System, method and apparatus for receiving bids from diners for expedited food delivery

• US 9,710,779 B1
• Filed: 09/19/2012
• Issued: 07/18/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GrubHub Inc.
• Original Assignee: GrubHub Inc.
• Inventors: Maloney, Matthew
• Primary Examiner(s): Ludwig, Peter L
• Application Number:
  US13/622,837
• Time in Patent Office: 1,763 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0833 Tracking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0834 Choice of carriers
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0835 Relationships between shipper or supplier and carriers
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08355 Routing methods
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/016 After-sales

Abstract

An order server operated by a restaurant service communicates with a restaurant server and a driver to retrieve incentive based food preparation and delivery time frames for an order. Using the time frames, the order server formulate a list of incentive based delivery plans, and provides the list to a diner device. From the diner device, the order server receives a selected incentive based delivery plan for the order from the list.

Claims

1. A system for managing incentive based delivery of made-to-order food comprising:

a database storing menus and menu items and an order;

an order server including a processor and a network interface operatively coupled to the processor, the order server operatively coupled to the database, the order server communicating with a plurality of diner devices over a wide area network, the plurality of diner devices used by a plurality of diners to access the order server over the wide area network, the plurality of diner devices including a first diner device used by a first diner to submit the order, wherein;

the order server is adapted to retrieve a set of potential preparation time frames for the order from a restaurant server;

the restaurant server is adapted to retrieve the set of potential preparation time frames from an on-site appliance housed within a serving restaurant specified by the order, wherein an address of the first diner is distant from an address of the serving restaurant;

the restaurant server is adapted to cause the on-site appliance to display the order, one or more preparation time frames, and associated additional preparation fees;

the order server is adapted to retrieve a set of potential delivery time frames for the order from a driver server, where the set of potential delivery time frames from the driver server are dynamically formulated at the driver server and the set of potential delivery time frames are created based on other delivery orders assigned to a mobile device associated with a delivery driver and a current location of the driver in a delivery route and at least one of weather conditions, determined traffic conditions, and delivery plans of the other delivery orders;

the driver server is adapted to send to and cause to be displayed on the mobile device associated with the delivery driver performing deliveries for the serving restaurant a set of unassigned orders including the order;

the driver server is adapted to retrieve the set of potential delivery time frames for the order from the mobile device;

the order server is adapted to dynamically formulate a list of incentive based delivery plans for the order based on the set of potential preparation time frames and the set of potential delivery time frames, wherein the list of incentive based delivery plans comprises a plurality of plans, each of the plurality of plans comprising a distinct time frame indicating potential times for receiving delivery of the order and a distinct value indicating an additional fee to be paid by the first diner in order to receive delivery of the order at the distinct time frame;

the order server is adapted to send the order and the list of incentive based delivery plans to the first diner device over the wide area network;

the first diner device is adapted to receive the list of incentive based delivery plans over the wide area network, and display the list of incentive based delivery plans on a screen;

the first diner device is adapted to allow the first diner to select a particular incentive based delivery plan from the list of incentive based delivery plans for the order; and

the first diner device is adapted to send the particular incentive based delivery plan to the order server over the wide area network.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one plan in the list of incentive based delivery plans comprises a penalty, wherein the penalty is assessed against at least one of the serving restaurant or the delivery driver when the order is not delivered before or on the distinct time frame of the at least one plan.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the list of incentive based delivery plans are formulated after the order is placed.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the additional fee comprises a first portion allocated for delivery of the order by the delivery driver and a second portion of the additional fee allocated for preparation of the order by the serving restaurant.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the additional fee of a particular plan in the list of incentive based delivery plans indicates delivery of the order at a time frame associated with the particular plan is at no additional cost.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the restaurant server retrieves the set of potential preparation time frames from the on-site appliance by:

the restaurant server generating and sending a set of tentative preparation time frames to the on-site appliance housed in the serving restaurant;

the on-site appliance displaying a user interface that presents the set of tentative preparation time frames and provides an option to accept or reject each of the set of tentative preparation time frames;

the on-site appliance receiving a selection to accept or reject each of the set of tentative preparation time frames via the user interface and in response sending a confirmation to the restaurant server.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the driver server retrieves the set of potential delivery time frames from the mobile device by:

the driver server generating and sending a set of tentative delivery time frames to the mobile device;

the mobile device displaying a user interface that presents the set of tentative delivery time frames and provides an option to accept or reject each of the set of tentative delivery time frames;

the mobile device receiving a selection to accept or reject each of the set of tentative delivery time frames via the user interface and in response sending a confirmation to the restaurant server.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the restaurant server retrieves the set of potential preparation time frames from the on-site appliance by:

