Method and apparatus for predicting wait times

A method comprising:

• receiving an order check-in message notification indicating an initiation of a pickup of purchased goods from a remote terminal;
• determining an estimated wait time for the pickup of the purchased goods based on the received order check-in message notification;
• transmitting the estimated wait time to the remote terminal;
• receiving a user arrival notification that indicates a user has arrived to a pre-defined location;
• transmitting a scan initiation request to the remote terminal that causes the remote terminal to scan at least one network;
• receiving first scan data for a first network of the at least one network from the remote terminal indicating a signal strength of the first network;
• determining a current day and a current time;
• determining a time interval based on the current time;
• obtaining historical wait time data for the first network of the at least one network based on the current day and the time interval;
• determining a current wait time based on the received first scan data and the historical wait time data for the first network;
• transmitting the current wait time to the remote terminal;
• transmitting a delivered message to the remote terminal in response to receiving an order delivered message;
• updating the historical wait time data for the first network of the at least one network based on the current wait time and a time associated with the order delivered message being received, the historical wait time data corresponding to the current day and the time interval, and the historical wait time data being updated by calculating a running average wait time, for each user queue position of a set of user queue positions, based on receiving the order check-in message notification and a corresponding user queue position;
• and
• updating a user queue by removing the purchased goods from the user queue when the order delivered message is received.

A non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium comprising executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:

• receive an order check-in message notification indicating an initiation of a pickup of purchased goods from a remote terminal;
• determine an estimated wait time for the pickup of the purchased goods based on the received order check-in message notification;
• transmit the estimated wait time to the remote terminal;
• receive a user arrival notification that indicates a user has arrived to a pre-defined location;
• transmit a scan initiation request to the remote terminal that causes the remote terminal to scan at least one network;
• receive first scan data for a first network of the at least one network from the remote terminal indicating a signal strength of the first network;
• determine a current day and a current time;
• determine a time interval based on the current time;
• obtain historical wait time data for the first network of the at least one network based on the current day and the time interval;
• determine a current wait time based on the received first scan data and the historical wait time data for the first network;
• transmit the current wait time to the remote terminal;
• transmit a delivered message to the remote terminal in response to receiving an order delivered message;
• update the historical wait time data for the first network of the at least one network based on the current wait time and a time associated with the order delivered message being received, the historical wait time data corresponding to the current day and the time interval, and the historical wait time data being updated by calculating a running average wait time, for each user queue position of a set of user queue positions, based on receiving the order check-in message notification and a corresponding user queue position;
• and
• update a user queue by removing the purchased goods from the user queue when the order delivered message is received.