Systems and Methods to Implement Point of Sale (POS) Terminals, Process Orders and Manage Order Fulfillment

• US 20110125566A1
• Filed: 10/18/2010
• Published: 05/26/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/06/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ByteDance Inc. (ByteDance Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: LineMonkey, Inc.
• Inventors: McLaughlin, Quinn, Lyon, Ben Harris
• Granted Patent: US 9,275,407 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.23
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• 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 20/209 Specified transaction journal output feature, e.g. printed receipt or voice output
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/325 using wireless networks
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0222 During e-commerce, i.e. online transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0635 Processing of requisition or of purchase orders

Abstract

Systems and methods to integrate point of sale processing, online order processing, and supply chain and store management over the Internet. In one aspect, a central server provides point of sale, online order processing, and supply chain and store management functions via browser based interfaces. The system enables users to enter orders from remote locations for order fulfillment at brick and mortar retail locations, where the POS terminals configured based on the browser based interfaces can be changed into a self service mode to allow customers to place orders for themselves at the retail locations.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

providing first software to web browsers of a plurality of retailers to convert the web browsers into point of sale (POS) terminals implementing an order entry interface for the retailers;

receiving, at a computing device over a network, orders from the POS terminals via the first software running in the web browsers;

processing, by the computing device, payments for the orders on behalf of the retailers; and

tracking, by the computing device in communication with the first software running in the web browsers, data related to the orders on behalf of the retailers.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein when in a first mode, each respective POS terminal of the POS terminals is operable by a representative of a respective retailer to view orders dispatched to the respective POS terminal for fulfillment;

and when in a second mode, the respective POS terminal is operable by a customer for self servicing one or more orders of the customer without providing the customer with access to orders placed by other customers.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

providing an order fulfillment interface, via the computing device in communication with the first software running in the web browsers, to present orders for which payments have been processed by the computing device; and

in response to a request from the respective POS terminal, preventing access to the order fulfillment interface from the respective POS terminal while allowing access to the order entry interface to run the respective POS terminal in the second mode.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

presenting, via the computing device in communication with the first software running in the web browsers, order queues in the order fulfillment interface;

wherein at least one of the order queue presented on a first POS terminal of the POS terminals include orders received via the first POS terminal and orders received not from the first POS terminal.

5. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

receiving, in the computing device via the first software, account information provided in connection with the orders, wherein the first software is configured to interface with readers to obtain the account information from account identification devices.

6. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

receiving, in the computing device, payment information via a graphical user interface presented by the first software on the web browsers.

7. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

generating receipts via the computing device in communication with the first software, wherein the first software is configured to interface with printers to print the receipts.

8. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

providing second software implementing the web browsers together with the first software to computing devices of the plurality of retailers to convert the computing devices of the plurality of retailers into the point of sale (POS) terminals.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

clocking, via the computing device in communication with the first software running in the web browsers, employees of the retailer operating the POS terminals.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the orders are at least for one of:

products and services.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, by the computing device, an identity of a customer based on at least one of;

account information of the customer,

payment information of the customer, and

an identifier of a mobile communication device of the customer.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

tracking, by the computing device, orders placed by the customer with the plurality of retailers using the identity of the customer;

storing, by the computing device, order preferences of the customer; and

personalizing, by the computing device, order experiences for the customer based on the identity of the customer.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing, by the computing device over a network, the order entry interface to web browsers of customers;

receiving, in the computing device and via the order entry interface provided to the web browsers of the customers, first orders directed to the retailers;

processing, by the computing device, payments for the first orders on behalf of the retailers; and

dispatching, from the computing device, the first orders to the POS terminals in an order fulfillment interface after the processing of the payments for the first orders.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the first orders indicate requested fulfillment times of the first orders;

and the method further comprises;

queuing orders dispatched to the retailers based on estimated time periods to fulfill the orders and the requested fulfillment times to reduce fulfillment delay; and

providing, by the computing device, notification messages to respective customers when relays in fulfillment of one or more of the first orders are expected.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

storing, by the computing device, first data indicating time periods used to fulfill previous orders, and second data indicating a pattern of orders placed via the POS terminals of the retailers;

wherein the notification messages include delays estimated based on a statistical analysis of the first data and the second data.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the notification messages are transmitted via at least one of:

email, text message, instant message, and voice mail.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the first software is provided in response to a subscription to a service provided by the computing device;

and the service includes the processing and the tracking.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the data related to the orders tracked on behalf of the retailers includes real time order statistics;

and the method further comprises;

managing, by the computing device, a promotion based on the real time order statistics.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the promotion includes an announcement to provide a discounted price for a predetermined number of orders placed with a retailer within a period of time;

the retailer has a plurality of different locations; and

the processing of the payments for the orders includes;

determining, by the computing device, whether a first order placed with the retailer within the period of time is entitled to the discounted price in accordance with the promotion, based on statistics of orders processed up to the first order for the retailer across the different locations.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

managing, by the computing device in communication with the first software running in the web browsers, inventory on behalf of the retailers.

21. A tangible storage medium storing thereon computer readable instructions which, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to:

provide first software to web browsers of a plurality of retailers to convert the web browsers into point of sale (POS) terminals implementing an order entry interface for the retailers;

receive, over a network, orders from the POS terminals via the first software running in the web browsers;

process payments for the orders on behalf of the retailers; and

track, in communication with the first software running in the web browsers, data related to the orders on behalf of the retailers.

22. A computing device, comprising:

a processor;

a tangible storage medium storing thereon program logic, the processor coupled with the tangible storage medium to execute the program logic, the program logic comprising;

logic to receive, over a network, orders from the POS terminals via first software running in web browsers, wherein the first software is provided to the web browsers of a plurality of retailers to convert the web browsers into point of sale (POS) terminals implementing an order entry interface for the retailers;

logic to process payments for the orders on behalf of the retailers; and

logic to track, in communication with the first software running in the web browsers, data related to the orders on behalf of the retailers.

23. The computing device of claim 22, wherein the program logic further comprises at least one of:

logic to present on the POS terminals orders to be fulfilled at the retail locations;

logic to clock employees in and out at retail locations of the POS terminals;

logic to present, in response to computing devices of customers attempting to use wireless access points at the retail locations of the retailers, to the computing devices the order entry interface using the wireless access points;

logic to limit access by the customers to the wireless access points at the retail locations based on orders placed by the customers;

logic to remotely close retail operations for the plurality of retailers;

logic to manage promotions based on real time order statistics;

logic to manage inventories for the plurality of retailers;

logic to track payouts to vendors of the plurality of retailers; and

logic to manage subscriptions of the retailers to at least one service of the computing device.