Kitchen Display Sync Requests for Low-Latency POS Order Flow
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing POS systems and client devices face inefficiencies in food ordering transactions, leading to poor user experience and increased latency due to delays in communicating orders to kitchen display systems.
Innovation Solution
A system and method for direct communication between a POS device and kitchen display systems (KDS) using synchronization requests to reduce latency by bypassing the need for notifications from a push server, allowing KDS to retrieve new data directly from a cloud server.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the POS system uses a traditional push server notification mechanism to communicate orders to kitchen display systems, then the system architecture is simple and easy to implement, but network latency increases and transaction efficiency decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the push server notification mechanism from the data transmission path and replaces it with direct communication between POS devices and kitchen display systems. The POS device directly pushes order data to the kitchen display system without relying on push server intermediaries, thereby reducing network latency and improving transaction efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a synchronization request mechanism as an intermediary protocol. The POS device sends synchronization requests to the kitchen display system to establish direct communication channels, enabling efficient data push without the traditional push server mediator, thus reducing latency while maintaining system coordination.
2Reliability
If the system relies on push server notifications for data synchronization, then the implementation is straightforward, but system robustness decreases and data distribution speed slows down
Solution Approach 1:
The kitchen display system is equipped with the capability to actively retrieve and synchronize data from the POS device through synchronization requests. This self-service mechanism eliminates dependence on the push server, enhancing system robustness by allowing the kitchen display system to independently obtain updated data and maintain operation even when the push server is unavailable.
Solution Approach 2:
The system establishes synchronization requests and communication channels in advance between POS devices and kitchen display systems. This preliminary action ensures that data transmission pathways are pre-configured and ready, enabling rapid data distribution when needed while reducing reliance on the push server for real-time notifications.
3Productivity
If multiple client devices retrieve data through the cloud server after push server notification, then data consistency is maintained, but the number of network requests increases and overall system efficiency decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the data distribution process by having the POS device directly push data to each kitchen display system individually through synchronization requests. This eliminates the need for multiple client devices to separately retrieve data from the cloud server, reducing the total number of network requests while maintaining data consistency through direct point-to-point communication.
Data Source
AI summary
A system and method include determining, by a point of sale (POS) device, that new data is available at the POS device, in response to determining that new data is available, sending the new data to a cloud server, in response to determining that the new data is successfully transmitted to the cloud server, generating a synchronization request indicating availability of new data at the cloud server, identifying one or more kitchen display systems (KDS) to send the synchronization request to, and sending the synchronization request to each of the identified KDS. Each identified KDS retrieves the new data from the cloud server in response to receiving the synchronization request, and at least one of the KDS performs an action based on the new data in response to retrieving the new data. Each KDS follows a similar procedure when new data for the POS device is available at the KDS.