Systems and methods for synchronized delivery

• US 10,198,707 B1
• Filed: 01/05/2016
• Issued: 02/05/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 02/07/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: United Parcel Service Of America Incorporated (United Parcel Service Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: United Parcel Service Of America Incorporated (United Parcel Service Incorporated)
• Inventors: Bolton, Chris, Brill, Steven D., Collins, Matthew, Creasy, Anthony, Dotterweich, Andrew, Guerrisi, Joseph, Kettleson, Daniel, Mulholland, Michael, Gillen, Robert J., Loppatto, Greg, Hernandez, John, Butler, Butch, Lord, Scott
• Primary Examiner(s): Allen, Akiba K
• Application Number:
  US14/988,561
• Time in Patent Office: 1,127 Days
• Field of Search: 705332, 705330, 705341, 705 711, 705 11
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0835 Relationships between shipper or supplier and carriers
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08355 Routing methods
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0837 Return transactions

Abstract

Various embodiments provide systems and methods for facilitating synchronized delivery of shipments/items scheduled to be delivered to multiple serviceable points located nearby one another. Various embodiments identify nearby serviceable points based on an identification of serviceable points within a common delivery density area. In various embodiments, serviceable point data identifying a serviceable point cluster are stored for a plurality of serviceable points. Shipping data for a first shipment to be delivered to a first serviceable point is then received, and a determination is made whether a second shipment is scheduled to be delivered to a second serviceable point within the same cluster as the first serviceable point. Historical delivery activity is identified for the serviceable point cluster, and is compared with a threshold frequency. Upon a determination that the historical delivery activity satisfies the threshold, an indication is provided that the first and second shipments are eligible for synchronized delivery.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

storing, via one or more processors, a plurality of serviceable point profiles, each of the plurality of serviceable point profiles corresponding to a serviceable point, wherein each serviceable point profile comprises (a) an address corresponding to a serviceable point, and (b) a geocode corresponding to the serviceable point that was collected via a first mobile computing device of a plurality of mobile computing devices by determining and storing a current first set of GPS coordinates of the first mobile computing device while the first mobile computing device was at the serviceable point;

dynamically generating, via the one or more processors, geographical area groupings each encompassing a geographical area having common vehicle travel characteristics based at least in part on historical delivery data and vehicle travel thresholds, wherein the historical delivery data comprises second set of GPS coordinates generated while one or more of the plurality of mobile computing devices was located within the geographical areas and is indicative of when the one or more of the plurality of mobile computing devices historically traveled within the geographical areas as determined by one or more GPS sensors;

generating, via the one or more processors, a serviceable point cluster encompassing one or more serviceable point profiles within a common geographical area, wherein the serviceable point cluster is generated based at least in part on a location of the dynamically generated geographical areas and locations of geocodes stored within the serviceable point profiles and further based at least in part on telematics sensors that indicate a distance traveled by one or more vehicles associated with the historical delivery data;

receiving, via the one or more processors, first electronic shipping data indicating that a first shipment is to be delivered to a first serviceable point within the serviceable point cluster;

receiving, via the one or more processors, second electronic shipping data indicating that a second shipment is to be delivered to a second serviceable point within the serviceable point cluster;

correlating, based at least in part on data stored in serviceable point profiles corresponding to the first serviceable point and the second serviceable point, the first electronic shipping data and the second electronic shipping data with the historical delivery data for the serviceable point cluster; and

responsive to receiving the first electronic shipping data and the second electronic shipping data, determining, via the one or more processors, whether the first shipment and the second shipment are eligible for synchronized delivery;

wherein determining whether the first shipment and the second shipment are eligible for synchronized delivery is determined at least in part by;

identifying, via the one or more processors and based at least in part on the historical delivery data for the serviceable point cluster, a historical delivery activity frequency for the serviceable point cluster indicative of the frequency that a mobile computing device is located within the serviceable point cluster; and

determining whether the historical delivery activity frequency for the serviceable point cluster satisfies a configurable frequency threshold; and

