Goods delivery system and operating method thereof

• US 20020019783A1
• Filed: 08/10/2001
• Published: 02/14/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 08/12/2000
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: ChoI, Yong Seon
• Application Number:
  US09/925,407
• Publication Number:
  US 20020019783A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/26
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces

Abstract

A goods delivery system and an operating method thereof, which can conveniently perform receipt or return of goods purchased in an online shopping mall through a network such as an Internet, are disclosed. The present invention performs delivery of the goods or temporary custody of the returned goods in a completely unmanned state, and allows only a right recipient to receive the goods.

Claims

1. A goods delivery system comprising:

a server network having an acceptance part for receiving a request of purchase or return of goods from a customer on online, a settlement part for performing the settlement of the purchased goods on online, and a data sending/receiving part for sending or receiving a statement of goods delivery or goods return;

a plurality of kiosks, each kiosk having a data sending/receiving part connected to the server network for receiving information of the statement of the goods delivery generated from the server network and for sending information of the statement of the goods return, and a plurality of goods custody parts for temporarily keeping the delivered or returned goods, a receipt authority confirming part for confirming whether or not a goods recipient has the authority to receive the goods, and a controlling part for generally controlling the components of the kiosk; and

a database linked with the server network, the database storing information of a statement received through the acceptance part, information of a statement of goods settlement, information of the current condition of the kiosks, information of each customer, information of goods delivery and information goods return.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the kiosk includes settlement processing means connected to various financial institutions in online for allowing the customer to directly settle accounts of the goods.

3. The system according to claim 1, wherein the kiosk further includes a sensing part for confirming whether or not the specific goods are kept in the goods custody part in custody.

4. The system according to claim 3, wherein the sensing part is an object sensing sensor for sensing whether or not the goods is put in the goods custody part or a weight sensing sensor.

5. The system according to claim 1, wherein the kiosk further includes a temperature measuring sensor for continuously sensing the inside temperature of the goods custody part, and temperature controlling means operated for changing the inside temperature of the goods custody part measured by the temperature measuring sensor and the custody temperature of the inside of the goods custody part based on the kind of the goods kept in the goods custody part.

6. The system according to claim 1, the kiosk further includes a notifying part for notifying information of the goods custody to the corresponding customer'"'"'s terminal or the server network if it is confirmed that the goods are put in the goods custody part.

7. A method for operating a goods delivery system, the method comprising the steps of:

making a server network demand a customer to input various information required for goods selling and goods delivery when the customer requests purchase of various goods through an acceptance part of the server network;

forming database the input information when the information is input, storing data into an database and transferring a statement of goods delivery of the corresponding goods to a kiosk installed at a place designated by the customer;

continuously confirming whether or not the goods to be put in the kiosk are delivered based on the statement of goods delivery receiving from the server network;

notifying information of delivery confirmation from the kiosk to the server network when the goods are delivered; and

notifying the delivery of the corresponding goods to a goods recipient by the kiosk or the server network.

8. The method according to claim 7, further comprising a step of requesting to select one of various confirming methods for determining the recipient'"'"'s authority for receiving the goods in the goods purchase accepting step of the server network for allowing the right recipient to receive the goods.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the method for confirming the recipient'"'"'s authority for goods receipt is at least one of confirming methods through input an ID, a resident registration number or a secret number, which only the corresponding recipient can recognize.

10. The method according to claim 7, wherein the step of accepting the customer'"'"'s goods purchase request includes the steps of:

generating a secret number to be input in a receipt authority confirming part of the kiosk when the recipient receives the goods;

obtaining the recipient'"'"'s terminal information from various purchase information received from the customer; and

transferring the generated secret number to the kiosk and the recipient'"'"' terminal.

11. The method according to claim 7, wherein if the kiosk receives a statement of goods delivery from the server network, the kiosk is operated by the steps of:

searching extra goods custody parts capable of keeping the goods in custody and extracting the ID number;

generating a secret number to be input into the receipt authority confirming part for receiving the goods kept in the searched goods custody part; and

transferring the extracted ID number of the goods custody part and the generated secret number to the recipient or the customer'"'"'s terminal.

12. The method according to 7, wherein if the kiosk receives the statement of goods delivery of from the server network, the kiosk is operated by the steps of:

confirming kind of the corresponding goods;

confirming a range of proper custody temperature of the goods if the goods are foodstuffs; and

operating temperature controlling means for keeping the goods in custody within the range of proper custody temperature.

13. The method according to 7, wherein in the step of continuously confirming whether or not the goods are delivered, a sending part provided in the goods custody part continuously senses a changed state of the inside of the goods custody part, and a controlling part analyzes signal transferred from the sensing part and determines whether or not the goods are delivered into the goods custody part.

14. The method according to 7, wherein if the customer requests return of the goods through the kiosk installed at the place designated by the customer, the kiosk is operated by the steps of:

requesting to input at least one of customer information, goods receiving date and goods name;

confirming the server network, which has sold the corresponding goods, based on the input information; and

transferring information of a statement of goods return and information of the place, where the corresponding kiosk is installed, to the confirmed server network.

15. The method according to claim 7, further comprising the steps of:

requesting the customer to select a place to which the goods are returned if the customer requests the return of the goods through the acceptance part of the server network;

transferring a statement of return of the corresponding goods to the kiosk installed at the place for the return of the goods if the place for the return of the goods is selected;

continuously confirming by the kiosk whether or not the corresponding goods are returned, based on the statement of return received from the server network; and

notifying the fact that the corresponding goods are returned, from the kiosk to the server network if the corresponding goods are returned.

16. The method according to 15, wherein the step of confirming the server network, which has sold the corresponding goods, based on information input by the customer includes the steps of:

temporarily storing information of the statement of delivery of the goods transferred from the server network and recipient information input by the recipient during an available return period of time when the recipient receives the goods;

comparing the temporarily stored information to various information input by the customer if there is a request of goods return from the customer within the available return period of time; and

confirming the server network, which has sold the corresponding goods.

17. The method according to 7, further comprising the steps of:

setting a prescribed goods receiving period of time based on an expected goods receiving time input by the customer at the time of initial goods selling; and

if the goods are kept in the kiosk in custody and the recipient does not take the corresponding goods within the set receiving period of time, notifying it to the corresponding server network by the kiosk to perform the return of the goods.