BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[001] Technical Field

[002] The present disclosure relates to retail systems and more specifically to improving user experience when ordering delivery of food items.

[003] Related Art

[004] Home delivery of food items is an important part of restaurant business, as the volume of revenue generated based on delivery is fairly high. Many restaurants often outsource the delivery of food items to third party home delivery service providers (hereafter "third party providers") like "Waiters on Wheel" as is well known. Such third party providers are typically tied up with multiple restaurants, and when a user calls to order, the user can select from the available choice of restaurants and then the desired items from the menu of the selected restaurant. Some of the third party providers are also available online, thereby facilitating the users to place delivery orders over the Internet.

[005] However, one challenge to providing delivery using third party providers is that the users do have access to the most recent menu when placing delivery orders. Such a scenario is often due to the restaurants not updating the third party providers with the corresponding changes performed to the menu. A user may accordingly be required to contact the staff of the restaurant of interest to know the menu details and then place the delivery order, thereby necessitating the user to spend more time in completing the order.

[006] It is accordingly desirable that the user experience when ordering delivery of food items be improved.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[007] An aspect of the present invention improves the user experience when ordering delivery of food items. In one embodiment, a digital processing system maintains data specifying digital menus for multiple restaurants, each digital menu being associated with a corresponding restaurant. In response to receiving a point of sale (POS) request for a restaurant, the digital processing system identifies a digital menu for the requested restaurant and then sends the identified digital menu as a response to the POS request. In response to receiving a delivery request for the same restaurant, the digital processing system sends the same identified digital menu as a response to the delivery request.

[008] It may be appreciated that the POS request is received from a POS system located in the premises of the restaurant, and indicates that a first user wishes to order food items at a POS in the restaurant. In contrast, the delivery request is received from a personal device of a second user who wishes to order delivery of food items from the same restaurant. Thus, the user experience of the second user when ordering delivery of food items from the digital menu is similar to the user experience of the first user when ordering food items from the same digital menu at a POS in the restaurant.

[009] In one embodiment, the digital processing system receives an update request indicating a set of changes to be incorporated in the (above noted) digital menu of the restaurant, and in response, modifies the digital menu with the received set of changes to form a new digital menu. The digital processing system then sends the new digital menu in response to subsequent POS requests and delivery requests for the restaurant.

[010] Several aspects of the invention are described below with reference to examples for illustration. However, one skilled in the relevant art will recognize that the invention can be practiced without one or more of the specific details or with other methods, components, materials and so forth. In other instances, well-known structures, materials, or operations are not shown in detail to avoid obscuring the features of the invention. Furthermore, the features/aspects described can be practiced in various combinations, though only some of the combinations are described herein for conciseness.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[Oil] Example embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings briefly described below.

[012] FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example environment in which various aspects of the present invention can be implemented.

[013] FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating the manner in which the user experience when ordering delivery of food items is improved in one embodiment.

[014] FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating the details of a digital processing system in which various aspects of the present invention are operative by execution of appropriate execution modules.

[015] In the drawings, like reference numbers generally indicate identical, functionally similar, and/or structurally similar elements. The drawing in which an element first appears is indicated by the leftmost digit(s) in the corresponding reference number.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[016] 1. Example Environment

[017] FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example environment in which various aspects of the present invention can be implemented. The block diagram is shown containing personal devices lla-llc, network 12, local networks 13a-13b, local servers 14a-14b, online server 15, POS (point of sale) systems 16a-16b, local stores 17a-17b, and online store 18.

[018] Local server 14a, POS system 16a and local store 17a are physically housed in (within the premises of) a first restaurant, while retail server 14b, POS system 16b and local store 17b are physically housed in (within the premises of) a second restaurant, different from the first restaurant. It may be appreciated that though the different restaurants are shown in FIG. 1 to be close to each other, in alternative embodiments, the restaurants may be located at different and distant geographical locations.

[019] Merely for illustration, only representative number/type of restaurants and systems are shown in FIG. 1. Many computing systems often contain many more retail outlets housing different systems, both in number and type, depending on the purpose for which the computing system is designed. Each system/ device of FIG. 1 is described below in further detail.

[020] Network 12 represents a public network such as the Internet that provides connectivity between several devices of FIG. 1 such as personal devices 1 la-1 lc, online server 15 and online store 18. The dotted boundary indicates the extent of coverage of network 12, with the connectivity being provided only when the systems/devices are within the boundary. All the systems of FIG. 1 are shown to be within network 12 and can accordingly connect and/or communicate with each other over network 12.

[021] Each of local networks 13a-13b represents a private network specific to a corresponding restaurant. Thus, local network 13a provides connectivity between systems in the premises of the first restaurant such as local server 14a, POS system 16a, and local store 17a, while local network 13b provides connectivity between systems in the premises of the second restaurant. It may be observed that the dotted boundaries, indicating the extent of coverage, of each of local networks 13a-13b is within the boundary of (public) network 12.

