The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 07, 2004
Filed:
Dec. 20, 1999
Kenneth C. Knapp, Austin, TX (US);
Michael Daniel Santivenere, Austin, TX (US);
Michael Joseph Sullivan, Austin, TX (US);
Jonathan Mark Wagner, Round Rock, TX (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
Expected service delays are determined from actual service data captured during service at an establishment. For each party seeking service at an establishment, the time at which the party seeks service and the time at which the party receives, or at least begins receiving, service are automatically captured, by sensors situated proximate to a cafeteria-style service line or from a data processing system-implemented waiting list. A subset of the collected data is selected utilizing defined criteria relevant to service times, such as time of day, level of service as a proportion to overall capacity, etc. An average service delay for parties is then calculated from the selected subset of collected service data. This average service delay is employed in determining an expected service delay for prospective customers, adjusting the average service delay by multiplication with a factor specified to correspond with relevant characteristics of service at the establishment, such as time of day, size of the party seeking service, etc. The projected service delay for a prospective customer is then transmitted from the establishment's Web site to the requester.