Utilizing near field communication to improve customer interactions

• US 9,727,872 B2
• Filed: 10/04/2012
• Issued: 08/08/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 10/04/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: MoneyGram International Incorporated
• Original Assignee: MoneyGram International Incorporated
• Inventors: Popescu, Daniela, Crowson, Mark, Trubitsyna, Elena, Tse, Pak Kiu, Ware, Nicholas, Walker, David
• Primary Examiner(s): Netzloff, Eric
• Assistant Examiner(s): Stroud, Christopher
• Application Number:
  US13/645,199
• Publication Number:
  US 20140100925A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,769 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/1413 1D bar codes
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/1417 2D bar codes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3278 RFID or NFC payments by means of M-devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/341 Active cards, i.e. cards including their own processing means, e.g. including an IC or chip
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/01 Customer relationship services
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0214 Referral reward systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0282 Rating or review of business operators or products
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange

Abstract

Systems, methods and devices which utilize near field communication-style technologies in conjunction with one or more of personal devices and communication networks in order to provide for improved customer interactions with a service establishment are provided. In one embodiment an application is configured to provide for various functionality upon the triggering of a near-field communication stimulus. For example, upon scanning a near field device, an application may launch that provides a user with pre-determined information. Such information may include information regarding the nearest locations of a service establishment and approximate wait times for transactions at the listed locations. In another embodiment, the pre-determined information may include information regarding promotions available to a customer such as special offers, coupons, advertisements, and the like.

Claims

1. A method for directing customer traffic to a physical establishment, said method comprising:

providing a first near field communication device configured to be scanned by a mobile device;

transmitting, in response to detecting that a customer has scanned the first near field communication device using the customer'"'"'s mobile device, to said mobile device of the customer, information regarding a plurality of locations, each of the plurality of locations corresponding to an establishment associated with the first near field communication device, wherein each of the plurality of locations is remote to the first near field communication device, wherein said information regarding a plurality of locations includes current waiting times for each of the plurality of locations and address information corresponding to each of the plurality of locations, and wherein said information regarding said plurality of locations is stored in a database;

providing a plurality of near field communication devices at a physical establishment, said physical establishment identified in said information regarding the plurality of locations, said plurality of near field communication devices configured to assist in a transaction flow of a customer encounter, wherein at least one of said plurality of near field communication devices located at the physical establishment is configured to;

initiate reception, from said mobile device, of customer profile data to be used in a given transaction;

monitor wait times for a customer undertaking a transaction at the physical establishment, wherein the monitoring includes;

marking a time entry corresponding to a customer check-in time, wherein said customer check-in time corresponds to a time when said customer is placed in a waiting queue, said waiting queue storing information associated with customers at the physical establishment waiting to engage in transaction services offered at the physical establishment;

providing a notification to said customer when said customer reaches a front of the queue, wherein said customer receives the transaction services subsequent to receiving the notification, and wherein the transaction services facilitate completion of the transaction of said customer; and

initiating reception of additional information from said mobile device, said additional information indicating that said transaction has been completed;

determine a total visit time for said transaction based on the time entry corresponding to the customer check-in time and a time when said additional information indicating that said transaction has been completed is received from said mobile device; and

updating said information regarding said plurality of locations stored at said database based on said monitoring to produce updated information regarding said plurality of locations that includes updated waiting times for at least one of said plurality of locations, wherein, after said information regarding said plurality of locations has been updated, said updated information regarding said plurality of locations is transmitted to a scanning device in response to detecting a scan of the first near field communication device by said scanning device;

receiving transaction information in response to said customer scanning one of said plurality of near field communication devices with said mobile device; and

configuring at least a portion of said transaction using said transaction information received from said mobile device.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising transmitting travel direction information upon receiving a selection of an address corresponding to a location of the plurality of locations.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising transmitting at least one promotional offer to a customer upon the customer scanning the near field communication device, wherein said at least one promotional offer comprises at least one of a discount offer to an establishment associated with the near field communication device and a discount offer to a third party establishment.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of near field communication devices at the physical establishment includes a near field communication device located proximate a customer service desk located at the physical establishment, wherein the near field communication device captures transaction processing information from said mobile device in response to being scanned by said mobile device, wherein said transaction processing information indicates that said transaction is being processed by a customer service representative, and wherein the method includes updating wait time information based on said time entry corresponding to said customer check-in time and a time when said transaction processing information was captured.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein said near field communication device is further configured to receive affirmation information from the mobile device, wherein the affirmation information is received in response to scanning said near field communication device with said mobile device, wherein said affirmation information indicates that said customer has accepted terms and conditions associated with said transaction, and wherein said affirmation information is received prior to said near field communication device located proximate said customer service desk capturing said transaction processing information.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the method includes analyzing time stamps corresponding to various stages of said transaction to identify inefficiencies in one or more stages of the transaction flow, wherein each of the time stamps corresponds to a time when one of said plurality of near field communication devices is scanned by mobile devices, and wherein each of the plurality of near field communication devices is associated with a particular stage of the transaction flow.

