Customer interface restaurant system

• US 10,102,596 B2
• Filed: 05/09/2014
• Issued: 10/16/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 10/06/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tillster, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Tillster, Inc.
• Inventors: Garrett, James M., Connelly, Ryan
• Primary Examiner(s): Crawley, Talia F
• Application Number:
  US14/274,416
• Publication Number:
  US 20140249938A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,621 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0623 Item investigation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/12 Hotels or restaurants

Abstract

Systems and methods for ordering systems and, more specifically, to a proximity based ordering system are disclosed herein. A computer-implemented method, according to some implementations of the present disclosure, includes receiving, in a computer system, a selection of an order by a user of a user device, the order including a selection of a restaurant and at least one item to purchase from the restaurant, determining, by the computer system, if the user is within a geofence defined in regard to the restaurant, upon determining that the user is not within the geofence, holding, by the computer system, the order from being prepared at the restaurant, and upon determining that the user is within the geofence, releasing, by the computer system, the order to be prepared at the restaurant.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a user device, a selection of an order by a user, the order including a selection of a restaurant and at least one food item to purchase from the restaurant;

transmitting the order from the user device to a server;

pinging, by the user device, the server at predetermined interval times to notify the server that the user device is able to communicate with the server;

subsequent to receiving the order, determining, by the user device, whether the user device is within a geofence defined in regard to the restaurant, information pertaining to the geofence received from the server;

upon determining by the user device that the user device is within the geofence, causing the order to be released by the server to a processing device at the restaurant, wherein releasing the order by the server to the processing device results in preparing the at least one food item for presentation to the user; and

upon failing, by the server, to receive a ping from the user device within a predetermined time, releasing the order to be prepared to the processing device at the restaurant.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining by the user device that the user device is not within the geofence further comprises periodically monitoring by the user device until the user device is within the geofence.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the geofence is circular, and the restaurant is in the center of the circular geofence.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the user device uses Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) coordinates to determine whether the user is within the geofence.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the server determines whether the user device is within the geofence.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein a coordinator contributes business rules to assist in defining the geofence.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising calculating, by the server, an area for the geofence based on a preparation time for the at least one food item before determining, by the user device, if the user device is within the geofence defined in regard to the selected restaurant.

7. An ordering system comprising:

a server;

a processing device of a restaurant system communicatively connected to the server; and

a user device communicatively connected to the server and configured to ping the server at predetermined interval times to notify the server that the user device is able to communicate with the server, the user device comprising;

ordering means for prompting a user of the user device to select a restaurant and at least one food item to purchase from the restaurant and for receiving an order, the order having the selection of the restaurant and the at least one food item to purchase;

geofence location means for determining whether the user device is within a geofence defined in regard to the restaurant subsequent to the reception of the order by the ordering means; and

holding means for holding the order from being communicated through the server to the processing device upon determining by the geofence location means that the user device is not within the geofence and for releasing the order to the processing device upon determining by the geofence location means that the user device is within the geofence;

wherein if the user device fails to ping the server within a predetermined time, the server is configured to release the order to be prepared to the processing device at the restaurant.

8. The system of claim 7, further comprising server holding means configured to hold the order on the server until a determination is made by the user device that the user device is within the geofence and notification is made to the server that the user device is within the geofence.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the user device uses Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) coordinates to determine whether the user device is within the geofence.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein the geofence is non-circular.

11. The system of claim 7, wherein the holding means further comprises business rules means configured to apply rules provided by a coordinator.

19. The system of claim 7, wherein the geofence is circular, and the restaurant is in the center of the circular geofence.

12. An ordering system comprising:

a server;

at least one processing device of a restaurant system communicatively connected to the server; and

at least one user device configured to store and execute a software application, the at least one user device communicatively connected to the server and configured to ping the server at predetermined interval times to notify the server that the user device is able to communicate with the server,

wherein the software application is further configured to enable the at least one user device to receive an order from a user by enabling the user to select a restaurant and at least one food item to purchase from the restaurant and transmit the order to the restaurant system via the server,

wherein the at least one user device is further configured to determine whether the user device is within a geofence defined in regard to the selected restaurant subsequent to receiving at the user device the order including the selection of the restaurant and the selection of the at least one food item to purchase from the restaurant,

wherein the at least one user device is further configured to hold the order from being communicated through the server to the at least one processing device of the restaurant until the user is within the geofence, wherein bandwidth between the user device and the server is conserved while the user device is outside the geofence associated with the selected restaurant, and

wherein if the user device fails to ping the server within a predetermined time, the server is configured to release the order to be prepared to the at least one processing device at the restaurant.

13. The ordering system of claim 12, wherein the geofence is circular, and the restaurant is in the center of the circular geofence.

14. The ordering system of claim 12, wherein the at least one user device uses Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) coordinates to determine whether the user device is within the geofence.

15. The ordering system of claim 12, wherein a coordinator contributes business rules to assist in defining the geofence.

16. The ordering system of claim 12, wherein the geofence is non-circular.

17. The ordering system of claim 12, wherein the server holds the order from being prepared at the restaurant and releases the order to be prepared to the at least one processing device of the restaurant upon receiving notification from the user device that the user device is within the geofence.