PACKAGE SHIPPING METHOD
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A package delivery method, comprising:
- responsive to receiving a request to ship a package, the request including recipient information indicative of a recipient of the package, associating a hierarchical address with the recipient, the hierarchical address including a plurality of region segments, wherein region segments correspond to geographical regions and wherein a geographical region associated with one of two adjacent region segments is contained within a geographical region associated with the other of the two adjacent region segments;
generating a routing plan based on a comparison between a hierarchical address of an origin of the package with the destination hierarchical address, wherein the routing plan includes at least one routing segment for each pair of adjacent region segments in the hierarchical address; and
storing the routing plan in computer readable storage.
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Abstract
A package delivery method and enterprise include receiving a shipping request including recipient information indicative of an intended recipient of the package, associating a dynamic address with the recipient, and generating an initial routing plan based on the dynamic address. The initial routing plan may including a plurality of routing segments derived from hierarchical addressing. In response to a change of either (a) a physical address associated with the dynamic address and (b) an availability of at least one of the plurality of routing segments, at least one of the plurality of routing segments may be modified.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A package delivery method, comprising:
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responsive to receiving a request to ship a package, the request including recipient information indicative of a recipient of the package, associating a hierarchical address with the recipient, the hierarchical address including a plurality of region segments, wherein region segments correspond to geographical regions and wherein a geographical region associated with one of two adjacent region segments is contained within a geographical region associated with the other of the two adjacent region segments; generating a routing plan based on a comparison between a hierarchical address of an origin of the package with the destination hierarchical address, wherein the routing plan includes at least one routing segment for each pair of adjacent region segments in the hierarchical address; and storing the routing plan in computer readable storage. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method of delivering a package to a recipient, the method comprising:
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receiving a shipping request including recipient information indicative of an intended recipient of the package; associating a dynamic address with the recipient; generating an initial routing plan based on the dynamic address, the initial routing plan including a plurality of routing segments; and responsive to a change in at least one of (a) a physical address associated with the dynamic address and (b) an availability of at least one of the plurality of routing segments, modifying at least one of the plurality of routing segments. - View Dependent Claims (11)
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12. A dynamic route generator suitable for use in a package delivery enterprise, the dynamic route generator comprising:
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a processor; and computer readable storage, accessible to the processor, including processor executable instructions for; associating a dynamic destination with a proxy for an indicated recipient of a package; determining a last reported physical location (LRPL) for the proxy; initially designating the proxy LRPL as the dynamic destination; based on a comparison of the dynamic destination and an origin location associated with the package, generating a routing plan including a plurality of routing segments; monitoring the proxy LRPL; responsive to detecting a change of the proxy LRPL prior to delivery of the package, determining whether to modify the routing plan; and after determining to modify the routing plan, modifying at least one of the routing segments and communicating said modifying to a carrier. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A computer readable storage medium comprising computer executable instructions for facilitating delivery of a package to an intended recipient, said instructions including instructions to:
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acquire a last reported physical location associated with a proxy for the intended recipient; generate an initial routing plan based on the last reported physical location and a physical location associated with an origin of the package; monitoring the physical location of the proxy; and responsive to detecting a change in the physical location before delivery of the package to the intended recipient is complete, determining whether to modify the routing plan. - View Dependent Claims (20)
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Specification