JPH10255170A - Pos order entry system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a POS order entry system which is highly resistant to the overload of a controller and the failure of a radio equipment, etc., and also has high reliability. SOLUTION: This system includes the radio equipments 2 to 4, the handy terminals 5 and 6, and a controller 1 which controls the these radio equipments and handy terminals. The information are mutually transferred between the radio equipments and the handy terminals respectively via the channels which undergone the time division control. Then the synchronous circuits 2-5 to 4-5 are added to the units 2 to 4, and one of units 2 to 4 is designated as a master radio equipment for the controller 1 with other radio equipments designated as the slaves. A means is added only to the master radio equipment to request the transmission of radio waves together with another means which designates the transmission time of radio waves via a synchronous means so as to prevent the overlapping of the transmission time with the slave radio units. Then the controller 1 requests the transmission of radio waves only to the master radio equipment, and the master radio unit designates the transmission time of radio waves to every slave radio equipment via the synchronous means. Thus, every slave radio equipment transmits the radio waves at each designated time.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a POS order entry system for inputting order data by radio signals from a handy terminal used in a restaurant or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A large-scale restaurant or the like has conventionally used a POS order entry system for inputting order data by radio signals from a handy terminal in order to improve the input efficiency of order data. The POS order entry system includes a plurality of handy terminals and a plurality of center radios for relaying radio signals, and performs order processing and accounting processing of order data from each handy terminal via a controller. To a POS device that performs the above and a kitchen printer in the kitchen.

In the conventional POS order entry system, since the center radio is a specific low power radio, the controller does not need to perform synchronization establishment processing, but the data transmission speed is slow. was there.
Therefore, in order to increase the data transmission speed, it is conceivable to use a radio device conforming to the RCS standard used for PHS or the like as the center radio device.

[0004]

In the case where a radio device conforming to the RCS standard used for PHS or the like is used as the center radio device, the plurality of center radio devices have radio wave transmission timings mutually. Radio waves (control channels) are transmitted in time-divisionally controlled slots so that they do not overlap,
In order to establish a channel with each handy terminal, receive order data from the handy terminal, and transmit menu information from the kitchen, the controller sends the order data and the menu. Along with the information processing, it is necessary to output a command signal to each center wireless device to perform synchronous control so that transmission timings (transmission timings) of radio waves do not overlap.

However, as described above,
In order to transmit and receive order data and menu information from a large number of handy terminals, the load is heavy.Additionally, it is inconvenient to load synchronization control of a plurality of center radios. May occur. Therefore, there is a demand for a technique for performing synchronous control of a plurality of center radios without imposing a burden on the controller for synchronous control.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a highly reliable POS order entry system which eliminates the above-mentioned problems and is resistant to a controller overload and a failure such as a radio. Aim.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the invention according to claim 1 comprises a plurality of radios, a plurality of handy terminals, and a radio and a handy terminal.
In a POS order entry system which includes a controller for controlling a terminal and exchanges information between each radio and a handy terminal via a time-division-controlled channel, a synchronization means is provided for each radio, and a controller is provided. Means for selecting and specifying one of a plurality of radios as a master radio, specifying the other radio as a slave radio, and requesting transmission of radio waves only to the master radio, The master radio has means for instructing the transmission time of the radio wave to the slave radio via the synchronization means so that the transmission time of the radio wave does not overlap, the controller issues a radio wave transmission request only to the master radio, The master radio instructs each slave radio via the synchronization means with the transmission time of each radio wave,
Each slave wireless device transmits a radio wave at a designated transmission time.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the POS order entry system according to the first aspect, each slave radio is provided with a time at which a radio wave is actually transmitted by its own station. Means is provided for the master radio, and it is determined from the transmission times of the radio waves transmitted from the slave radios whether or not the transmission times of the radio waves of the respective slave radios overlap. Means are provided.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a POS order entry system of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the POS order entry system has a plurality of (three in the figure) center radios 2, center radios 3, and center radios 4.
It is connected to the apparatus and a kitchen printer (not shown) in the kitchen.

The center radio 2 includes a CPU 2-1, an interface 2-2, a memory 2-3, a radio communication unit 2-4, a synchronization circuit 2-5, and an antenna 2-6. -4 and the antenna 2-6 to communicate with the handy terminal 5 and the handy terminal 6 by radio signals and receive order data.
Data and menu information are transmitted and received. Although not shown, the center radio 3 and the center radio 4 have the same configuration as the center radio 2.

Synchronizing circuits 2-5, 3-5 and 4-5 are provided in each of the center radios 2, 3 and 4, respectively.
5, 3-5 and 4-5 are connected by a signal line m. In the present invention, one of the center radios 2, 3, and 4 is selected and designated as a master radio by the controller 1, and the other two are slaved.
The wireless communication device is designated as a wireless communication device and performs synchronous control so that transmission timings of radio waves do not overlap each other. The operation will be described below.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the transmission timing of each center radio. First, the controller 1 selects and designates, for example, the center radio 2 as a master center radio (hereinafter referred to as “master CS”), and
4 is a slave center radio (hereinafter referred to as “slave CS”).
1 "and" slave CS2 "). The radio 2 selected and designated as the master CS, the radios 3 and 4 set as the slave CS1 and the slave CS2 are executed by each CPU executing a corresponding program (stored in each memory). The synchronizing circuits 2-5, 3-5 and 4-5 are operated as described below.