[022] Each of network 12 and local networks 13a-13b may be implemented as a combination of Wireless/LAN networks implemented using protocols such as Transport Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), as is well known in the relevant arts. In general, each network provides transport of packets, with each packet containing a source address (as assigned to the specific system from which the packet originates) and a destination address, equaling the specific address assigned to the specific system to which a packet is destined/targeted. The packets would generally contain the requests and responses between the various systems/devices as described in the below sections.

[023] Each of local stores 17a-17b and online store 18 represents a non-volatile storage, facilitating storage and retrieval of a collection of data by applications respectively executing in local servers 14a-14b and online server 15. Each of local stores 17a-17b may store respective local data such as the details of the billing, dine-in offers, etc. specific to the (first and second) restaurants. Online store 18 stores online data such as digital menus of different (such as the first and second) restaurants, delivery offers, etc.

[024] Each of the local/online stores may be implemented using relational database technologies and provide storage and retrieval of data using structured queries such as SQL (Structured Query Language), as is well known in the relevant arts. Alternatively, each of the stores may be implemented as a file server and store data in the form of one or more files organized in the form of a hierarchy of directories, as is well known in the relevant arts.

[025] Each of online server 15 and retail servers 14a-14b represents a system, such as a web and/or application server, executing various software applications designed to perform tasks requested by users using client systems (for example, personal devices 1 la-1 lc or POS systems 16a-16b). The software applications may then perform the requested tasks based on data maintained internally in the server, or based on external data (for example, stored in local stores 17a-17b and online store 18). It should be noted that online server 15 (and corresponding online store 18) is maintained by a third party provider who provides home delivery services for food items available at different restaurants (in this scenario, the first and second restaurants noted above).

[026] Each of personal devices 1 la-1 lc and POS systems 16a-16b represents a system such as a personal computer, laptop, mobile phone (e.g. iPhone available from Apple Corporation), tablet (e.g. iPad available from Apple Corporation), "smart" device" that operate with a generic operating system such as Android operating system available from Google Corporation. The devices/systems are used by users to send (client) requests to perform desired tasks to one of the software applications executing in the servers. It should be appreciated that a personal device is typically owned by the user, and is accordingly different from a POS system that is owned and located within the premises of a restaurant.

[027] In one prior approach, each of local servers 14a-14b maintains (in corresponding local stores 17a-17b) a corresponding digital menu for the first and second restaurants. Each of POS systems 16a-16b is accordingly enabled to send client requests to local server 14a-14b and provide the corresponding digital menus to the users who are dining in the restaurants. A copy of the digital menus is maintained (in online store 18) by online server 15, which in turn provides access to the copy of the digital menus to users of personal devices 1 la-1 lc. [028] It may be appreciated that the maintenance of multiple copies of the same digital menu may result in the digital menus becoming inconsistent over a period. For example, as noted in the Background Section, the first and second restaurants may make changes to their respective digital menus (in local stores 17a-17b) and not update the third party providers with the corresponding changes performed. Accordingly, the copies of the digital menus maintained in online store 18 do not reflect the changes, and become inconsistent with the digital menus available at the POS systems.

[029] Online server 15, extended according to several aspects of the present invention, improves the user experience when ordering delivery of food items, while overcoming some of the draw backs noted above. The manner in which online server 15 improves the user experience when ordering delivery of food items is described below with examples.

[030] 2. General Flow

[031] FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating the manner in which the user experience when ordering delivery of food items is improved in one embodiment. The flowchart is described with respect to Figure 1 merely for illustration. However, various features can be implemented in other environments also without departing from the scope and spirit of various aspects of the present invention, as will be apparent to one skilled in the relevant arts by reading the disclosure provided herein. In addition, some of the steps may be performed in a different sequence than that depicted below, as suited in the specific environment, as will be apparent to one skilled in the relevant arts. Many of such implementations are contemplated to be covered by several aspects of the present invention.

[032] In step 21, online server 15 maintains data specifying the digital menus for multiple restaurants (such as the first and second restaurants noted above). The data may be maintained in online store 18.

[033] In step 22, online server 15 receives a point of sale (POS) request for a restaurant (assumed to be the first restaurant, for illustration). The POS request is received from POS system 16a located in the premises (13a) of the first restaurant. The POS request indicates that a first user who is dining-in wishes to order food items at a POS in the first restaurant.

[034] In step 23, online server 15 sends a digital menu for the restaurant as a response to the POS request, the digital menu being identified based on the data stored in online store 18. Thus, POS system 16a operates to directly interface with online server 15 for providing the digital menu of the restaurant to users who are dining-in the restaurant.

[035] In step 24, online server 15 receives a delivery request for the (same first) restaurant. The delivery request is received from a personal device (such as 1 la-1 lc) of a second user, with the delivery request indicating that the second user wishes to order delivery of food items from the first restaurant.

[036] In step 25, online server 15 sends the same digital menu of the restaurant as a response to the delivery request (after again identifying the digital menu based on the data).

[037] Thus, the user experience of the second user when ordering delivery of food items from the digital menu is similar to the user experience of the first user when ordering food items from the same digital menu at a POS in the restaurant.

