System for providing room service

Abstract

A method of processing room service transactions in an institution such as a hotel, having a plurality of guest rooms includes displaying selected visual representations of food items at predetermined intervals with a user device including an interactive graphical user interface in a guest room, receiving inputs from a guest with the graphical user interface and transmitting the inputs to a food service server for fulfillment.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of processing room service transactions in an institution having a plurality of guest rooms, the method comprising:
 a) displaying selected visual representations of food items at predetermined intervals with an interactive graphical user interface in a guest room, the visual representations being selected based on the time of day;   b) displaying a prompt to the guest with the interactive graphical user interface;   c) receiving a begin input from the guest with the interactive graphical user interface to initiate a room service transaction;   d) displaying a food selection menu;   e) receiving a selection input with the interactive graphical user interface, the selection input corresponding to a food item;   f) storing the selection with a first data storage device associated with the graphical user interface;   g) displaying the food items selected by the guest in step e);   h) repeating steps d), e) and f) until receiving a place order input from the guest with the graphical user interface;   i) displaying a summary of selected food items with the graphical user interface, the summary corresponding to those items selected by the guest;   j) receiving one of:
 i) a continue ordering input and returning to step d); 
 ii) a change order input and returning to step d); or 
 iii) an order confirmation input confirming the selection of food items; 
   k) transmitting a confirmed food order including the selections chosen by the guest in steps e) and f) to a food service server, the food service server having an associated second data storage device, a processor and a data interface with one or more server stations;   l) displaying a message with the interactive graphical user interface, the message indicating to the guest that the food order is being prepared; and
 m) displaying a message with the interactive graphical user interface, the message indicating the food order is enroute to the guest's room.