Processing online transactions

• US 8,615,439 B2
• Filed: 08/31/2012
• Issued: 12/24/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/16/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Walmart Apollo, LLC (WalMart Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Wal Mart Stores Inc (WalMart Inc.)
• Inventors: Ramaratnam, Arjun, Hansen, Kenneth, Dar, Murad, Srivastava, Puneet, Gerry, Richard Brett, Shah, Ruchitkumar A, Dharaneedharan, Sathya N
• Primary Examiner(s): Frenel, Vanel
• Application Number:
  US13/600,957
• Publication Number:
  US 20130275243A1
• Time in Patent Office: 480 Days
• Field of Search: 705/21, 705/16, 705/14.27, 705/14.39, 705/26.42, 705/64, 235/381
• US Class Current: 705/21
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/201 Price look-up processing, e.g. updating
• 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 20/203 Inventory monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/407 Cancellation of a transaction
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0637 Approvals

Abstract

Disclosed are systems and methods for managing transactions in which an order is specified online and payment is received at a point of sale (POS). Methods are disclosed for managing payment for such transactions at a POS, including transactions involving payment for both in-store purchases and online orders. Methods are also disclosed for managing inventory and price changes for such transactions where payment can occur at any time in a pay period following order creation. Also disclosed are methods for processing refunds for online orders for which payment was made at a POS. Finally, methods for preventing fraud and abuse as well as restricting the availability of this payment method for certain items are disclosed.

Claims

1. A system comprising one or more processors and one or more memory devices operably coupled to the one or more processors and storing executable and operational data effective to cause the one or processors to:

receive a request for order information for an online transaction identifier from a point of sale (POS);

retrieve order information corresponding to the online transaction identifier, the order information including an online purchase amount and an item identifier;

transmit the order information to the POS;

receive from the POS an indication of cash payment of the online purchase amount at the POS;

evaluate whether an indication of a customer choosing in-store purchase of an item corresponding to the item identifier has been received from the POS; and

if the indication of the customer choosing in-store purchase of the item has been received, refrain from invoking shipping of an item corresponding to the item identifier; and

if the indication of the customer choosing in-store purchase of the item has not been received, automatically invoke shipping of the item corresponding to the item identifier in response to receipt of the indication of cash payment.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the POS is further configured to:

search inventory for a store corresponding to the POS for availability of the item; and

if the item is found to be available in the inventory for the store, prompt an employee to notify the customer of in-store availability of the item.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the POS is further configured to:

add the online purchase amount to a purchase total of a POS transaction stored on the POS;

add at least one in-store purchase amount to the purchase total of the POS transaction for at least one in-store purchase; and

receive notification of tender of the purchase total.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein POS is further configured to:

notify a POS host associated with the POS of sale of the at least one in-store purchase.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the POS is further configured to:

evaluate availability of the order management system;

if the order management system is found to not be available;

add a record of tender of payment corresponding to the online transaction identifier to a batch;

upon detecting availability of the order management system, transmit the batch to the order management system.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the operational and executable data are further effective to cause the one or more processors to retrieve order information corresponding to the online transaction identifier by:

transmitting a request for the order information to the order management system; and

receiving the order information from the order management system.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the POS is further configured to:

receiving pending order data pushed to the POS from the order management system; and

retrieving order information corresponding to the online transaction identifier from the pending order data.

8. A computer program product for managing a transaction, the computer program product being embodied in a computer readable storage medium and comprising computer instructions for:

receiving a request for order information for an online transaction identifier from a point of sale (POS);

retrieving order information corresponding to the online transaction identifier, the order information including an online purchase amount and an item identifier;

transmitting the order information to the POS;

receiving from the POS an indication of cash payment of the online purchase amount at the POS;

evaluating whether an indication of a customer choosing in-store purchase of an item corresponding to the item identifier has been received the POS;

if the indication of the customer choosing in-store purchase of the item has been received, refraining from invoking shipping of an item corresponding to the item identifier; and

if the indication of the customer choosing in-store purchase of the item has not been received, automatically invoking shipping of the item corresponding to the item identifier in response to receipt of the indication of cash payment.

9. The computer program product of claim 8, further comprising computer instructions for:

searching inventory for a store corresponding to the POS for availability of the item; and

if the item is found to be available in the inventory for the store, prompting an employee to notify the customer of in-store availability of the item.

10. The computer program product of claim 8, further comprising computer instructions for:

adding the online purchase amount to a purchase total of a POS transaction stored on the POS;

adding at least one in-store purchase amount to the purchase total of the POS transaction for at least one in-store purchase; and

receiving notification of tender of the purchase total.

11. The computer program product of claim 10, further comprising computer instructions for:

notifying a POS host associated with the POS of sale of the at least one in-store purchase.

12. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein notifying an order management system of tender of payment corresponding to the online transaction identifier further comprises:

evaluating availability of the order management system;

if the order management system is found to not be available;

adding a record of tender of payment corresponding to the online transaction identifier to a batch;

upon detecting availability of the order management system, transmitting the batch to the order management system.

13. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein retrieving order information corresponding to the online transaction identifier further comprises:

transmitting a request for the order information to the order management system; and

receiving the order information from the order management system.

14. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein retrieving order information corresponding to the online transaction identifier further comprises:

receiving pending order data pushed to the POS from the order management system; and

retrieving order information corresponding to the online transaction identifier from the pending order data.