Interactive customer display system and method

• US 7,835,946 B2
• Filed: 10/24/2005
• Issued: 11/16/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/22/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NCR Voyix Corporation
• Original Assignee: Radiant Systems Incorporated (NCR Voyix Corporation)
• Inventors: Goren, Alon, Mallory, Charles Howard, Schoonover, Kristin Dohm, Cook, Brian Charles, Kingsfield, Robert Scott
• Primary Examiner(s): ZURITA, JAMES H
• Application Number:
  US11/257,448
• Publication Number:
  US 20080189172A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,849 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26, 705/37
• US Class Current: 705/26.8
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0222 During e-commerce, i.e. online transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0239 Online discounts or incentives
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0631 Item recommendations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/12 Hotels or restaurants

Abstract

The present invention relates generally to systems, methods, and computer program products which facilitate consumer ordering. The present invention facilitates consumer ordering through the use of Express Orders for the creation of orders based on one or more past orders. The present invention also facilitates consumer ordering through use of Preferred Orders, which allow a consumer to define and store orders for later use. Ordering is also facilitated by suggesting order items to a consumer based on previously ordered items, as well as by providing an interactive customer display.

Claims

1. A method to facilitate consumer ordering, comprising the steps of:

a. identifying a consumer, the consumer associated with one or more past food orders;

b. retrieving one or more past food orders associated with the consumer, wherein a food order comprises one or more food items;

c. displaying the one or more past food orders to the consumer, wherein the one or more past food orders are displayed prior to the consumer placing an order; and

d. creating, by a processor, a current food order associated with the consumer, the current food order based on the one or more past food orders.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the creating step further comprises:

receiving a selection of one of the one or more past food orders, wherein the current food order comprises the selected past food order.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the creating step further comprises:

applying a set of rules to the one or more past food orders in order to automatically generate one or more suggested food orders; and

receiving a selection of at least one of the one or more suggested food orders, wherein the current food order comprises the selected suggested food order.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the creating step comprises creating a current food order associated with the consumer, the current food order based on the one or more past food orders and containing at least one food item which is not found in the one or more past food orders.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of suggesting a food item for the current food order, wherein the suggested food item is not part of the one or more past food orders associated with the consumer.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of suggesting a food item to be included in the current order.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of suggesting a food item to be included in the current order based on one or more past orders.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the current food order differs from a past food order by one food item.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the current food order is identical to a past food order.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of generating an order menu for the consumer based on the current food order.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising the step of communicating the order menu to the consumer by displaying the order menu on a digital device, wherein the digital device is selected from a group consisting of a self service station, kiosk, point of sale terminal, interactive customer display, personal computer, set top box, personal digital assistant, and cell phone.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the retrieving step comprises retrieving one or more past food orders from a computer system on a network, wherein the network is one of an intranet, the Internet, a local area network, a wide area network, a wired network, a wireless network, or combinations thereof.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

a. tendering the current food order; and

b. storing the current food order as a past food order associated with the consumer.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein each food item can be further defined using one or more modifiers.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein one or more modifiers describe the amount or type of condiments for the associated food item, and wherein the one or more modifiers are selected from a group consisting of ‘

NO’

, ‘

ONLY’

, ‘

LIGHT’

, ‘

HEAVY’

, and ‘

ADD.’

16. The method of claim 14, wherein one or more modifiers describe the preparation of the associated food item, and wherein the one or more modifiers are selected from a group consisting of ‘

RARE’

, ‘

MEDIUM’

, and ‘

WELL DONE.’

17. The method of claim 14, wherein one or more modifiers describe the size of the associated food item, and wherein the one or more modifiers are selected from a group consisting of ‘

SMALL’

, ‘

MEDIUM’

, and ‘

LARGE.’

18. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the consumer comprises the steps of:

a. receiving information associated with the consumer; and

b. identifying the consumer using the received information.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the identifying step comprises the step of determining the particular consumer the information is associated with by querying a database which contains consumer information.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the information is derived from one of a credit instrument, debit instrument, loyalty card, gift card, login and password, biometric input device, wireless access device, radio frequency identification device, or bar-coded instrument.

21. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of displaying food order upsell information to the consumer.

22. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of displaying promotional information to the consumer.

23. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of displaying end of food order information to the consumer, said end of food order information comprising one or more of a thank you or instructions for picking up the current food order.