Collaborative, improved system and method for processing commercial transactions

• US 20150032567A1
• Filed: 06/06/2012
• Published: 01/29/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/29/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Shashank Bhatia
• Original Assignee: Shashank Bhatia
• Inventors: Bhatia, Shashank
• Granted Patent: US 11,734,748 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/26.8
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/14 specially adapted for billing systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/32 using wireless devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/12 Hotels or restaurants

Abstract

Embodiments are in the field of mobile applications and wireless processing, especially of commercial transactions, and more specifically for enhancing the user experience in restaurants even while enhancing the service delivery model efficiency of restaurants. Embodiments include a computer accessible medium for processing commercial transactions, to perform operations that comprise identifying wireless devices and determining their respective locations in a vendor service area, sending an interactive order menu to the identified wireless devices, receiving and displaying order data from the wireless devices, processing the received order data, and accepting a payment for a completed order.

Claims

1. A computer accessible medium for processing commercial transactions, comprising a processing unit coupled to a memory element, and having instructions encoded thereon, wherein the instructions cause the computer accessible medium to perform operations that comprise:

identifying a patron wireless device in a vendor service area;

sending an interactive order menu to the identified patron wireless device;

receiving and displaying patron order summary data from the patron wireless device, wherein the patron order summary data comprises an item or items selected from the order menu;

determining patron wireless device location within the vendor service area wherein the said determining further comprises determining via at least one of a bar code scanning and a near field communication functionality comprised in the patron wireless device;

processing the received patron order summary data wherein the processing comprises transmitting the order data to an order execution site for execution and delivery to the patron at the identified patron location; and

accepting a payment via the patron wireless device.

2. The computer accessible medium of claim 1 further comprising a means for wirelessly uploading commercial card information and wirelessly downloading an authorization result, and for at least one of sending an itemized bill to the patron wireless device, emailing an itemized bill to the patron, and printing an itemized bill.

3. The computer accessible medium of claim 1 further comprising means for:

identifying a plurality of patron wireless devices in the vendor service area;

sending an interactive order menu to each the identified patron wireless devices;

receiving and displaying patron order summary data from each of the patron wireless devices, wherein the patron order summary data comprises an item or items selected from the order menu;

determining patron wireless devices ordering from a same designated location within the vendor service area wherein the said determining further comprises determining via at least one of a scanned bar code and a near field communication functionality in the patron wireless devices;

processing the received patron order summary data wherein the processing comprises transmitting the order data to an order execution site for execution and delivery to the identified location; and

accepting multiple payments via two or more patron wireless devices, wherein the computer accessible medium is caused to send the bill amount to the two or more patron wireless devices such that the bill amount is split at least one of equally and unequally; and

wirelessly uploading commercial card information and wirelessly downloading an authorization result, and at least one of sending an itemized bill to the two or more patron wireless devices, and emailing an itemized bill to the two or more patron wireless devices, and printing an itemized bill.

4. The computer accessible medium of claim 1 wherein the instructions cause the computer accessible medium to determine patron wireless device location via at least one of a bar code scanned by the wireless device, a near field communications capability comprised in the wireless device, active or passive RFID recognition at the patron location, and manual input of patron location.

5. The computer accessible medium of claim 1 wherein the vendor service area is at least one of a grocery store, a supermarket, a restaurant, a night club, a bar, a multiplex, a theater, a mall, and a pub.

6. The computer accessible medium of claim 3 wherein the scanned bar code indicates a table number or a seat number in at least one of a restaurant, a night club, a bar, a food court, a theater, and a pub.

7. The computer accessible medium of claim 1 wherein the processing further comprises sending the order for execution to at least one of a kitchen, a warehouse, a cold storage, and a personal helper;

wherein the order comprises an item or items selected from the interactive menu.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein transmitting the order summary data further comprises sending the order to a kitchen terminal and placing the order in a queue.

9. The computer accessible medium of claim 1 wherein the instructions cause the computer accessible medium to send the interactive order menu in a patron language of preference, and receive an order in a vendor language of preference.

