AUTOMATIC TEST ORDER GENERATION FOR A RETAIL SHOPPING SERVICE

• US 20130066686A1
• Filed: 09/08/2011
• Published: 03/14/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/08/2011
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: GrubHub Inc.
• Original Assignee: GrubHub Inc.
• Inventors: Danielson, Zachary, Polkow, Lauren Beth
• Application Number:
  US13/227,771
• Publication Number:
  US 20130066686A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/7.39
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management

Abstract

A restaurant service automatically generates test orders comprised of items selected to minimize the cost and/or inconvenience to participating restaurants that accidentally prepare the test order.

Claims

1. A method of issuing a test order to one or more restaurants from an online ordering system;

the online ordering system including a database for maintaining an order queue comprising one or more orders, the database also maintaining a collection of menus, wherein each menu corresponds to a particular one of the one or more restaurants, a back office computer for transmitting orders to the one or more restaurants over the Internet, and the online ordering system also including a monitoring computer, the method comprising the steps of;

i) the monitoring computer accessing the database and retrieving a menu for a particular restaurant;

ii) the monitoring computer programmatically selecting from the menu one or more items to generate a test order;

iii) the monitoring computer placing the test order in the order queue;

iv) the back office computer retrieving the test order from the order queue; and

v) the back office computer communicating the order to the particular restaurant over the Internet.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of receiving an order confirmation from the particular restaurant.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the order confirmation is received by the back office computer.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein each of the menus includes a plurality of items and wherein the database maintains an indicia indicative of the popularity of a first subset of items with restaurant customers, and wherein the database does not maintain an indicia indicative of the popularity of a second subset of items with restaurant customers, and wherein the monitoring computer incorporates a first rule into the step of selecting wherein the first rule favors items that are within the second subset of items.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the monitoring computer incorporates a second rule into the step of selecting, wherein the second rule favors bottled drinks.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein the monitoring computer incorporates a second rule into the step of selecting wherein the second rule favors prepackaged goods.

7. The method of claim 4 wherein the database maintains an indicia indicative of the preparation time required for at least some of the plurality of items, and wherein the monitoring computer incorporates a second rule into the step of selecting wherein the second rule favors items that have a lower preparation time.

8. The method of claim 4 wherein the database maintains a price for each item, and wherein the monitoring computer incorporates a second rule into the step of selecting wherein the second rule favors items that have a lower price.

9. The method of claim 4 wherein the database maintains a field for each item designating the item as reusable or not reusable, and wherein the monitoring computer incorporates a second rule into the step of selecting wherein the second rule favors items that are designated as reusable.

18. The method of claim 1 wherein functions of the back office computer and functions of the monitoring computer are performed on a same device.

10. A system for issuing test orders to one or more restaurants that participate in a restaurant service, the system comprising:

i) a database adapted to maintain an order queue and a collection of menus, wherein the order queue holds one or more orders and each menu corresponds to a particular one of the one or more restaurants;

ii) a back office computer operatively coupled to the database and operatively coupled to a wide area network, the back office computer adapted to retrieve orders from the order queue and transmit the orders to the one or more restaurants over the wide area network;

iii) a monitoring computer operatively coupled to the database, the monitoring computer including a program, the program adapted to generate a test order by programmatically selecting one or more menu items from a menu associated with a particular one of the one or more restaurants and insert the test order into the order queue; and

iv) wherein the back office computer is further adapted to transmit the test order to the particular restaurant over the wide area network.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the back office computer is further adapted to receive a confirmation from the particular restaurant over the wide area network.

12. The system of claim 10 wherein each of the menus is adapted to include a plurality of items and wherein the database is adapted to maintain an indicia indicative of a popularity measure of a first subset of items with restaurant customers, and wherein the database does not maintain an indicia indicative of the popularity measure of a second subset of items with restaurant customers, and wherein the program incorporates a first rule adapted to favor items that are within the second subset of items.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein the program incorporates a second rule adapted to favor bottled drinks.

14. The system of claim 12 wherein the program incorporates a second rule adapted to favor prepackaged goods.

15. The system of claim 12 wherein the database is adapted to maintain an indicia indicative of a preparation time required for at least some of the plurality of items, and wherein the program incorporates a second rule adapted to favor items having a lower preparation time.

16. The system of claim 12 wherein the database is adapted to maintain a price for each item, and wherein the program incorporates a second rule adapted to favor items having a lower price.

17. The system of claim 12 wherein the database is adapted to maintain a field for each item designating the item as reusable or not reusable, and wherein the program incorporates a second rule adapted to favor items that are designated as reusable.

19. The system of claim 10 wherein functions of the back office computer and functions of the monitoring computer are performed on a same device.