Dynamic adjustment of activity metrics and merchant states

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11042859-B2
Application number	US-201715441909-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 24, 2017
Priority date	Aug 15, 2014
Publication date	Jun 22, 2021
Grant date	Jun 22, 2021

Abstract

Techniques and arrangements for dynamically adjusting activity metrics and merchant states based, in part, on how many mobile electronic devices are currently located at the merchant. For example, if a number of mobile electronic devices is greater than a history of a number of devices, then it may be determined that the merchant is busy. If the number is less than the history of the number of devices, then it may be determined that the merchant is not busy.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
one or more processors; and
memory storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform acts comprising:
detecting, at a time of day and day of week, a count of mobile electronic devices within a threshold distance of a location of a merchant, wherein the mobile electronic devices are associated with instances of a customer application enabling the mobile electronic devices to financially transact with at least a merchant device of the merchant, and wherein detecting the count of mobile electronic devices within the threshold distance of the location of the merchant is based at least in part on detecting individual of the mobile electronic devices that are operating the instances of the customer application;
determining a history of counts of mobile electronic devices previously within the threshold distance of the location of the merchant;
determining a baseline count of mobile electronic devices based at least in part on the history of counts, the baseline count indicating a typical number of mobile electronic devices within the threshold distance of the location of the merchant at the time of day and the day of the week;
determining a variance tolerance threshold indicating a variance tolerance from the baseline count;
determining a state of the merchant based at least in part on the count of mobile electronic devices within the threshold distance of the location of the merchant satisfying the variance tolerance threshold; and
sending, based at least in part on the state of the merchant, a notification to a mobile electronic device of a customer, the notification indicating a time at which the customer will be seated at the merchant.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the detecting the count of mobile electronic devices within the threshold distance of the location of the merchant is further based at least in part on receiving an indication of at least a portion of the count from a point-of-sale (POS) device associated with the merchant.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the detecting the count of mobile electronic devices within the threshold distance of the location of the merchant is further based at least in part on individual of the mobile electronic devices that are associated with users who have checked in at the location of the merchant.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the detecting the count of mobile electronic devices within the threshold distance of the location of the merchant is further based at least in part on determining individual of the mobile electronic devices that are tethered to a wireless access point (WAP) at or in proximity of the location of the merchant.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the notification indicates an extended wait time to be seated at the merchant.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the notification indicates a shortened wait time to be seated at the merchant.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the acts further comprise determining at least one of current weather at the location of the merchant, current traffic proximate to the location of the merchant, or whether a predefined event is scheduled to occur proximate to the location of the merchant within a threshold amount of time, wherein the state of the merchant is further determined based on at least one of the current weather, the current traffic, or whether the predefined event is scheduled to occur.

8. One or more non-transitory computer readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform acts comprising:
detecting, by one or more payment service devices, a count of mobile electronic devices within a threshold distance of a location of a merchant at a time of day and day of week, wherein the mobile electronic devices are associated with instances of a customer application enabling the mobile electronic devices to financially transact with at least a merchant device of the merchant, and wherein detecting the count of mobile electronic devices within the threshold distance of the location of the merchant is based at least in part on detecting individual of the mobile electronic devices that are operating the instances of the customer application;
determining, by the one or more payment service devices, a history of counts of mobile electronic devices previously within the threshold distance of the location of the merchant;
determining, by the one or more payment service devices, a baseline count of mobile electronic devices based at least in part on the history of counts, the baseline count indicating a typical number of mobile electronic devices within the threshold distance of the location of the merchant at the time of day and the day of the week;
determining, by the one or more payment service devices, a variance tolerance threshold indicating a variance tolerance from the baseline count;
determining, by the one or more payment service devices, a state of the merchant based at least in part on the count of mobile electronic devices within the threshold distance of the location of the merchant satisfying the variance tolerance threshold; and
sending, by the one or more payment service devices and based at least in part on the state of the merchant, a notification to a mobile electronic device of the customer, the notification indicating a time at which the customer will be seated at the merchant.

9. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media of claim 8 , wherein the detecting the count of mobile electronic devices within the threshold distance of the location of the merchant is further based at least in part on:
receiving an indication of at least a portion of the count from a point-of-sale (POS) device associated with the merchant; and
at least one of:
determining individual of the mobile electronic devices that are associated with users who have checked in at the location of the merchant; or
determining individual of the mobile electronic devices that are tethered to a wireless access point (WAP) at or in proximity of the location of the merchant.

10. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media of claim 8 , wherein the notification indicates an extended wait time to be seated at the merchant.

11. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media of claim 8 , wherein the notification indicates a shortened wait time to be seated at the merchant.

12. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media of claim 8 , wherein the acts further comprise determining at least one of current weather at the location of the merchant, current traffic proximate to the location of the merchant, or whether a predefined event is scheduled to occur proximate to the location of the merchant within a threshold amount of time, wherein the state of the merchant is determined based on at least one of the current weather, the current traffic, or whether the predefined event is scheduled to occur.

13. A method comprising:
detecting, by one or more payment service devices, a count of mobile electronic devices within a threshold distance of a location of a merchant at a time of day and day of week, wherein the mobile electronic devices are associated with instances of a customer application enabling the mobile electronic devices to financially transact with at least a merchant device of the merchant, and wherein detecting the count of mobile electronic devices within the threshold distance of the location of the merchant is based at least in part on detecting individual of the mobile electronic devices that are operati

Assignees

• Square Inc

Inventors

• Holmes Jason
• Johnson Logan
• Ryan Raymond John
• Taylor Iii Jotham

Classifications

• G06Q20/405

  Establishing or using transaction specific rules · CPC title

• G06Q20/3224

  Transactions dependent on location of M-devices · CPC title

• G06Q20/202 Primary

  Interconnection or interaction of plural electronic cash registers [ECR] or to host computer, e.g. network details, transfer of information from host to ECR or from ECR to ECR · CPC title

• G06Q50/12

  Hotels or restaurants · CPC title

• G06Q20/20

  Point-of-sale [POS] network systems · CPC title