ACTIVELY MANAGED FOOD DELIVERY

• US 20160292634A1
• Filed: 03/30/2016
• Published: 10/06/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Zest Labs, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Intelleflex Corporation
• Inventors: Mehring, Peter A., Reese, Thomas C., Kawaguchi, Dean M., Dekate, Sameer, Shikami, Russell
• Granted Patent: US 10,445,684 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06311 Scheduling, planning or task assignment for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06398 Performance of employee with respect to a job function
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0832 Special goods or special handling procedures, e.g. handling of hazardous or fragile goods
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0838 Historical data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/12 Hotels or restaurants

Abstract

A method for managing a product delivery process, according to one embodiment, includes: receiving status information from one or more product containers, wherein the status information includes conditions of each of the one or more product containers; determining preferred ranges for the conditions of each of the one or more product containers based on a product stored in each of the one or more product containers; determining whether the received conditions from the one or more product containers are within the preferred ranges; and sending a command in response to determining that at least one of the received conditions is outside the determined preferred range.

Claims

1. A method for managing a product delivery process, comprising:

receiving status information from one or more product containers, wherein the status information includes conditions of each of the one or more product containers;

determining preferred ranges for the conditions of each of the one or more product containers based on a product stored in each of the one or more product containers;

determining whether the received conditions from the one or more product containers are within the preferred ranges; and

sending a command in response to determining that at least one of the received conditions is outside the determined preferred range.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the conditions of the product container include at least one of:

an ambient temperature in the product container, a relative humidity in the product container, whether the product container is open or closed, and a power status associated with the product container.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the status information is received from a plurality of product containers.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the product is a food product.

5. The method as recited in claim 4, comprising:

receiving food product history corresponding to the food products stored in the one or more product containers;

using the food product history to determine a prioritized delivery scheme of the one or more product containers; and

sending the prioritized delivery scheme to an individual transporting the one or more product containers, and/or to a dispatcher.

6. The method as recited in claim 5, comprising:

evaluating the food product history corresponding to the food products and/or the conditions of each of the one or more product containers;

determining whether any of the food products are unsafe and/or undesirable; and

sending a command to not deliver certain food products in response to determining that they are unsafe and/or undesirable.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the sent command is for instructing an individual transporting the one or more product containers to perform a corrective action.

8. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the sent command is for adjusting settings of an environmental control unit coupled to the one or more product containers.

9. A computer program product, comprising:

executable computer code embodied on a computer readable storage medium, the computer code including;

computer code for receiving status information from one or more product containers, wherein the status information includes conditions of each of the one or more product containers;

computer code for determining preferred ranges for the conditions of each of the one or more product containers based on a product stored in each of the one or more product containers;

computer code for determining whether the received conditions from the one or more product containers are within the preferred ranges; and

computer code for sending a command in response to determining that at least one of the received conditions is outside the determined preferred range.

10. The computer program product as recited in claim 9, wherein the conditions of the product container include at least one of:

an ambient temperature in the product container, a relative humidity in the product container, whether the product container is open or closed, and a power status associated with the product container.

11. The computer program product as recited in claim 9, wherein the status information is received from a plurality of product containers.

12. The computer program product as recited in claim 9, wherein the product is a food product.

13. The computer program product as recited in claim 12, comprising:

computer code for receiving food product history corresponding to the food products stored in the one or more product containers;

computer code for using the food product history to determine a prioritized delivery scheme of the one or more product containers; and

computer code for sending the prioritized delivery scheme to an individual transporting the one or more product containers.

14. The computer program product as recited in claim 13, comprising:

computer code for evaluating the food product history corresponding to the food products and/or the conditions of each of the one or more product containers;

computer code for determining whether any of the food products are unsafe and/or undesirable; and

computer code for sending a command to not deliver certain food products in response to determining that they are unsafe.

15. The computer program product as recited in claim 9, wherein the sent command is for instructing an individual transporting the one or more product containers to perform a corrective action.

16. The computer program product as recited in claim 9, wherein the sent command is for adjusting settings of an environmental control unit coupled to the one or more product containers.

17. A system, comprising:

a processor and logic integrated with and/or executable by the processor, the logic being configured to;

receive, by the processor, status information from one or more product containers, wherein the status information includes conditions of each of the one or more product containers;

determine, by the processor, preferred ranges for the conditions of each of the one or more product containers based on food product stored in each of the one or more product containers;

determine, by the processor, whether the received conditions from the one or more product containers are within the preferred ranges;

send, by the processor, a command in response to determining that at least one of the received conditions is outside the determined preferred range;

receive, by the processor, food product history corresponding to the food products stored in the one or more product containers;

use, by the processor, the food product history to determine a prioritized delivery scheme of the one or more product containers;

send, by the processor, the prioritized delivery scheme to an individual transporting the one or more product containers;

evaluate, by the processor, the food product history corresponding to the food products and/or the conditions of each of the one or more product containers;

determine, by the processor, whether any of the food products are unsafe and/or undesirable; and

send, by the processor, a command to not deliver certain food products in response to determining that they are unsafe and/or undesirable.

18. The system as recited in claim 17, wherein the conditions of the product container include at least one of:

an ambient temperature in the product container, a relative humidity in the product container, whether the product container is open or closed, and a power status associated with the product container, wherein the status information is received from a plurality of product containers.

19. The system as recited in claim 17, wherein the sent command is for instructing an individual transporting the one or more product containers to perform a corrective action.

20. The system as recited in claim 17, wherein the sent command is for adjusting settings of an environmental control unit coupled to the one or more product containers.