| 20090037286 | Restaurant patron payment system and method for mobile devices - A secure and efficient system and method that allows restaurant patrons to combine, split and/or pay for one or more components of an outstanding bill via a mobile computing device. In the most ideal embodiment, the restaurant has an existing order management/Point of Sale (POS) system installed on a computer network with wireless (Wi-Fi or Bluetooth) capabilities. When patrons have finished eating and are ready to pay for their bill, all outstanding check details are downloaded from a POS database to a mobile computing device over the wireless network. Each patron reviews the check details (listed in an orderly fashion on the screen of the mobile device) to determine how much they each want to pay. Patrons can pay for all or specific parts of the entire bill as well as all or specific parts of each item that was ordered. After a specific payment amount has been identified, each patron can manually enter their card details, swipe a bank card through a magnetic card reader attached to the mobile device or they can choose to have the waitperson pick up a specific amount of cash. The use of smart cards can be used for incentive programs or other related processes. If communicated over a wireless network, bank card transaction details can be sent to the server of the restaurant and can be processed by a 3rd party credit agency of choice. | 02-05-2009 |
