MULTI-PLATFORM NETWORK FOR PROVIDING ORDERING SERVICES

• US 20090089183A1
• Filed: 09/27/2007
• Published: 04/02/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/27/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Laboratories Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Angiolillo, Joel S., Moon, Hannah Y., Morley, D. Beau, Afram, Andrew J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,805,729 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/27
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]

Abstract

A food ordering system may receive, from a user, a request to place a food order, identify the user, identify a type of user device used by the user to place the request, identify a user interface client that is tailored to the type of the user device, receive, via the user interface client, input from the user to establish the food order, and provide the food order to a restaurant.

Claims

1. An automated method, comprising:

storing a plurality of user identifiers, each of the user identifiers being associated with at least one user interface client;

receiving, from a user, a request to place a food order;

identifying the user;

identifying a type of user device used by the user to send the request;

selecting, based on the user identifier corresponding to the identified user, one of the at least one user interface client that is tailored to the user and to the type of the user device;

receiving, via the selected user interface client, input from the user to establish the food order; and

providing the food order to a restaurant.

2. The method of claim 1, where identifying the type of the user device includes:

identifying the user device as one of a video client, a mobile device, or a computer device.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

inserting an interactive trigger into a commercial provided to a television device of the user, activation of the interactive trigger causing the request to be generated.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

presenting, via the selected user interface client, a list of restaurants and a list of food items offered by each of the restaurants; and

where receiving the input from the user includes;

receiving a selection of one of the restaurants, and

receiving a selection of one or more of the food items offered by the selected restaurant.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising at least one of:

presenting, via the selected user interface client, a name of a restaurant that the user has previously identified as a favorite restaurant, where the name of the restaurant is presented on a screen of a first type of the user device and the name of the restaurant was previously identified as a favorite restaurant by the user using a second type of the user device, where the first type of the user device and the second type of the user device are different, or

presenting, via the selected user interface client, a food order that the user has previously identified as a favorite food order, where the food order is presented on a screen of a first type of the user device and the food order was previously identified as a favorite food order by the user using a second type of the user device, where the first type of the user device and the second type of the user device are different.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising at least one of:

presenting, via the selected user interface client, a name of a restaurant from which the user previously ordered food, where the name of the restaurant is presented on a screen of a first type of the user device and food was previously ordered from the restaurant by the user using a second type of the user device, where the first type of the user device and the second type of the user device are different, or

presenting, via the selected user interface client, a food order that the user has previously placed, where the food order is presented on a screen of a first type of the user device and the food order was previously placed by the user using a second type of the user device, where the first type of the user device and the second type of the user device are different.

7. The method of claim 1, where the user device includes a video client, a computer device, or a mobile device;

and

where the method further comprises;

creating a single bill that includes a first charge for the food order and a second charge for a service associated with the user device, where the service associated with the user device includes a television service if the user device is a video client, an Internet service if the user device is a computer device, or a wireless telephone service if the user device is a mobile device.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

permitting the user to identify a favorite restaurant or a favorite food item; and

recommending a restaurant or a food item to the user based on the favorite restaurant or the favorite food item.

9. The method of claim 1, where providing the food order to the restaurant includes:

electronically providing, to the restaurant, the food order along with contact information for the user.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing, to the user, an alert that identifies that the food order was processed by the restaurant.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

permitting the user to specify a particular food attribute; and

identifying, to the user, one or more food items associated with the particular food attribute.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

permitting the user to specify a search term;

performing a full text search of restaurant metadata to identify one or more food items based on the search term; and

identifying, to the user, the one or more food items.

13. A food ordering system, comprising one or more devices to:

store a plurality of user identifiers, each of the user identifiers being associated with at least one user interface client,

receive, from a user, a request to place a food order,

identify one of the user identifiers corresponding to the user,

identify a type of user device used by the user to send the request,

select, based on the one of the user identifiers, one of the at least one user interface client that is tailored to the type of the user device,

receive, via the selected user interface client, input from the user to establish the food order, and

provide the food order to a restaurant.

14. The food ordering system of claim 13, where when identifying the type of the user device, the one or more devices are configured to:

identify the user device as one of a video client, a mobile device, or a computer device.

