Anticipatory creation of point-of-sale data structures

• US 10,157,378 B1
• Filed: 08/31/2016
• Issued: 12/18/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Block, Inc. (f/k/a Square, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Block, Inc. (f/k/a Square, Inc.)
• Inventors: Wilson, Mathew, Simms, Dan, Huhn, Derrick, Moody, Ryder, Wolter, Jonathan Andrew
• Primary Examiner(s): RUDY, ANDREW J
• Application Number:
  US15/253,172
• Time in Patent Office: 839 Days
• Field of Search: 705 5- 7, 705 1423, 705 1466, 705 261, 235375, 235379, 235376
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/047 using payment protocols involving electronic receipts
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/202 Interconnection or interaction of plural electronic cash registers [ECR] or to host computer, e.g. network details, transfer of information from host to ECR or from ECR to ECR
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/204 comprising interface for record bearing medium or carrier for electronic funds transfer or payment credit
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/209 Specified transaction journal output feature, e.g. printed receipt or voice output
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/4015 using location information
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement

Abstract

Techniques and arrangements for analyzing previous tickets of a customer at different merchants—specifying interactions of the customer at the different merchants—to determine subsequent recommendations to send to a particular merchant in real-time when the customer is located at the particular merchant. Other techniques and arrangements facilitate annotation of merchant tickets by the merchants to enrich the data maintained by the tickets and, in some instances, to enhance the described real-time recommendations. Still other techniques and arrangements create a merchant ticket for recording interactions between a merchant and customer upon the customer creating a reservation at the merchant for a specified future time, or being added to a waitlist of the merchant. Upon the customer arriving at the merchant proximate to the specified future time, the merchant may use the created ticket to track items ordered by the merchants, track tenders used to pay for items, and the like.

Claims

1. A point-of-sale (POS) device comprising:

a display;

one or more processors; and

one or more computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform acts comprising;

generating a data structure for storing interactions between a customer and a merchant, the interactions occurring at least between arrival of the customer at a location associated with the merchant and obtaining of a payment by the merchant from the customer;

receiving a request to create a reservation for the customer at the merchant, wherein the reservation is for a specified future time at the location associated with the merchant;

based at least in part on receiving the request, storing, in the data structure, an identifier of the customer and an indication of the specified future time;

receiving, after storing the identifier, an indication that the customer has arrived at the location associated with the merchant; and

presenting, using the display, a visual representation of at least a portion of stored content of the data structure.

2. The POS device as recited in claim 1, the acts further comprising:

receiving, before the specified future time, an indication of one or more preferences associated with the customer; and

storing, in the data structure, the indication of the one or more preferences associated with the customer.

3. The POS device as recited in claim 2, the acts further comprising presenting the indication of the one or more preferences via the visual representation.

4. The POS device as recited in claim 1, the acts further comprising:

receiving, before the specified future time, payment information associated with a payment instrument of the customer; and

storing, in the data structure, the payment information for the customer.

5. The POS device as recited in claim 4, the acts further comprising:

receiving input indicating that the customer ordered an item from the merchant;

sending, to a payment service, a request to authorize the payment instrument for a cost of the item using the payment information stored in the data structure; and

receiving, from the payment service, an indication that the payment instrument has been approved for the cost of the item.

6. The POS device as recited in claim 1, the acts further comprising:

receiving, based at least in part on receiving the request, information identifying a profile of the customer from a payment service;

identifying, from the profile, at least one preference of the customer; and

storing, in the data structure, the at least one preference.

7. The POS device as recited in claim 1, the acts further comprising:

receiving input indicating that the customer ordered at least one item from the merchant;

updating the data structure to indicate that the customer ordered the at least one item from the merchant; and

updating the visual representation of the data structure to indicate that the customer ordered the at least one item from the merchant.

8. A method implemented at least partly by a point-of-sale device, comprising:

generating, during a first period of time, a data structure to store interactions associated with a transaction between a customer and a merchant;

receiving a request to create a reservation for the transaction, wherein the reservation is for a specified future time at a location;

based at least in part on receiving the request, storing an identifier of the customer and an indication of the specified future time in the data structure;

receiving, during a second period of time, an indication that the customer has arrived at the location; and

presenting, on a display, a visual representation of at least a part of the data structure.

9. The method as recited in claim 8, further comprising:

receiving, before the second period of time, an indication of one or more preferences associated with the customer; and

storing, in the data structure, the indication of the one or more preferences associated with the customer.

10. The method as recited in claim 8, further comprising:

receiving, before the second period time, payment information associated with a payment instrument of the customer for use at the merchant during the transaction; and

storing, in the data structure, the payment information for the customer.

11. The method as recited in claim 10, further comprising:

receiving input indicating that the customer ordered an item;

sending, to a payment service, a request to authorize the payment instrument for a cost of the item using the payment information stored in the data structure; and

receiving, from the payment service, an indication that the payment instrument has been approved for the cost of the item.

12. The method as recited in claim 8, further comprising:

receiving, based at least in part on receiving the request, information identifying a profile of the customer from a payment service;

identifying, from the profile, at least one preference of the customer; and

storing, in the data structure, the at least one preference.

13. The method as recited in claim 8, further comprising:

receiving input indicating that the customer ordered an item from the merchant;

updating the data structure to indicate that the customer ordered the item; and

updating the visual representation of the data structure to indicate that the customer ordered the item.

14. The method as recited in claim 8, wherein storing the identifier of the customer and the indication of the specified future time in the data structure occurs before the second period of time.

15. A point-of-sale (POS) device comprising:

a display;

one or more processors; and

one or more computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform acts comprising;

generating, during a first period of time, a data structure to store interactions between a customer and a merchant during a transaction;

storing, as part of the data structure, an identifier for the customer and an indication of a specified future time associated with a reservation for the transaction at a location;

receiving, during a second period of time, an indication that the customer has arrived at the location; and

presenting, using the display, a visual representation of at least part of the data structure.

16. The POS device as claim 15 recites, the acts further comprising receiving a request to create the reservation for the customer, wherein the request indicates the specified future time.

17. The POS device as recited in claim 15, the acts further comprising:

receiving, before the second period of time, an indication of one or more preferences associated with the customer; and

storing, in the data structure, the indication of the one or more preferences associated with the customer.

18. The POS device as recited in claim 15, the acts further comprising:

receiving, before the second period of time, payment information associated with a payment instrument of the customer for use at the merchant during the transaction; and

storing, in the data structure, the payment information for the customer.

19. The POS device as recited in claim 18, the acts further comprising:

receiving input indicating that the customer ordered an item;

updating the data structure to indicate that the customer ordered the item;

sending, to a payment service, a request to authorize the payment instrument for a cost of the item using the payment information stored in the data structure;

receiving, from the payment service, an indication that the payment instrument has been approved for the cost of the item; and

updating the visual representation of the data structure to indicate that the payment instrument was approved.

20. The POS device as recited in claim 15, the acts further comprising:

receiving information identifying a profile of the customer from a payment service;

identifying, from the profile, at least one preference of the customer, the at least one preference including;

a dietary restriction of the customer;

a tipping preference of the customer;

or

an item preferred by the customer; and

storing, in the data structure, the at least one preference.