POS printing triggered by pharmacy prescription orders
AssigneeCatalina Marketing Corporation
InventorsMichael Roberts, Michael Ebert
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system and method for printing, at a POS of a retail store, information relating to a pharmacy prescription ordered in a pharmacy of said retail store, comprises determining in a PM CS of the pharmacy a payloadID to associate with a prescription order and printing by the PM CS information associated with said first prescription order. Then, a POS CS reading the printing at a POS of the retail store resulting in said POS CS printing a payload associated with the payloadID in the memory of the POS CS.
Claims42
A method for printing, at a retail computer of a retail store that includes a pharmacy section having a pharmacy and a retail section distinct from the pharmacy section, information relating to a pharmacy prescription ordered at a pharmacy computer of the pharmacy, the retail computer being coupled to a point of sale printer that prints receipts for retail transactions being paid for at the retail computer and the pharmacy computer being coupled to a pharmacy printer that prints pharmacy information for prescriptions being filled at the pharmacy, the method comprising:
- receiving, at a pharmacy computer for processing prescription orders for filling prescriptions at the pharmacy of the retail store, a prescription order;
- determining, at the pharmacy computer, information to be provided based on the prescription order;
- generating, at the pharmacy computer using the pharmacy printer, a first print that encodes data comprising an identifier associated with the information to be provided;
- reading, at a retail computer for checking out retail transactions to be paid for at the retail computer, the data from the first print;
- determining, at the retail computer, the identifier based on the data read from the first print;
- querying, at the retail computer, a database stored at a memory of the retail computer using the identifier, wherein the database pre-stores a plurality of information to be provided in in association with corresponding identifiers, the plurality of information to be provided including the information to be provided and the corresponding identifiers including the identifier;
- obtaining, at the retail computer, (i) the information to be provided based on the querying, and (ii) an identification of at least one retail item to be purchased at the retail computer based on a retail transaction occurring at the retail computer in association with the prescription order;
- and
- generating, at the retail computer using a point of sale printer at a point of sale for printing receipt information related to payment for the retail transaction at the retail computer, a second print that comprises the information to be provided and a receipt for purchase of the at least one retail item.
A system for printing, at a retail computer of a retail store that includes a pharmacy section having a pharmacy and a retail section distinct from the pharmacy section, information relating to a pharmacy prescription ordered at a pharmacy computer the pharmacy, the retail computer being coupled to a point of sale printer that prints receipts for retail transactions being paid for at the retail computer and the pharmacy computer being coupled to a pharmacy printer that prints pharmacy information for prescriptions being filled at the pharmacy, the system comprising:
- a pharmacy computer for processing prescription orders for filling prescriptions at the pharmacy of the retail store, the pharmacy computer configured to:
- receive a prescription order;
- determine information to be provided based on the prescription order;
- generate, via the pharmacy printer, a first print that encodes data comprising an identifier associated with the information to be provided;
- and
- a retail computer for checking out retail transactions to be paid for at the retail computer, the retail computer coupled to a point of sale printer and configured to:
- read the data encoded in the first print;
- determine the identifier based on the data read from the first print;
- query a database stored at a memory of the retail computer using the identifier, wherein the database stores a plurality of information to be provided in association with corresponding identifiers, the plurality of information to be provided including the information to be provided and the corresponding identifiers including the identifier;
- obtain the (i) information to be provided based on the query, and (ii) an identification of at least one retail item to be purchased at the retail computer based on a retail transaction occurring at the retail computer in association with the prescription order;
- and
- generate, via the point of sale printer at a point of sale for printing receipt information related to payment for the retail transaction at the retail computer, a second print that comprises the information to be provided and a receipt for purchase of the at least one retail item.
