Mobile restaurant ordering system

• US 10,109,026 B2
• Filed: 08/18/2011
• Issued: 10/23/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 10/06/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tillster, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Tillster, Inc.
• Inventors: Garrett, James M., Connelly, Ryan
• Primary Examiner(s): Frenel, Vanel
• Application Number:
  US13/212,905
• Publication Number:
  US 20120209730A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,623 Days
• Field of Search: 705 15, 705 27, 705 1427, 709204, 370338, 455421, 4554563, 235322, 340 59, 340 542, 340 572
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/12 Hotels or restaurants

Abstract

A mobile ordering system for a restaurant configured to request processing of an order made by a customer with a mobile device when the customer enters a predetermined geographic region associated with the restaurant as determined by a server configured to process global positioning satellite (“GPS”) data received from the mobile device. A user associated with the restaurant uses the mobile restaurant ordering system to define the predetermined geographic region. The server may be configured to dynamically alter the predefined geographic region associated with the restaurant based on certain factors associated with the restaurant, the order, and/or the customer.

Claims

1. A method for processing an order for a retail establishment, including preparing food for a customer, wherein a server is in communication with a processing device at the retail establishment and the server provides an application to a mobile device that includes a list of food items available for purchase from the retail establishment, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving by the server a selection of at least one food item for purchase from the retail establishment from the mobile device;

subsequent to receiving the selection of the at least one food item from the mobile device, receiving by the server a plurality of data sets comprised of location data from the mobile device;

determining by the server whether the mobile device is within a geographic region comprising a circular outer boundary of a computed radius around a physical location of the retail establishment based on the received plurality of data sets, the computed radius calculated from a base radius defined by a user of the processing device at the retail establishment and an empirical evidence factor associated with a performance of the retail establishment on previous orders;

communicating from the server to the processing device the selection of the at least one food item for purchase from the retail establishment, wherein the selection of the at least one food item for purchase from the retail establishment is not communicated to the processing device until the server has determined that the mobile device is within the geographic region; and

preparing the at least one food item for presentation to the customer at the retail establishment based upon determination from the determining step that the mobile device is within the geographic region.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of determining whether the mobile device is within the geographic region comprises:

calculating by the server a distance between the location of the mobile device and the physical location of the retail establishment; and

comparing by the server the distance between the location of the mobile device and the physical location of the retail establishment to the computed radius.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the step of preparing the at least one food item for presentation at the retail establishment when the mobile device is within the geographic region comprises determining if the distance between the location of the mobile device and the physical location of the retail establishment is less than the computed radius.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the location data received from the mobile device comprises GPS coordinates associated with the mobile device.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving payment information from the mobile device sufficient to effect payment for the at least one food item.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising transmitting the payment information to a point-of-sale system associated with the retail establishment configured to process the payment information to effect payment for the at least one food item.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the geographic region is a first geographic region, the method further comprising:

establishing a second geographic region associated with the retail establishment;

determining whether the mobile device is within the second geographic region based on the data received at the server representative of the location of the mobile device; and

directing the retail establishment to prepare the selection when the mobile device is within the second geographic region.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the step of determining whether the mobile device is within the second geographic region is performed if it is determined that the mobile device is not within the first geographic region.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising transmitting a notification to the retail establishment that a customer associated with the mobile device will be arriving at the retail establishment shortly when the mobile device enters the geographic region.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the computed radius is further calculated from a preparation time for the at least one food item.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the empirical evidence factor is based on survey results from surveys presented to customers of the retail establishment subsequent to the previous orders.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the computed radius is further calculated from a rate of change in distance of the mobile device from the physical location of the retail establishment, the rate of change in distance determined by the server based upon the plurality of data sets comprised of location data received from the mobile device.

13. A system for processing an order for a purchase, the system comprising:

a mobile device enabling a user to make a selection of at least one food item for purchase from a retail establishment; and

a server communicatively connected to the mobile device, the server configured to

receive the selection of the at least one item for purchase from the mobile device,

receive a plurality of data sets comprised of location data from the mobile device,

determine whether the mobile device is within a geographic region associated with the retail establishment based on the received plurality of data sets, the geographic region comprising a circular outer boundary of a computed radius around a physical location of the retail establishment, the computed radius calculated from a base radius defined for the retail establishment and an empirical evidence factor associated with a performance of the retail establishment on previous purchases of food items,

upon determining that the mobile device is within the geographic region associated with the retail establishment, communicate with a processing device at the retail establishment the selection of the at least one food item for purchase, and

instruct through the processing device at the retail establishment to prepare the at least one food item for presentation to the user.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the server is further configured to, upon the server determining that the mobile device is not within the geographic region, determine at least one more time whether or not the mobile device is within the geographic region.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the server is further configured to repeat the step of determining whether the mobile device is within the geographic region until occurrence of an event selected from a determination that the mobile device is within the geographic region and an elapsing after a predetermined amount of time.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the server is further configured to:

receive a second selection of at least one food item for purchase at a second retail establishment from a second mobile device;

determine whether the second mobile device is within a second geographic region associated with the second retail establishment; and

upon determining whether that the second mobile device is within a second geographic region, instruct the second retail establishment to prepare the at least one item according to the second selection for presentation to a user of the second mobile device.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the radius of the geographic region is computed using a formula:

u+((v*t+a/2)*c)

wherein u is the base radius, v is a velocity vector with respect to the physical location of the retail establishment associated with the mobile device, t is a time to complete the order, a is a positional accuracy value associated with the location data in the plurality of data sets received from the mobile device, and c is the empirical evidence factor.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein the empirical evidence factor is based on survey results from surveys presented to recipients of the previous purchases of food items of the retail establishment.

19. An ordering system comprising:

a processing device of a restaurant system; and

a mobile device communicatively connected to a server, the mobile device comprising ordering means for prompting a user of the mobile device to select a restaurant and at least one food item to purchase from the restaurant and for placing an order, the order comprising the selected restaurant and the selected at least one food item to purchase; and

the server communicatively connected to the processing device and communicatively connected to the mobile device, the server comprising;

selection means for receiving the order from the mobile device subsequent to the placing of the order by the ordering means of the mobile device;

geofence location means for determining whether the mobile device is within a geofence defined by a circular outer boundary of a computed radius around the restaurant based on a plurality of data sets comprised of location data received from the mobile device, the computed radius calculated from a base radius defined by a user of the processing device at the restaurant and an empirical evidence factor associated with a performance of the restaurant on previous orders; and

holding means for holding the order from being communicated through to the processing device upon determining by the geofence location means that the mobile device is not within the geofence and for releasing the order to the processing device upon determining by the geofence location means that the mobile device is within the geofence based on the plurality of data sets comprised of location data received from the mobile device.

20. The ordering system of claim 19, wherein the geofence location means calculates the computed radius of the geofence using a formula:

u+((v*t+a/2)*c),

wherein u is the base radius, v is a velocity vector with respect to a physical location of the restaurant associated with the mobile device, t is a time to complete the order, a is a positional accuracy value associated with the location data in the plurality of data sets received from the mobile device, and c is the empirical evidence factor.