Throttle-triggered suggestions

• US 10,007,947 B2
• Filed: 06/01/2015
• Issued: 06/26/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 04/16/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Accenture Global Services Limited (Accenture PLC)
• Original Assignee: Accenture Global Services Limited (Accenture PLC)
• Inventors: Seaward, Leona, Thirlaway, John
• Primary Examiner(s): Misiaszek, Michael
• Application Number:
  US14/727,519
• Publication Number:
  US 20160307254A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,121 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0631 Item recommendations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0637 Approvals

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for managing orders. The methods include actions of receiving an order for an item to be fulfilled by the fulfillment center for a fulfillment time, obtaining a portion of stored historical preparation information that is relevant to fulfillment of the item by the fulfillment time, obtaining current order information that describes other orders to be fulfilled at the fulfillment center, determining to provide an alternate suggestion, identifying at least one of an alternate item, an alternate fulfillment center, or an alternate time to include in the alternate suggestion, generating the alternate suggestion based on the identification of at least one of the alternate item, the alternate fulfillment center, or the alternate time to include in the alternate suggestion, and providing the alternate suggestion to the user device.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method, comprising:

tracking, over time and by bulk order processing server of an order processing system that includes (i) the bulk order processing server, (ii) local fulfillment center workstations that are each associated with a different third party fulfillment center, and (iii) multiple user devices, performance of the fulfillment center in fulfilling orders for items at the fulfillment center based on data collected at the local fulfillment center workstations, and user responses to alternate suggestions based on data collected at the multiple user devices;

based on the tracking by the bulk order processing server, storing, in an electronic database accessible to the bulk order processing server of the order processing system, historical preparation information that describes historical performance of the fulfillment center in fulfilling orders for items at the fulfillment center based on the data collected at the local fulfillment center workstations;

based on the tracking by the bulk order processing server, storing, in the electronic database accessible to the bulk order processing server of the order processing system, historical user information that indicates a likelihood that a user indicate acceptance of an alternate suggestion at one of the user devices;

receiving, over a network, by the bulk order processing server, and from one of the user associated with the user and the order processing system, an order for an item to be fulfilled by a particular local fulfillment center for a fulfillment time, where the order indicates the item and the particular fulfillment center fulfills the order by enabling an employee at the fulfillment center to prepare the item for the user, wherein the particular user device is a mobile computing device and the order is entered through a graphical user interface of a web application presented on the mobile computing device;

in response to receiving the order from the user device;

obtaining, from the database accessible to the bulk order processing server and based at least on the indication in the order of the fulfillment center, a portion of the stored historical preparation information for the fulfillment center that describes historical performance of the fulfillment center that is relevant to fulfillment of the item by the fulfillment time;

obtaining, based at least on the indication in the order of the fulfillment center, current order information that describes other orders to be fulfilled at the fulfillment center; and

determining, by the bulk order processing server, to provide an alternate suggestion for the user device to provide to the user through the graphical user interface of the web application based at least on a portion of the stored historical preparation information and the current order information;

in response to determining to provide the alternate suggestion for the user device to provide to the user through the graphical user interface of the web application, identifying, by the bulk order processing server, at least one of an alternate item, an alternate fulfillment center, or an alternate time to include in the alternate suggestion based on the stored historical user information that indicates a likelihood that the user will indicate acceptance of an alternate suggestion at one of the user devices and further based at least on historical performance of the alternate fulfillment center, current orders for the alternate fulfillment center, historical performance for the alternate item, current orders for the alternate item, or current orders for the alternate time;

generating, by the bulk order processing server, the alternate suggestion based on the identification of at least one of the alternate item, the alternate fulfillment center, or the alternate time to include in the alternate suggestion; and

providing, over the network and by the bulk order processing server, instructions that trigger the graphical user interface of the web application on the user device to (i) provide the alternate suggestion to the user without the user providing further input after the user enters the order through the graphical user interface of the web application and (ii) disable entering, in the graphical user interface of the web application, a request for the item from the fulfillment center.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining, to provide an alternate suggestion for the user device to provide to the user through the graphical user interface of the web application based at least on a portion of the stored historical preparation information and the current order information comprises:

determining that the order cannot be fulfilled by the fulfillment center for the fulfillment time.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining, to provide an alternate suggestion for the user device to provide to the user through the graphical user interface of the web application based at least on a portion of the stored historical preparation information and the current order information comprises:

determining that the order can be fulfilled by the fulfillment center for the fulfillment time but another order is likely to be placed for the item for the fulfillment time.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining, to provide an alternate suggestion for the user device to provide to the user through the graphical user interface of the web application based at least on a portion of the stored historical preparation information and the current order information comprises:

determining that the alternate suggestion is likely to result in a better business value for an entity providing the server.