the restaurant server generating and sending a set of tentative preparation time frames to the on-site appliance housed in the serving restaurant;

the on-site appliance displaying a user interface that presents the set of tentative preparation time frames and provides an option to accept or edit each of the set of tentative preparation time frames;

the on-site appliance receiving one or more edits to each of the set of tentative preparation time frames, generating the set of potential preparation time frames based on the one or more edits, and sending the set of potential preparation time frames to the restaurant server.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the driver server retrieves the set of potential delivery time frames from the mobile device by:

the driver server generating and sending a set of tentative delivery time frames to the mobile device;

the mobile device displaying a user interface that presents the set of tentative delivery time frames and provides an option to accept or edit each of the set of tentative delivery time frames;

the mobile device receiving one or more edits to each of the set of tentative delivery time frames, generating the set of potential preparation time frames based on the one or more edits, and sending the set of potential preparation time frames to the restaurant server.

20. The system of claim 1, wherein the set of potential preparation time frames includes a base preparation time frame, the base preparation time frame has a zero additional fee, and the set of potential preparation time frames additionally can include at least one expedited preparation time frame, the at least one expedited preparation time frame comes earlier chronologically than the base preparation time frame, and each of the at least one expedited preparation time frame has an associated non-zero additional fee.

21. The system of claim 1, wherein the set of potential delivery time frames includes a base delivery time frame, the base delivery time frame has a zero additional fee, and the set of potential delivery time frames can include at least one expedited delivery time frame, the at least one expedited delivery time frame comes earlier chronologically than the base delivery time frame, each of the at least one expedited delivery time frame has an associated non-zero additional fee.

22. The system of claim 8, wherein the set of potential preparation time frames includes a base preparation time frame, the base preparation time frame has a zero additional fee and additionally the set of potential preparation time frames can also include at least one expedited preparation time frame, the at least one expedited preparation time frame comes earlier chronologically than the base preparation time frame, and each of the at least one expedited preparation time frame has an associated non-zero additional fee.

23. The system of claim 8, wherein the set of potential delivery time frames includes a base delivery time frame, the base delivery time frame has a zero additional fee, and additionally the set of potential delivery time frames can include at least one expedited delivery time frame, the at least one expedited delivery time frame comes earlier chronologically than the base delivery time frame, each of the at least one expedited delivery time frame has an associated non-zero additional fee.

10. A method for managing incentive based delivery of made-to-order food, the method operating on a diner device and comprising:

the diner device placing an order for food delivery with an order server over a wide area network;

in response to receiving the order, the order server requesting a set of potential preparation time frames from a restaurant server and a set of potential delivery time frames from a driver server, where the set of potential delivery time frames from the driver server are dynamically formulated at the driver server and the set of potential delivery time frames are created based on other delivery orders assigned to a mobile device associated with a delivery driver and a current location of the driver in a delivery route and at least one of weather conditions, determined traffic conditions, and delivery plans of the other delivery orders, wherein the restaurant server causes the order, one or more preparation time frames, associated additional preparation fees, and set of potential delivery time frames to be displayed on an on-site appliance housed within a serving restaurant specified by the order and retrieves the set of potential delivery time frames from the on-site appliance and the driver server causes a set of unassigned orders including the order to be displayed on the mobile device of a delivery driver for the serving restaurant and retrieves the set of potential delivery time frames from the mobile device;

the order server dynamically generating a list of incentive based delivery plans in response to receiving the set of potential preparation time frames and the set of potential delivery time frames, wherein the list of incentive based delivery plans comprises a plurality of plans, each of the plurality of plans comprising of a distinct time frame indicating potential times for receiving delivery of the order and a distinct value indicating an additional fee to be paid in order to receive delivery of the order at the distinct time frame, wherein an address of a diner using the diner device is distant from an address of the serving restaurant;

the order server sending the list of incentive based delivery plans to the diner device over the wide area network;

the diner device receiving the list of incentive based delivery plans for the order from the order server over the wide area network;

the diner device displaying the list of incentive based delivery plans on a screen of the diner device;

the diner device receiving user input selecting a particular incentive based delivery plan from the list of incentive based delivery plans for the order; and

the diner device sending the particular incentive based delivery plan to the order server over the wide area network.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein at least one plan in the list of incentive based delivery plans comprises a penalty wherein the penalty is assessed against at least one of the serving restaurant or the delivery driver when the order is not delivered before or at the distinct time frame of the at least one plan.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the additional fee comprises a first portion designated for delivery of the order by the delivery driver and a second portion of the additional fee is designated for preparation of the order by the serving restaurant of the order.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the additional fee of a particular plan in the list of incentive based delivery plans indicates delivery of the order at a time frame associated with the particular plan is at no additional cost.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the list of incentive based delivery plans are formulated after the order is placed.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the restaurant server retrieves the set of potential preparation time frames from the on-site appliance by:

