System for stock management for on-board catering for a vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11501249-B2
Application number	US-201916371413-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 1, 2019
Priority date	Apr 9, 2018
Publication date	Nov 15, 2022
Grant date	Nov 15, 2022

Abstract

A system for stock management for on-board catering for a vehicle, in particular for an aircraft, includes a galley which is provided with a control unit for controlling the galley, wherein the control unit is designed to make available stock management data of the galley; a service unit for transporting supplies within the vehicle, wherein the stock management data comprise a stock record of the supplies transported with the service unit; and at least one operator control element which is communicatively connected to the control unit of the galley via a wireless data connection and is designed to record removal of a supply item from the service unit and/or reception of a supply item into the service unit, and to bring about updating of the stock record of the transported supplies on the basis thereof.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A system for stock management for on-board catering for a vehicle, comprising:
a galley provided with a control unit for controlling the galley, wherein the control unit is configured to make available stock management data of the galley;
a service unit for transporting supplies within the vehicle, wherein the stock management data comprise a stock record of the supplies transported in the service unit; and
at least one operator control element communicatively connected to the control unit of the galley via a wireless data connection and configured to record removal of a supply item from the service unit and/or reception of a supply item by the service unit, and to bring about updating of the stock record of the transported supplies on the basis thereof,
wherein the at least one operator control element comprises an operator control element permanently integrated in the service unit, and
wherein the at least one operator control element has an identification unit configured to identify a supply item, the identification unit integrated into the service unit and configured to identify the supply item while the supply item is inserted into or removed out of the service, wherein the identification unit comprises a camera to identify the supply item by optically capturing an external shape of the supply item.

2. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the identification unit is embodied as a barcode reader.

3. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one operator control element is configured to display the stock management data.

4. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the stock management data comprise at least one of catering data, passenger data and cabin data.

5. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the operator control element is a touchscreen.

6. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one operator control element is configured to identify the service unit and to assign the stock record to the service unit on the basis thereof.

7. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the service unit comprises a data memory configured to store the stock record.

8. The system according to claim 7 , wherein the at least one operator control element is communicatively connected to the data memory of the service unit and is configured to read the stock record out of the data memory.

9. The system according to claim 7 , wherein the at least one operator control element is communicatively connected to the data memory of the service unit and is configured to bring about updating of the stock record on the data memory when a supply item is removed from the service unit and/or a supply item is input by the service unit.

10. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the service unit comprises a service unit display configured to display the stock record.

11. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the galley has a galley display configured to display the stock management data.

12. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the control device of the galley is communicatively connected to a cabin management system of the vehicle.

13. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the service unit is a service trolley, a container or a tray.

14. An aircraft comprising a system according to claim 1 .

Assignees

• Airbus Operations Gmbh

Inventors

• Bauer Michael
• Reiss Matthias
• Kaufeld Norbert
• Dahms Tobias
• Hoelscher Heinrich
• Ernits Rafael Mortensen
• Freitag Michael

Classifications

• B65G2203/0216

  Codes or marks on the article · CPC title

• B64D11/0007 Primary

  Devices specially adapted for food or beverage distribution services · CPC title

• G06Q10/087 Primary

  Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders · CPC title

• G06Q50/12

  Hotels or restaurants · CPC title

• B65G2201/0202

  Agricultural and processed food products · CPC title