The master CS transmits a signal representing the timing of transmitting a radio wave through the synchronization circuit 2-5 to a signal line m.
To the synchronizing circuits 3-5 and 4-5. Next, the offset value s1 for the slave CS1, the slave CS2
The offset value s2 is transmitted. The slave CS1 and the slave CS2 transmit the radio waves at a timing shifted from the timing at which the master CS transmits the radio waves by the respective offset values s1 and s2.

Each of the slaves CS1 and CS2 measures how much the actual transmission timing of the radio wave is behind the transmission timing of the master CS, and outputs a signal to the synchronization circuits 3-5 and 4-5.
And sends the measurement to the master CS via

The master CS receives measured values from the slaves CS1 and CS2, and finally confirms that radio waves do not overlap based on the measured values. If the overlapping thread
If there is a slave CS, the slave CS is reset for the offset value, and the offset value is transmitted again and set.

The transmission of the measured values from the slaves CS1 and CS2 and the confirmation operation of the master CS are performed by the master CS and the slaves CS1 and CS2 each operating at their own local clock. Further, the radio communication units of the master CS and the slaves CS1 and CS2 need to perform the radio wave transmission after receiving the request for radio wave transmission because there is a variation in the timing of actually starting to emit the radio wave.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the controller 1 selects the master C from among the plurality of center radios.
S is selected and specified, and only the master CS is requested to transmit a radio wave. Since the master CS specifies the transmission timing of each slave CS so that the transmission timing of the radio wave does not overlap, the controller performs synchronous control. There is no need to do so, and at the same time the load is lightened, and at the same time, there is no danger that all the handy terminals will be disabled due to the hindrance of the synchronization control and the system will be down. Further, since the processing is performed by software, it is easy to change another slave CS to the master CS when the master CS fails.

[0018]

As described above, according to the invention described in the claims of the present application, the following excellent effects can be expected. (1) According to the first aspect of the present invention, a synchronizing means is provided for each wireless device, and one of a plurality of wireless devices is selected and designated as a master wireless device by a controller, and another wireless device is selected. Is designated as a slave radio, and means for requesting transmission of radio waves only to the master radio is provided, and the master radio is transmitted via the synchronization means so that the transmission time of radio waves does not overlap with the slave radio. Means for instructing the transmission time of the radio wave, the controller issues a radio wave transmission request only to the master radio, and the master radio instructs each slave radio via the synchronization means of the transmission time of each radio wave. However, since each slave radio transmits radio waves at the designated transmission time, the load on the controller is reduced, and the slave radio can be easily changed to the master radio even when the master radio fails. Can be Without the entire system goes down,
Reliability is improved.

(2) According to the second aspect of the present invention, each slave wireless device is provided with a means for transmitting the time at which the radio wave was actually transmitted by its own station to the master wireless device. The device is provided with means for judging from the transmission time of the radio wave transmitted from each slave radio device whether or not the transmission time of the radio wave of each slave radio device overlaps. Even if there is a variation in the identities, it can be corrected, so that the reliability is improved without hindrance to information exchange in a time division manner between each wireless device and the handy terminal.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a POS order entry system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of transmission timing of each center radio.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Controller 2 Center radio 2-1 CPU 2-2 Interface 2-3 Memory 2-4 Wireless communication unit 2-5 Synchronization circuit 2-6 Antenna 3 Center radio 4 Central radio 5 Handyta -Minar 6 Handy Minar

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A wireless communication system comprising a plurality of radios, a plurality of handy terminals, and a controller for controlling these radios and the handy terminals. Time division control is performed between each of the radios and the handy terminals. In the POS order entry system for exchanging information on a set channel, a synchronizing means is provided for each of the radios, and one of the plurality of radios is selected and designated as a master radio by the controller and the other. Means for designating the radio as a slave radio and requesting transmission of radio waves only to the master radio, wherein the master radio sets transmission time of radio waves to the slave radio via the synchronization means. A means for instructing a transmission time of a radio wave so that the radio waves do not overlap, the controller makes a radio wave transmission request only to the master radio, and the master radio POS ordering means for instructing each of the slave radios to transmit a radio wave at a designated transmission time via a synchronization means. Entry system. 2. Each of the slave radios is provided with means for transmitting the time at which radio waves are actually transmitted by the station to the master radio. 2. The POS order according to claim 1, further comprising means for judging from the transmission time of the transmitted radio wave whether or not the transmission times of the radio waves of the slave radios overlap. Entry system.