US5969968A — Remote ordering system for restaurant drive-up la…

Claim 1

Independent Claim 103 words

A remote ordering system for a restaurant drive-through lane, comprising: (a) an input device having a keypad, a battery, a first memory, a first processor, and a transmitter; and (b) a drive-up ordering station adjacent the restaurant drive-through lane and unconnected to said input device, said ordering station having a posted visual menu, a receiver tuned to said transmitter, a second processor adapted to decode information received from said transmitter through said receiver and produce decoded information, a display adapted to display said decoded information, a second memory adapted to store item numbers and prices, and a communications link to a point-of-sale system.

Claim 2

Dependent Claim 103 words

A remote ordering system for a restaurant drive-through lane, comprising: (a) an input device having a keypad, a battery, a first memory, a first processor, and a transmitter; and (b) a drive-up ordering station adjacent the restaurant drive-through lane and unconnected to said input device, said ordering station having a posted visual menu, a receiver tuned to said transmitter, a second processor adapted to decode information received from said transmitter through said receiver and produce decoded information, a display adapted to display said decoded information, a second memory adapted to store item numbers and prices, and a communications link to a point-of-sale system.

Claim 3

Dependent Claim 31 words

The remote ordering system of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of said input devices, each of said plurality of input devices being separately transportable away from said drive-up ordering station.

Claim 4

Dependent Claim 132 words

A remote ordering system for a restaurant drive-through lane, comprising: (a) a hand-held input device having a keypad, a battery, a first memory, a first processor, and a transmitter; and (b) a drive-up ordering station adjacent the restaurant drive-through lane and unconnected to said hand-held input device, said ordering station having a posted visual menu, a receiver tuned to said transmitter, a second processor adapted to decode information received from said transmitter through said receiver and produce decoded information, a display adapted to display said decoded information, a second memory adapted to store item numbers and prices, and a communications link to a point-of-sale system, (c) said hand-held input device transmitting an order to said drive-up ordering station while said hand-held input device is within direct line-of-sight of said drive-up ordering station.

Claim 5

Dependent Claim 132 words

A remote ordering system for a restaurant drive-through lane, comprising: (a) a hand-held input device having a keypad, a battery, a first memory, a first processor, and a transmitter; and (b) a drive-up ordering station adjacent the restaurant drive-through lane and unconnected to said hand-held input device, said ordering station having a posted visual menu, a receiver tuned to said transmitter, a second processor adapted to decode information received from said transmitter through said receiver and produce decoded information, a display adapted to display said decoded information, a second memory adapted to store item numbers and prices, and a communications link to a point-of-sale system, (c) said hand-held input device transmitting an order to said drive-up ordering station while said hand-held input device is within direct line-of-sight of said drive-up ordering station.

Claim 6

Dependent Claim 41 words

The remote ordering system of claim 3, further comprising remote software executing in the first processor and adapted to manage the remote input device; and ordering station software executing in the second processor and adapted to manage the drive-up ordering station.

Claim 7

Dependent Claim 35 words

The remote ordering system of claim 3, wherein said keypad further comprises a number of numeric keys, an enter key, a remove key, a quantity add key, a quantity subtract key, and a start/finish key.

Claim 8

Dependent Claim 18 words

The remote ordering system of claim 3, wherein said transmitter and said receiver operate with radio frequency transmissions.

Claim 9

Dependent Claim 17 words

The remote ordering system of claim 3, wherein said transmitter and said receiver operate with infrared transmissions.

Claim 10

Dependent Claim 31 words

The remote ordering system of claim 3, further comprising a plurality of said hand-held devices, each of said plurality of hand-held devices being separately transportable away from said drive-up ordering station.

Claim 11

Dependent Claim 16 words

The remote ordering system of claim 3, wherein said first memory contains a customer identification number.

Claim 12

Dependent Claim 212 words

The remote ordering system of claim 9, wherein said remote software and said ordering station software cooperatively execute the steps of: (a) displaying a welcome screen on the display; (b) responding to activation of said start key by sending a start signal from said transmitter to said receiver; (c) displaying an enter item number screen on the display; (d) responding to activation of said numeric keys by sending an item number from said transmitter to said receiver; (e) displaying an item number on said display; (f) responding to activation of said enter key by displaying an item identifier and quantity screen on said display; (g) responding to activation of said numeric keys by sending an item quantity from said transmitter to said receiver; (h) calculating an item total and displaying an item total screen on said display; (i) responding to activation of said enter key by displaying an enter/remove/finish screen on said display; (j) responding to activation of said remove key by displaying a remove item screen; (k) responding to activation of said enter key by repeating steps (e) through (i); (l) responding to activation of said finish key by calculating an order total and displaying an order total screen on said display; and (m) sending order information to the point-of-sale system.

Claim 13

Dependent Claim 33 words

The remote ordering system of claim 6, further comprising a step of sending said customer identification number from said transmitter to said receiver and sending said customer identification number to the point-of-sale system.

Claim 14

Dependent Claim 165 words

A data processing method for ordering menu items from a vehicle at the drive-up lane of a restaurant, comprising the steps of: (a) displaying a welcome screen on a display on a drive-up ordering station adjacent the restaurant's drive-up lane; (b) sending a start signal from a remote device in the vehicle to said drive-up ordering station; (c) displaying an enter item number screen on the display; (d) sending an item number from said remote device to said display; (e) displaying an item identifier and quantity screen on said display; (f) sending an item quantity from said remote device to said drive-up ordering station; (g) calculating an item total and displaying an item total screen on said display; (h) displaying an enter/remove/finish screen on said display; (i) optionally repeating steps (c) throughj (h) for additional items; (j) calculating an order total and displaying an order total screen on said display; and (k) sending order information to a point-of-sale system connected to said drive-up ordering station.

Claim 15

Dependent Claim 165 words

A data processing method for ordering menu items from a vehicle at the drive-up lane of a restaurant, comprising the steps of: (a) displaying a welcome screen on a display on a drive-up ordering station adjacent the restaurant's drive-up lane; (b) sending a start signal from a remote device in the vehicle to said drive-up ordering station; (c) displaying an enter item number screen on the display; (d) sending an item number from said remote device to said display; (e) displaying an item identifier and quantity screen on said display; (f) sending an item quantity from said remote device to said drive-up ordering station; (g) calculating an item total and displaying an item total screen on said display; (h) displaying an enter/remove/finish screen on said display; (i) optionally repeating steps (c) throughj (h) for additional items; (j) calculating an order total and displaying an order total screen on said display; and (k) sending order information to a point-of-sale system connected to said drive-up ordering station.

Claim 16

Dependent Claim 34 words

The method of claim 12, further comprising a step of sending a customer identification number from said remote device to said drive-up ordering station and sending said customer identification number to said point-of-sale system.

Annuity Stage	Window Opens	Payment Deadline	Surcharge Period Until	Estimated Fee	Status
3.5 Years (Year 4)	2002-10-18	2003-04-19	2003-10-19	$2000.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8)	2006-10-18	2007-04-19	2007-10-19	$3760.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12)	2010-10-18	2011-04-19	2011-10-19	$7700.00	Window Closed / Lapsed

Remote ordering system for restaurant drive-up lane

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