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System, method, and non-transitory computer-readable storage media for allowing a customer to place orders remotely and for the order assembler to communicate directly with the customer

  • US 10,445,816 B2
  • Filed: 11/20/2014
  • Issued: 10/15/2019
  • Est. Priority Date: 11/20/2014
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A system comprising:

  • an order fulfillment system associated with a facility, the order fulfillment system being configured to receive a customer order placed by a customer through a customer device and to display the customer order to an assembler device when an assembler is assembling the customer order for the customer, the customer order including at least one good, and the order fulfillment system comprises a first server and a second server, wherein the first server stores motor vehicle license plate numbers associated with the customer and prompts the customer to select a motor vehicle license plate number of motor vehicle license plates stored in the first server prior to a pick-up time of the customer order at the facility;

    an optical sensor;

    an optical character recognition system;

    the assembler device being configured to communicate with the first server of the order fulfillment system when one good of the at least one good of the customer order is not available at the facility, the assembler device being configured to perform;

    displaying a list of the at least one good in the customer order, andreceiving a list of substitute goods for the one good; and

    a database configured to store information related to customer orders;

    wherein;

    the first server is coupled to the database and the order fulfillment system; and

    the first server is configured to;

    receive the customer order from the customer through the customer device coupled to the first server;

    store the customer order in the database, the customer orders comprising the customer order;

    send the list of substitute goods to the customer using a method of communication requested by the customer, wherein the list of substitute goods comprises associated images of each good on the list of substitute goods;

    wait a predetermined time to receive from the customer a first selection of a first substitute good from the list of substitute goods, wherein;

    the first server is configured to receive and does receive a response from the customer regarding the list of substitute goods sent to the customer, wherein the response from the customer either (a) selects the first-substitute good from the list of substitute goods to replace the one good that is not available at the facility or (b) deletes the one good of the at least one good that is not available at the facility from the customer order; and

    after receiving the response from the customer, (a) when the customer selected the first substitute good to replace the one good that is not available at the facility, then the first server revises the customer order to include the first substitute good and delete the one good of the at least one good that is not available at the facility from the customer order, or (b) when the customer deleted the one good, then the first server revises the customer order to delete the one good of the at least one good from the customer order; and

    when the first server does not receive the response from the customer within the predetermined time, receive from the assembler device a selection of a second substitute good from the list of substitute goods to replace the one good that is not available at the facility to revise the customer order to include the second substitute good, wherein the assembler selects the second substitute good to replace the one good that is not available at the facility based on at least the pick-up time requested by the customer;

    the second server is configured to determine, by communicating to (a) the first server and (b) the assembler device, the pick-up time at the facility, wherein the first server receives the motor vehicle license plate number of a vehicle confirmed by the customer to be used to pick up the customer order during the pick-up time, and wherein the first server provides the customer order and the motor vehicle license plate number of the vehicle confirmed by the customer to the second server, wherein the second server provides the customer order, as revised, to be assembled to the assembler device;

    the optical sensor captures images of the motor vehicle license plate upon arrival at the facility and communicates with the (a) second server and (b) the optical character recognition system;

    the optical character recognition system matches the images captured by the optical sensor with the motor vehicle license plate number for a positive identification of the vehicle; and

    the second server communicates with the assembler device to deliver an assembled order, based on the customer order, as revised, to the customer associated with the motor vehicle license plate number, as positively identified.

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