Electronic cash register system with transmission means to transmit cooking initiation instructions to a kitchen at suitable times for serving articles of a meal in a desired sequence

Claim 1

An electronic cash register system for transmitting cooking initiation instructions to a kitchen provided with at least one cooking station, said cooking initiation instructions being transmitted at suitable times for serving articles of a meal in a desired sequence, in accordance with at least one customer order, wherein said articles are chosen by said at least one customer from a group of menu articles, said system comprising: input means for receiving customer orders and for generating an output representing said customer orders; transmission means for transmitting cooking initiation instructions to said kitchen; first registration data memory means for storing information specifying individual menu article cooking times, each of said menu articles comprising at least one constituent material, each of said menu article cooking times constituting a length of time required to cook a menu article; second registration data memory means for storing information specifying serving time sequences of said menu articles; third registration data memory means for storing information specifying said at least one constituent material of each of said menu articles; fourth registration data memory means for storing information specifying individual constituent material cooking times, each of said constituent material cooking times constituting a length of time required to cook a constituent material; fifth registration data memory means for storing information specifying proper cooking stations for each of said constituent materials; and control means, receiving said output from said input means, for determining individual start times, at which preparation of the at least one constituent material of said articles selected by said at least one customer is to begin at said cooking stations, by obtaining said stored information from said first to fifth registration data memory means and for controlling said transmission means to transmit cooking initiation instructions for each constituent material of each of said articles chosen by said at least one customer to proper cooking stations at said individual start times.