LOCATION TRIGGERING FOR PRESCRIPTIONS READY NOTIFICATIONS

• US 20150294084A1
• Filed: 04/10/2014
• Published: 10/15/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/10/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Walgreen Co. (Walgreens Boots Alliance Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Walgreen Co. (Walgreens Boots Alliance Incorporated)
• Inventors: McCauley, Tim, Turkington, Jon, Kozic, Dejan, Dhar, Abhinav, Eby, Nicholas
• Granted Patent: US 10,430,556 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/10 relating to drugs or medications, e.g. for ensuring correct administration to patients
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/20 for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities, e.g. managing hospital staff or surgery rooms
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 80/00 ICT specially adapted for facilitating communication between medical practitioners or patients, e.g. for collaborative diagnosis, therapy or health monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/244 using a network of reference devices, e.g. beaconing

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus are disclosed to notify and route a customer to a prescription pickup location. A communication device detects the proximity of a prescription customer to an associated pharmacy location. The customer is then notified when the prescription is available at the pharmacy location based on identifying customer information and the location information. Once the pharmacy location is detected, the communication device sends the identifying customer information and the location information to a pharmacy computing device. The communication device then displays a notification that a prescription is available for the prescription customer at the pharmacy based on a determination made by the pharmacy computing device using the location information and the identification information. In addition, the communication device can display a map of the pickup location, various prompts to the customer to establish payment and/or to determine whether the customer has questions for pharmacy staff.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

detecting, by a first communications device, a proximity of the first communication device to a pharmacy location;

sending, by the first communications device, prescription customer identification information to a pharmacy computing device;

sending, by the first communications device, pharmacy identification information to the pharmacy computing device;

displaying, at the first communication device, a notification that a prescription is available for the prescription customer at the pharmacy based on a determination made by the pharmacy computing device using the prescription customer identification and the pharmacy identification information; and

displaying, at the first communication device, a prescription pickup location associated with the pharmacy based on the determination made by the pharmacy computing device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of detecting comprises:

detecting the proximity of the first communication device to the pharmacy location by receiving a signal transmitted by a second communications device associated with the pharmacy location.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the act of receiving the signal comprises:

receiving the signal transmitted by the second communications device in accordance with a personal area network (PAN) communication protocol.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of displaying the notification comprises:

displaying the notification received from the pharmacy computing device as a push notification.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining the prescription pickup location as a first location associated with the pharmacy based when a payment transaction sent by the first communication device is successful; and

determining the prescription pickup location as a second location when the payment transaction is unsuccessful.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the act of displaying the prescription location comprises:

displaying a map of the pharmacy including an indication of the first or the second location.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the act of displaying the prescription location further comprises:

displaying the map of the pharmacy including a route between a location of the first communication device and the first or the second location.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying, by the first communication device, a prompt requesting whether questions need to be submitted to a pharmacist.

9. A non-transitory computer readable media having instructions stored thereon in a first communications device, that when executed by a processor cause the processor to:

detect a proximity of the communication device to a pharmacy location;

send pharmacy identification information to the pharmacy computing device;

send customer identification information to the pharmacy computing device;

display a notification that a prescription is available for the prescription customer at the pharmacy based on a determination made by the pharmacy computing device using the pharmacy identification information and the customer identification information; and

display a prescription pickup location associated with the pharmacy based on the determination made by the pharmacy computing device.

10. The non-transitory computer readable media of claim 9, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the processor to detect the proximity of the first communication device to the pharmacy location by receiving a signal transmitted by a second communications device positioned at the pharmacy location.

11. The non-transitory computer readable media of claim 10, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the processor to receive the signal transmitted by the second communications device in accordance with a personal area network (PAN) communication protocol.

12. The non-transitory computer readable media of claim 9, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the processor to display the notification received from the pharmacy computing device as a push notification.

13. The non-transitory computer readable media of claim 9, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the processor to:

determine the prescription pickup location as a first location associated with the pharmacy when a payment transaction sent by the first communication device is successful; and

determine the prescription pickup location as a second location when the payment transaction is unsuccessful.

14. The non-transitory computer readable media of claim 13, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the processor to display a map image of the first or the second location associated with the pharmacy.

15. The non-transitory computer readable media of claim 14, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the processor to display the map image including a route between a location of the first communication device and the first or the second location associated with the pharmacy.

16. The non-transitory computer readable media of claim 14, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the processor to display a prompt requesting whether questions need to be submitted to a pharmacist.

17. A method, comprising:

displaying, by a first communication device, a first notification that the first communication device has entered a pharmacy based on detecting a proximity of the first communication device to a second communication device associated with the pharmacy;

sending, by the first communications device, information identifying the prescription customer and the pharmacy location to a pharmacy computing device;

displaying, by the first communication device, a second notification based on an indication received from the pharmacy computing device that a prescription is ready at a prescription pickup location associated with the pharmacy based on the information; and

displaying, at the first communication device, a map of the prescription pickup location.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

displaying, at the first communication device, one or more of the following;

a prompt requesting a method of payment for the prescription; and

an image representative of payment for the prescription.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

detecting the proximity of the first communication device to the second communication device associated with the pharmacy the pharmacy location by receiving a signal transmitted by the second communications device positioned at the pharmacy location.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the act of receiving the signal comprises:

receiving the signal transmitted by the second communications device in accordance with a personal area network (PAN) communication protocol.

21. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

determining the prescription pickup location as a first location associated with the pharmacy when a payment transaction sent by the first communication device is successful; and

determining the prescription pickup location as a second location when the payment transaction is unsuccessful.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein the act of displaying the prescription location further comprises:

displaying the map image including a route between a location of the first communication device and the first or the second location associated with the pharmacy.