| 主权项 |
1. A computer-implemented process for entering and holding a place for a first customer in a queue while waiting to be served at a retail store, the process comprising:
providing a server for the retail store in communication with a portable computerized device of the first customer; providing a virtual queue application for the portable computerized device to be initiated by the first customer; displaying to the first customer a list of items that can be pre-ordered from the retail store and accepting a pre-order from the first customer through the portable computerized device of the first customer, the pre-order comprising items that the first customer wishes to purchase when the first customer is served by a store employee; establishing, by the server, a place in the queue for the first customer, wherein the queue operates to establish among a plurality of customers a customer currently being served by the store employee and an order in which other customers of the plurality of customers will be served; monitoring, by the server, a current location of the portable computerized device of the first customer; using, by the server, historical shopper data, including individual shopper history, time of day, and available store employees to estimate a waiting time for each customer in the virtual queue; estimating, by the server, a wait time until the first customer is likely to be served; determining, by the server, a warning interval describing a scheduled time that the first customer should arrive; sending, by the server, a push notification of a warning based on the warning interval to a portable computerized device of the first customer prior to the scheduled time for the first customer to arrive; displaying, by the server upon the portable computerized device of the first customer, an indication of a status of the first customer within the queue based upon the current location of the first customer including a queue number of the first customer and the customer currently being served and the estimated wait time; determining if the first customer arrived at the scheduled time; if the first customer is delayed, holding the place of the first customer in the queue for a predetermined time; and if the predetermined time has passed, bumping the first customer to a later place in the queue based upon the current location of the portable computerized device of the first customer. |