A method of providing information at a retail computer of a retail store that includes a pharmacy section having a pharmacy and a retail section distinct from the pharmacy section, the pharmacy having a pharmacy computer that processes a prescription order and a pharmacy printer that prints a first printed medium used to obtain information to be provided by a point of sale printer based on a prescription order received at the pharmacy and the retail computer being coupled to a point of sale printer that prints receipts for retail transactions being checked out by the retailer computer, the method comprising:
- storing, in a memory of a retail computer, a plurality of records in association with corresponding identifiers, wherein the plurality of records include the information to be provided, and the corresponding identifiers include the identifier;
- reading, by the retail computer used to check out retail transactions to be paid for at the retail computer, a first printed medium that was printed at a pharmacy by the pharmacy printer in association with a prescription order filled at the pharmacy;
- determining, by the retail computer, an identifier encoded by the first printed medium and associated with the information to be provided based on the prescription order;
- querying, at the retail computer, the database stored at the memory of the retail computer using the identifier;
- obtaining, by the retail computer, (i) the information to be provided based on the querying, and (ii) an identification of at least one retail item to be purchased at the retail computer based on a retail transaction occurring at the retail computer in association with the prescription order;
- and
- generating, by the retail computer at the point of sale printer at a point of sale for printing receipt information related to payment for the retail transaction at the retail computer, a second printed medium that comprises the information to be provided and a receipt for purchase of the at least one retail item.
A method of providing a printed medium used to obtain information to be provided that is associated with a prescription order processed at a pharmacy of a retail store, reads the printed medium, and provides the information to provided based on the printed medium, the retail store including a pharmacy section having a pharmacy and a retail section distinct from the pharmacy section, the method comprising:
- receiving, by a pharmacy computer for processing prescription orders for filling prescriptions at the pharmacy of the retail store, a prescription order;
- determining, by the pharmacy computer, information to be provided based on the prescription order;
- storing, by the pharmacy computer, (i) an association between the information to be provided and an identifier that identifies the information to be provided, and (ii) a second association between the identifier and a second identifier;
- and
- generating, by the pharmacy computer at a pharmacy printer, a printed medium comprising encoded data used to obtain the information to be provided at a retail computer that reads the printed medium, wherein the encoded data comprises the second identifier;
- receiving, by the pharmacy computer, the second identifier back from the retail computer, wherein the retail computer obtained the second identifier from the printed medium;
- identifying, by the pharmacy computer, the identifier based on the second association;
- and
- providing, by the pharmacy computer, the identifier that identifies the information to be provided to the retail computer,
- wherein the retail computer obtains the information to be provided based on the identifier.
A system of providing prescription-related information to different retail locations, each retail location comprising a pharmacy computer used to facilitate prescription orders and a retail computer used to process retail transactions, the system comprising:
- a memory programmed to store:
- (1) first prescription-related information and second prescription-related information, and (2) at least one criterion used to determine whether the first prescription-related information and/or the second prescription-related information should be provided to a given retail location;
- a computer comprising one or more processors programmed with computer program instructions to:
- receive first prescription history information from a first retail location that includes a first pharmacy computer and a first retail computer, wherein the first prescription history information includes a first prescription drug identifier and a first retail identifier that identifies the first retail location;
- receive second prescription history information from a second retail location that includes a second pharmacy computer and a second retail computer, wherein the second prescription history information includes a second prescription drug identifier and a second retail identifier that identifies the first retail location;
- determine that the first retail location should receive the first prescription-related information based on the at least one criterion and the first prescription drug identifier;
- determine that the second retail location should receive the second prescription-related information based on the at least one criterion and the second prescription drug identifier;
- provide the first prescription-related information to both the first pharmacy computer and to the first retail computer based on the first retailer identifier step, the first pharmacy computer and the first retail computer each include their own copy, wherein the first prescription-related information is queryable at either or both the first pharmacy computer and the first retail computer;
- and
- provide the second prescription-related information to both the second pharmacy computer and to the second retail computer based on the second retailer identifier such that the second pharmacy computer and the second retail computer each can query include their own copy such that the second prescription-related information is queryable at the second pharmacy computer and the second retail computer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.