INTERACTIVE TIMER WITH LOCAL AND REMOTE SYSTEM INTEGRATION

1 . A customer communication device for providing an interactive timing system, comprising:

a user interface for receiving a customer order from a customer;

a communication interface to transmit and receive wireless communication signals;

a memory for storing processor-executable instructions and a predetermined maximum service time, the predetermined maximum service time comprising a maximum permitted time to deliver the customer order from when the customer order was placed;

a timer for tracking a service time, the service time comprising a time from when the customer order is placed to a time that the customer order is served to the customer; and

a processor coupled to the user interface, memory and the communication interface, for executing the processor-executable instructions that cause server to:

receive, by the processor, the customer order via the user interface;

in response to receiving the customer order, start the timer;

in response to receiving the customer order, transmit the customer order to a point-of-sale server;

determine, by the processor, when the timer has reached the predetermined maximum service time; and

in response to the timer reaching the predetermined maximum service time, provide, by the processor, an indication to the point-of-sale server via the communication interface that the predetermined maximum service time has been reached;

wherein the point-of-sale server applies a credit to the customer in response to receiving the indication.

2 . The customer communication device of claim 1 , wherein the processor-executable instructions comprise further instructions that cause the customer communication device to:

determine, by the processor, when the timer has reached a warning time, the warning time a predetermined time before the predetermined maximum service time;

generate, by the processor, a warning signal as a result of the timer reaching the warning time; and

provide, by the processor, the warning signal to the communication interface for transmission to a merchant communication device for identification by merchant personnel of a table associated with the warning.

3 . The customer communication device of claim 1 , wherein the processor-executable instructions comprise further instructions that cause the customer communication device to:

determine, by the processor, an actual service time that the customer order was provided to the customer based on a time that the customer order was transmitted and the time that the customer order was served to the customer;

compare, by the processor, the actual service time to the predetermined maximum service time stored in memory; and

cancel the timer when the actual service time is less than the predetermined maximum service time.

4 . The customer communication device of claim 1 , wherein the processor-executable instructions comprise further instructions that cause the customer communication device to:

in response to providing the indication that the predetermined maximum service time has been reached, generate, by the processor, the credit based on the customer order; and

transmit an indication of the credit to a point-of-sale server for the point-of-sale server to apply the credit to an account associated with the customer.

5 . The customer communication device of claim 2 , wherein the processor-executable instructions comprise further instructions that cause the customer communication device to:

receive, by the processor via the user interface, a table identification code, the table identification code identifying a table where the customer communication device is located; and

store the table identification code in the memory;

wherein the warning signal comprises the table identification code for identification by merchant personnel of a table associated with the warning.

6 . The customer communication device of claim 1 , wherein the processor-executable instructions comprise further instructions that cause the customer communication device to:

determine a number of times that the maximum service time has been reached over time;

generate a report comprising the number of times that the maximum service time has been reached over time associated with the waitperson; and

provide the report to a merchant communication device.

7 . The customer communication device of claim 6 , wherein the processor-executable instructions that cause the server to generate the report comprise instructions that cause the customer communication device to:

generate the report when the number of times that the maximum service time has been reached associated with the waitperson identification code exceeds a predetermined threshold.

8 . The customer communication device of claim 2 , wherein the merchant communication device comprises a kitchen communication device that provides the customer order to kitchen personal.

9 . The customer communication device of claim 8 , wherein the processor-executable instructions comprise further instructions that cause the customer communication device to:

store the customer order in the memory;

provide the customer order, in association with the warning, to the kitchen communication device.

10 . The customer communication device of claim 1 , wherein the processor-executable instructions comprise further instructions that cause the customer communication device to:

transmit, by the processor via the communication interface, an indication of the predetermined maximum service time to a web server;

wherein the web server receives other indications from other customer communication devices to provide a total number of times that the predetermined maximum service time has been reached.

11 . A method performed by a customer communication device for providing an interactive timing system, comprising:

receiving, by a processor, a customer order via a user interface;

in response to receiving the customer order, starting the timer by the processor;

in response to receiving the customer order, transmitting, by the processor via a communication interface, the customer order to a point-of-sale server;

determining, by the processor, when the timer has reached a predetermined maximum service time, the predetermined maximum service time comprising a maximum permitted time to deliver the customer order from when the customer order was placed; and

in response to the timer reaching the predetermined maximum service time, providing, by the processor, an indication to the point-of-sale server via the communication interface that the predetermined maximum service time has been reached;

wherein the point-of-sale server applies a credit to the customer in response to receiving the indication.

12 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

determining, by the processor, when the timer has reached a warning time, the warning time a predetermined time before the predetermined maximum service time;

generating, by the processor, a warning signal as a result of the timer reaching the warning time; and

providing, by the processor, the warning signal to the communication interface for transmission to a merchant communication device.

13 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

determining, by the processor, an actual service time that the customer order was provided to the customer based on a time that the customer order was transmitted and the time that the customer order was served to the customer;

comparing, by the processor, the actual service time to the predetermined maximum service time stored in memory; and

cancelling the timer when the actual service time is less than the predetermined maximum service time.

14 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

in response to providing the indication that the predetermined maximum service time has been reached, generating, by the processor, the credit based on the customer order; and

transmitting, by the processor via the communication interface, an indication of the credit to a point-of-sale server for the point-of-sale server to apply the credit to an account associated with the customer.

15 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising:

receiving, by the processor via the user interface, a table identification code, the table identification code identifying a table where the customer communication device is located; and

storing the table identification code in the memory;

wherein the warning signal comprises the table identification code for identification by merchant personnel of a table associated with the warning.

16 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

determining a number of times that the maximum service time has been reached over time;

generating a report comprising the number of times that the maximum service time has been reached over time associated with the waitperson; and

providing the report to a merchant communication device.

17 . The method of claim 16 , further comprising:

generating the report when the number of times that the maximum service time has been reached associated with the waitperson identification code exceeds a predetermined threshold.

18 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the merchant communication device comprises a kitchen communication device that provides the customer order to kitchen personal.

19 . The method of claim 18 , further comprising:

storing the customer order in the memory;

providing the customer order, in association with the warning, to the kitchen communication device.

20 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

transmitting, by the processor via the communication interface, an indication of the predetermined maximum service time to a web server;

wherein the web server receives other indications from other customer communication devices to provide a total number of times that the predetermined maximum service time has been reached.