Two-way touch-screen based communication system

Abstract

One example method may include generating a list of potential merchants on a touch screen device. The method may also include determining a subset of potential merchants to display on the touch screen device, determining an order in which to display the subset of potential merchants on the touch screen device, and displaying the list of potential merchants on the touch screen device.

I claim: 
     
         1 . A method to display an ordered list of merchants on a touch screen device, comprising:
 generating a list of potential merchants on the touch screen device;   determining a subset of potential merchants to display on the touch screen device;   determining an order in which to display the subset of potential merchants on the touch screen device; and   displaying the list of potential merchants on the touch screen device.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the determining the order in which to display the subset of potential merchants comprises:
 determining a location of the touch screen device;   determining a location of one or more merchants; and   determining a distance between the touch screen device and the one or more merchants.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the determining the order in which to display the subset of potential merchants consists of ranking the one or more merchants by distance. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the determining the order in which to display the subset of potential merchants comprises considering the distance between the touch screen device and each of the one or more merchants. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the determining the order in which to display the subset of potential merchants further comprises considering a number of orders for items or services placed using the touch screen device. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising specifying a filter containing merchant selection criteria and wherein the displaying the list of potential merchants comprises displaying merchants that meet the criteria specified in the filter. 
     
     
         7 . A touch screen device, comprising:
 a processor;   a file system;   a network interface coupled to a network; and   a non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon executable instructions for a method to display an ordered list of merchants on the touch screen device, which in response to execution by the processor, cause the processor to:
 generate a list of potential merchants on the touch screen device; 
 determine a subset of potential merchants to display on the touch screen device; 
 determine an order in which to display the subset of potential merchants on the touch screen device; and 
 display the list of potential merchants on the touch screen device. 
   
     
     
         8 . The touch screen device of  claim 7 , wherein the determining the order in which to display the subset of potential merchants comprises:
 determining a location of the touch screen device;   determining a location of one or more merchants; and   determining a distance between the touch screen device and the one or more merchants.   
     
     
         9 . The touch screen device of  claim 8 , wherein the determining the order in which to display the subset of potential merchants consists of ranking the one or more merchants by distance. 
     
     
         10 . The touch screen device of  claim 8 , wherein the determining the order in which to display the subset of potential merchants comprises considering the distance between the touch screen device and each of the one or more merchants. 
     
     
         11 . The touch screen device of  claim 10 , wherein the determining the order in which to display the subset of potential merchants further comprises considering a number of orders for items or services placed using the touch screen device. 
     
     
         12 . The touch screen device of  claim 7 , wherein the non-transitory computer readable medium includes additional executable instructions for specifying a filter containing merchant selection criteria, and wherein the displaying the list of potential merchants comprises displaying merchants that meet the criteria specified in the filter.