INFORMATION MANAGEMENT AND REAL TIME SYNCHRONOUS COMMUNICATIONS HOSPITALITY SOFTWARE APPLICATION BASED SYSTEM WITH SPECIALIZED ORDERING FUNCTIONALITY AS PART OF A SYNCHRONIZED ECOSYSTEM OF MULTIPLE TYPES OF COMPUTING DEVICES WITH VARYING NON PC-STANDARD DISPLAY SIZES OPERATING IN EQUILIBRIUM VIA THE INTERNET AND WITH A MASTER DATABASE STORED IN A CENTRAL LOCATION

• US 20140279093A1
• Filed: 05/13/2014
• Published: 09/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/01/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ameranth Wireless (Ameranth, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Ameranth Wireless (Ameranth, Inc.)
• Inventors: McNally, Keith R.
• Granted Patent: US 9,747,651 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/15
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0621 Item configuration or customization
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0623 Item investigation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0643 Graphical representation of items or shoppers
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/12 Hotels or restaurants
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/083 using passwords cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication using a predetermined code H04L9/3226
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/60 Medium conversion
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/1058 Shopping and product ordering
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/2016 Call initiation by network rather than by subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4938 comprising a voice browser which renders and interprets, e.g. VoiceXML
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/00 Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other groups of this subclass

Abstract

An information management and synchronous communications system and method facilitates database equilibrium and synchronization with wired, wireless and Web-based systems, user-friendly and efficient generation of computerized menus and reservations with handwritten/voice modifications for restaurants and other applications that utilize equipment with nonstandard graphical formats, display sizes and/or applications for use in remote data entry, information management and communication with host computer, digital input device or remote pager via standard hardwired connection, the internet, a wireless link, printer or the like. Various operations employing automated telephone calls and/or messaging may, for instance, be performed. For example, desired reservation and/or appointment information may be automatically converted and conveyed to one or more entities via automated telephone call and/or messaging. As another example, information regarding reservation acceptability may be received and automatically converted via automated telephone call and/or messaging. Telephones may, for instance, be the only equipment required by the entities.

Claims

1. An information management and real time synchronous communications system for use with multiple types of computing devices with varying display sizes via the Internet comprising:

a.) at least one hospitality software application with specialized ordering functionality,

b.) a master database containing data of the said at least one hospitality software application pursuant to a master database file structure,

c.) at least one computer server, with associated data storage capabilities for said at least one hospitality software application, and said master database,

d.) at least one web server enabled by web server software to communicate via the internet data from the said master database of the said at least one hospitality software application to and from multiple linked elements of the same connected system,

e.) at least two wireless handheld computing devices in the same connected system with different sized displays from one another,

f.) application software enabled to provide the functionality to combine fixed and at least one unanticipated, dynamic ordering option into the same order, said unanticipated dynamic ordering option not being present in the said master database file structure of (b),

g.) application software enabled to format and configure the said at least one hospitality software application for wireless transmission to and display on the said at least two different wireless handheld computing devices, by leveraging data and parameters from the said master database file structure and display parameters of the said at least two different wireless handheld computing devices to generate a programmed handheld menu configuration of linked graphical user interface cascading screens in conformity with a customized display layout unique to each of the said at least two different wireless handheld computing devices and which facilitates user operations of the said at least one hospitality software application on each of the said two different wireless handheld computing devices,

h.) at least one web page which is generated from parameters and data in the said master database file structure and which is capable of being wirelessly transmitted to and displayed on at least one wireless handheld computing device of the connected system,

i.) at least one web page which is generated from parameters and data in the said master database file structure and which is wirelessly transmitted to and displayed on at least one other computing device with a different display size from the said at least two different wireless handheld computing devices,

j.) an Application Program Interface (API) enabled to connect the said at least one hospitality software application with at least one third party software application via the internet,

k.) application software enabled to provide functionality from the said at least two wireless handheld computing devices of (e) inclusive of the ability to select any available printer directly from the touch-sensitive display interface on the wireless handheld computing devices user interface screen for the printing of any information relative to the hospitality application,

l.) application software enabled to provide functionality from the said at least two wireless handheld computing devices of (e) inclusive of the ability to associate a specific customer with a specific location for an order, or reservation or ticket, such functionality enabled to occur directly from a touch-sensitive display user interface on the wireless handheld computing devices user interface screen,

m.) application software enabled to interface the said (a-l) elements via at least two different communications protocols and wherein an application software based communications control module is enabled to link and synchronize the said at least one hospitality software application and its data in real time between the said (a-l) elements and

wherein a cascaded set of linked graphical user interface screens for at least one of the said two different wireless handheld computers in the same connected system has a different number of user interface cascading screens from at least one other wireless handheld computing device in the same connected system and

wherein the system is enabled for realtime transmission to and realtime receipt via the internet and processing of responses or initiated communications from at least the said two wireless handheld computing devices of the same connected and synchronized system such that substantially the same data of the said at least one hospitality software application is capable of being be displayed consistently on each of the system elements with user displays of the connected and synchronized system.

