# US 2014/0156430 A1 · Customer Interaction Manager

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- Number: US 2014/0156430 A1
- Document ID: US20140156430A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 13/690,690
- Filed: 2012-11-30
- Published: 2014-06-05
- Earliest claimed: 2012-11-30
- Assignees: NCR Corporation
- Applicants: Ncr Corporation
- Inventors: Taylor Drake Morgan; Azhar Bande-ali; Brett S. Taylor; Curtis Patrick Quinn Evans; James Lee Fortuna; David Allen Turner
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20140156430A1

## CPC

- G06Q 30/0601: Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
- G06Q 20/20: Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
- 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}
- G06Q: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR

## Abstract

An approach is provided for indirectly connecting a customer's mobile smart device to computers located at a business when the customer is making a purchase at the business. The customer's mobile smart device and the business's computers communicate over the Internet with a customer interaction manager executing on an Internet server. This provides an easy to use interface for the customer and allows the customer to receive information and send requests to the business without having to wait for personnel working at the business to be available.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method of managing customer interaction with a business implemented by a server computer communicating over the Internet with a first computer and second computer, the method comprising:
establishing a first Internet session with the first computer located at the business after a purchase transaction started notification is received from the first computer and a unique identifier identifying the purchase transaction is generated and transmitted to the first computer;
establishing a second Internet session with the second computer located at the business and operated by a customer making the purchase transaction after determining an identifier received from the second computer matches the unique identifier;
receiving customer requests using the second Internet session from the second computer; and
transmitting the received customer requests using the first Internet session to the first computer.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the business is a restaurant.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the first computer is a point of sale computer executing software that performs the purchase transaction.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the second computer is a mobile smart device.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile smart device is a smart cellular phone owned by the customer.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the requests include a request to add an item to the purchase transaction and to deliver the item to the customer during the purchase transaction.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the requests include a request for an employee of the business to provide a customer service function to the customer at the customer's location.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the requests include a request to access requests that require customer authentication and the request includes information to authenticate the customer.

### Claim 9 (depends on 8)

The method of claim 8, wherein the information to authenticate the customer includes an email address for the customer.

### Claim 10 (depends on 8)

The method of claim 8, wherein the information to authenticate the customer includes a user name and password.

### Claim 11

A method of managing a purchase transaction for a customer at a business where the method is implemented by a server computer connected to the Internet, the method comprising the steps of:
receiving, using the Internet, a purchase transaction started notification from a first computer processing the purchase transaction for the customer;
transmitting, using the Internet, a unique identifier to the first computer where the unique identifier uniquely identifies the purchase transaction started by the first computer;
receiving, using the Internet, an identifier from a second computer located at the business;
performing the following sub-steps after determining the received identifier from the second computer matches the unique identifier:
transmitting, using the Internet, a first level web page to the second computer where the first level web page includes first level selectable actions related to the first customer transaction and second level selectable actions related to the first customer transaction;
receiving, using the Internet, a request to perform a first level selectable action from the second computer;
transmitting, using the Internet, a request to perform the received first level selectable action to the first computer; and
repeating the sub-steps until a customer transaction complete notice is received from the first computer.

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

The method of claim 11, further comprising generating the unique identifier identifying the purchase transaction after receiving the purchase transaction started notification from the first computer.

### Claim 13 (depends on 11)

The method of claim 11, where the first computer is a server computer executing a point of sale application that performs customer transactions and is located at the business.

### Claim 14 (depends on 11)

The method of claim 11, where the business is a restaurant.

### Claim 15 (depends on 11)

The method of claim 11, where the second computer is a mobile smart device operated by a customer at the business.

### Claim 16 (depends on 11)

The method of claim 11, where the sub-steps further comprises:
receiving, using the Internet, a second level customer login request from the second computer where the request includes second level customer login information;
performing the following sub-sub-steps after determining the received second level customer login information is authentic:
transmitting, using the Internet, a second level web page to the second computer where the second level web page includes first, second and third level selectable actions related to the first customer transaction;
receiving, using the Internet, a request to perform a first or second level selectable action from the second computer;
transmitting, using the Internet, a request to perform the received first or second level selectable action to the first computer; and
repeating the sub-steps until a customer transaction complete notice is received from the first computer.

### Claim 17 (depends on 16)

The method of claim 16, wherein the second level customer login information includes an email address for the customer.

### Claim 18 (depends on 16)

The method of claim 16, wherein the second level customer login information includes login data for a social media web site for the customer.

### Claim 19 (depends on 16)

The method of claim 16, where the sub-sub-steps further comprises:
receiving, using the Internet, a third level customer login request from the second computer where the request includes third level customer login information;
performing the following sub-sub-sub-steps after determining the received third level customer login information is authentic:
transmitting, using the Internet, a third level web page to the second computer where the third level web page includes first, second and third level selectable actions related to the first customer transaction;
receiving, using the Internet, a request to perform a first or second or third level selectable action from the second computer;
transmitting, using the Internet, a request to perform the received first or second or third level selectable action to the first computer; and
repeating the sub-sub-steps until a customer transaction complete notice is received from the first computer.

### Claim 20 (depends on 19)

The method of claim 19, wherein the third level customer login information includes a user name and password for the customer.

### Claim 21 (depends on 20)

The method of claim 20, wherein the user name and password are for a social media service for the customer.

### Claim 22 (depends on 21)

The method of claim 21, further comprising the sub-sub-step of:
posting a favorable customer comment about the business to the social media service in response to receiving a third level selectable action to post a favorable customer comment to the social media service from the second computer.

### Claim 23 (depends on 19)

The method of claim 19, further comprising the steps of:
receiving, using the Internet, a list of items to be purchased as part of the purchase transaction from the first computer; and
storing the received list of items purchased, the unique identifier and information that identifies the customer making the purchase transaction.

### Claim 24

A customer interaction management system where the system manages interactions with a customer at a restaurant, the system comprising:
a computer data communications network where at least a portion of the network uses the Internet to communicate with other portions of the network and all data travels over the Internet;
a server computer located away from the restaurant and connected to the network where the server computer is adapted to provide web pages and to provide a customer interaction manager function;
a point of sale server computer located at the restaurant and connected to the network and in communications with the server computer where the point of sale server computer is adapted to process a purchase transaction for a customer making a purchase at the restaurant; and
a mobile smart device operated by the customer and adapted to wirelessly communicate with the server computer using the Internet to allow the customer to receive information about the purchase transaction and to request items or service from restaurant employees.