System and method for advanced identification of a customer

US10650364B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• WALGREEN CO. · US

Inventors

• Nimesh S. Jhaveri · Kildeer, US
• Archana Dhruve · Chicago, US
• Heather K. Hill · Barrington, US
• Dejan Kozic · Wadsworth, US
• Laura Jean Tebbe · Antioch, US
• Susan G. Heald · Buffalo Grove, US
• Warit Tulyathorn · Chicago, US
• Mark Alexander Jones · Evanston, US
• Sara B. Frisk · Chicago, US
• Jennifer M. Levin · Chicago, US
• Jennifer A. Comiskey · Chicago, US
• David T. Blanchard · Evanston, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Aug 1, 2018
• Grant date: May 12, 2020
• Expiry date: Aug 1, 2038

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G07F7/10
• WIPO field: IT methods for management
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

In a method for advanced identification of a customer, a customer may remotely place an order, intending to later go to a store to pick up the ordered item. The store may have a pick-up area (e.g., at the back of the store) where the customer can go to pick up the ordered item. To save the customer time, the customer may be identified when she enters the store so that an employee can obtain her ordered item and have it ready to pick up by the time the customer walks through the store and arrives at the pick-up area. To identify the customer, an initiation device may transmit a first signal that causes the customer's mobile electronic device to respond by transmitting a second signal, which may be utilized to generate a notification in the pick-up area notifying an employee to obtain the ordered item for pick-up.