER,
TIME OF DAY,
AND NUMBER OF
ORDERS.

CALL STORE
VIA
MODEM.

TRANSMIT DATA
AND REMOVE
TEMPORARY
FlLES.

SEND ERROR
MESSAGE TO
SYSTEM
CONSOLE.

4,797,818

4,797,818

FIG. 4 is a partial listing of a master street list used in

the presently preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 5 is a ?owchart describing the steps performed
by the presently preferred embodiment of the invention.

FOOD ORDER/DELIVERY SYSTEM

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to automated order/delivery

FIG. 6 is a detailed ?owchart describing the order

processing step depicted in FIG. 5.

systems in general, and in particular to automated food

order/delivery systems that include related businesses

FIG. 7 is a detailed ?owchart describing the queuing

processing step depicted in FIG. 5.

catering to customers who eat at home.

FIG. 8 is a detailed flowchart describing the call

processing step depicted in FIG. 5.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

It has become common practice for consumers to

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE

PRESENTLY PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

order on for food, e.g., pizza, have it delivered to

their homes, and dine in. Historically, the suppliers of

pizza have tended to occupy only one location, and a 15 As used herein, the term store is used in a broad
sense, and is meant to include restaurants, kitchens or
customers choice of a particular pizzeria has usually
any
other commercial business that prepares food. A
been based upon the quality of food and the time within
store may or may not have a delivery service associated

which his order can be ?lled. In the case of franchised

with it and includes take out establishments that may

suppliers that provide a uniform quality of pizza, once
or may not have dining facilities.
the customer has selected a franchise, his principal con 20
FIG. 1 depicts a telephone center 10 located in a
sideration is the response time of the store that actually
municipality or other region served by a number of
?lls his order.
related or franchised stores 12. The telephone center 10
In those areas having more than one franchised sup
houses operators that enter information into a computer

plier, customers typically call the location closest to

system adapted to automatically assign incoming orders

their home to achieve the quickest response to their 25 to the store best able to respond to those orders. Often,
order. However, physical proximity of the store to the
the assigned store will be the one nearest the customers
customer may not always be the determinative crite
residence, however, local factors such as traffic pat
rion. Considerations such as time of day, local traffic
terns, time of day and road construction may dictate
patterns, road construction, etc., may affect the day to
that a store other than the nearest one will provide
day ability of the closest store to serve a particular 30 optimum service.
'
customer. Thus a customer may mistakenly select a

The aforementioned factors are taken into account in

store that is incapable of ?lling his order in a timely

manner.

the programming of the computer. Initially, the region

Each franchised supplier typically subscribes to a

relatively expensive telephone service that enables in

coming calls to be queued for answering on a ?rst-in~
?rst-out basis. The employees of the franchised store are

35

to be served by the system is divided into market areas,

each of which is to be served by a particular store. This
market allocation can be de?ned in any .number of

ways, such as by zip code, telephone area code or ex

change number or by street address. All that is required
typically occupied with the preparation and delivery of
is that each potential customer within the service region
the food and may, especially during peak demand
40 is assigned to a store. In the presently preferred embodi
hours, become too busy to answer the telephone in a
ment, the software includes a street maintenance ?le
timely manner to receive orders. Consequently, custom
containing an entry for each street in the region. Each
ers may be put on hold for unacceptable periods of time.
entry contains a range of addresses to be served by a
particular store which is assigned a numerical code. In
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to an order/delivery system by

45 residential areas, an entire street may be assigned to one

store, while major thoroughfares that traverse a number

which a number of affiliated stores all receive customer

orders from a central location. A computer at the cen

of market areas may be served by several stores. The ,

tral location is programmed to receive customer orders,

automatically assign a particular order to a particular
store based upon a predetermined market allocation,

other acceptable storage device that can be accessed by

the system operating software. The street maintenance
?le is periodically updated to take into account shifting
market shares of particular stores, local road construc
tion, the addition of new housing developments and the

and transmit the order to that store. The invention elim

inates the need for expensive telephone service to each

of the stores and frees the store employees from answer

ing the telephone to take orders, thereby enabling those

employees to concentrate on the preparation and deliv
ery of the food.

market allocation data is stored on magnetic disk or

like. FIG. 2 depicts a sample data entry screen that can

55 be used to enter the market allocation data. FIG. 4 is a

partial listing of a street maintenance ?levused in the

presently preferred embodiment.

The telephone center 10 includes a central computer

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
14, a plurality of interactive display devices such as
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an automatic order/ 60 CRTs 16, and a plurality of modems 18 adapted to
delivery system that incorporates a presently preferred
communicate with remote devices such as printers 20
embodiment of the invention.
over a standard telephone line. The telephone center 10
FIG. 2 is a data entry screen displayed by the termi
also includes a generator or other source of back-up
nals used in the presently preferred embodiment of the
power (not shown) so that the system remains opera
invention.
65 tional in the event of a power failure. Since telephone
FIG. 3 is a second data entry screen displayed by the
service often remains operational despite area-wide

terminals used in the presently preferred embodiment of

the invention.

power outages, customers can be served under less than

ideal conditions.