4. The synchronized system claim (1) wherein the communications control module also provides a single point of entry for all system communications.

10. The synchronized system of claim (1) in which the wireless handheld computing devices are smart phones.

17. The synchronized system of claim (1) in which the system further includes the ability for the specific location functionality to include a specific seat for each customer.

2. An information management and real time synchronous communications system for use with multiple types of computing devices with non PC-standard display sizes via the internet comprising:

a.) at least one hospitality software application with specialized ordering functionality,

b.) a master database containing data of the said at least one hospitality software application pursuant to a master database file structure,

c.) at least one computer server, with associated data storage capabilities for said at least one hospitality software application, and said master database,

d.) at least one web server enabled by web server software to communicate via the internet data from the said master database of the said at least one hospitality software application to and from multiple linked elements of the same connected system,

e.) at least two wireless handheld computing devices in the same connected system with non PC-standard sized displays which are different from one another in size,

f.) application software enabled to provide the functionality to combine fixed and at least one unanticipated, dynamic ordering option into the same order, said unanticipated dynamic ordering option not being present in the said master database file structure of (b),

g.) application software enabled to format and configure the said at least one hospitality software application for wireless transmission to and display on the said two different wireless handheld computing devices, by leveraging data and parameters from the said master database file structure and display characteristics of the said two different wireless handheld computing devices to generate a programmed handheld menu configuration of linked graphical user interface cascading screens in conformity with a customized display layout unique to each of the said two different wireless handheld computing devices and which facilitates user operations of the said at least one hospitality software application on each of the said two different wireless handheld computing devices,

h.) application software enabled to format and configure the said at least one hospitality software application for wireless transmission to and display on at least one other computing device with another different non PC-standard display size from the said two different wireless handheld computing devices,

i.) an Application Program Interface (API) enabled to connect the said at least one hospitality software application with at least one third party software application via the internet,

j.) application software enabled to provide functionality from the said at least two wireless handheld computing devices of (e) inclusive of the ability to associate a specific customer with a specific location for an order, or reservation or ticket, such functionality enabled to occur directly from a touch-sensitive display user interface on the wireless handheld computing devices user interface screen,

k.) application software enabled to interface the said (a-j) elements via at least two different communications protocols and wherein an application software based communications control module is enabled to link and synchronize the said at least one hospitality software application and its data in real time between the said (a-j) elements and

wherein a cascaded set of linked graphical user interface screens for at least one of at least the said two different wireless handheld computers in the same connected system has a different number of user interface cascading screens from at least one other wireless handheld computing device in the same connected system and

wherein the system is enabled for realtime transmission to and realtime receipt via the internet and processing of responses or initiated communications from the said two wireless handheld computing devices of the same connected and synchronized system.

5. The synchronized system of claim (2) wherein the hospitality software application is also stored on the connected wireless handheld computing devices of the system and these devices also include a database for the application on said devices, which is downloaded via the internet and in which the hospitality application software which is stored on the handhelds is enabled to make use of the operating system functionality of the wireless handheld computing devices by issuing commands to the operating system which then performs the requested tasks.

9. The synchronized system of claim (2) which also enables automatic updating in real time of the connected devices in which a change is relevant to, when there is a change to an item made, an item is modified, an item is added or an item is deleted from the master database.

11. The synchronized system of claim (2) in which the wireless handheld computing devices are smart phones.

18. The synchronized system of claim (2) in which the system further includes the ability for the specific location functionality to include a specific seat for each customer.

3. An information management and real time synchronous communications system for use with multiple types of computing devices with varying display sizes via the internet comprising:

a.) at least one hospitality software application, with specialized ordering functionality,

b.) a master database containing data of the said at least one hospitality software application pursuant to a master database file structure,

c.) at least one computer server, with associated data storage capabilities for said at least one hospitality software application, and said master database,

d.) At least one other computer server with its own database that is connected to the said computer server in (c) which stores the said master database of the system and which is enabled by application software to automatically synchronize in real time via the internet with the data in the said master database when relevant changes occur in the master database or in the database of the one other computer server,

e.) at least one web server enabled by web server software to communicate via the internet data from the said master database of the said at least one hospitality software application to and from multiple linked elements of the same connected system,

f.) at least two wireless handheld computing devices in the same connected system with different sized displays from one another,

