Automated customer interface for services involving drop-off and pickup
First Claim
1. A system for automated drop-off and pickup of laundry and dry cleaning orders, remote from a central dry cleaning/laundry plant, for unattended use by customers, comprising:
- a storage facility for garment bags, soiled garments of unprocessed orders and processed laundry/dry cleaning orders, including means for storing garment bags and processed orders in positions for retrieval,a customer interface panel at the front of the storage facility,retrieval means in the storage facility for retrieving a garment bag or a processed order upon receipt of an appropriate command,the customer interface panel including card reader means for reading encoded information on a customer'"'"'s non-dedicated general purpose credit card, display means for presenting information and instructions to the customer, menu means for displaying to the customer a menu of services for selection for the customer'"'"'s order, customer input means for enabling the customer to select desired services from the menu of services in accordance with the items the customer is dropping off, and printer means for printing and outputting to the customer a receipt reflecting the services selected by the customer on the customer input means,a door adjacent to the interface panel between the customer'"'"'s position and the storage facility, including door opening and closing means,computer means including memory means, for issuing appropriate instructions to the customer on the display means after receiving information from the customer'"'"'s credit card;
for receiving the customer'"'"'s input on the input means;
for issuing a command to the retrieval means if the customer'"'"'s order has been processed and placed in the storage means, to go to a particular storage position in the storage facility to retrieve the processed order and bring it to the door and open the door to enable the customer to remove the processed order;
for creating and storing a transaction record of each transaction; and
for driving the printer means and other functions.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system for automated, attendant-free customer interface for services such as laundry and dry cleaning processing or rental of items such as videotapes enables customers to order services and pick up processed orders using a general purpose, undedicated credit card. A retrieval device upon appropriate command retrieves a customer'"'"'s processed order and brings it to a customer interface panel door, which opens to enable the customer to pick up his processed order. Included in the customer interface panel are a card reader for reading the customer'"'"'s credit card, a display for presenting information and instructions to the customer, a menu of services for selection by the customer and a keyboard or other input device to select desired services. A printer is included for printing a receipt and/or a transaction record. The system includes a computer at each remote machine facility outlet for handling functions associated with the credit card reader, instructing the retrieval device to retrieve orders, for operating a display, for handling the customer input device, and for creating a transaction record. The general purpose computer can also provide for networking between the central plant and a larger number of remote automated customer interface facilities, and a telephone, modem and auto dialer preferably are included at each automated facility for computer communication with the central plant.
239 Citations
39 Claims
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1. A system for automated drop-off and pickup of laundry and dry cleaning orders, remote from a central dry cleaning/laundry plant, for unattended use by customers, comprising:
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a storage facility for garment bags, soiled garments of unprocessed orders and processed laundry/dry cleaning orders, including means for storing garment bags and processed orders in positions for retrieval, a customer interface panel at the front of the storage facility, retrieval means in the storage facility for retrieving a garment bag or a processed order upon receipt of an appropriate command, the customer interface panel including card reader means for reading encoded information on a customer'"'"'s non-dedicated general purpose credit card, display means for presenting information and instructions to the customer, menu means for displaying to the customer a menu of services for selection for the customer'"'"'s order, customer input means for enabling the customer to select desired services from the menu of services in accordance with the items the customer is dropping off, and printer means for printing and outputting to the customer a receipt reflecting the services selected by the customer on the customer input means, a door adjacent to the interface panel between the customer'"'"'s position and the storage facility, including door opening and closing means, computer means including memory means, for issuing appropriate instructions to the customer on the display means after receiving information from the customer'"'"'s credit card;
for receiving the customer'"'"'s input on the input means;
for issuing a command to the retrieval means if the customer'"'"'s order has been processed and placed in the storage means, to go to a particular storage position in the storage facility to retrieve the processed order and bring it to the door and open the door to enable the customer to remove the processed order;
for creating and storing a transaction record of each transaction; and
for driving the printer means and other functions. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15)
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14. A method for providing consumer laundry and dry cleaning services by customer interface at a plurality of automated, unattended machine facilities remote from and serviced by a central dry cleaning/laundry plant, comprising:
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(1) providing the automated machine facilities at locations remote from the central plant and on a service route from the central plant, each machine facility having;
a storage facility for garment bags, soiled garments of unprocessed drop-off orders, and processed laundry/dry cleaning orders for pickup;