4,797,818

The telephone center 10 also contains a station 22 that

enter the customer information in the appropriate ?eld.

is normally used by management to monitor the activity

of the system including cash ?ow, number of orders,
inventory and any other information contained in the

taken is important, the software automatically performs

data processing upon exiting certain ?elds.

Since the speed with which a customers order can be

database.
FIG. 1 shows several CRTs 16 and modems 18. Ide
ally, there should be one modem per CRT, however,
this is not absolutely necessary. The required number of
either device is dictated by the number of calls the
telephone center is expected to handle.
10
Each store 12 within the service area contains a

printer 20 designed to receive messages from the tele

phone center 10. In the preferred embodiment, commu
nication is provided via telephone line 24 from a modem
18 at the telephone center 10, however, other methods
of communication are possible. For example, order
information could be transmitted from the telephone
center to the stores via satellite or radio.

There is no relationship between the number of

modems 18 and printers 20. As depicted in FIG. 1, the

modems have access to the entire range of telephone

The automatic steps taken by the system can best be

understood with reference to FIG. 5. Customer order

information is entered, and the store assigned by the

order processing subroutine 32 and stored as a ?le 34.

Order queuing processing subroutine 36 and call pro

cessing subroutine 38 then act upon the ?le to generate
an order that is transmitted to the assigned printer.
FIGS. 6-8 are detailed flowcharts of the order process

ing, order queuing and call processing subroutines re

spectively. As shown in FIG. 6, the operator requests
the customers telephone number, and enters that infor
mation in the appropriate data ?eld displayed by the
terminal. The operator then directs the computer to

search its customer ?les by depressing the appropriate

CRT key. In the preferred embodiment, this search is
performed whenever the operator exits the phone num
ber data ?eld 35 (see FIG. 3).

numbers in the local telephone network or trunk line 26,

and can therefore address any of the printers 20, how
ever, any particular printer can be accessed only on a

If the customer is in the ?le, the terminal automati

cally displays a completed data entry screen including

single line 24. The expensive prior art telephone service

25 is to be changed, the operator enters the menu selections

the customers home address and last order. If the order

accordingly. Upon exiting the last ?eld corresponding

used at the store can be replaced by a single line for

intracompany use. In practice, the public is made aware
that a single telephone number, the number of the tele
phone center, is to be used when ordering from the
system. The telephone numbers of the individual stores

to a menu selection, the software accesses price mainte

nance ?les and calculates the total cost of the order.

are not available to the public to ensure use of the cen

is programmed to immediately identify whether the

If the customer is not already on ?le, the operator

enters the customers name and address. The computer

tral number.
The computer 14 is programmed to accept the cus

caller is in an area served by the system. A street ad

dress is entered, followed by the street name. Upon
tomers address and order from the CRTs 14, access the
exiting the street name data ?eld 40 (FIG. 3), the com
market allocation database, identify the correct store, 35 puter searches its database. If the street is not found in
and transmit the order to that store. The software in
the street maintenance ?le, the CRT displays an appro
cludes a number of ?les which can be cross-referenced.
priate message. If the caller is at a deliverable address,
In the preferred embodiment, customer ?les are initially
the data entry screen is updated to include the store
accessed by the customers telephone number. The tele
code 42 of the preassigned store.
phone number can be cross-referenced to an identifier 40
When all the information has been entered, the cus
that is used to access the market allocation data base. In
tomer order is stored in the computer with the appropri
the presently preferred embodiment, this identi?er is
ate keyboard entry. Once stored, the order information

the customers home address, however, the customers

zip code, area code or telephone exchange number
could also be used. The identi?er is used to de?ne the
store that is to receive the order. The code representing
that store is then cross-referenced to the telephone num
ber of the modem that is to receive the order. This ?le

is accessible to report generating subroutines used by

management to monitor, for example the number of
pizzas ordered, what toppings are used and how many
beverages are sold. Upon the entry of the order infor
mation, the CRT is free to accept additional .orders. It
should be noted that while the presently preferred em

manipulation is accomplished by a relational database,

bodiment contemplates operator assisted order entry,

such as the Informix Relational Database System mar 50 other methods are within the scope of the invention.

