Voice Transaction System with Location-Based Activation
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Convenience store customers face difficulties with item ordering and pickup due to inadequate user interfaces at fuel pumps, which are often hard to navigate, limiting the selection of items and causing inconvenience and potential security risks when leaving their vehicles to enter the store.
Innovation Solution
A voice-based transaction processing system with location-based activation allows users to place orders via natural language sessions that are suspended until the user reaches a predefined geographical area, enabling seamless completion of transactions at a terminal, including item selection, payment, and age verification, without the need to leave their vehicle.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If consumers use the pump interface to place orders, then they can pre-purchase items, but the interface is small, hard to see, and limited in item selection
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a mobile device as an intermediary between the consumer and the pump interface. The mobile device displays enhanced information about items, provides a comprehensive search mechanism, and presents a full inventory list, while the pump interface remains simple for basic fuel dispensing. This mediator resolves the contradiction by providing rich information and selection capabilities without requiring changes to the physical pump hardware.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions the ordering interface from the two-dimensional pump display to the three-dimensional mobile device ecosystem. Consumers can access detailed item information, search functions, and inventory browsing on their smartphones or tablets, which have larger displays and greater processing capabilities than the pump interface itself.
2Adaptability or versatility
If consumers leave the pump to pick up items from inside the store, then they can access the full inventory, but the pump lane remains occupied and other customers cannot access it
Solution Approach 1:
The patent enables consumers to place their orders in advance while still at the pump, before they need to enter the store to pick up items. The system pre-stages the order information on the consumer's mobile device and maintains communication with the store system, allowing the consumer to quickly retrieve items without needing to wait in a long line or occupy the pump lane for extended periods.
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables self-service ordering where the consumer independently places, modifies, and tracks their order through the mobile device interface. The automated system handles order transmission to the store, inventory checking, and pickup coordination, eliminating the need for staff assistance and reducing the time consumers spend at the pump lane.
3Ease of operation
If consumers leave their vehicle to enter the store, then they can complete transactions, but it creates delays and potential security risks
Solution Approach 1:
The mobile device serves as an intermediary that maintains the consumer's connection to the ordering system while they remain in their vehicle. The system communicates order status, item availability, and pickup instructions through the mobile device, eliminating the need for the consumer to exit their vehicle or leave their personal space to complete transactions.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary order placement and confirmation actions while the consumer is still in their vehicle. By pre-processing the order transmission, inventory verification, and pickup scheduling before the consumer exits their vehicle, the system minimizes the time they need to spend outside their vehicle and reduces security risks associated with leaving their car unattended.
4Adaptability or versatility
If the pump interface provides a complete item inventory and search mechanism, then consumers can identify specific items, but the interface becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The mobile device acts as an intermediary that provides comprehensive search and inventory browsing capabilities. It can connect to the store's database through wireless communication, allowing consumers to search for specific items, view full inventory lists, and access detailed product information without requiring the physical pump interface to be complex or overloaded with buttons and displays.
Data Source
AI summary
A natural-language voice chatbot is initiated and a voice session is established between the chatbot and a customer while the customer is operating a vehicle device within a vehicle. A pre-staged order is taken from a customer during the session and the session is suspended until the customer arrives at a store associated with the pre-staged order. A location-based trigger is raised when the customer is detected as being present at a transaction terminal of a store; the session is resumed on the transaction terminal and/or the vehicle device. The pre-stage order is confirmed during the resumed session and payment is obtained from the customer for the order when payment was not already obtained from the customer. The order is sent to a fulfillment station and, in an embodiment, the items associated with the order are delivered to the customer while the customer remains at the terminal.