Patent ID: 7188071

Claim:
A method of alerting customers of a current status of an order, comprising: identifying a change in status of the order; estimating a time to completion of the order based on the change in status of the order; estimating a travel time of the customer; transmitting an alert to a client device based on the estimated time to completion of the order and the estimated travel time of the customer; wherein transmitting an alert to a client device includes determining a time when the customer should being traveling to a completion location, wherein the alert includes an indication of the time when the customer should begin traveling to the completion location; wherein the time when the customer should begin traveling to the completion location is a difference between the estimated time to completion of the order and the estimated travel time of the customer; and wherein if the estimated time to completion of the order is less than the estimated travel time of the customer, the alert further includes an indication of an additional charge for delay in completing the order.