Customer checkout accelerator
First Claim
1. A method for accelerating sales transactions of customers in a retail store, comprising the acts of:
- reading a customer payment card number at a customer checkout accelerator;
determining a preapproval amount for the sales transaction;
displaying the preapproval sales transaction amount to the customer on the customer checkout accelerator for acceptance;
transmitting the preapproval amount to an external card services system for approval;
storing the approval amount in a preapproval cache at a point of sales terminal for use in completing the sales transaction;
determining if the payment card is one or more of a credit card, a debit card, a customer loyalty card, an electronic/Internet wallet, or an electronic gift certificate;
wherein if the payment card is a customer loyalty card, determining a preapproval amount that is based on an actual purchase history for the customer.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method for accelerating customer sales transactions in a retail store. A customer checkout accelerator provides a customer user interface to initiate a request for a preapproval amount for a sales transaction before reaching the point of sale terminal for completion of the purchase transaction. A card reader integrated into the customer checkout accelerator reads a customer payment card number when the payment card is swiped through the reader. A customer checkout accelerator server module resident on a store controller server determines a preapproval amount for the sales transaction and transmits the request to an external card services system for payment approval. The customer checkout accelerator also provides the ability to purchase additional promotional items in the checkout lane with this process integrated into the payment preapproval process. Once payment approval is obtained from the external card services system, an entry is placed in a preapproval database associated with the customer checkout accelerator server module on the store controller server. The server module forwards the approval notification to the point of sales terminal where it is placed in a preapproval cache for use in completing the actual sale transaction.
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Citations
7 Claims
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1. A method for accelerating sales transactions of customers in a retail store, comprising the acts of:
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reading a customer payment card number at a customer checkout accelerator; determining a preapproval amount for the sales transaction; displaying the preapproval sales transaction amount to the customer on the customer checkout accelerator for acceptance; transmitting the preapproval amount to an external card services system for approval; storing the approval amount in a preapproval cache at a point of sales terminal for use in completing the sales transaction; determining if the payment card is one or more of a credit card, a debit card, a customer loyalty card, an electronic/Internet wallet, or an electronic gift certificate; wherein if the payment card is a customer loyalty card, determining a preapproval amount that is based on an actual purchase history for the customer.
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2. A method for accelerating sales transactions of customers in a retail store, comprising the acts of:
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reading a customer payment card number at a customer checkout accelerator; determining a preapproval amount for the sales transaction; displaying the preapproval sales transaction amount to the customer on the customer checkout accelerator for acceptance; transmitting the preapproval amount to an external card services system for approval; storing the approval amount in a preapproval cache at a point of sales terminal for use in completing the sales transaction; determining if the payment card is one or more of a credit card, a debit card, a customer loyalty card, an electronic/Internet wallet, or an electronic gift certificate; wherein if the payment card is a credit or debit card, determining a preapproval amount that is based on an average customer purchase amount for credit and debit transactions on a store wide basis.
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3. A method for accelerating sales transactions of customers in a retail store, comprising the acts of:
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reading a customer payment card number at a customer checkout accelerator; determining a preapproval amount for the sales transaction; displaying the preapproval sales transaction amount to the customer on the customer checkout accelerator for acceptance; transmitting the preapproval amount to an external card services system for approval; storing the approval amount in a preapproval cache at a point of sales terminal for use in completing the sales transaction; scanning the customer payment card at a point of sales terminal; determining if there is an entry for the customer in the preapproval cache; and resuming the sales transaction at the point of sale terminal. - View Dependent Claims (4, 5, 6, 7)
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Specification