[038] In one embodiment, online server 15 also receives an update request indicating a set of changes to be incorporated in the (above noted) digital menu of the restaurant, and in response, modifies the digital menu (in online store 18) with the received set of changes to form a new digital menu. Online server 15 then sends the new digital menu in response to subsequent POS requests and delivery requests for the (first) restaurant.

[039] It should be appreciated that the above noted features can be implemented in various embodiments as a desired combination of one or more of hardware, execution modules and firmware. The description is continued with respect to one embodiment in which various features are operative when execution modules are executed.

[040] 3. Digital Processing System

[041] FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating the details of digital processing system 30 in which various aspects of the present invention are operative by execution of appropriate execution modules. Digital processing system 30 may correspond to one of personal devices 1 la-1 lc or to online server 15.

[042] Digital processing system 30 may contain one or more processors (such as a central processing unit (CPU) 31), random access memory (RAM) 32, secondary memory 33, graphics controller 36, display unit 37, network interface 38, and input interface 39. All the components except display unit 37 may communicate with each other over communication path 35 which may contain several buses as is well known in the relevant arts. The components of FIG. 3 are described below in further detail.

[043] CPU 31 may execute instructions stored in RAM 32 to provide several features of the present invention. CPU 31 may contain multiple processing units, with each processing unit potentially being designed for a specific task. Alternatively, CPU 31 may contain only a single general purpose processing unit. RAM 32 may receive instructions from secondary memory 33 using communication path 35.

[044] Graphics controller 36 generates display signals (e.g., in RGB format) to display unit 37 based on data/instructions received from CPU 31. Display unit 37 contains a display screen to display the images defined by the display signals. Input interface 39 may correspond to a keyboard and a pointing device (e.g., touch-pad, mouse), which enable the various inputs to be provided. Network interface 38 provides connectivity to a network (e.g., using Internet Protocol), and may be used to communicate with other connected systems of FIG. 1. Network interface 38 may provide such connectivity over a wire (in the case of TCP/IP based communication) or wirelessly (in the case of WIFI, Bluetooth based communication).

[045] Secondary memory 33 may contain hard drive 33a, flash memory 33b, and removable storage drive 33c. Secondary memory 33 may store the data (e.g., the details of the digital menus of different restaurants) and software instructions (e.g., for implementing the programming logic of the blocks shown in FIG. 2), which enable digital processing system 30 to provide several features in accordance with the present invention.

[046] Some or all of the data and instructions may be provided on removable storage unit 34, and the data and instructions may be read and provided by removable storage drive 33c to CPU 31. Floppy drive, magnetic tape drive, CD-ROM drive, DVD Drive, Flash memory, removable memory chip (PCMCIA Card, EPROM) are examples of such removable storage drive 33 c.

[047] Removable storage unit 34 may be implemented using storage format compatible with removable storage drive 33c such that removable storage drive 33c can read the data and instructions. Thus, removable storage unit 34 includes a computer readable storage medium having stored therein computer software (in the form of execution modules) and/or data.

[048] However, the computer (or machine, in general) readable storage medium can be in other forms (e.g., non-removable, random access, etc.). These "computer program products" are means for providing execution modules to digital processing system 30. CPU 31 may retrieve the software instructions (forming the execution modules), and execute the instructions to provide various features of the present invention described above.

[049] Reference throughout this specification to "one embodiment", "an embodiment", or similar language means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention. Thus, appearances of the phrases "in one embodiment", "in an embodiment" and similar language throughout this specification may, but do not necessarily, all refer to the same embodiment.

[050] It should be understood that the figures and/or screen shots illustrated in the attachments highlighting the functionality and advantages of the present invention are presented for example purposes only. The present invention is sufficiently flexible and configurable, such that it may be utilized in ways other than that shown in the accompanying figures.

I/WE CLAIM:

1. A method of improving user experience when ordering delivery of food items, said method being performed in a digital processing system, said method comprising:

maintaining data specifying a plurality of digital menus for a plurality of restaurants, wherein each digital menu is associated with a corresponding restaurant;

receiving a point of sale (POS) request for a first restaurant of said plurality of restaurants, said POS request indicating that a first user wishes to order food items at a POS in said first restaurant;

sending a first digital menu of said plurality of digital menus as a response to said POS request, wherein said first digital menu is identified as associated with said first restaurant based on said data;

receiving a delivery request for said first restaurant, said delivery request indicating that a second user wishes to order delivery of food items from said first restaurant; and

sending said first digital menu as a response to said delivery request,

wherein the user experience of said second user when ordering delivery of food items from said first digital menu is similar to the user experience of said first user when ordering food items from said first digital menu at a POS in said first restaurant.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said POS request is received from a POS system located in the premises of said first restaurant, wherein said delivery request is received from a personal device of said second user.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

receiving an update request indicating a set of changes to be incorporated in said first digital menu; and

modifying, in response to said update request, said first digital menu with said set of changes to form a new digital menu as part of said data,

wherein after said modifying, said sending sends said new digital menu in response to subsequent POS requests and delivery requests.