Guest Check Presenter Having a Wireless Communication Device

• US 20110173060A1
• Filed: 01/10/2011
• Published: 07/14/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/08/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Green Rewards & Affinity LLC
• Original Assignee: Green Rewards & Affinity LLC
• Inventors: Gallagher, Kevin N.
• Application Number:
  US12/987,547
• Publication Number:
  US 20110173060A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.27
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/0425 the cheque being electronic only
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/06 Private payment circuits, e.g. involving electronic currency used among participants of a common payment scheme
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/387 Payment using discounts or coupons relating to marketing G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0226 Incentive systems for frequent usage, e.g. frequent flyer miles programs or point systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/12 Hotels or restaurants
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 7/068 calling personnel in a restaurant, e.g. waiter call

Abstract

A guest check presenter for a food establishment is provided. The guest check presenter includes a holder for holding a guest check information and a wireless communication device attached to the holder and adapted to communicate with a wireless mobile device of the guest. The wireless communication device contains a guest check identifier that identifies the guest check. The guest check identifier is adapted to be retrieved by the wireless mobile device of the guest for use in providing various useful mobile services that are associated with the food establishment or the food consumed by the guest. Thus, the check presenter is used as a platform for providing such mobile services as mobile payment of the guest check and loyalty coupons.

Claims

1. A guest check presenter for a food establishment comprising:

a holder for holding a physical guest check; and

a wireless communication device attached to the holder and adapted to communicate with a wireless mobile device of the guest, the wireless communication device storing a guest check identifier for retrieval by the wireless mobile device of the guest for use in facilitating mobile services associated with the food establishment or the food consumed by the guest.

2. The guest check presenter of claim 1, wherein the wireless communication device includes a near-field communications (NFC) chip.

3. The guest check presenter of claim 1, wherein the wireless communication device is adapted to transmit the guest check identifier to the wireless mobile device of the guest when the wireless mobile device is brought near the wireless communication device.

4. The guest check presenter of claim 1, wherein the wireless communication device stores information identifying the table of the guest.

5. The guest check presenter of claim 1, wherein the guest check identifier identifies the wireless communication device which is associated with the guest check.

6. The guest check presenter of claim 1, wherein the wireless communication device stores a location identifier of a restaurant management system which can be accessed by the wireless mobile device through a public communication network.

7. The guest check presenter of claim 1, further comprising a restaurant interface module running in a restaurant management system and adapted to transmit line item details of the guest check to the wireless mobile device for display.

8. The guest check presenter of claim 1, further comprising a restaurant interface module running in a restaurant management system and adapted to:

receive information of a financial instrument belonging to the guest from the wireless mobile device; and

transmit the received financial instrument information to a payment processing system to initiate the process of payment for the guest check.

9. The guest check presenter of claim 1, further comprising a restaurant POS system located at the food establishment and adapted to associate the guest check to the wireless communication device attached to the holder.

10. The guest check presenter of claim 9, wherein the restaurant POS system includes a wireless reader/writer adapted to write the guest check identifier to the wireless communication device in a wireless manner.

11. The guest check presenter of claim 1, further comprising a restaurant interface module running in a restaurant management system and adapted to transmit a loyalty coupon to the wireless mobile device of the guest.

12. The guest check presenter of claim 1, further comprising a restaurant interface module running in a restaurant management system and adapted to transmit a targeted advertising information to the wireless mobile device of the guest.

13. A guest check presenter for a establishment comprising:

a holder for holding a guest check information; and

a wireless communication device attached to the holder and adapted to communicate with a wireless mobile device of a guest, the wireless communication device containing payment facilitating information for facilitating a payment for the guest check by the wireless mobile device of the guest.

14. The guest check presenter of claim 13, wherein the wireless communication device is adapted to uniquely identify the guest in the food establishment.

15. The guest check presenter of claim 13, wherein the wireless communication device is adapted to associate the guest to the guest check.

16. The guest check presenter of claim 13, wherein the wireless communication device includes a near-field communications (NFC) chip.

17. The guest check presenter of claim 16, wherein the wireless communication device is adapted to transmit the payment facilitating information to the wireless mobile device of the guest when the wireless mobile device is brought near the wireless communication device.

18. The guest check presenter of claim 13, wherein the payment facilitating information includes information identifying the table of the guest.

19. The guest check presenter of claim 13, wherein the payment facilitating information includes information identifying the wireless communication device attached to the holder.

20. The guest check presenter of claim 13, wherein the payment facilitating information includes a location identifier of a restaurant management system which can be accessed by the wireless mobile device through a public communication network.

21. The guest check presenter of claim 20, wherein the location identifier includes an Internet address by which the restaurant management system can be accessed by the wireless mobile device.

22. The guest check presenter of claim 13, further comprising a restaurant interface module running in a restaurant management system and adapted to transmit line item details of the guest check to the wireless mobile device for display.

23. The guest check presenter of claim 13, further comprising a restaurant interface module running in a restaurant management system and adapted to:

receive information of a financial instrument belonging to the guest from the wireless mobile device; and

transmit the received financial instrument information to a payment processing system to initiate the process of payment for the guest check.

24. The guest check presenter of claim 13, further comprising a restaurant management system adapted to interface with a plurality of restaurant POS systems to manage guest check payments by wireless mobile devices for a plurality of restaurant entities.

25. The guest check presenter of claim 13, further comprising a restaurant POS system located at a restaurant and adapted to associate the guest check to the wireless communication device attached to the holder.

