ANTICIPATORY CREATION OF POINT-OF-SALE DATA STRUCTURES

• US 20180181937A1
• Filed: 02/26/2018
• Published: 06/28/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2015
• Status: Active Application

• Current Assignee: Block, Inc. (f/k/a Square, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Block, Inc. (f/k/a Square, Inc.)
• Inventors: Wilson, Mathew, Huhn, Derrick, Wolter, Jonathan Andrew, Moody, Ryder, Simms, Dan
• Granted Patent: US 10,275,752 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/047 using payment protocols involving electronic receipts
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/202 Interconnection or interaction of plural electronic cash registers [ECR] or to host computer, e.g. network details, transfer of information from host to ECR or from ECR to ECR
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/204 comprising interface for record bearing medium or carrier for electronic funds transfer or payment credit
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/209 Specified transaction journal output feature, e.g. printed receipt or voice output
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/4015 using location information
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement

Abstract

Techniques and arrangements for analyzing previous tickets of a customer at different merchants—specifying interactions of the customer at the different merchants—to determine subsequent recommendations to send to a particular merchant in real-time when the customer is located at the particular merchant. Other techniques and arrangements facilitate annotation of merchant tickets by the merchants to enrich the data maintained by the tickets and, in some instances, to enhance the described real-time recommendations. Still other techniques and arrangements create a merchant ticket for recording interactions between a merchant and customer upon the customer creating a reservation at the merchant for a specified future time, or being added to a waitlist of the merchant. Upon the customer arriving at the merchant proximate to the specified future time, the merchant may use the created ticket to track items ordered by the merchants, track tenders used to pay for items, and the like.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a display;

one or more processors; and

one or more computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform acts comprising;

generating a data structure for storing interactions that will occur between a customer and a merchant after the generating, the interactions to occur at least between arrival of the customer at a location associated with the merchant and departure of the customer from the location associated with the merchant;

receiving a request to create a reservation for the customer at the merchant, wherein the reservation is for a specified future time at the location associated with the merchant;

based at least in part on receiving the request, storing an association between the data structure and at least one of an identifier of the customer or an indication of the specified future time;

receiving, after storing the association, an indication that the customer has arrived at the location associated with the merchant; and

presenting, using the display, a visual representation of at least a portion of stored content of the data structure.

2. The system as recited in claim 1, the acts further comprising:

receiving, before the specified future time, an indication of one or more preferences associated with the customer; and

storing, as at least the portion of the stored content of the data structure, the indication of the one or more preferences associated with the customer.

3. The system as recited in claim 1, the acts further comprising:

receiving, before the specified future time, payment information associated with a payment instrument of the customer; and

storing, as at least the portion of the stored content in the data structure, the payment information for the customer.

4. The system as recited in claim 3, the acts further comprising:

receiving input indicating that the customer ordered an item from the merchant;

sending, to a payment service, a request to authorize the payment instrument for a cost of the item using the payment information stored in the data structure; and

receiving, from the payment service, an indication that the payment instrument has been approved for the cost of the item.

5. The system as recited in claim 4, the acts further comprising:

receiving, based at least in part on receiving the request to authorize the payment instrument, information identifying a profile of the customer from the payment service;

identifying, from the profile, at least one preference of the customer; and

storing, as at least the portion of the stored content in the data structure, the at least one preference.

6. The system as recited in claim 1, the acts further comprising:

receiving input indicating that the customer ordered at least one item from the merchant;

updating at least the portion of the stored content in the data structure to indicate that the customer ordered the at least one item from the merchant; and

updating the visual representation of the data structure to indicate that the customer ordered the at least one item from the merchant.

7. The system as recited in claim 1, the acts further comprising

receiving, from an input device associated with the merchant, a free-form note provided by the merchant, the free-form note documenting an interaction of the interactions between the customer and the merchant;

and

updating the at least the portion of the stored content in the data structure to indicate the interaction.

8. The system as recited in claim 1, the acts further comprising:

receiving, from an input device associated with the merchant, a selection of a tag, the tag representing a sentiment of the customer expressed during an interaction between the merchant and the customer;

updating the at least the portion of the stored content in the data structure to indicate the tag; and

updating the visual representation of the data structure on the display to indicate the tag.

9. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the generating the data structure for storing interactions occurs before the receiving the request to create the reservation.

10. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the receiving the request to create the reservation occurs before the generating the data structure for storing interactions.

11. A system comprising:

a display;

one or more processors; and

one or more computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform acts comprising;

generating a data structure for storing interactions between a customer and a merchant, the interactions occurring at least between arrival of the customer for a reservation with the merchant and obtaining of a payment by the merchant from the customer;

receiving a request to create the reservation for the customer at the merchant, wherein the reservation is for a specified future time at the merchant;

based at least in part on receiving the request, storing, in the data structure, an identifier of the customer and an indication of the specified future time;

receiving, after storing the identifier, an indication that the customer has arrived for the reservation with the merchant; and

presenting, using the display, a visual representation of at least a portion of stored content of the data structure.

12. The system as recited in claim 11, the acts further comprising:

receiving, before the specified future time, an indication of one or more preferences associated with the customer; and

storing, as at least the portion of the stored content of the, the indication of the one or more preferences associated with the customer.

13. The system as recited in claim 11, the acts further comprising:

receiving, before the specified future time, payment information associated with a payment instrument of the customer; and

storing, as at least the portion of the stored content of the data structure, the payment information for the customer.

14. The system as recited in claim 13, the acts further comprising:

receiving input indicating that the customer ordered an item from the merchant;

sending, to a payment service, a request to authorize the payment instrument for a cost of the item using the payment information stored in the data structure; and

receiving, from the payment service, an indication that the payment instrument has been approved for the cost of the item.

15. The system as recited in claim 14, the acts further comprising:

receiving, based at least in part on receiving the request to authorize the payment instrument, information identifying a profile of the customer from the payment service;

identifying, from the profile, at least one preference of the customer; and

storing, as at least the portion of the stored content of the data structure, the at least one preference.

16. The system as recited in claim 11, the acts further comprising:

receiving input indicating that the customer ordered at least one item from the merchant;

updating at least the portion of the stored content in the data structure to indicate that the customer ordered the at least one item from the merchant; and

updating the visual representation of the data structure to indicate that the customer ordered the at least one item from the merchant.

17. The system as recited in claim 11, the acts further comprising

receiving, from an input device associated with the merchant, a free-form note provided by the merchant, the free-form note documenting an interaction of the interactions between the customer and the merchant;

and

updating the at least the portion of the stored content in the data structure to indicate the interaction; and

updating the visual representation of the data structure on the display to indicate the interaction between the merchant and the customer.

18. The system as recited in claim 11, the acts further comprising

receiving, from an input device associated with the merchant, a selection of a tag, the tag representing a sentiment of the customer expressed during an interaction between the merchant and the customer;

updating the at least the portion of the stored content in the data structure to indicate the tag; and

updating the visual representation of the data structure on the display to indicate the tag.

19. The system as recited in claim 11, wherein the generating the data structure for storing interactions occurs before the receiving the request to create the reservation.

20. The system as recited in claim 11, wherein the receiving the request to create the reservation occurs before the generating the data structure for storing interactions.