System for expediting delivery of items

• US 10,482,421 B1
• Filed: 12/18/2014
• Issued: 11/19/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ducrou, Jon Robert, Mastandrea, Mark Steven, Herrington, Douglas James, Jumaquio, Dennis Antonio, McClellan, Hannah Elizabeth, Rao, Sandeep, Wanjari, Harshal Dilip, Hegde, Prashant, Smart, Paul Warren
• Primary Examiner(s): Flynn, Kevin H
• Assistant Examiner(s): Walsh, Emmett K.
• Application Number:
  US14/575,012
• Time in Patent Office: 1,797 Days
• Field of Search: 705339
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0836 Recipient pick-ups
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/20 in augmented reality scenes
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/54 of traffic, e.g. cars on the road, trains or boats
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/625 License plates
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/172 Classification, e.g. identification
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/181 for receiving images from a plurality of remote sources

Abstract

A user may order items that may be made available at a facility such as a pickup facility. Described are techniques for preparing and expediting an order for pick up by the user. In one implementation, geolocation data acquired from a user device may be used to determine when the user has entered a geofence associated with the facility. Based on this geolocation data and sensor data from sensors at the facility, a system may automatically identify the user. Once identified, the items in the order may be delivered to the user in a parking area of the pickup facility, who may then depart the pickup facility.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

at least one communication interface;

memory storing computer-executable instructions;

at least one hardware processor in communication with the at least one communication interface and the memory, the at least one hardware processor configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to;

receive geolocation data, acquired by a first device, the geolocation data is indicative of presence of a vehicle at a geographic boundary, wherein the vehicle is associated with a user identifier;

determine an estimated time of arrival of the vehicle at a facility;

access a first set of vehicle identification data that associates particular user identifiers with particular vehicle identification data;

determine, based on the estimated time of arrival and a threshold period of time, a second set of vehicle identification data comprising a portion of the first set of vehicle identification data associated with user identifiers having estimated times of arrival that are within the threshold period of time of a particular time, wherein the second set of vehicle identification data is smaller than the first set of vehicle identification data;

based at least in part on the geolocation data, stage, at one or more staging locations, at least a portion of a first order associated with the user identifier, wherein the user identifier is associated with the vehicle for delivery;

receive at least a portion of the particular vehicle identification data acquired by a second device, wherein the at least a portion of the particular vehicle identification data is associated with one or more of an approach or entry of the vehicle to a parking area of the facility, and wherein the second device comprises one or more of;

a camera,

a radio frequency identification (RFID) reader, or

a weight sensor;

determine a correspondence between the at least a portion of the particular vehicle identification data and the second set of vehicle identification data;

based at least in part on the determined correspondence, determine the user identifier associated with the at least a portion of the particular vehicle identification data is present at the facility, wherein the user identifier is associated with the vehicle; and

dispatch the first order that comprises one or more items to the parking area.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the first set of vehicle identification data and the second set of vehicle identification data comprises one or more of:

a license plate number,

data transmitted by a communication device,

a radio frequency identification tag,

an optical tag,

a type of the vehicle,

a make of the vehicle,

a model of the vehicle, or

a color of the vehicle.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising computer-executable instructions to:

access pickup schedule data indicative of a time a user is scheduled to pickup the first order, wherein the computer-executable instructions to determine that the at least the portion of the particular vehicle identification data is present at the facility is further based at least in part on the pickup schedule data; and

store a persistent association between the user identifier and the particular vehicle identification data.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising computer-executable instructions to:

access persistent association data, wherein the persistent association data associates the user identifier with the particular vehicle identification data; and

wherein the computer-executable instructions to determine the correspondence between the at least a portion of the particular vehicle identification data and the second set of vehicle identification data are further based at least in part on a correspondence between the persistent association data and the at least a portion of the particular vehicle identification data.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the geolocation data comprises one or more of:

a time at which the first device associated with a user traversed the geographic boundary,

a geographic location of the first device associated with the user,

a destination geolocation in use by the first device,

a heading of the first device, or

a speed of the first device.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising computer-executable instructions to:

access historical data indicative of duration of prior pickups associated with the user identifier associated with the vehicle;

access available pickup timeslot data comprising one or more available pickup timeslots;

determine the one or more available pickup timeslots having a duration greater than or equal to the duration of prior pickups; and

provide information indicative of the one or more available pickup timeslots.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising computer-executable instructions to:

receive a second order associated with the user identifier associated with the vehicle, the second order comprises one or more additional items;

initiate a rush pickup of the one or more additional items; and

dispatch the second order to the parking area.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of sensors configured to generate sensor data;

and further comprising computer-executable instructions to;

access historical data associated with the user identifier, wherein the historical data is indicative of where in one or more of the parking area or another parking area of another facility that an order has been dispatched to on previous visits;

generate current parking area data using the sensor data, wherein the current parking area data is indicative of one or more of;

location of vehicles in the parking area,

movement of the vehicles in the parking area,

estimated load times associated with the vehicles in the parking area, or

weather conditions at the parking area; and

based at least in part on the historical data and the current parking area data, designate a predicted parking space.

