Ordering system and method for pizza and other goods and services using a stateless communication protocol
A system and appertaining methods are provided that makes it possible to order pizza and other products using an instant messaging or other signaling mechanisms such as cell-phones and two-way pagers, using a tokenized representation of the order elements. Signaling mechanisms provide context sensitive help to facilitate the use of the tokens, and a system then processes the order to the end point system for immediate preparation and/or delivery of the products. Communications may be implemented by a system in which a non-secure channel is used to poll a central server to determine if there is any data available, and the actual data transmission, if available, is provided over a secure channel.
1. A method for ordering a product or service from a vendor, comprising:
providing a server located remotely from a customer with information related to the customer;
sending, by the customer to the server, via a portable communications device, a directive related to an order for the product or service in an abbreviated coded or tokenized format using a stateless communications protocol;
performing, by the server, a context-based interpretation of the directive and associating the directive with either a new or currently pending order;
associating the coded directive with a command and performing the command, wherein if an ambiguity exists with the coded directive, the server sends a message to the customer requesting resolution of the ambiguity; and
sequencing multiple communications received from the customer, and providing responses associated with the correct directive from the customer.
2. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
defining, by the customer, a tokenized directive on the server that defines an operation to be repeated relating to ordering the product or service; and
subsequently sending this tokenized directive to the server.
3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the operation to be repeated comprises information on payment and delivery of the ordered product or service.
4. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the operation to be repeated comprises authorized phone numbers that can implement the operation to be repeated.
5. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the operation to be repeated further comprises a PIN number associated with the authorized phone numbers.
6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the information related to the customer comprises a telephone number, a name, address information, and credit card information.
7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the providing of the customer information is performed by filling in an electronic form by the customer.
8. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
logging into one or more messaging service by the server;
identifying incoming messages or directives by their service and account code; and
consolidating orders for the customer by utilizing a cross-referenced list that is maintained.
9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the tokenized directive comprises two or more of designations selected from the group consisting of: alphanumeric, position, sequence, unique, content, case, default, specials, and preferences.
10. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the tokenized directive utilizes combinations of positional or case and character restrictions.
11. The method according to claim 1 , wherein certain directives are defined by single numbers or single characters preceded by a special designation.
12. The method according to claim 11 , further comprising:
deriving, by the server, a delivery address for delivery of the ordered product or service from a GPS feature of the portable communications device.
13. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
requesting confirmation via a transaction to the customer.
14. The method according to claim 13 , wherein the confirmation request requests that the customer utilize an order-unique reply code, and the customer utilizes the order-unique reply code in a confirmation response.
15. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the stateless communication protocol is selected from the group consisting of a text messaging protocol, a wireless application protocol (WAP), and a web protocol implemented on a web browser or web-enabled phone browser.
16. The method according to claim 15 , wherein the stateless communication protocol is SMS.
17. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
cross-referencing information in an other database to obtain some or all of the customer information for customers that have not pre-registered.
18. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
pre-registering to provide the customer information via a web site or through SMS messaging.
19. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
validating an order based on a telephone number of the customer.
20. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
associating, by the customer, valid delivery addresses for delivery of purchased product or service for one or more telephone numbers.
21. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
utilizing a sparse array database for the performing of the context-based interpretation, the associating of the coded directive, and the sequencing of multiple communications.
22. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
time stamping the directives received via stateless communication and adding a tie-breaker indicator to the directives.
23. The method according to claim 22 , further comprising:
creating the added tie-breaker value by searching previous directives having a same time stamp and incrementing a counter value based on a highest tie-breaker indicator for a directive having the same time stamp.
24. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
determining, by the server, if an ambiguity exists in the tokenized directive by comparing it to values in stored lists, and if a unique value is found, then performing the interpretation of the directive, and if not, querying the customer to resolve the ambiguity.
25. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
providing multiple short versions of tokenized directives or T9/ABC alternatives for long-version directives or orders.
26. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
implementing a customer-initiated status request directive by the server.
27. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
sending a help request to the server by the customer requesting assistance for product or service ordering directives; and
receiving the requested help request by the customer from the server.
28. The method according to claim 27 , wherein the help request is selected from the group consisting of a find request, an order request, a list request, a status request, and a help on help request.
29. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising utilizing single character tokenized directives for specials.
30. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
entering, on the server, customer-supplied coded directives and associating, by the customer, respective commands relating to the ordering of the product or service for delivery to the customer-supplied coded directives.
31. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
running a second parallel process to detect logic loops or other error conditions created by invalid directives or combinations of directives; and
sending an alert if such conditions are detected.
32. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
providing an algorithm that prevents a single character entry on the server from being used by an additional command.