CROSS-PLATFORM ORDERING AND PAYMENT-PROCESSING SYSTEM AND METHOD

• US 20170098207A1
• Filed: 09/30/2016
• Published: 04/06/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 10/02/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SCVNGR, Inc. (GrubHub Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Seth Priebatsch
• Inventors: PRIEBATSCH, Seth
• Granted Patent: US 10,482,442 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0836 Recipient pick-ups
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/202 Interconnection or interaction of plural electronic cash registers [ECR] or to host computer, e.g. network details, transfer of information from host to ECR or from ECR to ECR
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3224 Transactions dependent on location of M-devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0619 Neutral agent
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/12 Hotels or restaurants
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• 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 4/21 for social networking applications

Abstract

Various embodiments of the present approach and system include a novel ordering and integrated transaction system for providing consumers information about the merchants, such as locations of available retail merchants, menu items from the merchants, “line time” or “wait time” at the merchant locations, a make time for completing preparation of the consumer'"'"'s order, etc.

Claims

1. A system for predictively managing consumer pickup orders for goods, the system comprising:

a plurality of merchant point-of-sale (POS) systems, each of the POS systems including a terminal for processing sales of goods and a communications interface for communicating over a telecommunication network and an ordering server;

a transaction server including (i) a merchant database, (ii) a user database, and (iii) a communications interface for communicating over the telecommunication network; and

a user device including a processor and a memory for executing applications as running processes and receiving user input relating thereto, wherein

(a) the user database includes records each specifying a user and payment information for the user;

(b) the user device executes an application for receiving a user-provided order of goods and transmitting the order to the transaction server for processing;

(c) the transaction server stores, in the user database, information about the order including goods ordered and the date and time of the order;

(d) the merchant database includes records each specifying a merchant and merchant locations, goods sold by the merchant, and a pickup geolocation of the merchant; and

(e) the transaction server is configured to (i) predict, for a user, a user order based on previous orders and their dates and times in the user database, a user order prediction including a predicted pickup time and a merchant, (ii) obtain a geolocation of the user, (iii) based on the user geolocation and the pickup geolocation of the predicted merchant, estimate a travel time of the user to the merchant pickup location, and (iv) if a current time plus the estimated travel time is not later than the predicted pickup time, transmit to the user device a proposed order corresponding to the predicted order, and (v) upon user acceptance of the order via the user device, cause the order to be placed with the selected merchant as a pickup order using the user payment information.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the proposed order is transmitted if the current time plus the estimated travel time is approximately equal to the predicted pickup time.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the merchant database also stores a current wait time for order preparation received from the POS system of the specified merchant, the proposed order being transmitted if the current time plus the estimated travel time plus the current wait time is not later than the predicted pickup time.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the proposed order is transmitted if the current time plus the estimated travel time plus the current wait time is approximately equal to the predicted pickup time.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the POS systems are each configured to periodically generate a current wait time for order preparation and to transmit the current wait time to the transaction-management server via the telecommunication network.

6. A transaction server for predictively managing consumer pickup orders for goods, the server comprising:

a processor;

a communication facility in communication, over a telecommunication system, with (i) a plurality of merchant point-of-sale (POS) systems, (ii) a plurality of merchant ordering servers in communication with at least some of the POS systems and (iii) a user device;

a merchant database including records each specifying a merchant, merchant locations, goods sold by the merchant, prices of the goods, and a current wait time for order preparation received from the POS system or ordering server of the specified merchant at each location; and

a user database including records each specifying a user, a user device associated with the user, payment information for the user, and order history entries each specifying goods ordered and a date and time of the order;

wherein the processor is configured to;

(a) predict, for a user, an order based on previous orders and their dates and times in the user database, a user order prediction including a predicted pickup time and a merchant;

(b) obtain a geolocation of the user;

(c) based on the user geolocation and the pickup geolocation of the predicted merchant, estimate a travel time of the user to the merchant pickup location;

(d) transmit to the user device, via the communication facility, a proposed order corresponding to the predicted order if a current time plus the estimated travel time is not later than the predicted pickup time;

(d) receive, via the communication facility, user acceptance of the order; and

(e) cause the order to be placed with the selected merchant as a pickup order using the user payment information.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the proposed order is transmitted if the current time plus the estimated travel time is approximately equal to the predicted pickup time.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the merchant database also stores a current wait time for order preparation received from the POS system of the specified merchant, the proposed order being transmitted if the current time plus the estimated travel time plus the current wait time is not later than the predicted pickup time.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein the proposed order is transmitted if the current time plus the estimated travel time plus the current wait time is approximately equal to the predicted pickup time.

10. A method of predictively managing consumer pickup orders for goods, the method comprising the steps of:

providing a plurality of merchant point-of-sale (POS) systems, a plurality of merchant ordering servers in communication with at least some of the POS systems, and a user device of a user;

predicting, for a user, an order based on previous orders and their dates and times in the user database, a user order prediction including a predicted pickup time and a merchant;

obtaining a geolocation of the user;

based on the user geolocation and the pickup geolocation of the predicted merchant, estimating a travel time of the user to the merchant pickup location;

transmitting to the user device, via the communication facility, a proposed order corresponding to the predicted order if a current time plus the estimated travel time is not later than the predicted pickup time;

receiving, via the communication facility, user acceptance of the order; and

causing the order to be placed with the selected merchant as a pickup order using the user payment information.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the proposed order is transmitted if the current time plus the estimated travel time is approximately equal to the predicted pickup time.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising the steps of periodically receiving, from the POS systems, a current wait time for order preparation, the proposed order being transmitted if the current time plus the estimated travel time plus the current wait time is not later than the predicted pickup time.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the proposed order is transmitted if the current time plus the estimated travel time plus the current wait time is approximately equal to the predicted pickup time.

14. A method for conducting a remote transaction comprising, at a transaction and ordering management server:

receiving, via a communication network, information from a user mobile device associated with a user, the information including at least a user identity and a user payment instrument;

assigning a code to the user and communicating the code to the user mobile device;

acquiring, from a plurality of ordering servers, information corresponding to identities of a plurality of merchants and information corresponding to items offered for sale by the merchants;

communicating merchant and item information to the mobile device for display thereon;

receiving from the mobile device a transaction request including at least the user code and information corresponding to one or more merchants and one or more items;

selecting, based on the information received from the mobile device, an ordering server;

generating a temporary profile for the user, the profile including at least a unique email address, user name, and password;

communicating, to the selected ordering server, the temporary user profile information and the payment instrument information, wherein the payment instrument information is not associated with the ordering user, in order to complete a payment transaction for the order;

communicating order confirmation information to the user device; and

communicating the user payment instrument information to a payment-processing server to create a charge to the user'"'"'s payment instrument.