Application of wireless technology to retailing at drive-through facilities

A voiceless ordering system for the drive-through facility of the fast-food industry has been proposed and implemented. To be integrated with the existing audio-based system, tracking of the customer's position in the ordering queue needs to be automated by proper sensing devices while the information contents of the order are being transmitted to the order taking register. These are accomplished by Bluetooth sensor function and Wi-Fi application on the mobile device respectively. Descriptions of the system architecture and user interface are presented. The implemented system can be adapted to other retailing functions such as grocery purchase and pharmacy transactions.