Method and system for auction or sales of deliverable prepared food via the internet

• US 7,752,075 B2
• Filed: 12/09/2008
• Issued: 07/06/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/01/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Andrew Mitchell Harris, Charles D. Angert
• Original Assignee: Andrew Mitchell Harris, Charles D. Angert
• Inventors: Harris, Andrew Mitchell, Angert, Charles D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Gart; Matthew S
• Assistant Examiner(s): Zare; Scott A
• Application Number:
  US12/330,675
• Publication Number:
  US 20090099972A1
• Time in Patent Office: 574 Days
• Field of Search: 705/15, 705/26, 705/80
• US Class Current: 705/15
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/12 Hotels or restaurants
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/188 Electronic negotiation

Abstract

A method and system for auctioning items via the Internet permit customers to bid on items and others to bid after delivery has been scheduled, and optionally commenced, to a previous bidder. A bid increment is set according to a geographic location of the new bidder, so that the requirements of rescheduling delivery to the new bidder can be taken into account in the auction. The items may be food items. Items and an estimated time of arrival (ETA) are displayed on a web page that provides an interface for purchase or bidding. Bidding may be made for the actual item purchase or for a scheduled delivery time. Audio and/or visual communication with an ordering point and/or delivery vehicle may be provided in the user interface.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for scheduling delivery of an item to one of multiple customers, the computer-implemented method comprising:

offering the item for delivery to multiple customers communicating with a network including a processing system;

first receiving a first bid from a first one of the multiple customers via the network;

accepting the first bid and communicating acceptance to the first customer;

scheduling delivery of the item to the first customer in response to the first receiving;

second receiving a second bid from a second one of the multiple customers via the network;

determining a bid increment in conformity with a geographical location of the second customer;

determining whether or not the second bid is a currently winning bid, by determining whether or not the second bid exceeds the bid increment; and

in response to the second bid being a currently winning bid, re-scheduling delivery of the item to the second customer in response to the second receiving, and wherein a result of the re-scheduling is stored in a memory of the processing system.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the item is a prepared food item, and further comprising delivering the prepared food item in conformity with a result of the scheduling and the re-scheduling.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising preparing the prepared food item within a vehicle that delivers the prepared food item.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising transmitting a video image of the preparing within the vehicle to the first customer over the network.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the first customer and the second customer are passengers on an aircraft, wherein the prepared food item is a food item provided for consumption on the aircraft.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising automatically replacing the first item with a replacement item by scheduling delivery of the replacement item to the first customer.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the offering displays a first estimated time of arrival for delivery of the item to the first one of the multiple users as part of a first offer, and wherein the offering displays a second estimated time of arrival to the second one of the multiple users as part of a second offer.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

delivering the item to the second customer; and

offering a replacement item for purchase to the first one of the multiple users to replace the item delivered to the second customer.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

setting a bid timer that ends a bidding process on expiration; and

determining whether or not the bid timer has expired, and wherein the re-scheduling is performed further in response to the determining having determined that the bid timer has not expired, wherein the rescheduling is prevented after expiration of the bid timer.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the item is a prepared food item and wherein the method further comprises first computing a first slack time for preparation and delivery of the prepared food item to the first customer, and wherein the setting sets the bid timer to a value determined in conformity with the first slack time.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

second computing a second slack time in preparation and delivery of the prepared food item to the second customer if the second bid exceeds the first bid and the bid timer has not expired; and

resetting the bid timer in conformity with the second slack time.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein the re-scheduling is performed while the item is in transit to the first customer.

12. An electronic network for scheduling delivery of an item to one of multiple customers and including at least one server coupled to client devices having displays for displaying offers of the item to customers, wherein the at least one server comprises a processor for executing program instructions and a memory for storing the program instructions, and wherein the program instructions comprise program instructions for:

offering the item for delivery to multiple customers communicating with the network;

first receiving a first bid from a first one of the multiple customers via the network;

accepting the first bid and communicating acceptance to the first customer;

scheduling delivery of the item to the first customer in response to the first receiving;

second receiving a second bid from a second one of the multiple customers via the network;

determining a bid increment in conformity with a geographical location of the second customer;

determining whether or not the second bid is a currently winning bid, by determining whether or not the second bid exceeds the bid increment; and

in response to the second bid being a currently winning bid, re-scheduling delivery of the item to the second customer in response to the second receiving, wherein a result of the re-scheduling is stored within the memory by the processor.

13. The electronic network of claim 12, wherein the item is a prepared food item.

14. The electronic network of claim 13, wherein the prepared food item is prepared in a vehicle during delivery of the prepared food item, and further comprising program instructions for transmitting a video image of the preparing within the vehicle to the first customer over the network.

15. The electronic network of claim 13, wherein the first customer and the second customer are passengers on an aircraft, wherein the prepared food item is a food item provided for consumption on the aircraft.

16. The electronic network of claim 12, wherein the program instructions for re-scheduling schedule delivery of the item to the second customer and further comprising program instructions for automatically replacing the first item with a replacement item by scheduling delivery of the replacement item to the first customer.

17. The electronic network of claim 12, wherein the program instructions for offering display a first estimated time of arrival for delivery of the item to the first one of the multiple users as part of a first offer, and wherein the program instructions for offering display a second estimated time of arrival to the second one of the multiple users as part of a second offer.

18. The electronic network of claim 12, wherein the program instructions further comprise program instructions for offering a replacement item for purchase to the first one of the multiple users to replace the item after the item is delivered to the second customer.

19. The electronic network of claim 12, wherein the program instructions further comprise program instructions for:

setting a bid timer that ends a bidding process on expiration; and

determining whether or not the bid timer has expired, and wherein the program instructions for re-scheduling are further executed in response to the program instructions for determining determining that the bid timer has not expired, wherein the program instructions for rescheduling are prevented from executing after expiration of the bid timer.

20. The electronic network of claim 19, wherein the item is a prepared food item and wherein the program instructions further comprise program instructions for first computing a first slack time for preparation and delivery of the prepared food item to the first customer, and wherein the program instructions for setting set the bid timer to a value determined in conformity with the first slack time.

21. The electronic network of claim 20, wherein the program instructions further comprise program instructions for:

second computing a second slack time in preparation and delivery of the prepared food item to the second customer if the second bid exceeds the first bid and the bid timer has not expired; and

resetting the bid timer in conformity with the second slack time.

23. The system of claim 12, wherein the program instructions for re-scheduling are executed while the item is in transit to the first customer.