responsive to determining that the historical delivery activity frequency for the serviceable point cluster satisfies the configurable frequency threshold, modifying at least one of the first shipping data or the second shipping data to effect synchronized delivery of the first shipment and the second shipment.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein (a) the serviceable point cluster comprises a geographic descriptor and (b) the first serviceable point and the second serviceable point are associated with a common geographic descriptor.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein (a) the serviceable point cluster comprises a street segment identifier and (b) the first serviceable point and the second serviceable point are associated with a common street segment identifier.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein (a) each of the plurality of serviceable points is surrounded by a geofence and (b) the first serviceable point and the second serviceable point are located within the geofence.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first serviceable point and the second serviceable point are within (a) a configurable distance from one another, (b) a configurable time from one another, or (c) both.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the historical delivery activity frequency for the serviceable point cluster is determined based at least in part on historical data indicative of the average number of deliveries made to serviceable points within the serviceable point cluster over a configurable time period.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the configurable threshold is a maximum average number of deliveries made to serviceable points within the serviceable point cluster over the configurable time period.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the historical delivery activity frequency for the serviceable point cluster is determined based at least in part on historical data indicative of the average number of times a delivery vehicle traverses at least a portion of the serviceable point cluster over a configurable time period.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the configurable threshold is a maximum average number of times a delivery vehicle traverses at least a portion of the serviceable point cluster over the configurable time period.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the first shipment is being transported by a first carrier and the second shipment is being transported by a second carrier.

11. A system comprising one or more memory storage areas and one or more computer processors, the system configured to:

store, in the one or more memory storage areas, a plurality of serviceable point profiles, each of the plurality of serviceable point profiles corresponding to a serviceable point, wherein each serviceable point profile comprises (a) an address corresponding to a serviceable point, and (b) a geocode corresponding to the serviceable point that was collected via a first mobile computing device of a plurality of mobile computing devices by determining and storing a current first set of GPS coordinates of the first mobile computing device while the first mobile computing device was at the serviceable point;

dynamically generate, in the one or more memory storage areas, geographical area groupings each encompassing a geographical area having common vehicle travel characteristics based at least in part on historical delivery data and vehicle travel thresholds, wherein the historical delivery data comprises a second set of GPS coordinates generated while one or more of the plurality of mobile computing devices was located within the geographical areas and is indicative of when the one or more of the plurality of mobile computing devices historically traveled within the geographical areas as determined by one or more GPS sensors;

generate a serviceable point cluster encompassing one or more serviceable point profiles within a common geographical area, wherein the serviceable point cluster is generated based at least in part on a location of the dynamically generated geographical areas and locations of geocodes stored within the serviceable point profiles and further based at least in part on telematics sensors that indicate a distance traveled by one or more vehicles associated with the historical delivery data;

receive first electronic shipping data indicating that a first shipment is to be delivered to a first serviceable point within the serviceable point cluster;

receive second electronic shipping data indicating that a second shipment is to be delivered to a second serviceable point within the serviceable point cluster;

correlate, based at least in part on data stored in the serviceable point profiles corresponding to the first serviceable point and the second serviceable point, the first electronic shipping data and the second electronic shipping data with the historical delivery data for the serviceable point cluster; and

responsive to receiving the first electronic shipping data and the second electronic shipping data, determine whether the first shipment and the second shipment are eligible for synchronized delivery;

wherein determining whether the first shipment and the second shipment are eligible for synchronized delivery is determined at least in part by;

identifying, based at least in part on the historical delivery data for the serviceable point cluster, a historical delivery activity frequency for the serviceable point cluster indicative of the frequency that a mobile computing device is located within the serviceable point cluster; and

determining whether the historical delivery activity frequency for the serviceable point cluster satisfies a configurable frequency threshold; and

responsive to determining that the historical delivery activity frequency for the serviceable point cluster satisfies the configurable frequency threshold, modify at least one of the first shipping data or the second shipping data to effect synchronized delivery of the first shipment and the second shipment.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the generation of (a) the serviceable point cluster causes display of the serviceable point cluster to the digital map and wherein the dynamically generate, in the one or more memory storage areas, geographical area groupings cause display of the geographical area groupings to a digital map.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein (a) the serviceable point cluster comprises a street segment identifier and (b) the first serviceable point and the second serviceable point are associated with a common street segment identifier.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein (a) each of the plurality of serviceable points is surrounded by a geofence and (b) the first serviceable point and the second serviceable point are located within the geofence.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the first serviceable point and the second serviceable point are within (a) a configurable distance from one another, (b) a configurable time from one another, or (c) both.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the historical delivery activity frequency for the serviceable point cluster is determined based at least in part on historical data indicative of the average number of deliveries made to serviceable points within the serviceable point cluster over a configurable time period.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the configurable threshold is a maximum average number of deliveries made to serviceable points within the serviceable point cluster over the configurable time period.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein the historical delivery activity frequency for the serviceable point cluster is determined based at least in part on historical data indicative of the average number of times a delivery vehicle traverses at least a portion of the serviceable point cluster over a configurable time period.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the configurable threshold is a maximum average number of times a delivery vehicle traverses at least a portion of the serviceable point cluster over the configurable time period.