g.) application software enabled to provide the functionality to combine fixed and at least one unanticipated, dynamic ordering option into the same order, said unanticipated dynamic ordering option not being present in the said master database file structure of (b),

h.) application software enabled to format and configure the said at least one hospitality software application for wireless transmission to and display on the said at least two different wireless handheld computing devices, by leveraging data and parameters from the said master database file structure and display parameters of the said at least two different wireless handheld computing devices to generate a programmed handheld menu configuration of linked graphical user interface cascading screens in conformity with a customized display layout unique to each of the said at least two different wireless handheld computing devices,

i.) at least one web page which is generated from parameters and data in the said master database file structure and which is capable of being wirelessly transmitted to and displayed on at least one of the said two wireless handheld computing devices,

j.) at least one web page which is generated from parameters and data in the said master database file structure and which is wirelessly transmitted to and displayed on at least one other computing device with a different display size from the said at least two different wireless handheld computing devices,

k.) an Application Program Interface (API) enabled to connect the said at least one hospitality software application with at least one third party software application via the internet,

l.) application software enabled to provide functionality from the said at least two wireless handheld computing devices of (e) inclusive of the ability to associate a specific customer with a specific location for an order, reservation or ticket, such functionality enabled to occur directly from a touch-sensitive display user interface on the wireless handheld computing devices user interface screen,

m.) application software enabled to interface the said (a-l) elements via at least one communications protocol and wherein an application software based communications control module is enabled to link and synchronize the said at least one hospitality software application and its data in real time between the said (a-l) elements and

wherein a cascaded set of linked graphical user interface screens for at least one of the said two different wireless handheld computers in the same connected system has a different number of user interface cascading screens from at least one other wireless handheld computing device in the same connected system and

wherein the system is enabled for realtime transmission to and realtime receipt via the internet and processing of responses or initiated communications from at least the said two wireless handheld computing devices of the same connected and synchronized system such that substantially the same data of the said at least one hospitality software application is capable of being be displayed consistently on each of the system elements with user displays of the connected and synchronized system

6. The synchronized system of claim (3) wherein the hospitality software application is also stored on the connected wireless handheld computing devices of the system and these devices also include a database for the application on said devices, wherein the database is downloaded via the internet and wherein the system is enabled to automatically download a new database with the current data to that handheld device without requiring the entire application to be downloaded again.

7. The synchronized system of claim (3) wherein the hospitality software application is also stored on the connected wireless handheld computing devices of the system and these devices also include a database for the application on said wireless handheld computing devices which is downloaded via the internet and wherein the system is enabled to determine if the database on the handheld is current and if it is not, the synchronized system is further enabled to automatically replace the existing database with a new database with the current data to be downloaded to those handheld devices.

8. The synchronized system of claim (3) wherein the hospitality software application is also stored on the connected wireless handheld computing devices of the system and these devices also include a database for the application on said devices, both of which are downloaded via the internet and wherein the system is enabled to determine if the database on the handheld is current and if it is not, the synchronized system is further enabled to replace the existing database with a new database with the current data to be automatically downloaded to that handheld device without requiring the entire application to be downloaded again and wherein the downloaded database includes functionality that is different based upon the time of the day and in which the hospitality application software which is stored on the handhelds is enabled to make use of the operating system functionality of the wireless handheld computing devices by issuing commands to the operating system which then performs the requested tasks.

12. The synchronized system of claim (3) in which the wireless handheld computing devices are smart phones.

13. The synchronized system of claim (3) in which the wireless handheld computing devices are smart phones and in which payment processing is enabled to occur wirelessly and directly from the touch-sensitive user interface of the smart phones.

14. The synchronized system of claim (3) in which the communications control module is further enabled to continuously monitor the communications network of the system and to automatically route all communications to the appropriate devices in real time via the internet.

15. The synchronized system of claim (3) wherein the hospitality software application on the connected wireless handheld computing devices of the system is enabled to allow for communications with other wireless handheld computing devices directly from only the user interface on the touch-sensitive display of the wireless handheld computing device.

16. The synchronized system of claim (3) in which the system further includes the ability to utilize text messaging as part of the ordering process.

19. The synchronized system of claim (3) in which the system further includes the ability for the specific location functionality to include a specific seat for each customer.

20. The synchronized system of claim (3) in which the system further includes functionality for programmed handheld configurations which are initially created via a software emulator tool, which operates on a desktop computer and which includes a display customization dialogue box which enables the look and feel of the wireless handheld computing devices to be shown for preview on displays connected to the desktop computer, via configuration and emulation software on the desktop computer and which also allows for revisions to be made via the software emulator tool.