26. The guest check presenter of claim 25, wherein the restaurant POS system includes a wireless reader/writer adapted to write the payment facilitating information to the wireless communication device in a wireless manner.

27. The guest check presenter of claim 13, further comprising a restaurant interface module running in a restaurant management system and adapted to transmit a loyalty coupon to the wireless mobile device of the guest.

28. The guest check presenter of claim 13, further comprising a restaurant interface module running in a restaurant management system and adapted to transmit a targeted advertising information to the wireless mobile device of the guest.

29. The guest check presenter of claim 13, further comprising a restaurant application module running in the wireless mobile device of the guest and adapted to retrieve information of a financial instrument of the guest, and transmit the received payment facilitating information and the retrieved financial instrument information to a restaurant management system residing on a public communication network.

30. The guest check presenter of claim 13, further comprising a restaurant application module running in the wireless mobile device of the guest and adapted to interact with the guest to allow review of the guest check and add a gratuity amount to the guest check prior to payment.

31. The guest check presenter of claim 13, wherein the holder includes a logo indicating a wireless payment capability and a window through which the logo is viewable.

32. A guest check presenter for a food establishment comprising:

a holder for holding a restaurant guest check information, the holder having

a window; and

a logo indicating a wireless payment capability and disposed to be viewable by a guest; and

a wireless communication device attached to the holder and adapted to communicate with a wireless mobile device of the guest, the wireless communication device containing payment facilitating information for facilitating a payment for the restaurant guest check by the wireless mobile device of the guest.

33. A method for providing mobile services to guests at a food establishment comprising:

providing a guest check presenter including a holder for holding a restaurant guest check information and a wireless communication device attached to the holder and adapted to communicate with a wireless mobile device of the guest;

receiving, for storage in the wireless communication device, a guest check identifier that identifies the guest check from a restaurant management system;

transmitting, to the wireless mobile device of the guest, the stored guest check identifier for facilitating mobile services associated with the food establishment or the food consumed by the guest.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein:

the wireless communication device includes a near-field communications (NFC) chip; and

the step of receiving includes storing the guest check identifier in the NFC chip.

35. The method of claim 33, further comprising transmitting, by the wireless communication device, the stored guest check identifier to the wireless mobile device of the guest when the wireless mobile device is brought near the wireless communication device.

36. The method of claim 33, wherein the step of receiving includes receiving information identifying the table of the guest.

37. The method of claim 33, wherein the step of receiving includes receiving information identifying the wireless communication device.

38. The method of claim 33, wherein the step of receiving includes receiving a location identifier of a restaurant management system which can be accessed by the wireless mobile device through a public communication network.

39. The method of claim 33, further comprising transmitting, by a restaurant management system, line item details of the guest check to the wireless mobile device for display.

40. The method of claim 33, further comprising:

under the control of a restaurant management system,

receiving information of a financial instrument belonging to the guest from the wireless mobile device; and

transmitting the received financial instrument information to a payment processing system to initiate the process of payment for the guest check.

41. The method of claim 33, further comprising associating, by a restaurant POS system, the guest check to the wireless communication device attached to the holder.

42. The method of claim 33, further comprising writing the guest check identifier to the wireless communication device in a wireless manner by a restaurant POS system.

43. The method of claim 33, further comprising:

under the control of a restaurant management system,

transmitting a loyalty coupon or targeted advertising information to the wireless mobile device of the guest.

44. A method for a guest to pay for a guest check at a food establishment comprising:

providing a guest check presenter including a holder for holding a restaurant guest check information and a wireless communication device attached to the holder and adapted to communicate with a wireless mobile device of the guest;

receiving, for storage in the wireless communication device, payment facilitating information from a restaurant management system;

transmitting, to the wireless mobile device of the guest, the stored payment facilitating information for facilitating a payment for the guest check by the wireless mobile device of the guest.

45. The method of claim 44, wherein the step of receiving includes receiving the payment facilitating information which is sufficient to uniquely identify the guest in the food establishment.

46. The method of claim 44, wherein the step of receiving includes receiving the payment facilitating information which associates the guest to the guest check.

47. The method of claim 44, wherein:

the wireless communication device includes a near-field communications (NFC) chip; and

the step of receiving includes storing the payment facilitating information for storage in NFC chip.

48. The method of claim 44, further comprising transmitting, by the wireless communication device, the stored payment facilitating information to the wireless mobile device of the guest when the wireless mobile device is brought near the wireless communication device.

49. The method of claim 44, wherein the step of receiving includes receiving information identifying the table of the guest.

50. The method of claim 44, wherein the step of receiving includes receiving information identifying the wireless communication device.

51. The method of claim 44, wherein the step of receiving includes receiving a location identifier of a restaurant management system which can be accessed by the wireless mobile device through a public communication network.

52. The method of claim 51, wherein the step of receiving the location identifier includes receiving an Internet address by which the restaurant management system can be accessed by the wireless mobile device.

53. The method of claim 44, further comprising transmitting, by a restaurant management system, line item details of the guest check to the wireless mobile device for display.

54. The method of claim 44, further comprising:

under the control of a restaurant management system,

receiving information of a financial instrument belonging to the guest from the wireless mobile device; and

transmitting the received financial instrument information to a payment processing system to initiate the process of payment for the guest check.

55. The method of claim 44, further comprising associating, by a restaurant POS system, the guest check to the wireless communication device attached to the holder.

56. The method of claim 44, further comprising:

under the control of a restaurant management system,

transmitting a loyalty coupon or targeted advertising information to the wireless mobile device of the guest.