Catering system

A system designed for companies running canteens for their staffs or for caterers. The system can be used for “organised” groups of people to have meals or for individual guests and single-time guests.
In both cases meals are accounted with a proximity card (Mifare). A card is pre-loaded with “pulses” amounting to a sum of cash to be spent in a canteen or at a vending machine. With this system food catering services between caterers and their customers can be accounted.
Additionally a system can comprise:

•    proximity cards
•    readers
•    check-out stations
•    food vending machines
•    system central server

SYSTEM DESCRIPTION

1.CASH DESK/CHECK-OUT 
A fiscal place of paying for food products - for sale of food products basing on the use of proximity cards and accounting of not utilised cards.
Elements:

•    PC
•    Mifare^® encoder
•    fiscal printer
•    report printer

Functions:

•    sale of meals – accounting with a card
•    printing of fiscal receipt slips
•    printing of reports
•    accounting empty and not-used cards – cash return

2.MEAL DISPENSERS 

Meal dispensers (drinks, sandwiches) with a built-in UNICARD device for operating a dispenser with contactless cards. To take out a product a card must be inserted and a product selected.

Functions:

•    operation with contactless cards (Mifare^® )
•    selecting a product from a machine

3.CARTOMATIC

A device for issuing and charging contactless cards (Mifare^® ). Takes notes, coins, returns change, returns and/or charges contactless cards.

Functions:

•    takes coins
•    takes notes
•    returns a change
•    prints fiscal receipt slips
•    issues proximity cards
•    charges proximity cards

4.APPLICATION

The system realises three basic functions:

1) operational function
registering defined products given to authorised bearers of electronic cards in an easy way (e.g. a touch screen, or a Windows keyboard interface) – the system registers and authorises a fact of giving a product, next an information on that is stored in the system database.

2) administrative 
entering titles to defined products for defined employees or groups of such by authorised people and assigning these titles to bearers of these cards; basic information on a character of titles and on an employee is saved in a card and in the system database.

3) reporting 
turnover reports (amounts and quantities), broken down by employees, departments, turnover reports (amounts and quantities), broken down by products.

ADDITIONAL CONDITIONS:

•    The system operates on-line, i.e. without an efficient LAN connection (TCP/IP) between each working station and a server a system wont run.
•    The system uses the SYBASE - a relative database server.
•    Under emergency conditions the system can run in off-mode.

SYSTEM FUNCTIONS:

The system serves to operate food product sale transactions.

1) Card personalisation  

With this function an employee can be assigned an electronic card as a personal ID.

2) Giving authorisation 

Assigning to all employees limits as follows:
identical maximum monthly consumption limit,
individual limit change (only by an administrator),
charging a card with an equivalent of cash paid in by an employee.

3) Card “discharging”

•    who was given a meal (card #)
•    what product/dish (selection of one of articles of defined menu)
•    when (date and time)
•    at what location
•    what was the agreed value

An administrator defines meals and articles to be selected from a list

4) Reports 

Pre-reporting of the history of events with employee’s involvement and summaries
An administrators is entitled to:

•    Make a further entry (with automatic “closing” of previous items)
•    Modification (without closing previous items)
•    Deleting (when not used)