9. The system of claim 1, further comprising computer-executable instructions to:

based on the user identifier associated with the vehicle, determine a prospective order comprising one or more items of potential interest;

stage, at the one or more staging locations, the prospective order;

dispatch the prospective order to the parking area;

receive actual delivery data that is indicative of a transfer of possession of one or more of the one or more items of potential interest; and

based on the actual delivery data, generate billing data for an account associated with the user identifier, wherein the user identifier is associated with the vehicle.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the geolocation data acquired by the first device further comprises the first device determining that the vehicle associated with the user identifier traversed the geographic boundary.

11. A method comprising:

determining an estimated time of arrival of a vehicle at a facility, wherein the vehicle is associated with a user identifier;

accessing a first set of user account data that associates particular user identifiers with particular user account data;

determining, based on the estimated time of arrival and a threshold period of time, a second set of user account data comprising at least a portion of the first set of user account data associated with one or more user identifiers that are expected to arrive at estimated times of arrival that are within the threshold period of time of a particular time, wherein the second set of user account data is smaller than the first set of user account data;

receiving at least a portion of the user identifier acquired by a second device, the at least the portion of the user identifier associated with a first device traversing a geographic boundary associated with one or more of an approach or entry of the vehicle to the facility, wherein the second device comprises one or more of;

a camera,

a radio frequency identification (RFID) reader, or

a weight sensor;

determining a correspondence between the at least a portion of the user identifier and the second set of user account data;

based at least in part on the determined correspondence, determining the user identifier associated with the particular user account data is present at the facility, wherein the user identifier is associated with the vehicle; and

sending a notification indicative of a first order for delivery to the vehicle.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

processing at least a portion of a plurality of images acquired at the facility to determine a parking space of the vehicle;

processing the at least a portion of the plurality of images to confirm the user identifier associated with the vehicle using facial recognition; and

wherein the sending the notification is responsive to a confirmation of the user identifier associated with the vehicle and includes information indicative of the parking space.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

directing one or more items in the first order to be staged in one or more staging locations; and

based at least in part on the estimated time of arrival, consolidating one or more items of the first order for delivery within the threshold period of time of the estimated time of arrival.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

determining user account data associated with the vehicle; and

storing a persistent association between the user identifier and the user account data, wherein the user identifier is associated with the vehicle.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

accessing persistent association data, wherein the persistent association data associates a particular user identifier with user account data; and

wherein the determining the correspondence between the at least a portion of the user identifier associated with the vehicle and the second set of user account data is further based at least in part on a correspondence between the persistent association data and the particular user account data.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

based on the user identifier associated with the vehicle, determining a prospective order comprising one or more items of potential interest;

staging, at one or more staging locations, the prospective order;

dispatching the prospective order; and

generating actual delivery data that is indicative of a transfer of possession of one or more of the one or more items of potential interest.

17. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

accessing historical data associated with the user identifier, wherein the historical data is indicative of where in one or more of a parking area or another parking area of another facility that an order has been dispatched to on previous visits;

accessing current parking area data, wherein the current parking area data is indicative of one or more of;

location of vehicles in the parking area,

movement of the vehicles in the parking area,

estimated load times associated with the vehicles in the parking area, or

weather conditions in the parking area;

based at least in part on the historical data and the current parking area data, designating a predicted parking space; and

dispatching one or more items associated with the first order to the predicted parking space.

18. A system comprising:

at least one communication interface;

memory storing computer-executable instructions;

at least one hardware processor in communication with the communication interface and the memory, the hardware processor configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to;

determine an estimated time of arrival of a vehicle at a facility, wherein the vehicle is associated with a user identifier;

access a first set of user account data that associates particular user identifiers with particular user account data;

determine, based on the estimated time of arrival and a threshold period of time, a second set of user account data comprising at least a portion of the first set of user account data associated with user identifiers that are expected to arrive at estimated times of arrival that are within the threshold period of time of a particular time, wherein the second set of user account data is smaller than the first set of user account data;

receive at least a portion of the user identifier acquired by a second device, the at least the portion of the user identifier associated with a first device traversing a geographic boundary associated with an approach or entry of the vehicle to the facility, wherein the second device comprises one or more of;

a camera,

a radio frequency identification (RFID) reader, or

a weight sensor;

determine a correspondence between the at least a portion of the user identifier and the second set of user account data;

determine, based on the determined correspondence, the user identifier associated with the vehicle is at a facility that is associated with user account data; and

send a notification that is associated with a first order for delivery.

19. The system of claim 18, further comprising computer-executable instructions to:

receive, from an attendant, validation data confirming a persistent association between the user identifier and stored identification data associated with a user;

acquire an image of a face of a user; and

associate the image of the face of the user with the user identifier.

20. The system of claim 18, further comprising computer-executable instructions to:

provide, to an attendant, staging location data indicative of one or more staging locations at which the first order is staged; and

provide, to the attendant, one or more of;

an image of the vehicle associated with a user as acquired by at least one of a plurality of cameras,

a visual representation of the vehicle to the attendant, or

an image of a face of a user.