Selective order states durable queuing apparatus and method employing ping latencies

摘要

A server for fulfilling orders under non-persistent network conditions includes a terminal update element, a queue processor, and a service area map. The terminal update element receives changes corresponding to orders from POS terminals. The queue processor queues the changes in terminal queues that correspond to the terminals, where the state changes are accessed by the terminal update element and transmitted to a first one of a subset of the terminals, from oldest to youngest, when the first one of the subset of the terminals is operably connected to the network, and where the state changes are maintained in terminal queues corresponding to other ones of the subset while the other ones of the subset remain operably disconnected from the network. The service area map associates the terminals to one or more geofenced service areas as a function of ping latency (i.e., number of hops).