Abstract:
Systems and techniques for automated partial order delivery. After a customer has entered a self service order and presented payment, the customer is able to present a receipt at an automated dispensing station. An automated dispensing mechanism retrieves order information associated with the receipt and allows dispensing of products, such as drink cups at a fast food restaurant, whose purchase is reflected in the order. Upon release of all the authorized products, authorization for dispensing of products is revoked. If a predetermined time passes after the last release, authorization is temporarily revoked, renewable upon subsequent presentation of the receipt, if products that have not yet been dispensed are reflected in the order.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    The present invention relates generally to improved customer service operations. More particularly, the invention relates to automated systems and techniques for automated delivery of goods upon submission of proof of payment or other indication that delivery is authorized. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    Many retail operations are increasing the use of self service operations. Properly implemented, self service operations can both save labor costs and increase customer satisfaction by decreasing customers&#39; waits in line. Fast food operations are increasingly implementing self service operations. In a fast food self service operation, a customer submits his or her order and submits payment. The customer&#39;s order is delivered to employees, and the employees prepare and assemble the food items and make delivery to the customer. 
         [0003]    Traditional employee staffed fast food operations similarly accept an order from a customer and take payment, with food delivery to be made when the food is prepared, but the taking of the order and acceptance of payment is performed under employee control. However, when a customer orders a drink, the drink cup is frequently presented to the customer as soon as payment is tendered. The customer is then able to take the cup and dispense his or her own drink at a self service dispensing station. 
         [0004]    However, in the case of self service operations, it has been difficult to allow the customer to receive the drink cup before the meal is delivered. Simply placing drink cups at the dispensing station allows the customer to take the cup and dispense the drink whether he or she has paid for a drink or not. Under an honor system, a customer might easily decide to order a meal without a drink, and simply take the cup from the station and dispense the drink. 
         [0005]    Soft drinks are high margin items in fast food operations, and it is highly undesirable to allow customers to take drinks without paying. On the other hand, customers like to save time by being able to receive their drink without waiting for the rest of their orders, and they like to be able to consume a portion of the drink while waiting for their order to be assembled if they so desire. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0006]    A system according to one aspect of the invention addresses such issues, as well as others, by providing for controlled automated dispensing of drink cups. A customer places his or her order and tenders payment, and is then delivered a receipt bearing a code, such as a bar code. The receipt may be the receipt for the order as a whole, or may be a special receipt indicating the purchase of a drink. When payment is tendered, dispensing of a drink is authorized, and the authorization is associated with the code appearing on the receipt. The receipt includes a bar code that can be scanned at a drink cup dispenser. A scanner at the drink cup dispenser reads the bar code, and determines whether the code authorizes dispensing of a cup, and, if so, what size cup is to be dispensed. The code may authorize multiple cups to be dispensed, as in the case of a family of four all ordering drinks. In this instance, as cups are dispensed, the number of cups authorized to be dispensed is reduced, so that a subsequent presentation of the bar code will not dispense further cups. Similarly, when an individual pays for one drink and dispenses a cup, the number of cups authorized to be dispensed is reduced to zero. 
         [0007]    A more complete understanding of the present invention, as well as further features and advantages of the invention, will be apparent from the following Detailed Description and the accompanying drawings. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0008]      FIG. 1  illustrates a fast food ordering system according to an aspect of the present invention; and 
           [0009]      FIG. 2  illustrates a process of fast food ordering according to an aspect of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0010]      FIG. 1  illustrates a fast food ordering system according to an aspect of the present invention. The ordering system  100  suitably includes an order station  102 , a server  104 , and a drink dispensing station  106 . In one embodiment of the invention, the order station  102  may be implemented as a self service kiosk. The order station  102  may suitably include a touch screen display  110 , a payment interface  112 , and a receipt printer  114 . The station  102  also may suitably include a computer  116 , including a processor  118 , memory  120 , and storage  122 , all of which suitably communicate over a bus  124 , which also allows communication with the display  110 , the payment interface  112 , and the receipt printer  114 . The display  110 , payment interface  112 , and receipt printer  114  are suitably connected to the bus  124  through an interface  125 . 
         [0011]    The computer  116  may also implement an order processing module  126 , comprising software hosted in storage  122  and delivered to the memory  120  as needed for execution by the processor  116 . The exemplary order station  102  is presented here as a self service station, but it will be recognized that the order station  102  may be operated as an employee assisted station and that other self service stations and employee assisted stations may be employed without departing from the teachings of the present invention. 
         [0012]    When a customer approaches and activates the station  102 , the order processing module  126  presents an order display, allowing the customer to make selections as desired. When the customer indicates that he or she has finished making selections, a payment presentation display is presented and the customer is allowed to choose the method of payment and to tender payment. Once payment is received, a customer order file is created and transferred to the server  104 . The customer order file is accessible to employees. The customer order file also includes a notation as to how many drinks, and what sizes of drinks, if any, have been ordered. Once payment has been presented and the order file created, the receipt printer prints a receipt. The customer is then able to take the receipt, which suitably includes a bar code. The bar code is suitably encoded with an order number associated with the customer order. A similar procedure can be followed if the station  102  or a similar station is operated by an employee, with the same or similar information being created and the receipt being printed in a similar way. 
         [0013]    The customer is then able to take the receipt to the drink dispensing station  106 . The drink dispensing station  106  includes a scanner  132 , cup dispensers  134 A- 134 C, a controller  135 , and a drink dispenser  136 . The station  106  also includes a computer  138 , including a processor  140 , memory  142 , storage  144 , bus  146 , and control and communication interface  148 . The control and communication interface  148  provides a connection for the scanner  132  and the controller  135  to the server  104 . The server  104  includes a processor  150 , memory  152 , storage  154 , bus  156 , and external interface  158 . The server  104  implements an order management module  160 , hosted in storage  154 , and an order database  162 . The order database  162  includes an order file for each customer order, including a notation as to whether a drink is included in the order and, for each drink included, a notation as to whether a cup has already been dispensed. 
