Concatenated shipping documentation processing spawning intelligent generation subprocesses

• US 10,521,754 B2
• Filed: 03/08/2016
• Issued: 12/31/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 03/08/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Auctane LLC (Stamps.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Auctane LLC (Stamps.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Wier, Byron J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Sheikh, Asfand M
• Application Number:
  US15/064,218
• Publication Number:
  US 20170262801A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,393 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/083 Shipping
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0835 Relationships between shipper or supplier and carriers
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0185 Product, service or business identity fraud
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting

Abstract

Systems and methods which provide shipping management system shipping documentation generation operation which spawns intelligent generation subprocesses are described. The intelligent generation subprocesses of embodiments facilitate autonomous shipping documentation generation functionality of a concatenated shipping documentation generation process. A user may initiate a shipping documentation generation process, whereby an intelligent generation subprocess is spawned, and thereafter the user may be freed to perform one or more independent operation and/or interaction with the shipping management system. One or more verifications, checks, warnings, and/or the like are suspended and one or more parameter, input, selection, and/or the like are defaulted for operation of an intelligent generation subprocess of embodiments. Embodiments implement a documentation queue to provide historical information with respect to intelligent generation subprocess operation.

Claims

1. A method for generating shipping documentation, the method comprising:

receiving user selection of an intelligent generation shipping processing mode of a shipping management system;

suspending notification of one or more shipping management system advices for generation of the shipping documentation in the intelligent generation shipping processing mode;

defaulting one or more configuration factors for generation of the shipping documentation in the intelligent generation shipping processing mode;

receiving user selection of one or more orders for shipping documentation processing using the intelligent generation shipping processing mode of the shipping management system;

populating a documentation queue of the shipping management system with an instance representing an intelligent generation subprocess adapted to autonomously generate the shipping documentation for the one or more orders; and

spawning the intelligent generation subprocess to autonomously generate the shipping documentation for the one or more orders using the defaulted one or more configuration factors, wherein operation of the intelligent generation subprocess comprises;

determining if a critical issue is present with respect to a suspended advice of the one or more shipping management system advices or a configuration factor for the shipping documentation;

if a critical issue is present, updating the documentation queue intelligent generation subprocess instance to show a failure state for the intelligent generation subprocess and initiating failure state mitigation processing configured to autonomously resolve the critical issue;

if a critical issue is not present or was autonomously resolved by the failure state mitigation processing, interacting with shipping documentation generation functionality to generate the shipping documentation for the one or more orders and updating the documentation queue intelligent generation subprocess instance to show a state for at least one documentation generation milestone; and

failing generation of the shipping documentation when a critical issue is present and could not be autonomously resolved by the failure state mitigation processing.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the suspended one or more shipping management system advices comprise a shipping management system advice selected from the group consisting of a verification and a warning.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the suspended one or more shipping management system advices comprise a shipping management system shipping rate verification.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the suspended one or more shipping management system advices comprise a shipping management system shipping documentation print preview verification.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the suspended one or more shipping management system advices comprises a shipping management system warning that shipping documentation for a selected order has previously been generated.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the suspended one or more shipping management system advices comprises a shipping management system warning that data for the shipping documentation generation is not available.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein the suspended one or more shipping management system advices comprises a shipping management system warning that a prepaid balance for shipping documentation generation is below a threshold value.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the defaulted one or more configuration factors comprise a configuration factor selected from the group consisting of a shipping documentation parameter and a user selection.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the defaulted one or more configuration factors comprises at least one of a shipping documentation format parameter or a shipping date.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the defaulted one or more configuration factors comprises at least one of a printer selection to be used with respect to the shipping documentation, a peripheral device to be used with respect to the shipping documentation, or a shipping account for payment for shipping services associated with the shipping documentation.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying the instance of the intelligent generation subprocess in a documentation queue user interface of the shipping management system.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

performing shipping management functions of the shipping management system other than generation of the shipping documentation while the intelligent generation subprocess is operating to autonomously generate the shipping documentation for the one or more orders, wherein the documentation queue user interface for the documentation queue remains displayed in a user interface of the shipping management system throughout a user performing the shipping management functions other than generation of the shipping documentation.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

selecting the instance of the intelligent generation subprocess displayed in the documentation queue user interface for further shipping management system processing.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein a critical issue is not present and the documentation queue intelligent generation subprocess instance shows a successful shipping documentation generation state for the intelligent generation subprocess, and wherein the further shipping management system processing comprises:

viewing the generated shipping documentation.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein a critical issue is not present and the documentation queue intelligent generation subprocess instance shows a successful shipping documentation generation state for the intelligent generation subprocess, and wherein the further shipping management system processing comprises:

printing the generated shipping documentation.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein a critical issue is not present and the documentation queue intelligent generation subprocess instance shows a successful shipping documentation generation state for the intelligent generation subprocess, and wherein the further shipping management system processing comprises:

archiving the instance of the intelligent generation subprocess.

