US 10,650,364 B2Granted

System and method for advanced identification of a customer

AssigneeWalgreen Co.

InventorsNimesh S. Jhaveri, Archana Dhruve, Heather K. Hill, Dejan Kozic, Laura Jean Tebbe, Susan G. Heald, Warit Tulyathorn, Mark A. Jones, Sara B. Frisk, Jennifer M. Levin, Jennifer A. Comiskey, David T. Blanchard

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Abstract

In a method for advanced identification of a customer, a customer may remotely place an order, intending to later go to a store to pick up the ordered item. The store may have a pick-up area (e.g., at the back of the store) where the customer can go to pick up the ordered item. To save the customer time, the customer may be identified when she enters the store so that an employee can obtain her ordered item and have it ready to pick up by the time the customer walks through the store and arrives at the pick-up area. To identify the customer, an initiation device may transmit a first signal that causes the customer's mobile electronic device to respond by transmitting a second signal, which may be utilized to generate a notification in the pick-up area notifying an employee to obtain the ordered item for pick-up.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A system for identifying a customer at a store, the system comprising:

(A) a computing device including an output device and located at a pick-up area within a store;
and
(B) an initiator device located at the store, wherein the initiator device is configured to transmit a first signal conforming to a first protocol to cause a mobile electronic device that is located at a second area substantially near an entrance of the store to respond to receiving the first signal by wirelessly broadcasting a second signal that:
(i) carries identification information uniquely associated with a customer who has remotely placed an order for an item but who has not yet picked up the item;
and (ii) conforms to a second protocol that is different from the first protocol;
and
(C) a customer identification device that is communicatively connected to the computing device and that:
(i) receives the identification information, wherein the identification information corresponds to stored identification information for the customer;
and
(ii) transmits to the computing device at the pick-up area, in response to receiving the identification information, a message to cause the computing device to provide, via the output device, an audible or visual notification to obtain the item for pick-up by the customer.

7 more elements

A method for identifying a customer at a store, the method comprising:

(A) implementing an initiator device at a store, wherein the store includes at least:
(i) a first area for picking up ordered items within the store, and (ii) a second area distinct from the first area and including an entrance of the store;
(B) wirelessly transmitting, via the initiator device, a first signal conforming to a first protocol to cause a mobile electronic device located substantially near the second area to respond to receiving the first signal by wirelessly broadcasting a second signal that:
(i) carries identification information uniquely associated with a customer who has remotely placed an order for an item but who has not yet picked up the item;
and
(ii) conforms to a second protocol that is different from the first protocol;
(C) receiving, at the customer identification device, the identification information that was carried by the second signal wirelessly broadcasted by the mobile electronic device, wherein the identification information corresponds to stored identification for the customer;
(D) transmitting, via the customer identification device, a message in response to receiving the identification information;
(E) receiving the message at a computing device located at the first area for picking up ordered items within the store;
and
(F) causing the computing device to respond to receiving the message by providing an audible or visual notification to obtain the item for pick-up by the customer.

8 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 16/052,302Filed 1 Aug 2018 · continuation
Priority: 1 Nov 2010
Published: US 2018/0341939 A129 Nov 2018
Granted: 12 May 2020
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification17 codes

G06Q 20/20
Payment architectures: point-of-sale [POS] network systems
G07F 9/009
Details other than those peculiar to special kinds or types of apparatus: user recognition or proximity detection
G06Q 10/0836
Shipping: recipient pick-ups
G06Q 10/109
Office automation; Time management: time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting

Family

Application61/408,903Us provisional application · filed 1 Nov 2010
Application13/286,909Parent of this continuation · filed 1 Nov 2011
US 2018/0341939 A1Pre-grant publication · published 29 Nov 2018
US 10,074,084 B1Parent of this continuation
US 10,650,364 B2This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.