5. The method of claim 1, identifying at least one of an alternate item, an alternate fulfillment center, or an alternate time to include in the alternate suggestion based on the stored historical user information that indicates a likelihood that the user will accept the alternate suggestion comprises:

determining that the alternate suggestion can be fulfilled.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying at least one of an alternate item, an alternate fulfillment center, or an alternate time to include in the alternate suggestion based on the stored historical user information that indicates a likelihood that the user will accept the alternate suggestion comprises:

determining that the user is likely to be interested in the alternate item based on the stored historical user information that indicates a likelihood that the user will accept the alternate suggestion; and

in response to determining that the user is likely to be interested in the alternate item based on the stored historical user information that indicates a likelihood that the user will accept the alternate suggestion, identifying the alternate item.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying at least one of an alternate item, an alternate fulfillment center, or an alternate time to include in the alternate suggestion based on the stored historical user information that indicates a likelihood that the user will accept the alternate suggestion comprises:

determining a likely route for the user based at least on the stored historical user information that indicates a likelihood that the user will accept the alternate suggestion;

determining that the alternate fulfillment center is accessible along the likely route; and

in response to determining that the alternate fulfillment center is accessible along the likely route, identifying the alternate fulfillment center.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying at least one of an alternate item, an alternate fulfillment center, or an alternate time to include in the alternate suggestion based on the stored historical user information that indicates a likelihood that the user will accept the alternate suggestion comprises:

determining an earliest time after the fulfillment time that the order can be fulfilled;

determining whether the earliest time satisfies a time threshold with the fulfillment time; and

in response to determining that the earliest time satisfies the time threshold with the fulfillment time, identifying the earliest time as the alternate time.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the alternate suggestion based on the identification of at least one of the alternate item, the alternate fulfillment center, or the alternate time to include in the alternate suggestion comprises:

determining a discount to include in the alternate suggestion; and

including the discount in the alternate suggestion.

10. The method of claim 1, comprising:

reserving an order for the alternate suggestion for a predetermined time before receiving a response from the user device to the alternate suggestion.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the alternate suggestion based on the identification of at least one of the alternate item, the alternate fulfillment center, or the alternate time to include in the alternate suggestion comprises:

generating, for each of multiple candidate alternate suggestions, outcomes scores that each indicate an estimated value of the candidate alternate suggestion; and

selecting a predetermined number of the candidate alternate suggestions based at least on the outcome scores.

12. A system comprising:

one or more computers and one or more storage devices storing instructions that are operable, when executed by the one or more computers, to cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising;

tracking, over time and by bulk order processing server of an order processing system that includes (i) the bulk order processing server, (ii) local fulfillment center workstations that are each associated with a different third party fulfillment center, and (iii) multiple user devices, performance of the fulfillment center in fulfilling orders for items at the fulfillment center based on data collected at the local fulfillment center workstations, and user responses to alternate suggestions based on data collected at the multiple user devices;

based on the tracking by the bulk order processing server, storing, in an electronic database accessible to the bulk order processing server of the order processing system, historical preparation information that describes historical performance of the fulfillment center in fulfilling orders for items at the fulfillment center based on the data collected at the local fulfillment center workstations;

based on the tracking by the bulk order processing server, storing, in the electronic database accessible to the bulk order processing server of the order processing system, historical user information that indicates a likelihood that a user indicate acceptance of an alternate suggestion at one of the user devices;

receiving, over a network, by the bulk order processing server, and from one of the user associated with the user and the order processing system, an order for an item to be fulfilled by a particular local fulfillment center for a fulfillment time, where the order indicates the item and the particular fulfillment center fulfills the order by enabling an employee at the fulfillment center to prepare the item for the user, wherein the particular user device is a mobile computing device and the order is entered through a graphical user interface of a web application presented on the mobile computing device;

in response to receiving the order from the user device;

obtaining, from the database accessible to the bulk order processing server and based at least on the indication in the order of the fulfillment center, a portion of the stored historical preparation information for the fulfillment center that describes historical performance of the fulfillment center that is relevant to fulfillment of the item by the fulfillment time;

obtaining, based at least on the indication in the order of the fulfillment center, current order information that describes other orders to be fulfilled at the fulfillment center; and

determining, by the bulk order processing server, to provide an alternate suggestion for the user device to provide to the user through the graphical user interface of the web application based at least on a portion of the stored historical preparation information and the current order information;

in response to determining to provide the alternate suggestion for the user device to provide to the user through the graphical user interface of the web application, identifying, by the bulk order processing server, at least one of an alternate item, an alternate fulfillment center, or an alternate time to include in the alternate suggestion based on the stored historical user information that indicates a likelihood that the user will indicate acceptance of an alternate suggestion at one of the user devices and further based at least on historical performance of the alternate fulfillment center, current orders for the alternate fulfillment center, historical performance for the alternate item, current orders for the alternate item, or current orders for the alternate time;

generating, by the bulk order processing server, the alternate suggestion based on the identification of at least one of the alternate item, the alternate fulfillment center, or the alternate time to include in the alternate suggestion; and

providing, over the network and by the bulk order processing server, instructions that trigger the graphical user interface of the web application on the user device to (i) provide the alternate suggestion to the user without the user providing further input after the user enters the order through the graphical user interface of the web application and (ii) disable entering, in the graphical user interface of the web application, a request for the item from the fulfillment center.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein determining, to provide an alternate suggestion for the user device to provide to the user through the graphical user interface of the web application based at least on a portion of the stored historical preparation information and the current order information comprises:

determining that the order cannot be fulfilled by the fulfillment center for the fulfillment time.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein determining, to provide an alternate suggestion for the user device to provide to the user through the graphical user interface of the web application based at least on a portion of the stored historical preparation information and the current order information comprises:

determining that the order can be fulfilled by the fulfillment center for the fulfillment time but another order is likely to be placed for the item for the fulfillment time.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein determining, to provide an alternate suggestion for the user device to provide to the user through the graphical user interface of the web application based at least on a portion of the stored historical preparation information and the current order information comprises:

determining that the alternate suggestion is likely to result in a better business value for an entity providing the server.

16. The system of claim 12, identifying at least one of an alternate item, an alternate fulfillment center, or an alternate time to include in the alternate suggestion based on the stored historical user information that indicates a likelihood that the user will accept the alternate suggestion comprises:

determining that the alternate suggestion can be fulfilled.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein identifying at least one of an alternate item, an alternate fulfillment center, or an alternate time to include in the alternate suggestion based on the stored historical user information that indicates a likelihood that the user will accept the alternate suggestion comprises:

determining that the user is likely to be interested in the alternate item based on the stored historical user information that indicates a likelihood that the user will accept the alternate suggestion; and

in response to determining that the user is likely to be interested in the alternate item based on the stored historical user information that indicates a likelihood that the user will accept the alternate suggestion, identifying the alternate item.

18. The system of claim 12, wherein identifying at least one of an alternate item, an alternate fulfillment center, or an alternate time to include in the alternate suggestion based on the stored historical user information that indicates a likelihood that the user will accept the alternate suggestion comprises:

determining a likely route for the user based at least on the stored historical user information that indicates a likelihood that the user will accept the alternate suggestion;

determining that the alternate fulfillment center is accessible along the likely route; and

in response to determining that the alternate fulfillment center is accessible along the likely route, identifying the alternate fulfillment center.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing software comprising instructions executable by one or more computers which, upon such execution, cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising:

tracking, over time and by bulk order processing server of an order processing system that includes (i) the bulk order processing server, (ii) local fulfillment center workstations that are each associated with a different third party fulfillment center, and (iii) multiple user devices, performance of the fulfillment center in fulfilling orders for items at the fulfillment center based on data collected at the local fulfillment center workstations, and user responses to alternate suggestions based on data collected at the multiple user devices;

based on the tracking by the bulk order processing server, storing, in an electronic database accessible to the bulk order processing server of the order processing system, historical preparation information that describes historical performance of the fulfillment center in fulfilling orders for items at the fulfillment center based on the data collected at the local fulfillment center workstations;

based on the tracking by the bulk order processing server, storing, in the electronic database accessible to the bulk order processing server of the order processing system, historical user information that indicates a likelihood that a user indicate acceptance of an alternate suggestion at one of the user devices;

receiving, over a network, by the bulk order processing server, and from one of the user associated with the user and the order processing system, an order for an item to be fulfilled by a particular local fulfillment center for a fulfillment time, where the order indicates the item and the particular fulfillment center fulfills the order by enabling an employee at the fulfillment center to prepare the item for the user, wherein the particular user device is a mobile computing device and the order is entered through a graphical user interface of a web application presented on the mobile computing device;

in response to receiving the order from the user device;

obtaining, from the database accessible to the bulk order processing server and based at least on the indication in the order of the fulfillment center, a portion of the stored historical preparation information for the fulfillment center that describes historical performance of the fulfillment center that is relevant to fulfillment of the item by the fulfillment time;

obtaining, based at least on the indication in the order of the fulfillment center, current order information that describes other orders to be fulfilled at the fulfillment center; and

determining, by the bulk order processing server, to provide an alternate suggestion for the user device to provide to the user through the graphical user interface of the web application based at least on a portion of the stored historical preparation information and the current order information;

in response to determining to provide the alternate suggestion for the user device to provide to the user through the graphical user interface of the web application, identifying, by the bulk order processing server, at least one of an alternate item, an alternate fulfillment center, or an alternate time to include in the alternate suggestion based on the stored historical user information that indicates a likelihood that the user will indicate acceptance of an alternate suggestion at one of the user devices and further based at least on historical performance of the alternate fulfillment center, current orders for the alternate fulfillment center, historical performance for the alternate item, current orders for the alternate item, or current orders for the alternate time;

generating, by the bulk order processing server, the alternate suggestion based on the identification of at least one of the alternate item, the alternate fulfillment center, or the alternate time to include in the alternate suggestion; and

providing, over the network and by the bulk order processing server, instructions that trigger the graphical user interface of the web application on the user device to (i) provide the alternate suggestion to the user without the user providing further input after the user enters the order through the graphical user interface of the web application and (ii) disable entering, in the graphical user interface of the web application, a request for the item from the fulfillment center.