         [0014]    When a customer takes the receipt to the drink dispensing station, he or she scans the receipt using the scanner  132 . The scanner  132  decodes the bar code on the receipt and transfers the bar code information to the computer  138 . A cup dispenser control module  164  is suitably hosted on the computer  138 , suitably stored as software in storage  144  and transferred to memory  142  as needed for execution by the processor  142 . The cup dispenser control module  164  uses the bar code information, which may typically include a unique receipt identifier, to look up corresponding receipt information stored in the order database  162 . If the customer order includes one or more drink purchases, the cup dispenser control module  164  authorizes release of one cup for each drink purchase indicated in the order database. 
         [0015]    The cup dispensers  134 A- 134 C respond to commands given by the computer  138  under the control of the module  164  to release the authorized number of cups of the proper sizes. As each cup is dispensed, a notation is made in the customer&#39;s order for each cup that has been released. Each indication that a cup has been released reduces by one the number of cups that are authorized to be dispensed in response to presentation of the receipt. 
         [0016]    The cup dispensers  134 A- 134 C suitably include a counting mechanism for accounting for releases, such as optical or mechanical sensors  166 A- 166 C. The cup dispenser control module  164  receives the count information from the sensors  166 A- 166 C and associates the count information with the receipt that was scanned by the customer. The cup dispenser control module  164  then passes the count information to the order management module  160 , which updates the order with the count information, so that the number of releases remaining to be authorized is reduced by the number of releases that has already occurred. If a customer does not take all desired cups at one time, a subsequent scan of the receipt will release additional cups, if a cup has not yet been released for every drink ordered. 
         [0017]    As an alternative to printing receipt information to be used as an index to look up order information, the order management module  160  may suitably print a receipt code that can be used as an indicator as to how many cups are to be dispensed, and authorizing the dispensing of cups. Presentation of the receipt may authorize the dispensing of the specified number of cups, with the number authorized being decreased with every cup dispensed. The drink dispensing station  106  may then manage the dispensing of cups without a need to communicate with the server  104 . 
         [0018]    It will be recognized that as an alternative or in addition to using a scanner such as the scanner  132  to read a receipt printed by a receipt printer, the station  106  may suitably include alternative reading devices, of which an example might be a radio frequency identification (RFID) device reader  167 . The customer might be provided with an REID device, which may be suitably embedded in a loyalty program card. Information could be read from the card and used to authorize cup delivery, for example, when a customer had accumulated an expenditure amount that entitled him to one or more free drinks. An alternative an REID device reader would  167  would be to read an RFID device embedded in a promotional mailer. The device, when presented, could authorize the delivery of cups, for example, by being encoded with a direct authorization to dispense a specified number of cups. 
         [0019]    In addition or as an alternative to providing the cups at a centralized dispensing station such as the station  106 , cups may be dispensed at a variety of additional or alternative locations. For example, cup dispensers  168 A,  168 B and  168 C, utilizing sensors  170 A,  170 B, and  170 C, and controller  171 , may be mounted at the order station  102 , with the controller  171  being connected to the bus  124  through the interface  125 . In such a case, a scanner would not typically be needed because the cups could be dispensed upon entry of the order. As another example, cup dispensers could be placed at dining tables, or at kiosks placed at appropriate locations in a facility. 
         [0020]      FIG. 2  illustrates the steps of a process  200  according to an aspect of the present invention, which may suitably be carried out using a system similar to the system  100  of  FIG. 1 . At step  202 , upon receipt of fast food order information from a customer at a self service order submission station, an order file is prepared. The order file suitably includes indications as to how many and what size drinks were ordered by the customer. At step  204 , upon payment by the customer, order information from the order file is transmitted so as to be accessible to employees responsible for fulfilling the order, and the order file is stored at a central repository accessible to data processing devices, and a receipt is printed, bearing indicia, such as a bar code. The indicia may suitably associate the receipt with the order file, but indicia may be prepared and placed on the receipt or other media so as to provide an independent delivery authorization, such as a readable validation code and information indicating the number of cups to be released. 
         [0021]    At step  206 , upon submission of the receipt or other media by a customer at a drink dispensing station, such as by scanning a bar code on the receipt using a scanner at the drink dispensing station, or reading an RFID device at an RFID reader, the indicia appearing on the receipt or other media is read and interpreted, for example, reading an index to an order file to retrieve the order file associated with the receipt, or reading a release authorization. At step  208 , a cup dispenser associated with the drink dispensing station is enabled to release cups in the number and sizes authorized by the information obtained by interpreting the indicia. At step  210 , as each cup is released, the number of cups of that size remaining to be released is decreased by one, until all cups indicated in the order file have been released. At step  212 , if a specified time period passes since the last cup is released, the authorization for the cup dispenser to release cups expires, but the dispenser can be again enabled to release the remaining cups by once again submitting the receipt. 
         [0022]    The customer is thus made able to release the number of cups desired at a particular time, such as before receiving the food order, while retaining the ability to release additional cups at a later time, such as after receiving the food order. As an example, in many families with children, each child may wish to be responsible for obtaining his or her own drink, and parents may wish to send children to the drink dispenser one at a time to prevent horseplay, or the like. In another scenario, one member of a party may wish to obtain his or her own drink upon ordering, while another may wish to obtain it after the food has been delivered. It will also be recognized that 
         [0023]    While the present invention is disclosed in the context of a presently preferred embodiment, it will be recognized that a wide variety of implementations may be employed by persons of ordinary skill in the art consistent with the above discussion and the claims which follow below.