means for storing processed orders in positions for retrieval;
retrieval means in the storage facility for retrieving a processed order upon receipt of an appropriate command;
a customer interface panel at the front of the storage facility, including card reader means for reading encoded information on a customer'"'"'s non-dedicated general purpose credit card, display means for presenting information and instructions to the customer, menu means for displaying to the customer a menu of services for selection for the customer'"'"'s order, customer input means for enabling the customer to select desired services from the menu of services in accordance with the items the customer is dropping off, and printer means for printing and outputting to the customer a receipt reflecting the services selected by the customer on the customer input means;
a door adjacent to the interface panel between the customer'"'"'s position and the storage facility, including door opening and closing means; and
computer means including memory means, for issuing appropriate instructions to the customer on the display means and for storing orders and position locations in memory and operating the retrieval means and processing information relative to the handling of a customer'"'"'s order and all transactions with the customer;(2) at each automated machine facility, performing the following steps for a customer; (a) on the display, instructing the customer to insert a general purpose credit card for drop-off or pickup services, (b) automatically reading encoded information from the customer'"'"'s credit card with the card reader means, (c) searching memory with the computer means for a record of an order previously dropped off by this customer by association with this credit card, (d) if a record is found of an order for this customer, but the order has not been processed and returned, informing the customer on the display that the order is not yet ready, (e) if a record is found of an order of the customer and the order has been processed and returned, automatically instructing the retrieval means to retrieve the processed order and bring it to the door and open the door with the order within the customer'"'"'s reach so that the customer can take the processed order, (f) if the customer desires to leave a drop-off order, and no record is found of a drop-off order in process for this customer, delivering to the customer a drop-off garment bag and instructing the customer to place items for processing in the drop-off bag, and instructing the customer on the display to select and input the order on the customer input means, as to what garments are placed in the drop-off bag and what services are being selected from the menu of services, and placing the bag with the garments in the storage facility for later pickup by a route driver, (g) creating a computer record of the transaction which has occurred, including a record that a processed order has been picked up if that is the case, or a record that a new drop-off order has been taken if that is the case, and, if a drop-off order, printing out a receipt for the customer to take, reflecting the customer'"'"'s order as input by the customer on the input means; (3) manually collecting drop-off orders from the machine facilities by a route driver who travels between the central dry cleaning/laundry plant and the machine facilities, and at the same time bringing processed orders from the central plant and placing them in the storage facility each at an assigned position for later retrieval by the retrieval means, and delivering the drop-off orders to the central plant; (4) communicating a record of the contents of each drop-off order as input by the customer, to the central plant; (5) at the central plant, checking the contents of each drop-off bag against the record of what the customer has input as his order; (6) at the central plant, processing the drop-off orders and packaging them for return to the automated machine facilities; and (7) manually delivering the completed, processed orders to each respective automated machine faciility using the route driver, who repeats step (3) for each automated machine facility on his route. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. In a system for rendering services for customers involving drop-off and pickup of items by the customer, a customer interface outlet for automated, attendant-free customer interface, comprising:
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a storage facility for storing securely a large number of different items to be dispensed to customers, an interactive customer interface panel connected to the storage facility, including card reader means for reading encoded information from a customer'"'"'s non-dedicated general purpose credit card, display means for presenting information and instructions to the customer, menu means for displaying to the customer a menu listing of services for selection by the customer, customer input means for enabling the customer to select desired services from the menu of services, and printer means for printing and outputting to the customer a receipt reflecting the services selected by the customer on the customer input means, retrieval means in the storage facility for retrieving an item selected by the customer upon receipt of an appropriate command, a door in the customer interface panel between the customer'"'"'s position and the storage facility, including door opening and closing means, and computer means comprising a general purpose computer and a memory, for issuing appropriate instructions and information to the customer on the display means after receiving information from the customer'"'"'s credit card;
for receiving the customer'"'"'s input on the customer input means, for issuing a command to the retrieval means to retrieve the customer'"'"'s order from the storage facility; and
for creating and storing in memory a transaction record of each transaction with a customer, including drop-off and pickup by the customer, identifying the customer by credit card information, and for driving the printer means including printing said customer receipts based on the transaction record. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39)
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Specification