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Customer interaction manager on a point of sale computer

  • US 9,946,999 B2
  • Filed: 11/30/2012
  • Issued: 04/17/2018
  • Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2012
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A method of managing customer interaction with a business implemented by a point of sale (POS) computer located at the business and communicating over the Internet with a server computer, the method comprising:

  • starting, by the POS computer, a purchase transaction for a customer present at the business;

    establishing, by the POS computer, an Internet session with the server computer by transmitting a purchase transaction started notification for the started purchase transaction, wherein establishing further includes establishing a first network connection with the server computer;

    receiving, by the POS computer, a unique identifier from the server computer in response to transmitting the purchase transaction started notification where the unique identifier uniquely identifies the started purchase transaction;

    providing, by the POS computer, the unique identifier with a uniform resource locator (URL) to a mobile smart device operated by the customer where the URL is an Internet address serviced by the server computer;

    receiving, by the POS computer, a request using the Internet session with the server computer over the Internet where the request includes the unique identifier entered by the customer and authenticating, by the server the customer based on the unique identifier entered by the customer through the mobile smart device during a second network connection between the mobile smart device and the server computer, and wherein receiving further includes receiving the from the mobile smart device and managing, by the POS computer and the server computer the Internet session through a record for the purchase transaction maintained by the server computer in a database;

    providing a web browser interface to the mobile smart device and including access through the web browser interface to information relevant to;

    the purchase transaction, specials, discount items, and customer-initiated requests during the purchase transaction, and wherein providing further includes changing selectable options within the web browser interface available for customer selection during the purchase transaction; and

    processing, by the POS computer, the received request where processing the request includes using the unique identifier to identify the started purchase transaction, wherein the business is a restaurant, and wherein the purchase transaction includes customer location information where the customer location information specifies where the customer is seated within or near the restaurant, and wherein providing the unique identifier and the URL to the customer includes wirelessly receiving, from the mobile smart device operated by the customer, location information and transmitting the unique identifier and the URL to the mobile smart device if the received location information matches the customer location information from the purchase transaction.

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