the restaurant server generating and sending a set of tentative preparation time frames to the on-site appliance housed in the serving restaurant;

the on-site appliance displaying a user interface that presents the set of tentative preparation time frames and provides an option to accept or reject each of the set of tentative preparation time frames;

the on-site appliance receiving a selection to accept or reject each of the set of tentative preparation time frames via the user interface and in response sending a confirmation to the restaurant server.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein the driver server retrieves the set of potential delivery time frames from the mobile device by:

the driver server generating and sending a set of tentative delivery time frames to the mobile device;

the mobile device displaying a user interface that presents the set of tentative delivery time frames and provides an option to accept or reject each of the set of tentative delivery time frames;

the mobile device receiving a selection to accept or reject each of the set of tentative delivery time frames via the user interface and in response sending a confirmation to the restaurant server.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein the restaurant server retrieves the set of potential preparation time frames from the on-site appliance by:

the restaurant server generating and sending a set of tentative preparation time frames to the on-site appliance housed in the serving restaurant;

the on-site appliance displaying a user interface that presents the set of tentative preparation time frames and provides an option to accept or edit each of the tentative preparation time frames;

the on-site appliance receiving one or more edits to each of the set of tentative preparation time frames, generating the set of potential preparation time frames based on the one or more edits, and sending the set of potential preparation time frames to the restaurant server.

18. The method of claim 10, wherein the driver server retrieves the set of potential delivery time frames from the mobile device by:

the driver server generating and sending a set of tentative delivery time frames to the mobile device;

the mobile device displaying a user interface that presents the set of tentative delivery time frames and provides an option to accept or edit each of the set of tentative delivery time frames;

the on-site appliance receiving one or more edits to each of the set of tentative delivery time frames, generating the set of potential preparation time frames based on the one or more edits, and sending the set of potential preparation time frames to the restaurant server.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing one or more instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform steps comprising:

a diner device placing an order for food delivery with a first server over a wide area network;

in response to receiving the order, the first server requesting a set of potential preparation time frames from a restaurant server and a set of potential delivery time frames from a driver server, wherein the restaurant server retrieves the set of potential preparation time frames from an on-site appliance housed within a serving restaurant specified by the order and the driver server retrieves the set of potential delivery time frames from a mobile device of a delivery driver for the serving restaurant;

wherein the restaurant server is adapted to cause the on-site appliance to display the order, one or more preparation time frames, and associated additional preparation fees;

wherein the driver server is adapted to send to and cause to be displayed on a mobile device associated with the delivery driver for the serving restaurant;

wherein the set of potential delivery time frames from a mobile device of a delivery driver for the serving restaurant are dynamically formulated at the driver server and the set of potential delivery time frames are created based on other delivery orders assigned to the mobile device associated with a delivery driver and a current location of the driver in a delivery route and at least one of weather conditions, determined traffic conditions, and delivery plans of the other delivery orders;

the first server dynamically generating a list of incentive based delivery plans in response to receiving the set of potential preparation time frames and the set of potential delivery time frames, wherein the list of incentive based delivery plans comprises a plurality of distinct time frames indicating potential times for receiving delivery of the order and each particular time frame of the plurality of distinct time frames is associated with a distinct value indicating an additional fee to be paid in order to receive delivery of the order at the particular time frame, wherein an address of a diner using the diner device is distant from an address of the serving restaurant;

the first server sending the list of incentive based delivery plans to the diner device over the wide area network;

the diner device receiving the list of incentive based delivery plans for the order from the first server over the wide area network;

the diner device displaying the list of incentive based delivery plans on a screen of the diner device;

the diner device receiving user input selecting a particular incentive based delivery plan from the list of incentive based delivery plans; and

the diner device sending the particular incentive based delivery plan to the first server over the wide area network.

24. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the set of potential preparation time frames includes a base preparation time frame, the base preparation time frame has a zero additional fee, and additionally the set of potential preparation time frames can also include at least one expedited preparation time frame, the at least one expedited preparation time frame comes earlier chronologically than the base preparation time frame, and each of the at least one expedited preparation time frame has an associated non-zero additional fee.

25. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the set of potential delivery time frames includes a base delivery time frame, the base delivery time frame has a zero additional fee, and additionally the set of potential delivery time frames can also include at least one expedited delivery time frame, the at least one expedited delivery time frame comes earlier chronologically than the base delivery time frame, each of the at least one expedited delivery time frame has an associated non-zero additional fee.