keted by Informax Systems, Inc. A program listing of

software capable of performing such functions is con

For example, the telephone center may be equipped

with voice recognition circuitry capable of accepting

tained as an appendix in the original patent ?le main

verbal instructions. Alternatively, order information
tained in the United States Patent and Trademark Of
may be entered by the customer using telephone touch
?ce.
55 tone capabilities available in many areas.
In operation, a customer desiring a pizza, or any other
The completion of the order activates the queuing
type of food provided by the supplier, dials the number
processing subroutine 36. As shown in FIG. 7, this
of the telephone center 10. The incoming call is auto
subroutine opens the ?le, and determines which store
matically assigned to an available operator at one of the
has been assigned to receive the order. It then assigns a
CRTs 16 by the telephone service 28 employed by the 60 sequential transaction number for the assigned store and
center. It has been determined that the Merlin System
creates a ?le for the receipt that is to be transmitted for
supplied by AT&T can be used to provide this service.
printout at the store. The transaction number is added
Once the system is initialized, the CRTs display an ' to the ?le and permanently stored with the order data
order entry screen such as shown in FIG. 3. The screen
when the ?le is closed. When the customer calls at a
consists of a number of bracketed ?elds 30 that corre
later date, the transaction number will appear in the
spond to individual items of information such as name,
data entry screen generated in response to his telephone
address, date and menu selections. Cursor controls lo
number. The order containing the transaction number is
cated on the CRT enable the operator to selectively
placed in a temporary ?le which is accessed periodi

4,797,818

cally by the call processing subroutine 38 that is resident

2. The system of claim 1 wherein said means for auto

in the computer. That subroutine directs a modem 18, in

a known manner, to dial the telephone number assigned
to the selected store code and transmit the order. The

matically comparing and automatically selecting com

prises a digital computer.

basic steps performed by the subroutine are described in

FIG. 8.
At the assigned store, the order is automatically
printed out and the food is prepared and delivered in
accordance withvthe transmitted instructions. The em
ployees are thereby freed from answering the phone to

matically transmitting comprises a modem.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein said means for auto

4. The system of claim 1 wherein said means for auto

matically receiving and displaying comprises a printer.

5. A system for communicating with a plurality of
remote stores from a central location comprising:

means at said central location for storing market allo

cation data in the form of predetermined pairs of

take orders and can devote their time to the production

and delivery of the pizzas.

customer identi?ers and store codes;

means at said central location for receiving customer
order information in the form of a customer identi
?er and menu selection;
means at said central location for automatically com

The advantages of the system are many. Because all

orders in the network are stored in the computer, man
agement personnel at the central location can monitor
inventory and cash ?ow at particular stores or through
out the system. The instant access provided by the com

paring said received customer identi?er with the

customer identi?ers of said market allocation data;

puter allows early detection of inventory shortages,

waste of ingredients through overgenerous food prepar

means at said central location for automatically se

ers, and can be used to detect accounting discrepancies 20

and discourage embezzlement of funds at any particular

lecting the market allocation data containing the

identi?er that matches the received customer iden

ti?er;

store.

It has been determined that an AT&T Model

3B2/400 computer with a hard disk in combination with

the appropriate software, a Televidio Model 955 Termi 25

nal and a Paradyne Model FDX 1200. (or Model FDX
2400+) modem can accomplish the claimed features of

the telephone center 10, although any commercially

means at said central location for automatically trans

mitting the menu selection to the store represented
by the store code of the selected market allocation

data; and
means at said store for receiving and displaying said
menu selection.

available hardware should suf?ce. Model DX 2100

6. A system for communicating with a plurality of
printers may be used at the stores, although other com 30 remote locations from a central location comprising:

mercially available printers are also acceptable.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the system

a computer at said central location including means

for storing market allocation data in the form of

predetermined pairs of customer identi?ers and

can be used in a-number of applications, and is not lim

ited to the preparation and delivery of pizza.

I claim:
35
1. A system for receiving orders for food at a central
location and transmitting said orders to a preselected
remote store for preparation of said food comprising:
means at said central location for storing market allo
40
cation data in the form of a software database;
means at said central location for receiving customer

order data;

computer and responsive thereto and adapted to

transmit data over telephone lines; and
a plurality of printers, at least one of said printers
located at each of said remote locations, and each
adapted to receive said data transmitted from said

modem;
said computer being programmed to receive cus

means at said central location for automatically com

paring said customer order data with said market

allocation data and for automatically selecting a 45
particular store to receive said order data on the

basis of said comparison;

means at said central location responsive to said

means for comparing and selecting for automati

cally transmitting said order data to said selected

store codes:
a modern at said central location connected to said

tomer order information in the form of a customer

identi?er and menu selection, retrieve said market
allocation data from said means for storing, com
pare said customer identi?er with the customer
identi?ers of said market allocation data, and, based
on said comparison, cause said modem to transmit
said menu selection to a selected store.

50

store; and
means at said selected store for automatically receiv

ing and displaying said order data.

7. The system of claim 6 further including means at

said central location for providing back-up power to
said computer and modems in the event of power loss.
*

55

65