Telecommunications – Transmitter and receiver at separate stations – Near field
Reexamination Certificate
2000-11-29
2003-12-09
Chin, Vivian (Department: 2682)
Telecommunications
Transmitter and receiver at separate stations
Near field
C455S066100, C455S552100, C455S558000, C455S563000, C340S870030, C340S870030, C705S016000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06661997
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a drive-through system for allowing a visitor riding in a motor vehicle or car to issue an order for an article of commerce or commodity. More particularly, the present invention is related to a drive-through system in which a wireless order data system is adopted for making it possible for a visitor riding in a car to issue an order for an article of commerce which order is wirelessly conveyed to an order taker resident in a store.
2. Description of the Related Art
At first, terminological definition is made. Phrase “drive-through system” means a system in which a visitor riding in an incoming car arrived at the site of a store can make an order for an article of commerce without need for getting off the car, which order is received by a store clerk resident in the store for delivering the article of commerce to the visitor for sale.
FIG. 4
shows a configuration of a conventional drive-through system. The drive-through system includes: a menu board
1
disposed at a parking lane for a car; a base station
4
; order taker equipment
10
installed in a store; an order taker head set
16
used by a store clerk to receive an order; a magnet-type car detector
17
for detecting arrival of an incoming car at the parking lane; a sensor
18
for detecting the car with a light or ultrasonic wave beam; and a message unit
23
for informing the store clerk of entrance of a car into the site of the store based on a detection signal from the car detector
17
and/or the sensor
18
The menu board
1
is equipped with a menu-board speaker
2
and a menu-board microphone
3
, wherein a list of commodities is put on the menu board
1
. The base station
4
is equipped with a base station speaker amplifier
5
, a base station microphone amplifier
7
, a receiver
6
, a transmitter
8
, and a base station antenna
9
. The order taker equipment
10
is equipped with an order taker antenna
15
, a transmitter
11
, an order taker microphone amplifier
12
, a receiver
13
, and an order taker power amplifier
14
. The order taker head set
16
includes a microphone and an earphone.
The drive-through system further includes a voice processing unit
19
which is provided between the menu board
1
and the base station
4
and processes a voice signal inputted from the menu-board microphone
3
.
Next, referring to
FIG. 4
, operation of the drive-through system will be described in brief.
When a car enters the parking lane, the car is detected by means of the car detector
17
and the sensor
18
, whereupon a message of entrance of the car into the store site is issued to the store clerk resident within the store. A visitor riding in the car looks at the list of commodities (articles of sale) posted on the menu board
1
to order a desired article for sale in voice through the medium of the menu-board microphone
3
. A voice signal from the menu-board microphone
3
is processed by the voice processing unit
19
, and then is transmitted wirelessly to the order taker equipment
10
through the base station
4
. The store clerk resident within the store has already known the entrance of the car into the parking lane from the message issued by the message unit
23
. Accordingly, he or she can immediately respond to the order issued by the visitor through the menu-board speaker
2
with the aid of the order taker head set
16
.
However, the conventional drive-through system is designed as a system in which the voice processing unit
19
is installed to control the base station
4
in accordance with the processing result thereof so that the store clerk can easily perceive the voice order of the visitor. To this end, it is required to maintain constantly alive the drive-through system, so that there is a problem that remarkable electric power is consumed.
Further, the start and stop of the processing executed by the voice processing unit
19
can manually be controlled by the store clerk using an appropriate switch. However, in the case, the store clerk has to manipulate the switch only after the recognition of entrance of the car as informed by the message issued from the message unit
23
. As a result, the start of the processing executed by the voice processing unit
19
will be accompanied with not a little time lag. Besides, the switch on/off manipulation must be repeated every time an incoming car is detected, so that the burden imposed on the store clerk is aggravated. In the worst case, such situation may make a problem that the store clerk forgets to turn on/off the switch.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In the light of the state of the art described above, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved drive-through system which is capable of starting rapidly the voice processing, mitigating the burden imposed on the store clerk, reducing the electric power consumption by processing an automatic power on/off feature and thus ensuring a high reliability as well as speediness for the operation of the drive-through system.
In view of the above and other objects which will become apparent as the description proceeds, there is provided according to a first aspect of the present invention a drive-through system which includes:
a car detecting unit for automatically messaging entrance of an incoming car into a drive-through store;
a menu board including a speaker and a microphone;
a voice processing unit for processing a voice signal generated through the microphone of the menu board;
a base station operatively connected to the menu board for transmitting/receiving wirelessly the voice signal and a control signal;
an order taker head set including a microphone and an earphone, and designed to be put on a head of a store clerk; and
order taker equipment operatively connected to the order taker head set for transmitting/receiving wirelessly the voice signal and the control signal to/from the base station,
wherein upon detection of an incoming car by means of the car detecting unit, operation of the voice processing unit is automatically started;
a control signal corresponding to a level of the voice signal inputted from the voice processing unit is generated; and
voice levels in the base station and the order taker equipment are automatically adjusted according to the control signal.
By virtue of the arrangement of the drive-through system described above, the operation of the voice processing unit can automatically be started upon the automatic detection of the incoming car, whereby the voice processing can be started speedily. Further, the burden imposed on the store clerk can be mitigated significantly because the operation for turning on/off the voice processing unit can automatically be triggered. Additionally, the power consumption of the drive-through system can be reduced. Furthermore, owing to the capability of the automatic adjustment of the voice level, the visitor's voice level can be held to be substantially constant, whereby the store clerk can perceive or recognize clearly the voice order of the visitor without fail.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a drive-through system which includes:
a car detecting unit for automatically messaging entrance of an incoming car into a drive-through store;
a menu board including a speaker and a microphone whose pointing direction is controllable;
an image pickup device for picking up an image of a visitor riding in the incoming car;
an image processing unit for processing an image signal outputted from the image pickup device;
a base station operatively connected to the menu board for transmitting/receiving wirelessly a voice signal and a control signal;
an order taker head set including a microphone and an earphone, and designed to be put on a head of a store clerk; and
order taker equipment operatively connected to the order taker head set for transmitting/receiving wirelessly the voice signal and the control signal to/from the base station,
wherein the pointing direction of the microphone is automati
Chin Vivian
Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. LTD
Milord Marceau
Stevens Davis Miller & Mosher LLP
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