10. The computer accessible medium of claim 6 wherein the instructions cause the computer accessible medium to send a different interactive order menu according to each identified table number.

11. In a computer accessible medium comprising a processing unit coupled to a memory element and having instructions encoded thereon, a method for processing commercial transactions comprising:

identifying a patron wireless device in a vendor service area;

sending an interactive order menu to the identified patron wireless device;

receiving and displaying patron order summary data from the patron wireless device wherein the patron order summary data comprises an item or items selected from the order menu;

determining patron wireless device location within the vendor service area wherein the said determining further comprises determining via at least one of a bar code scanning means and a near field communication functionality comprised in the patron wireless device;

processing the received patron order summary data wherein the processing comprises displaying the order at an order execution site for execution and delivery to the identified patron location; and

accepting a payment via the patron wireless device.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising uploading commercial card information by the wireless device, and downloading an authorization result, and at least one of sending an itemized bill to the patron wireless device, emailing an itemized bill to the patron, and further printing an itemized bill.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein determining the patron wireless device location further comprises identifying the device by at least one of global or local positioning system, a Wi-Fi network, RFID recognition, Bluetooth connectivity, Infrared connectivity, and a bar code scanned by the wireless device.

14. The method of claim 11 wherein the vendor service area is at least one of a grocery store, a supermarket, a restaurant, a night club, a bar, a multiplex, a mall, a food court, a theater, a mode of conveyance, and a pub.

15. The method of claim 13 wherein the scanned bar code indicates a table number or a seat number in at least one of a restaurant, a night club, a bar, a food court, a theater, a mode of conveyance, and a pub.

16. The method of claim 11 further comprising sending the order for execution to at least one of a kitchen, a warehouse, a cold storage, and a personal helper.

17. The method of claim 11 wherein processing the order summary data further comprises sending the order to a kitchen terminal and placing the order in a queue.

18. The method of claim 11 further comprising sending the interactive order menu in a patron language of preference, and receive an order in a vendor language of preference.

19. The method of claim 15 further comprising sending a different interactive order menu according to each identified table number.

20. In a system for processing commercial transactions, a user wireless device that is caused to:

identify the user device to a computing medium that comprises a vendor terminal, in a vendor service area wherein the said identifying comprises determining the device location via at least one of manual input, a scanned bar code and a near field communication functionality in the wireless device;

communicate the user device location to the computing medium, relative to the vendor terminal in the vendor service area;

receive and display an interactive order menu from the computing medium;

send an order summary comprising an item or items ordered from the interactive order menu and receive an acknowledgement of the order; and

make a payment for a completed order.

21. The wireless communication device of claim 20 wherein the wireless device identifies itself to the computing medium via at least one of Wi-Fi connectivity, passive or active RFID, bar code scanning, Bluetooth connectivity, Infrared connectivity, near field communications, and global or local positioning capability.

22. The wireless communication device of claim 20 wherein communicating its location relative to the vendor terminal comprises a bar code scanning means, such that a scanned bar code invokes communication with the vendor terminal and comprises information about the exact location of the wireless communication device relative to the vendor terminal.

23. The wireless communication device of claim 22 wherein the exact location of the wireless communication device is a table number or a seat number comprised in the scanned bar code.

24. The wireless communication device of claim 20 wherein the interactive order menu further comprises a paging function that when invoked pages a waiter for help with information of a table number from where help is requested.

25. The wireless communication device of claim 20 wherein the device is caused to present the interactive order menu in the user'"'"'s language of preference, and communicate a placed order in the vendor'"'"'s language.

26. A wireless commercial transaction system, comprising an order management process to:

receive patron order summary data comprising an item or items ordered by a patron from an order menu on a wireless device;

display patron order data at an order execution site;

send patron order data to a payment management process; and

a payment management process to wirelessly transmit patron order data received from the order management process to the wireless device and to receive payment information from the wireless device.

27. The system of claim 26, further comprising an interface process between the payment management process and a payment authorization process to transmit patron payment information and to receive an authorization result.

