Confirming delivery of multiple packages to a delivery location using package tags

• US 10,121,118 B1
• Filed: 05/08/2015
• Issued: 11/06/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/08/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Kim, Jin Dong, Lee, Sang Eun
• Primary Examiner(s): Refai, Ramsey
• Application Number:
  US14/707,217
• Time in Patent Office: 1,278 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/083 Shipping
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0832 Special goods or special handling procedures, e.g. handling of hazardous or fragile goods
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0833 Tracking
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/35 for the management of goods or merchandise
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

A method of managing delivery of a group of packages to a customer delivery address. A radio transceiver establishes a communication link between a tag and a computing device. The tag is associated with a package, the package being among a group of packages to be delivered to the customer delivery address. A radio signal is received at the computing device over the link. The radio signal is representative of tracking information associated with the package, the tracking information includes a unique package code and a unique group identification code. The signal strength of the radio signal is determined. The computing device determines that the package associated with the tag belongs with the group of packages based at least in part on proximity of the tag relative to the computing device and a unique group identification code associated with the customer delivery address.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of managing a delivery of packages to a customer, the method comprising:

establishing a short range communication link between a tag and a delivery person computing device using a radio transceiver, the tag being attached to a package, the package being among a group of packages to be delivered to a customer delivery address;

receiving over the short range communication link, by the delivery person computing device, a radio signal from the tag, the radio signal being representative of tracking information associated with the package, the tracking information comprising a unique package identification code associated with the package and a first unique group identification code associated with a package group to which the package is associated;

determining, at the delivery person computing device, a signal strength of the radio signal;

determining, at the delivery person computing device, an estimated distance from the delivery person computing device to the tag based on the signal strength of the radio signal;

determining, by the delivery person computing device, that the package associated with the tag belongs with the group of packages to be delivered to the customer delivery address based at least in part on the tag being within a predetermined distance from the delivery person computing device and a second unique group identification code associated with the customer delivery address; and

displaying, by the delivery person computing device, a notification message that the package belongs with the group of packages to be delivered to the customer delivery address.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving the radio signal from the tag at an interval that is dependent upon a distance between the package and the customer delivery address, wherein the interval decreases as the distance between the package and the customer delivery address decreases.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, by the delivery person computing device, the customer delivery address;

retrieving, by the delivery person computing device, the second unique group identification code associated with the customer delivery address from a table stored in a storage element associated with the delivery person computing device;

determining, by the delivery person computing device, that the estimated distance is less than or equal to the predetermined distance; and

determining, by the delivery person computing device, that the first unique group identification code received from the tag matches the second unique group identification code retrieved from the table.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting over a wide area network, from the delivery person computing device to a delivery management system server, the tracking information and information associated with the signal strength of the radio signal; and

receiving over the wide area network, at the delivery person computing device from the delivery management system server, the estimated distance.

5. A computer-implemented method of managing a delivery of packages to a customer, the method comprising:

establishing a communication link between a tag and a computing device, wherein the tag is associated with a package, and wherein the package is included with a group of packages addressed to a customer delivery address;

receiving, by the computing device, tracking information comprising a package identification code and a first group identification code associated with the package;

receiving, by the computing device, coordinates of the tag;

determining, by the computing device, a location of the tag based at least in part on the coordinates of the tag;

determining, by the computing device, that the package associated with the tag belongs with the group of packages addressed to the customer delivery address based on the tag being within a predetermined area and a second group identification code associated with the customer delivery address; and

providing, by the computing device, a notification that the package belongs with the group of packages addressed to the customer delivery address.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, further comprising:

receiving the tracking information from the tag at an interval that is dependent upon a distance between the package and the customer delivery address.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein the interval decreases as the distance between the package and the customer delivery address decreases.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, further comprising:

determining, by the computing device, coordinates of a reference location;

retrieving, by the computing device, the second group identification code associated with the customer delivery address;

determining, by the computing device, an estimated distance between the tag and the reference location based on the coordinates of the tag and the coordinates of the reference location;

determining, by the computing device, that the estimated distance is within the predetermined area; and

determining, by the computing device, that the first group identification code associated with the package matches the second group identification code associated with the customer delivery address.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein the reference location is (i) a location of the computing device or (ii) the customer delivery address.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein the reference location is another package.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, further comprising identifying, by the computing device, the package based at least in part on the package identification code and the second group identification code associated with the customer delivery address.

21. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

determining a radius r and a reference location of the computing device;

determining the predetermined area based on the radius r and the reference location;

establishing a communication link between a second tag and the computing device, wherein the second tag is associated with a second package;

determining that the second package is located within the predetermined area;

determining that a third group identification code associated with the second package does not match the second group identification code; and

providing, by the computing device, a notification that the second package does not belong with the group of packages addressed to the customer delivery address.

12. A computing device, comprising:

a storage element configured to store machine-readable instructions;

a communications interface; and

a processing element communicatively coupled to the storage element, wherein the processing element is configured to execute the machine-readable instructions to;

receive, via the communications interface, a radio signal from a tag attached to a package, the radio signal being representative of tracking information associated with the package, the tracking information comprising a package identification code associated with the package and a first group identification code associated with a package group to which the package is associated;

determine a signal strength of the radio signal;

determine an estimated distance to the tag based on the signal strength of the radio signal;

determine that the package associated with the tag belongs with a group of packages to be delivered to a customer delivery address based at least in part on the tag being within a predetermined area and a second group identification code associated with the customer delivery address; and

display, a notification message that the package belongs with the group of packages to be delivered to the customer delivery address.

13. The computing device of claim 12, wherein the processing element is further configured to execute the machine-readable instructions to:

receive the radio signal from the tag at an interval that is dependent upon a distance between the package and the customer delivery address, wherein the interval decreases as the distance between the package and the customer delivery address decreases.

14. The computing device of claim 12, wherein the processing element is further configured to execute the machine-readable instructions to:

determine the customer delivery address;

retrieve the second group identification code associated with the customer delivery address from a table stored in the storage element;

determine that the estimated distance is within the predetermined area; and

determine that the first group identification code received from the tag matches the second group identification code retrieved from the table.

15. The computing device of claim 12, wherein the processing element is further configured to execute the machine-readable instructions to:

activate an indicator on the tag.

16. The computing device of claim 12, wherein the processing element is further configured to execute the machine-readable instructions to:

transmit the tracking information and the signal strength associated with the tracking information to a system server; and

receive the estimated distance from the system server.

17. The computing device of claim 12, wherein the processing element is further configured to execute the machine-readable instructions to:

identify the package associated with the tag based at least in part on the package identification code and the second group identification code associated with the customer delivery address.

18. The computing device of claim 12, further comprising:

a receiver signal strength indicator module to determine the estimated distance between the tag and the computing device.

19. The computing device of claim 12, further comprising:

an analytics engine to determine the estimated distance between the tag and the computing device based at least in part on coordinates of the tag and coordinates of the computing device.

20. The computing device of claim 12, wherein the communication interface is a short range communication interface or a wide area network communication interface.