Advance order system

• US 8,041,605 B1
• Filed: 10/17/2005
• Issued: 10/18/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/18/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: John E. Harrity
• Original Assignee: John Eric Harrity
• Inventors: Harrity, John Eric
• Primary Examiner(s): Zeender; F.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Haider; Fawaad
• Application Number:
  US11/250,555
• Time in Patent Office: 2,192 Days
• Field of Search: 705/15
• US Class Current: 705/15
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• 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 30/00 Commerce
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/12 Hotels or restaurants

Abstract

A system includes a master device and a slave device. The slave device is configured to provide a customer waiting to be seated at a restaurant with menu information for the restaurant, receive at least one of a drink order or a food order from the customer while the customer is waiting to be seated at the restaurant, and transmit the at least one of a drink order or a food order. The master device is configured to receive the at least one of a drink order or a food order from the slave device, and cause the at least one of a drink order or a food order to be forwarded to a kitchen of the restaurant based on at least one of a position of the customer on a waiting list or an estimated amount of time until the customer will be seated.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a slave device configured to;

provide a customer waiting to be seated at a restaurant with menu information for the restaurant, where the menu information is provided to the customer while the customer is physically present at the restaurant,

receive at least one of a drink order or a food order from the customer while the customer is waiting to be seated at the restaurant, where at least one of drink or food, associated with the at least one of the drink order or the food order, is to be provided to the customer after the customer is seated at the restaurant, and

transmit the at least one of the drink order or the food order; and

a master device configured to;

receive the at least one of the drink order or the food order from the slave device, and

cause the at least one of the drink order or the food order to be forwarded to a kitchen of the restaurant based on at least one of a position of the customer on a waiting list or an estimated amount of time until the customer will be seated.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the master device is further configured to:

receive customer information from the customer, and

associate the slave device with the customer using the received customer information.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein, when causing the at least one of the drink order or the food order to be forwarded to a kitchen of the restaurant, the master device is configured to:

produce a hard copy of the at least one of the drink order or the food order.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein, when causing the at least one of the drink order or the food order to be forwarded to a kitchen of the restaurant, the master device is configured to:

forward the at least one of the at least one of the drink order or the food order to a display device associated with the kitchen.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein, when causing the at least one of the drink order or the food order to be forwarded to a kitchen of the restaurant, the master device is configured to:

forward the at least one of the at least one of the drink order or the food order to an audio device associated with the kitchen.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein, when causing the at least one of the drink order or the food order to be forwarded to a kitchen of the restaurant, the master device is configured to:

cause the at least one of the drink order or the food order to be forwarded to a kitchen of the restaurant when the estimated amount of time is below a predetermined value.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein, when causing the at least one of the drink order or the food order to be forwarded to a kitchen of the restaurant, the master device is configured to:

cause the at least one of the drink order or the food order to be forwarded to a kitchen of the restaurant when the customer is at a top of the waiting list.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein, when causing the at least one of the drink order or the food order to be forwarded to a kitchen of the restaurant, the master device is configured to:

cause the at least one of the drink order or the food order to be forwarded to a kitchen of the restaurant when the customer is reaches a predetermined position on the waiting list.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the master device is further configured to:

determine the at least one of a position of the customer on a waiting list or an estimated amount of time until the customer will be seated.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein the master device is further configured to:

re-adjust the determining of the at least one of a position of the customer on a waiting list or an estimated amount of time until the customer will be seated at periodic intervals.

11. The system of claim 9 wherein the master device is further configured to:

re-adjust the determining of the at least one of a position of the customer on a waiting list or an estimated amount of time until the customer will be seated in response to an event.

12. A method comprising:

associating, in a master device, a slave device with a customer waiting to be seated at a restaurant;

obtaining information identifying one or more menu items from the customer via the slave device while the customer is physically present at the restaurant and while the customer is waiting to be seated at the restaurant, where the one or more menu items are to be provided to the customer after the customer is seated at the restaurant;

associating the information identifying the one or more menu items with the customer in the master device;

detecting that a position of the customer on a waiting list or an estimated waiting time for the customer has reached a predetermined value; and

forwarding the information identifying the one or more menu items to a kitchen of the restaurant in response to the detecting, the forwarding occurring while the customer is waiting to be seated at the restaurant.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the obtaining the information identifying the one or more menu items includes:

obtaining the information identifying the one or more menu items via one or more graphical user interfaces provided by the slave device.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein the forwarding the information identifying the one or more menu items to a kitchen of the restaurant includes:

forwarding the information identifying the one or more menu items to the kitchen of the restaurant in hard copy format.

15. The method of claim 12 wherein the forwarding the information identifying the one or more menu items to a kitchen of the restaurant includes:

forwarding the information identifying the one or more menu items to a display device or an audio device.

16. The method of claim 12 further comprising:

providing the one or more menu items to the customer after the customer has been seated at the restaurant.

17. The method of claim 12 wherein the detecting occurs when the customer has reached a top of the waiting list.

18. A method comprising:

providing a customer waiting to be seated at a restaurant with menu information for the restaurant, where the providing occurs while the customer is physically present at the restaurant;

receiving at least one of a drink order or a food order from the customer based on the providing and as the customer is waiting to be seated at the restaurant, where at least one of drink or food, associated with the at least one of the drink order or the food order, is to be provided to the customer after the customer is seated at the restaurant; and

forwarding, by a device, the at least one of the drink order or the food order to a kitchen of the restaurant based on at least one of a position of the customer on a waiting list or an estimated amount of time until the customer will be seated, the forwarding occurring while the customer is waiting to be seated at the restaurant.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the forwarding includes:

forwarding the at least one of the drink order or the food order to at least one of a display device or an audio device associated with the kitchen.

20. The method of claim 18 further comprising:

providing the at least one of the drink order or the food order to the customer after the customer has been seated at the restaurant.