Multi-tenant cloud-based queuing systems

• US 10,063,661 B2
• Filed: 01/14/2015
• Issued: 08/28/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 01/14/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Jan, Wai, Cook, Gregory, Irvin, Bruce
• Primary Examiner(s): Nano, Sargon
• Assistant Examiner(s): Mendaye, Kidest
• Application Number:
  US14/597,074
• Publication Number:
  US 20160205180A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,322 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/548 Queue
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/546 Message passing systems or structures, e.g. queues
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]

Abstract

Techniques are disclosed for multi-tenant cloud-based queuing. Certain techniques are disclosed herein that provide for interactions and observability between tenant queues within a multi-tenant cloud-based queuing database. In some embodiments, the queues may be utilized by both users and merchants for both online and point-of-service interactions. Multiple queues for multiple tenants are hosted by a cloud computing system. Each queue may include one more queue entries, each of which includes a ticket value, and may further include a ticket alias. The ticket values and/or ticket aliases may be decoupled from a queue position for the entry. In some embodiments, the queue entries may be swapped within a queue or between queues, and the system may enable searching in or automated actions between queues and/or tenants based in part upon queue conditions.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, at a server computer of a queue management system, from a first device of a first merchant via a communication network, a first queue insertion request to insert a first entry for a first user into a first queue of a plurality of queues maintained by the server computer, wherein the first queue is associated with the first merchant, wherein the first entry corresponds to a first service provided by the first merchant to the first user;

inserting, by the server computer, the first entry into the first queue;

receiving, at the server computer, via the communication network, from a second device of a second merchant different from the first merchant, a second queue insertion request to insert a second entry for a second user into a second queue of the plurality of queues, wherein the second queue is associated with the second merchant, wherein the second entry corresponds to a second service provided by the second merchant to the second user, and wherein the second queue is different from the first queue;

inserting, by the server computer, the second entry into the second queue;

receiving, at the server computer, via the communication network, from a first client device associated with the first user, a swap request by the first user to swap the first entry in the first queue with the second entry in the second queue, wherein the swap request includes a set of queue swap criteria specified by the first user, wherein the set of queue swap criteria includes a merchant characteristic;

determining, by the server computer, that the set of queue swap criteria specified by the first user is satisfied by the second entry;

upon determining that the set of queue swap criteria is satisfied by the second entry, sending, by the server computer, via the communication network, to a second client device associated with the second user, a request for the second user to accept the request to swap the first entry in the first queue with the second entry in the second queue, wherein the server computer facilitates communication between the first client device and the second client device that utilize a different communication protocol;

responsive to the request, receiving, at the server computer, via the communication network, from the second client device, a response by the second user indicating an acceptance of the request to swap the first entry in the first queue with the second entry in the second queue;

based on receiving the response indicating the acceptance from the second client device, updating, by the server computer, the first entry and the second entry to cause the first user to be associated with the second entry and the second user to be associated with the first entry; and

transmitting, by the server computer, via the communication network, to each of the first client device and the second client device, a swap notification message based upon the updating of the first entry and the second entry, the swap notification message indicating that the first entry in the first queue is swapped with the second entry in the second queue;

generating, by the server computer, a ticket value, wherein the ticket value is associated with the first entry of the first queue;

receiving, at the server computer from the second device of the second merchant, an authentication request including the ticket value and further including a first value that is generated based upon a first token of the first user;

determining, by the server computer, an authentication result based upon transforming the first value using a second token of the first user; and

transmitting, by the server computer to a second device of the second merchant, an authentication response including the authentication result.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first queue insertion request is received at the server computer from a mobile device of the first user.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

receiving, at the server computer from a single merchant device of the first merchant, a plurality of queue insertion requests to insert a corresponding plurality of entries for a plurality of users into the first queue.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first entry is inserted into the first queue at a first position, and wherein the method further comprises:

updating, by the server computer, the first queue to cause the first entry to be associated with a second position; and

responsive to a determination that the first user is unable to be served by the first merchant at a first time, updating, by the server computer, the first queue to cause the first entry to be associated with a third position.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating, by the server computer, a ticket value, wherein the ticket value is associated with the first entry of the first queue;

transmitting, by the server computer, the ticket value to a mobile device of the first user; and

transmitting, by the server computer, a ticket alias of a ticket queue value to a first merchant device of the first merchant or to the second device of the second merchant.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, at the server computer, a queue request seeking a data describing a utilization of at least two of the plurality of queues; and

responsive to said receiving the queue request, transmitting a queue response message including the data, wherein the data describes a current utilization of the first queue and further describes a current utilization of the second queue.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, at a server computer, a third queue insertion request to insert a third entry for a third user into the first queue; and

responsive to determining that a current utilization of the first queue meets or exceeds a threshold value, automatically inserting the third entry for the third user into a third queue of the plurality of queues, wherein the third queue is associated with a third merchant.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first queue of the plurality of queues is a first data structure including a first plurality of queue entries arranged in a first order,

wherein each queue entry in the first plurality of queue entries in the first data structure is indexed by a queue position associated with the queue entry based on the first order of the first plurality of queue entries,

wherein the first plurality of queue entries includes the first entry,

wherein the second queue of the plurality of queues is a second data structure including a second plurality of queue entries arranged in a second order,

and wherein the second plurality of queue entries includes the second entry.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of queue swap criteria is represented as a set of logical statements.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of queue swap criteria is represented as a set of code statements.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the merchant characteristic in the set of queue swap criteria is a name of the second merchant.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the merchant characteristic in the set of queue swap criteria is a type of the second merchant.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the merchant characteristic in the set of queue swap criteria is a location of the second merchant.

14. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having instructions which, when executed by one or more processors of a server computer, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

receiving, at a server computer of a queue management system, from a first device of a first merchant via communication network, a first queue insertion request to insert a first entry for a first user into a first queue of a plurality of queues maintained by the server computer, wherein the first queue is associated with the first merchant, wherein the first entry corresponds to a first service provided by the first merchant to the first user;

inserting, by the server computer, the first entry into the first queue;

receiving, at the server computer, via the communication network, from a second device of a second merchant different from the first merchant, a second queue insertion request to insert a second entry for a second user into a second queue of the plurality of queues, wherein the second queue is associated with the second merchant, wherein the second entry corresponds to a second service provided by the second merchant to the second user, and wherein the second queue is different from the first queue;

inserting, by the server computer, the second entry into the second queue;

receiving, at the server computer, via the communication network, from a first client device associated with the first user, a swap request by the first user to swap the first entry in the first queue with the second entry in the second queue, wherein the swap request includes a set of queue swap criteria specified by the first user, wherein the set of queue swap criteria includes a merchant characteristic;

determining, by the server computer, that the set of queue swap criteria specified by the first user is satisfied by the second entry;

upon determining that the set of queue swap criteria is satisfied by the second entry, sending, by the server computer, via the communication network, to a second client device associated with the second user, a request for the second user to accept the request to swap the first entry in the first queue with the second entry in the second queue, wherein the server computer facilitates communication between the first client device and the second client device that utilize a different communication protocol;

responsive to the request, receiving, at the server computer, via the communication network, from the second client device, a response by the second user indicating an acceptance of the request to swap the first entry in the first queue with the second entry in the second queue;

based on receiving the response indicating the acceptance from the second client device, updating, by the server computer, the first entry and the second entry to cause the first user to be associated with the second entry and the second user to be associated with the first entry; and

transmitting, by the server computer, via the communication network, to each of the first client device and the second client device, a swap notification message based upon the updating of the first entry and the second entry, the swap notification message indicating that the first entry in the first queue is swapped with the second entry in the second queue;

generating, by the server computer, a ticket value, wherein the ticket value is associated with the first entry of the first queue;

receiving, at the server computer from the second device of the second merchant, an authentication request including the ticket value and further including a first value that is generated based upon a first token of the first user;

determining, by the server computer, an authentication result based upon transforming the first value using a second token of the first user; and

transmitting, by the server computer to a second device of the second merchant, an authentication response including the authentication result.

15. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the first queue insertion request is received at the server computer from a mobile device of the first user, and wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving, from a single merchant device of the first merchant, a plurality of queue insertion requests to insert a corresponding plurality of entries for a plurality of users into the first queue.

16. A server computing device, comprising:

one or more processors; and

a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising;

receiving, at the server computing device, from a first device of a first merchant via a communication network, a first queue insertion request to insert a first entry for a first user into a first queue of a plurality of queues maintained by the server computer, wherein the first queue is associated with the first merchant, wherein the first entry corresponds to a first service provided by the first merchant to the first user;

inserting, by the server computing device, the first entry into the first queue;

receiving, at the server computing device, via the communication network, from a second device of a second merchant different from the first merchant, a second queue insertion request to insert a second entry for a second user into a second queue of the plurality of queues, wherein the second queue is associated with the second merchant, wherein the second entry corresponds to a second service provided by the second merchant to the second user, and wherein the second queue is different from the first queue;

inserting, by the server computing device, the second entry into the second queue;

receiving, by the server computing device, via the communication network from a first client device associated with the first user, a swap request by the first user to swap the first entry in the first queue with the second entry in the second queue, wherein the swap request includes a set of queue swap criteria specified by the first user, wherein the set of queue swap criteria includes a merchant characteristic;

determining, by the server computer, that the set of queue swap criteria specified by the first user is satisfied by the second entry;

upon determining that the set of queue swap criteria is satisfied by the second entry, sending, by the server computing device, via the communication network to a second client device associated with the second user, a request for the second user to accept the request to swap the first entry in the first queue with the second entry in the second queue, wherein the server facilitates communication between the first client device and the second client device that utilize a different communication protocol;

responsive to the request, receiving, at the server computing device, via the communication network from the second client device, a response by the second user indicating an acceptance of the request to swap the first entry in the first queue with the second entry in the second queue;

based on receiving the response indicating the acceptance from the second client device, updating, by the server computing device, the first entry and the second entry to cause the first user to be associated with the second entry and the second user to be associated with the first entry; and

transmitting, by the server computing device, via the communication network, to each of the first client device and the second client device, a swap notification message based upon the updating of the first entry and the second entry, the swap notification message indicating that the first entry in the first queue is swapped with the second entry in the second queue;

generating, by the server computing device, a ticket value, wherein the ticket value is associated with the first entry of the first queue;

receiving, at the server computing device from the second device of the second merchant, an authentication request including the ticket value and further including a first value that is generated based upon a first token of the first user;

determining, by the server computing device, an authentication result based upon transforming the first value using a second token of the first user; and

transmitting, by the server computing device to a second device of the second merchant, an authentication response including the authentication result.

17. The server computing device of claim 16, wherein the first queue insertion request is received at the server computing device from a mobile device of the first user, and wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving, from a single merchant device of the first merchant, a plurality of queue insertion requests to insert a corresponding plurality of entries for a plurality of users into the first queue.

18. The server computing device of claim 16, wherein the first entry is inserted into the first queue at a first position, and wherein the operations further comprise:

updating the first queue to cause the first entry to be associated with a second position; and

responsive to a determination that the first user is unable to be served by the first merchant at a first time, updating the first queue to cause the first entry to be associated with a third position.