7. A system for providing one or more services to a user, the system comprising:

one or more agent locations, wherein each of the one or more agent locations is configured to provide one or more transaction services to a user, wherein each of the one or more transaction services is associated with a transaction flow corresponding to a sequence of actions performed to provide a particular transaction service of the one or more transaction services to the user;

a first plurality of near field communication (NFC) devices, wherein the first plurality of NFC devices comprises one or more subsets of NFC devices, each of the one or more subsets of NFC devices of the first plurality of NFC devices comprising NFC devices located at a particular agent location of the one or more agent locations, wherein each subset of NFC devices located at an agent location comprise;

a first NFC device located proximate to an entrance of the particular agent location, wherein, at each of the one or more agent locations, the first NFC device is configured to be scanned by a mobile device of the user to check-in the user and to check-out the user, wherein checking in the user places the user in a transaction service queue, wherein the first NFC device captures timestamp information each time the first NFC device is scanned by the mobile device of the user, wherein the timestamp information captured by the first NFC device includes a first timestamp corresponding to a first time when the user scanned the first NFC device using the mobile device and a second timestamp corresponding to a second time when the user scanned the first NFC device using the mobile device, and wherein the first timestamp corresponds to a check-in time and the second timestamp corresponds to a check-out time;

a second NFC device located proximate to an agent device, wherein the agent device is operated by an agent employed at the particular agent location to provide at least one transaction service of the one or more transaction services to the user, wherein the second NFC device is configured to be scanned by the mobile device of the user during providing of the at least one transaction service to the user, wherein a first scan of the second NFC device provides transaction detail information regarding the at least one transaction service to the agent device for presentation to the agent, and wherein a second scan of the second NFC device confirms acceptance by the user of one or more terms and conditions associated with the at least one transaction service, and wherein the agent device is configured to receive inputs from the agent;

a second plurality of NFC devices located remote from the one or more agent locations and configured to provide information to the user in response to being scanned by the mobile device of the user, wherein the information provided to the user in response to scanning one of the second plurality of NFC devices with the mobile device of the user comprises location information corresponding to at least one of the one or more agent locations and wait time information corresponding to an amount of time the user will wait to receive a transaction service at a corresponding agent location, wherein, for a particular transaction service, the transaction flow comprises the steps of;

providing, by a particular NFC device of the second plurality of NFC devices, the location information and the wait time information in response to a scan of the particular NFC device of the second plurality of NFC devices by the mobile device of the user;

detecting, by a particular first NFC device of the first plurality of NFC devices, a scan by the mobile device of the user, wherein the particular first NFC device is located proximate an entrance to a first agent location of the one or more agent locations;

in response to detection of the scan by the mobile device of the user;

placing the user in a particular transaction service queue storing information associated with users waiting to receive transaction services at the first agent location; and

marking a check-in time corresponding to when the user was placed in the particular transaction service queue;

transmitting a notification to the user when the user has reached the front of the particular transaction service queue, wherein the notification is transmitted to the mobile device of the user;

detecting, by a particular second NFC device of the first plurality of NFC devices, a scan by the mobile device of the user, wherein the particular second NFC device of the first plurality of NFC devices is located proximate to an agent device at the first agent location;

in response to the scan of the particular NFC device of the first plurality of NFC devices;

marking an end of queueing time to indicate that the user has been removed from the particular transaction service queue; and

presenting transaction details at the agent device, the transaction details comprising information that facilitates the providing of a particular service to the user;

receiving an input indicating the user has accepted one or more terms of the particular service;

receiving payment information from the user;

in response to receiving the payment information, providing the particular service to the user;

determining a check-out time indicating when the user has received the particular service; and

tracking statistics and total visit times based, at least in part, on the check-in time and the check-out time;

a database storing at least the location information and the wait time information; and

a central server in communication with each NFC device of the first plurality of NFC devices and each NFC device of the second plurality of NFC devices, wherein the central server is configured to;

provide backend support for providing the one or more transaction services to the user;

analyze the statistics and total visit times to identify inefficiencies in one or more steps of the transaction flow of the particular transaction service; and

update, based on the statistics and total visit times, the wait time information at the database to produce updated wait time information, wherein, after the wait time information has been updated, the updated wait time information is provided to a scanning device in response to detecting a scan of the particular NFC device of the second plurality of NFC devices by said scanning device.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the check-out time is determined by detecting a second scan of the particular first NFC device by the mobile device of the user.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the input indicating that the user has accepted the terms and conditions is received via a second scan of the particular second NFC device by the mobile device of the user.