CHECKOUT LINE PROCESSING BASED ON DETECTED INFORMATION FROM A USER'S COMMUNICATION DEVICE

• US 20160371673A1
• Filed: 06/18/2015
• Published: 12/22/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/18/2015
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: PayPal, Inc. (PayPal Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: PayPal, Inc. (PayPal Holdings, Inc.)
• Inventors: Bharadwaj, Dushyanth, Wong, Patrick, Agarwal, Abhinav, Eramian, David Edward, Todasco, Michael Charles
• Application Number:
  US14/743,989
• Publication Number:
  US 20160371673A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/204 comprising interface for record bearing medium or carrier for electronic funds transfer or payment credit
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/322 Aspects of commerce using mobile devices [M-devices]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3224 Transactions dependent on location of M-devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/326 Payment applications installed on the mobile devices

Abstract

There are provided systems and methods for checkout line processing based on merchant employee familiarity with communication device processes. A user may visit a merchant location and utilize a device payment application of a mobile device for a payment during transaction processing. The merchant'"'"'s device may determine which merchant employees are most familiar with processing payments using the application, and direct the user to those merchant employees. Where the user has already select one of the merchant employees, but the merchant employee is unfamiliar with the application, the merchant'"'"'s device may load payment processing instructions, walkthroughs, and interactive interfaces to assist in payment processing. Moreover, based on the merchant employee'"'"'s familiarity with other payment instruments, the merchant'"'"'s device may suggest another payment instrument for the user to use during payment processing.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a line processing module of a merchant device and comprising at least one hardware processor that determines that a user is at or nearby a checkout location within a merchant location using user information, wherein the checkout location includes a plurality of checkout lines each having one of a plurality of merchant employees, determines a payment instrument that the user will use for a payment for a transaction at the checkout location, accesses, from merchant employee information, familiarity levels for each of the plurality of merchant employees with using the payment instrument to process the payment for the transaction, and generates a notification for the user that directs the user to one of the plurality of checkout lines corresponding to one of the plurality of merchant employees having a highest familiarity level of the familiarity levels;

a database stored to a non-transitory memory that stores the user information, the merchant employee information for the plurality of merchant employees, and the notification; and

a communication module that receives the user information and communicates the notification to a communication device of the user

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the familiarity levels comprise at least one of an amount of training each of the plurality of merchant employees have with the payment instrument, a number of times each of the plurality of merchant employees have processed payments using the payment instrument, an average time to process payments using the payment instrument by each of the plurality of merchant employees, a weighted amount of time to process payments using the payment instrument by each of the plurality of merchant employees, and a training rating with the payment instrument by each of the plurality of merchant employees.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the highest familiarity level associated with the one of the plurality of merchant employees having a lowest amount of time to process payments.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the payment instrument comprises a mobile device application of the communication device that provides payments using a payment provider.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the user information comprises at least one of a number of times the user has used the mobile device application, an assistance request within the mobile device application, and an average payment processing time by the user using the mobile device application.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the highest familiarity level is associated with the one of the plurality of merchant employees with a highest amount of training for troubleshooting payment issues during the payment and guiding the user through payment processing using the mobile device application.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the user information is received from one of the communication device using short range wireless communication and a wireless beacon established near the checkout location and in communication with the communication device using the short range wireless communication.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the line processing module further accesses line information comprising at least one of a number of users in each of the plurality of checkout lines and a wait time for each of the plurality of checkout lines, and wherein the line processing module further directs the user to the one of the plurality of checkout lines using the line information.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the communication module further communicates the notification to a display device at the checkout location for display to the user.

10. A method comprising:

determining, by a line processing module comprising at least one hardware processor, that a user is utilizing a checkout line at a checkout location within a merchant location for a merchant, wherein a first merchant employee is location at the checkout line to process transactions with users;

determining, by the line processing module, that the user will use a payment instrument for a payment for a transaction at the checkout line;

accessing, by the line processing module from merchant employee information stored to a database in a non-transitory memory, a familiarity level for the first merchant employee with using the payment instrument to process the payment for the transactions;

accessing, by the line processing module, payment processing instructions for the payment instrument based on the familiarity level; and

displaying, by the line processing module, the payment processing instructions to the first merchant employee on a merchant device.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the payment instrument comprises a mobile payment application of a communication device in possession of the user.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the familiarity level comprises a training assessment level of the first merchant employee with using the payment instrument for processing payments.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein payment processing instructions provide at least one of an instructional guide on processing payments using the mobile payment application and a payment interface of the merchant device that provides an interactive walkthrough of processing the payment.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein payment processing instructions are personalized for the first merchant employee based on the familiarity level.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the familiarity level comprises at least one of an average speed for processing the payment using the payment instrument by the first merchant employee, a weighted speed for processing the payment using the payment instrument by the first merchant employee, and a training assessment of the first merchant employee with the payment instrument.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein payment processing instructions comprise at least one of tips for faster processing time when using the payment instrument and a payment interface walkthrough for a corresponding payment application on the merchant device for use with the mobile payment application.

17. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

accessing, by the line processing module from the merchant employee information, merchant contact information for a highest familiarity level for a second merchant employee available for assistance during processing the payment for the transaction;

notify the second merchant employee to assist the first merchant employee using the merchant contact information.

18. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

receiving user information for the user, wherein the user information comprises at least one of past use of the payment instrument by the user and past processing time for the payment instrument with payments by the user; and

customizing the payment processing instructions based on the user information.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising executable modules which, in response to execution by a computer system, cause the computer system to perform a method comprising:

determining, by a line processing module comprising at least one hardware processor, that a user is utilizing a checkout line at a checkout location within a merchant location for a merchant, wherein a merchant employee is location at the checkout line to process transactions with users;

determining, by the line processing module, a plurality of payment instruments available to the user to use for a payment for a transaction at the checkout location;

determining, by the line processing module, a plurality of familiarity levels for the merchant employee with the plurality of payment instruments, wherein each of the plurality of familiarity levels corresponds to one of the plurality of payment instruments;

determining, by the line processing module, a first payment instrument of the plurality of payment instruments for the user to use for the payment based on a highest familiarity level of the plurality of familiarity levels;

generating, by the line processing module, a notification for the user that informs the user to use the first payment instrument; and

communicating the notification to a communication device of the user.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving a request to use a second payment instrument from the communication device of the user; and

alerting the merchant employee that the user will use the second payment instrument for the payment for the transaction.