20. The system of claim 11, wherein the first shipment is being transported by a first carrier and the second shipment is being transported by a second carrier.

21. A computer program product comprising at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program code portions stored therein, the computer-readable program code portions comprising:

an executable portion configured to store a plurality of serviceable point profiles, each of the plurality of serviceable point profiles corresponding to a serviceable point, wherein each serviceable point profile comprises (a) an address corresponding to a serviceable point, and (b) a geocode corresponding to the serviceable point that was collected via a first mobile computing device of a plurality of mobile computing devices by determining and storing a current first set of GPS coordinates of the first mobile computing device while the first mobile computing device was at the serviceable point,

an executable portion configured to dynamically generate geographical area groupings each encompassing a geographical area having common vehicle travel characteristics based at least in part on historical delivery data and vehicle travel thresholds, wherein the historical delivery data comprises a second set of GPS coordinates generated while one or more of the plurality of mobile computing devices was located within the geographical areas and is indicative of when the one or more of the plurality of mobile computing devices historically traveled within the geographical areas as determined by one or more GPS sensors;

an executable portion configured to generate a serviceable point cluster encompassing one or more serviceable point profiles within a common geographical area, wherein the serviceable point cluster is generated based at least in part on a location of the dynamically generated geographical areas and locations of geocodes stored within the serviceable point profiles and further based at least in part on telematics sensors that indicate a distance traveled by one or more vehicles associated with the historical delivery data;

an executable portion configured to receive first electronic shipping data indicating that a first shipment is to be delivered to a first serviceable point within the serviceable point cluster;

an executable portion configured to receive second electronic shipping data indicating that a second shipment is to be delivered to a second serviceable point within the serviceable point cluster;

an executable portion configured to correlate, based at least in part on data stored in serviceable point profiles corresponding to the first serviceable point and the second serviceable point, the first electronic shipping data and the second electronic shipping data with the historical delivery data for the serviceable point cluster; and

an executable portion configured to, responsive to receiving the first electronic shipping data and the second electronic shipping data, determine whether the first shipment and the second shipment are eligible for synchronized delivery;

wherein determining whether the first shipment and the second shipment are eligible for synchronized delivery is determined at least in part by;

identifying, based at least in part on the historical delivery data for the serviceable point cluster, a historical delivery activity frequency for the serviceable point cluster indicative of the frequency that a mobile computing device is located within the serviceable point cluster; and

determining whether the historical delivery activity frequency for the serviceable point cluster satisfies a configurable frequency threshold; and

an executable portion configured to, responsive to determining that the historical delivery activity frequency for the serviceable point cluster satisfies the configurable frequency threshold, modify at least one of the first shipping data or the second shipping data to effect synchronized delivery of the first shipment and the second shipment.

22. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein (a) the serviceable point cluster comprises a geographic descriptor and (b) the first serviceable point and the second serviceable point are associated with a common geographic descriptor.

23. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein (a) the serviceable point cluster comprises a street segment identifier and (b) the first serviceable point and the second serviceable point are associated with a common street segment identifier.

24. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein (a) each of the plurality of serviceable points is surrounded by a geofence and (b) the first serviceable point and the second serviceable point are located within the geofence.

25. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein the first serviceable point and the second serviceable point are within (a) a configurable distance from one another, (b) a configurable time from one another, or (c) both.

26. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein the historical delivery activity frequency for the serviceable point cluster is determined based at least in part on historical data indicative of the average number of deliveries made to serviceable points within the serviceable point cluster over a configurable time period.

27. The computer program product of claim 26, wherein the configurable threshold is a maximum average number of deliveries made to serviceable points within the serviceable point cluster over the configurable time period.

28. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein the historical delivery activity frequency for the serviceable point cluster is determined based at least in part on historical data indicative of the average number of times a delivery vehicle traverses at least a portion of the serviceable point cluster over a configurable time period.

29. The computer program product of claim 28, wherein the configurable threshold is a maximum average number of times a delivery vehicle traverses at least a portion of the serviceable point cluster over the configurable time period.

30. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein the first shipment is being transported by a first carrier and the second shipment is being transported by a second carrier.