17. A system for generating shipping documentation, the system comprising:

one or more processors providing shipping management system logic configured to perform a plurality of shipping management functions with respect to a plurality of orders, the shipping management system logic including an intelligent generation shipping processing mode of operation that when implemented suspends notification of one or more shipping management system advices for generation of the shipping documentation in the intelligent generation shipping processing mode of operation, default one or more configuration factors for generation of the shipping documentation in the intelligent generation shipping processing mode of operation, spawn an intelligent generation subprocess to autonomously generate the shipping documentation for one or more selected orders of the plurality of orders using the defaulted one or more configuration factors, and initiate a failure state mitigation process to autonomously resolve a detected critical issue; and

a documentation queue of the system configured to store an instance representing the intelligent generation subprocess while autonomously generating the shipping documentation for the one or more selected orders, wherein if a critical issue that could not be autonomously resolved by the failure state mitigation process is present with respect to a suspended advice of the one or more shipping management system advices or a configuration factor for the shipping documentation is failed and the documentation queue intelligent generation subprocess instance is updated to show a failure state for the intelligent generation subprocess and if a critical issue is not present or was autonomously resolved by the failure state mitigation processing with respect to a suspended advice of the one or more shipping management system advices or a configuration factor for the shipping documentation generation functionality generates the shipping documentation for the one or more selected orders and the documentation queue intelligent generation subprocess instance is updated to show a state for at least one documentation generation milestone.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the suspended one or more shipping management system advices comprise a shipping management system advice selected from the group consisting of a verification and a warning.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein, the suspended one or more shipping management system advices comprise a shipping management system shipping rate verification.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the suspended one or more shipping management system advices comprise a shipping management system shipping documentation print preview verification.

21. The system of claim 18, wherein the suspended one or more shipping management system advices comprises a shipping management system warning that shipping documentation for a selected order has previously been generated.

22. The system of claim 18, wherein the suspended one or more shipping management system advices comprises a snipping management system warning that data for the shipping documentation generation is not available.

23. The system of claim 18, wherein the suspended one or more shipping management system advices comprises a shipping management system warning that a prepaid balance for shipping documentation generation is below a threshold value.

24. The system of claim 17, wherein the defaulted one or more configuration factors comprise a configuration factor selected from the group consisting of a shipping documentation parameter and a user selection.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the defaulted one or more configuration factors comprises at least one of a shipping documentation format parameter or a shipping date.

26. The system of claim 24, wherein the defaulted one or more configuration factors comprises at least one of a printer selection to be used with respect to the shipping documentation, a peripheral device to be used with respect to the shipping documentation, or a shipping account for payment for shipping services associated with the shipping documentation.

27. The system of claim 17, wherein the shipping management system logic is configured to display the instance of the intelligent generation subprocess in a documentation queue user interface of the shipping management system logic and allows a user to perform shipping management functions of the shipping management system logic other than generation of the shipping documentation while the intelligent generation subprocess is operating to autonomously generate the shipping documentation for the one or more selected orders of the plurality of orders.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein the documentation queue user interface for the documentation queue remains displayed in a user interface of the shipping management system logic throughout the user performing the shipping management functions other than generation of the shipping documentation.

29. The system of claim 27, wherein the documentation queue user interface is configured to allow a user to select the instance of the intelligent generation subprocess displayed in the documentation queue user interface for further shipping management system processing.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein a critical issue is not present and the documentation queue intelligent generation subprocess instance shows a successful shipping documentation generation state for the intelligent generation subprocess the further shipping management system processing includes displaying the generated shipping documentation.

31. The system of claim 29, wherein a critical issue is not present and the documentation queue intelligent generation subprocess instance shows a successful shipping documentation generation state for the intelligent generation subprocess the further shipping management system processing includes printing the generated shipping documentation.

32. The system of claim 29, wherein a critical issue is not present and the documentation queue intelligent generation subprocess instance shows a successful shipping documentation generation state for the intelligent generation subprocess the further shipping management system processing includes archiving the instance of the intelligent generation subprocess.

33. A method for generating shipping documentation, the method comprising:

receiving user selection of an intelligent generation shipping processing mode of a shipping management system;

suspending notification of one or more shipping management system advices for generation of the shipping documentation in the intelligent generation shipping processing mode;

defaulting one or more configuration factors for generation of the shipping documentation in the intelligent generation shipping processing mode;

receiving user selection of one or more orders for shipping documentation processing using the intelligent generation shipping processing mode of the shipping management system;

populating a documentation queue of the shipping management system with an instance representing an intelligent generation subprocess adapted to autonomously generate the shipping documentation for the one or more orders;

spawning the intelligent generation subprocess to autonomously generate the shipping documentation for the one or more orders using the defaulted one or more configuration factors, wherein operation of the intelligent generation subprocess comprises;

determining if a critical issue is present with respect to a suspended advice of the one or more shipping management system advices or a configuration factor for the shipping documentation;

if a critical issue is present, updating the documentation queue intelligent generation subprocess instance to show a failure state for the intelligent generation subprocess and initiating failure state mitigation processing configured to autonomously resolve the critical issue;

if a critical issue is not present or was autonomously resolved by the failure state mitigation processing, interacting with shipping documentation generation functionality to generate the shipping documentation for the one or more orders and updating the documentation queue intelligent generation subprocess instance to show a state for at least one documentation generation milestone; and

failing generation of the shipping documentation when a critical issue is present and could not be autonomously resolved by the failure state mitigation processing;

displaying the instance of the intelligent generation subprocess in a documentation queue user interface of the shipping management system;

performing shipping management functions of the shipping management system other than generation of the shipping documentation while the intelligent generation subprocess is operating to autonomously generate the shipping documentation for the one or more orders; and

selecting the instance of the intelligent generation subprocess displayed in the documentation queue user interface for further shipping management system processing.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein the documentation queue user interface for the documentation queue remains displayed in a user interface of the shipping management system throughout performing the shipping management functions other than generation of the shipping documentation.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein a critical issue is not present and the documentation queue intelligent generation subprocess instance shows a successful shipping documentation generation state for the intelligent generation subprocess, and wherein the further shipping management system processing comprises:

printing the generated shipping documentation.

36. The method of claim 34, wherein a critical issue is not present and the documentation queue intelligent generation subprocess instance shows a successful shipping documentation generation state for the intelligent generation subprocess, and wherein the further shipping management system processing comprises:

archiving the instance of the intelligent generation subprocess.