28. The system of claim 26, wherein the payment management process wirelessly downloads to the wireless device the authorization result.

29. The system of claim 26, wherein the payment management process wirelessly downloads to the wireless device an authorization result received from a commercial card authorization process.

30. The system of claim 26, wherein the payment information comprises at least one of commercial card information, an amount tendered in cash, and an amount of a gift certificate.

31. A computer accessible medium for processing commercial transactions, comprising a processing unit coupled with a memory element, and having instructions encoded thereon, which, when the instructions are executed by a computer, cause the said computer to perform operations, comprising:

identifying a patron wireless communication device and its location;

receiving patron order data from the identified patron wireless device, the patron order data comprising a single or plurality of ordered items and a price for each ordered item;

displaying patron order data on a display of the computer accessible medium; and

accepting patron commercial card data for payment if payment is to be made by commercial card.

32. A computer accessible medium for processing commercial transactions, comprising a processing unit coupled to a memory element, and having instructions encoded thereon, wherein the instructions cause the computer accessible medium to perform operations that comprise:

identifying a patron wireless device in a vendor service area;

determining patron wireless device location within the vendor service area;

identifying a patron order summary received from the determined location;

sending an itemized bill to the patron wireless device; and

accepting a payment against the itemized bill via the patron wireless device.

33. In a computer accessible medium comprising a processing unit coupled to a memory element and having instructions encoded thereon, a method for processing commercial transactions comprising:

identifying a patron wireless device in a vendor service area;

determining patron wireless device location within the vendor service area;

identifying a patron order summary received from the determined location;

sending an itemized bill to the patron wireless device against the order summary; and

accepting a payment against the itemized bill from the patron wireless device.

34. In a system for processing commercial transactions, a user wireless communication device wherein the wireless communication device is caused to:

identify the user device to a computing medium that comprises a vendor terminal, in a vendor service area;

communicate the user device location to the computing medium, relative to the vendor terminal in the vendor service area;

receive and display an itemized bill from the computing medium;

make a payment against the received itemized bill.

35. The wireless communication device of claim 34 wherein the said identifying to the computing medium comprises scanning a QR code by the device.

36. A computer accessible medium for processing commercial transactions, comprising a processing unit coupled to a memory element, and having instructions encoded thereon, wherein the instructions cause the computer accessible medium to perform operations that comprise:

identifying a plurality of patron wireless devices in a vendor service area;

determining location of the identified patron wireless devices within the vendor service area;

sending an order receipt comprising a single or plurality of items ordered to each of the patron wireless devices;

sending an itemized bill to at least one of the patron wireless devices;

accepting a payment against the itemized bill via the patron wireless devices; and

wherein the accepted payment is at least one of a complete payment received from a single patron wireless device, an equal, partial payment received from two or more patron wireless devices in the determined vendor service area, and an unequal, partial payment received from two or more patron wireless devices in the determined vendor service area.

37. The system of claim 36 wherein said sending of the itemized bill comprises sending the bill according to a request received from the patron wireless device or devices, wherein the said request is a request to split a bill equally between participating devices, or a request to split a bill unequally between said participating devices.

38. In a computer accessible medium comprising a processing unit coupled to a memory element and having instructions encoded thereon, a method for processing commercial transactions comprising:

identifying a plurality of patron wireless devices in a vendor service area;

determining location of the identified patron wireless devices within the vendor service area;

sending an itemized bill to at least one of the identified patron wireless devices; and

accepting a payment against the itemized bill from a single or plurality of the identified patron wireless devices; and

wherein the accepted payment is at least one of a complete payment received from a single patron wireless device, an equal, partial payment received from two or more of the identified patron wireless devices in the determined vendor service area, and an unequal, partial payment received from two or more of the identified patron wireless devices in the determined vendor service area.

39. The method of claim 38 wherein said sending of the itemized bill comprises sending the bill according to a request received from the patron wireless device or devices, wherein the said request is a request to split a bill equally between participating devices or a request to split a bill unequally between said participating devices.