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        Restaurant POS system uses Windows to project tablecloths, preview food orders

        Jonathan Angel | Date: Dec 3, 2010 | Comments: 1


        Compurants Limited announced the opening of a "pan-Asian fusion restaurant" in London, featuring a Windows XP-based interactive ordering system that uses HD video projectors. "Inamo" will open shortly with "E-Table" hardware and software, which is also being licensed to other restauranteurs, the company says.

        Unless we include the elaborate cafeterias provided by Google for its employees, high-tech companies rarely engage directly in the restaurant business. An exception is U.K-based Compurants, said to have been founded in 2005 by the entrepreneurs Danny Potter and Noel Hardwick.

        According to Compurants, its team spent "thousands of hours designing and developing the E-Table hardware and software," then decided to open a restaurant in order to bring the concept to life. This was Inamo, a "pan-Asian fusion restaurant" that first opened last year in London's media heartland, Soho.

        Now, Compurants says, it's opening another branch -- Inamo St. James -- on London's central Regent Street, and will also be licensing the E-Table software to other restauranteurs. The materials that will be made available include: system and network architecture diagrams; user interface specifications and manuals; a content management system; plus lists of hardware requirements as well as suppliers, the company adds.

        The Compurants website itself doesn't provide much further information on the E-Table system, but Paul Lamkin, a writer for the U.K.'s Pocket-Lint, garnered further details in conjunction with the Inamo St. James launch. The E-Table system involves a Windows XP Embedded PC for each table, a Canon HD video projector to go with it, and a circular touchpad connected to each PC via Bluetototh, he reports.


        E-Table can project life-size previews of a potential food order
        Source: Pocket-Lint
        (Click to enlarge)

        As Pocket-Lint notes, the E-Table computer sets the mood by projecting (user-selectable) tablecloths from above. Users then order food and drinks by browsing software-based menus rather than by calling a waiter; and, for those who want to see what their meal will look like, a life-size preview can appear on their plates, as shown.

        According to Lamkin, the system keeps track of orders, including letting you know how much of a bar tab you've run up. If something doesn't arrive or there's another problem, human waiters can still be summoned, since they're on hand to do the actual legwork involved in food delivery.


        Users may spy on the kitchen via E-Table's chef-cam
        Source: Pocket-Lint
        (Click to enlarge)

        A nice touch shown in the image above and in the video embedded at the end of this story is the ability to see what's going on in the kitchen via a "chef-cam." The E-Table software also provides games, localized entertainment guides, and movie trailers, even allowing users to call for a taxi when they're finished eating, adds Pocket-lint.

        According to Compurants, the E-Table system is easily customized by restauranteurs, allowing easy updates to menus, food images, and tablecloth designs. The table-based PCs link to a back end that employs Sharp's Windows XP-based UPX500 POS (point of sale) systems, the company adds.


        This video was produced by The Wall Street Journal when the first Inamo restaurant opened in 2009
        (click to play)

        Further information

        According to both Compurants and Pocket-Lint, Inamo St. James will open "this winter," though we did not find a specific opening date listed.

        Further information about Inamo St. James and about the E-Table system may be found here and here, respectively. Pocket-lint's coverage, featuring many additional images, may be found here.

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