Determining courier effort for deliveries

• US 10,346,889 B1
• Filed: 05/13/2015
• Issued: 07/09/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 05/13/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DoorDash, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Block, Inc. (f/k/a Square, Inc.)
• Inventors: Reiss, Jesse Lee, Bernstein, Benjamin R., Rhodes, Matthew
• Primary Examiner(s): Koneru, Sujay
• Assistant Examiner(s): El-Bathy, Mohamed N
• Application Number:
  US14/710,808
• Time in Patent Office: 1,518 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0833 Tracking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0284 Time or distance, e.g. usage of parking meters or taximeters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/025 using location based information parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/35 for the management of goods or merchandise

Abstract

In some examples, a service provider may receive, from a buyer device, an order for an item from a merchant for delivery to a delivery location. The service provider may determine predicted courier travel times to the merchant location and from the merchant location to the delivery location, and may determine a first payment amount based on the predicted courier travel times. The service provider may further predict other courier time associated with the order, other than travel time, such as based on a courier wait time associated with the merchant. The service provider may determine a second payment amount based on the predicted courier other time. The service provider may send, to a courier device of a courier selected to deliver the order, information about the order including a payment amount for the order based on the first payment amount and the second payment amount.

Claims

1. A system able to quantify predicted courier effort for a delivery job for determining courier payment in advance, the system comprising:

a plurality of courier devices associated with a plurality of respective couriers, each courier device including a respective courier device processor, a respective courier device GPS receiver coupled to the respective courier device processor, and a respective courier device communication interface coupled to the respective courier device processor for communicating over the one or more networks, each courier device programmed to determine, based at least in part on information from its respective courier device GPS receiver, respective geographic locations of the courier device, and send indicated locations of the courier device over the one or more networks; and

a service computing device including a service computing device processor, and a service computing device communication interface coupled to the service computing device processor for communicating over the one or more networks with the plurality of courier devices, the service computing device programmed to;

receive, from the courier devices, over a period of time, respective indicated locations of the courier devices based at least in part on the respective geographic locations of the courier devices determined from the respective courier device GPS receivers;

determine, based at least in part on the respective indicated locations of the courier devices received from the courier devices in association with a plurality of past orders, at least one of;

wait times of the couriers at a plurality of merchant pickup locations, or

handoff times of the couriers at a plurality of delivery locations;

determine a first payment rate based on a distribution of courier travel times for the plurality of past orders, and a second payment rate based on a distribution of courier other time for the plurality of past orders, wherein the courier other time includes the at least one of the wait times or the handoff times;

receive, from a buyer device, an order for delivery of an item from a first merchant to an indicated delivery location;

determine, for a first courier associated with a first courier device of the plurality of courier devices, based at least in part on the location information, a first travel time to a pickup location associated with the merchant and a second travel time from the pickup location to the indicated delivery location;

determine a first payment amount based on the first travel time, the second travel time, and the first payment rate;

determine a predicted courier other time associated with the order, wherein the predicted courier other time is based at least in part on a predicted courier handoff time and at least one of;

a courier wait time associated with the first merchant based at least in part on the plurality of past orders,

a courier wait time associated with other merchants in a same merchant category as the first merchant, or

a courier wait time associated with at least one of;

a service region including the delivery location, or a plurality of service regions;

determine a second payment amount based on the predicted courier other time associated with the order and the second payment rate; and

send, to the first courier device, information about the order including a payment amount for the order, wherein the payment amount for the order is based on the first payment amount plus the second payment amount.

2. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the service computing device is further programmed to:

determine, from the plurality of past orders, a first normalized distribution for a first time component of courier time associated with the plurality of past orders, and a second normalized distribution for a second time component of courier time associated with the plurality of past orders, wherein;

the first time component corresponds to travel time of individual couriers to respective pickup locations and from the respective pickup locations to respective delivery locations for each order; and

the second time component corresponds to other time of the courier time attributed to each order, other than the travel time, wherein the other time includes respective wait times of the couriers at the respective merchant pickup locations, and respective handoff times of the couriers at the respective delivery locations;

determine the first payment rate based at least in part on the first normalized distribution of courier travel times for the plurality of past orders; and

determine the second payment rate based at least in part on the second normalized distribution of courier other time for the plurality of past orders, wherein the first payment rate is larger than the second payment rate.

3. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the first courier device is further programmed to:

present, on a display, the information about the order including the payment amount for the order;

in response to receiving a user input, send an indication of acceptance to the service computing device; and

based at least in part on movement of the first courier device toward the pickup location send, to the service computing device, an indication of a current location of the first courier device based at least in part on geographic location information from the GPS receiver of the first courier device.

4. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the service computing device is further programmed to:

determine, based at least in part on the respective indicated locations of the courier devices received from the courier devices, traffic information for a geographic region including the indicated delivery location; and

determine, based at least in part on the traffic information, the first courier travel time and the second courier travel time.

