On-premises paging system utilizing mounted pagers having a data input device

An on-premises restaurant pager comprising:

• means for mounting the pager on a customer dining table in a restaurant;
• means for receiving a first identifier from a customer seated at the table;
• means for storing the first identifier received from the customer means for receiving a broadcast paging message from an on-premises paging transmitter, said paging message including a second identifier;
• means for comparing the stored first identifier with the received second identifier;
• and
• means for generating an alerting signal for alerting the customer when the first identifier matches the second identifier.

A method of paging a restaurant customer with an on-premises paging system, said method comprising the steps of:

• providing the customer with a data token on which a customer identifier is encoded;
• reading the customer's customer identifier with a data input device at a particular one of a plurality of paging receivers mounted on one of a plurality of dining tables in the restaurant;
• storing the read customer identifier in a database in the particular paging receiver;
• broadcasting with an on-premises paging transmitter, a paging message to the plurality of paging receivers, said paging message including a broadcast customer identifier;
• extracting by each paging receiver, the broadcast customer identifier from the paging message;
• determining by the particular paging receiver, whether the broadcast customer identifier matches the customer identifier stored in the database;
• and
• alerting the customer by the particular paging receiver when the broadcast customer identifier matches the customer identifier stored in the database.