15. The food ordering system of claim 13, where the one or more devices are further configured to:

insert an interactive trigger into advertising content, and

provide the advertising content to the user, activation of the interactive trigger causing the food ordering system to be contacted.

16. The food ordering system of claim 13, where the one or more devices are further configured to:

present, via the selected user interface client, a list of restaurants and a list of food items offered by each of the restaurants; and

where when receiving the input from the user, the one or more devices are configured to;

receive, via the selected user interface client, a selection of one of the restaurants, and

receive, via the selected user interface client, a selection of one or more of the food items offered by the selected restaurant.

17. The food ordering system of claim 13, where the one or more devices are further configured to at least one of:

present, via the selected user interface client, a name of a restaurant that the user has previously identified as a favorite restaurant, where the name of the restaurant is presented on a screen of a first type of the user device and the name of the restaurant was previously identified as a favorite restaurant by the user using a second type of the user device, where the first type of the user device and the second type of the user device are different, or

present, via the selected user interface client, a food order that the user has previously identified as a favorite food order, where the food order is presented on a screen of a first type of the user device and the food order was previously identified as a favorite food order by the user using a second type of the user device, where the first type of the user device and the second type of the user device are different.

18. The food ordering system of claim 13, where the one or more devices are further configured to at least one of:

present, via the selected user interface client, a name of a restaurant from which the user previously ordered food, where the name of the restaurant is presented on a screen of a first type of the user device and food was previously ordered from the restaurant by the user using a second type of the user device, where the first type of the user device and the second type of the user device are different, or

present, via the selected user interface client, a food order that the user has previously placed, where the food order is presented on a screen of a first type of the user device and the food order was previously placed by the user using a second type of the user device, where the first type of the user device and the second type of the user device are different.

19. The food ordering system of claim 13, where the user device includes a video client, a computer device, or a mobile device;

and

where the one or more devices are further configured to;

create a single bill that includes a first charge for the food order and a second charge for a service associated with the user device, where the service associated with the user device includes a television service if the user device is a video client, an Internet service if the user device is a computer device, or a wireless telephone service if the user device is a mobile device.

20. The food ordering system of claim 13, where the one or more devices are further configured to:

permit the user to identify a favorite restaurant or a favorite food item, and

recommend a restaurant or a food item to the user based on the favorite restaurant or the favorite food item.

21. The food ordering system of claim 13, where when providing the food order to the restaurant, the one or more devices are configured to:

electronically provide, to the restaurant, the food order along with contact information for the user.

22. The food ordering system of claim 21, where the one or more devices are further configured to:

provide, to the user, an alert that identifies that the food order was processed by the restaurant.

23. The food ordering system of claim 13, where the one or more devices are further configured to:

provide, to the restaurant, an interface via which the restaurant can update information regarding the restaurant or obtain information regarding food orders provided to the restaurant via the food ordering system.

24. A food ordering system, comprising:

means for storing a plurality of user identifiers, each of the user identifiers being associated with at least one user interface client;

means for receiving, from a user of a user device, a request to communicate with the food ordering system;

means for identifying one of the user identifiers corresponding to the user;

means for determining whether the user device is a video client, a computer device, or a mobile device;

means for accessing said means for storing, to select, based on the identified user identifier, a first user interface client if the user device is the video client;

means for accessing said means for storing, to select, based on the identified user identifier, a second user interface client if the user device is the computer device;

means for accessing said means for storing, to select, based on the identified user identifier, a third user interface client if the user device is the mobile device;

means for receiving, via the selected first, second, or third user interface client, input from the user to identify restaurant metadata; and

means for providing the restaurant metadata.

25. An automated method, comprising:

storing a plurality of user identifiers, each of the user identifiers being associated with at least one user interface client;

receiving, from a user, a request to place an order for an item;

identifying one of the user identifiers corresponding to the user;

identifying a type of user device used by the user to send the request;

selecting, based on the identified user identifier, one of the at least one user interface client that is tailored to the user and to the type of the user device;

receiving, via the selected user interface client, input from the user to establish the order for the item; and

providing the order for the item to a business that offers the item for sale.