5. A method comprising:

determining, by a computing device, for a plurality of past orders, a normalized distribution corresponding to values of one or more features associated with the past orders, the one or more features associated at least in part with respective courier travel times from respective pickup locations to respective delivery locations for the plurality of past orders;

determining, by the computing device, for a new order, a point on the normalized distribution corresponding to values of the one or more features associated with the new order;

determining, by the computing device, a courier payment amount for the new order based at least in part on the point on the normalized distribution; and

sending, by the computing device, to a courier device, information related to the order and an indication of the courier payment amount.

6. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein the one or more features further comprise at least one of:

a distance from an initial location of a courier device to a pickup location associated with a merchant for a respective order;

a distance from the pickup location to a delivery location for the respective order;

a courier travel time from the initial location to the pickup location for the respective order;

a courier travel time from the pickup location to the delivery location for the respective order;

a courier wait time at the pickup location for the respective order;

a courier handoff time at the delivery location for the respective order;

a number of items associated with the respective order;

or

a category of item associated with the respective order.

7. The method as recited in claim 5, further comprising determining respective values for the one or more features for the new order based on at least one of:

a time of day and day of a week associated with the new order;

traffic conditions associated with the new order;

weather conditions associated with the new order;

local events associated with the new order;

or

a courier vehicle type associated with a courier selected as a candidate to deliver the new order.

8. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein the features include at least one of a courier wait time or a courier handoff time, the method further comprising:

receiving, from a plurality of courier devices associated with a plurality of couriers, respective electronic communications indicating respective indicated locations of the courier devices based at least in part on respective geographic locations of the courier devices determined through information from respective courier device GPS receivers;

determining, based at least in part on the respective indicated locations of the courier devices received from the courier devices in association with a plurality of past orders, at least one of;

wait times of the couriers at a plurality of merchant pickup locations, or

handoff times of the couriers at a plurality of delivery locations; and

determining, for the new order, at least one of a predicted wait time associated with the new order or a predicted hand off time associated with the new order based at least in part on the wait times or handoff times, respectively, determined for the plurality of past orders.

9. The method as recited in claim 5, further comprising:

receiving, from a plurality of courier devices associated with a plurality of couriers, respective electronic communications indicating respective locations of the courier devices based at least in part on respective geographic locations of the courier devices determined through information from respective courier device GPS receivers;

based at least in part on the respective locations received over time, tracking movement of the courier devices in the region;

determining an indication of the traffic conditions in the region based at least in part on tracking the movement of the courier devices; and

determining at least the courier travel time from a pickup location associated with the new order to a delivery location associated with the new order based at least in part on the traffic conditions.

10. The method as recited in claim 5, further comprising:

associating a payment amount with a median point on the normalized distribution; and

determining the courier payment amount for the new order based at least in part on a location of the point corresponding to the new order on the normalized distribution in relation to the median point on the normalized distribution.

11. The method as recited in claim 5, further comprising:

receiving, over a network, at least one of map information, traffic information, weather information, or local event information for a region including a delivery location associated with the new order; and

determining a predicted travel time from a merchant pickup location associated with the new order to the delivery location associated with the new order based at least in part on the at least one of the map information, traffic information, weather information, or local event information.

12. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein the map information provides the predicted travel time, the method further comprising:

for a plurality of past orders, comparing respective received predicted travel times received over the network with actual travel times determined from location information received from the courier devices to determine a difference between the received predicted travel times and the actual travel times; and

adjusting a predicted travel time received over the network for the new order based on the difference.

13. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein the normalized distribution is a first normalized distribution of courier travel times associated with the plurality of past orders, the method further comprising:

determining a first payment rate based on the first normalized distribution of courier travel times for the plurality of past orders, and a second payment rate based on a second normalized distribution of courier other time for the plurality of past orders, wherein the courier other time includes courier wait times at respective merchant pickup locations;

receiving, from a buyer device, the new order for delivery of an item from a merchant to an indicated delivery location;

determining, for a courier associated with the courier device, a first travel time to a pickup location associated with the new order and a second travel time from the pickup location to the indicated delivery location;

determining a first payment amount based on the first travel time, the second travel time, and the first courier payment rate;

determining a predicted courier other time associated with the order, wherein the predicted courier other time is based at least in part on the courier wait time associated with the merchant based at least in part on the plurality of past orders;

determining a second payment amount based on the predicted courier other time associated with the order and the second courier payment rate; and

sending, to the courier device, the information related to the order and the indication of the courier payment amount, wherein the courier payment amount is based on the first payment amount plus the second payment amount.

14. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media maintaining instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, program the one or more processors to:

receive, by the one or more processors, from a buyer device, an order for delivery of an item from a merchant and an indication of a delivery location;

determine, by the one or more processors, a predicted courier travel time from a merchant pickup location to the delivery location;

determine a predicted courier other time associated with the order, wherein the predicted courier other time is based at least in part on a predicted wait time associated with the merchant;

determine a first payment amount based at least in part on the predicted courier travel time and a first payment rate;

determine a second payment amount based at least in part on the predicted courier other time and a second payment rate, different from the first payment rate; and

send, to a courier device, information about the order and a courier payment amount, wherein the courier payment amount is based on the first payment amount and the second payment amount.

15. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 14, wherein the instructions further program the one or more processors to:

determine the predicted courier other time associated with the order based in part on the predicted wait time associated with the merchant, and further based in part on a predicted handoff time associated with the delivery location.

16. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 15, wherein the instructions further program the one or more processors to:

receive, from a plurality of courier devices associated with a plurality of couriers, respective electronic communications indicating respective indicated locations of the courier devices based at least in part on respective geographic locations of the courier devices determined through information from respective courier device GPS receivers;

determine, based at least in part on the respective indicated locations of the courier devices received from the courier devices in association with a plurality of past orders, respective wait times of the couriers at a plurality of merchant pickup locations, and respective handoff times of the couriers at a plurality of delivery locations; and

determine, for the order, the predicted wait time and the predicted hand off time based at least in part on the wait times and handoff times, respectively, determined for the plurality of past orders.

17. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 14, wherein the instructions further program the one or more processors to:

determine, from a plurality of past orders, a first normalized distribution for a first time component of courier time associated with the plurality of past orders, and a second normalized distribution for a second time component of courier time associated with the plurality of past orders, wherein;

the first time component corresponds to travel time of individual couriers to respective pickup locations and from the respective pickup locations to respective delivery locations for each order; and

the second time component corresponds to other time of the courier time attributed to each order, other than the travel time, wherein the other time includes respective wait times of the couriers at the respective merchant pickup locations, and respective handoff times of the couriers at the respective delivery locations;

determine the first payment rate based at least in part on the first normalized distribution of courier travel times for the plurality of past orders; and

determine the second payment rate based at least in part on the second normalized distribution of courier other time for the plurality of past orders, wherein the first payment rate is larger than the second payment rate.

18. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 14, wherein the instructions further program the one or more processors to:

determine a predicted courier travel time from an initial location to the merchant pickup location, wherein the initial location is an indicated location of the courier device when the information about the order is sent; and

determine the first payment amount based at least in part on the predicted courier travel time from the merchant pickup location to the delivery location and the predicted courier travel time from the initial location to the merchant pickup location.

19. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 14, wherein the instructions further program the one or more processors to:

receive, from a plurality of courier devices associated with a plurality of couriers, respective electronic communications indicating respective locations of the courier devices based at least in part on respective geographic locations of the courier devices determined through information from respective courier device GPS receivers, wherein the respective locations are received over time to enable tracking of movement of the courier devices;

receive, over a network, map information that provides the predicted courier travel time from a merchant pickup location to the delivery location for the order;

for a plurality of past orders, compare respective received predicted travel times received over the network with actual travel times determined from location information received from the courier devices to determine a difference between the received predicted travel times and the actual travel times; and

adjusting the predicted travel time received over the network for the order based on the difference.

20. A system enabling effort-related determination of courier payment, the system comprising one or more processors programmed to:

receive, from a buyer device, an order for delivery of an item from a merchant and an indication of a delivery location;

determine a predicted courier travel time from a merchant pickup location to the delivery location;

determine a first payment amount based at least in part on the predicted courier travel time and a first payment rate;

determine a predicted courier other time associated with the order, wherein the predicted courier other time is based at least in part on a predicted wait time associated with the merchant;

determine a second payment amount based at least in part on the predicted courier other time and a second payment rate, different from the first payment rate; and

send, to a courier device, information about the order including a courier payment amount, wherein the courier payment amount is based on the first payment amount and the second payment amount.

21. The system as recited in claim 20, wherein the one or more processors are further programed to:

determine, from a plurality of past orders, a first normalized distribution for a first time component of courier time associated with the plurality of past orders, and a second normalized distribution for a second time component of courier time associated with the plurality of past orders, wherein;

the first time component corresponds to travel time of individual couriers to respective pickup locations and from the respective pickup locations to respective delivery locations for each order; and

the second time component corresponds to other time of the courier time attributed to each order, other than the travel time, wherein the other time includes respective wait times of the couriers at the respective merchant pickup locations, and respective handoff times of the couriers at the respective delivery locations;

determine the first payment rate based at least in part on the first normalized distribution of courier travel times for the plurality of past orders; and

determine the second payment rate based at least in part on the second normalized distribution of courier other time for the plurality of past orders, wherein the first payment rate is larger than the second payment rate.

22. The system as recited in claim 20, wherein the one or more processors are further programmed to:

determine the predicted courier other time associated with the order based in part on the predicted wait time associated with the merchant, and further based in part on a predicted handoff time associated with the delivery location.

23. The system as recited in claim 22, wherein the one or more processors are further programmed to:

receive, from a plurality of courier devices associated with a plurality of couriers, respective electronic communications indicating respective indicated locations of the courier devices based at least in part on respective geographic locations of the courier devices determined through information from respective courier device GPS receivers;

determine, based at least in part on the respective indicated locations of the courier devices received from the courier devices in association with a plurality of past orders, respective wait times of the couriers at a plurality of merchant pickup locations, and respective handoff times of the couriers at a plurality of delivery locations; and

determine, for the order, the predicted wait time and the predicted hand off time based at least in part on the wait times and handoff times, respectively, determined for the plurality of past orders.