Interactive Mobile Pick-Up Unit Notification

• US 20170262802A1
• Filed: 03/09/2016
• Published: 09/14/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/09/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Swanson, Katie, Newsom, Nathan Kyle
• Granted Patent: US 10,824,985 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0833 Tracking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0836 Recipient pick-ups
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0639 Item locations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

Techniques for providing details associated with an item for acquisition from a pick-up unit are described herein. In particular implementations, a service provider may determine whether a mobile device is within a predetermined distance from the pick-up unit. In some implementations, a companion application may allow a user of the mobile device to cause a sensory function at the pick-up unit when the mobile device is within the predetermined distance. For instance, the user may use the companion application to cause the pick-up unit to produce light, sounds, smoke, bubbles, among other operations.

Claims

1. One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media storing computer-readable instructions that, when executed, instruct one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

receiving, from a mobile device of a user, an indication of a purchase of an item;

providing an instruction to the mobile device to present an interface, the interface including an icon representing a location of a pick-up unit at which the item is to be picked up;

detecting a location of the mobile device;

determining that the location of the mobile device is within a threshold distance to the location of the pick-up unit;

providing an instruction to the mobile device to alter an appearance of the icon representing the location of the pick-up unit on the interface based at least in part on determining that the location of the mobile device is within the threshold distance to the location of the pick-up unit;

receiving, from the mobile device and while the mobile device is within the threshold distance to the location of the pick-up unit, an indication of a selection of an interaction control of the interface usable to cause sensory feedback at the pick-up unit; and

responsive to receiving the indication of the selection of the interaction control, sending an instruction to the pick-up unit to cause the pick-up unit to provide the sensory feedback.

2. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media as recited in claim 1, wherein the sending the instruction to the pick-up unit comprises sending an instruction to at least one of:

cause a lighting element of the pick-up unit to emit light;

cause a speaker of the pick-up unit to emit sound;

cause a first machine of the pick-up unit to emit smoke;

cause a second machine of the pick-up unit to emit bubbles;

cause a third machine of the pick-up unit to emit scent;

or

cause a fourth machine of the pick-up unit to produce motion.

3. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media as recited in claim 1, wherein the threshold distance is about 30 yards.

4. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media as recited in claim 1, wherein receiving the indication of the purchase of the item comprises receiving an indication of a selection of the location of the pick-up unit at which the item is to be picked up, from among multiple available locations of the pick-up unit.

5. A method comprising:

under control of one or more computing systems configured with specific executable instructions,

determining that a mobile device is within a geographic perimeter of a pick-up unit;

causing presentation of a first interface, the first interface including an icon representing a location of the pick-up unit based on determining that the mobile device is within the geographic perimeter;

receiving an indication of a selection of the icon on the first interface;

causing presentation of a second interface based at least in part on the selection of the icon, the second interface including an interactive control usable to actuate a sensory feature at the pick-up unit;

receiving an indication of a selection of the interactive control on the second interface; and

causing output by the sensory feature at the pick-up unit based at least in part on the selection of the interactive control.

6. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein the causing the output by the sensory feature at the pick-up device comprises:

transmitting a signal to the pick-up unit to cause the output by the sensory feature associated with the pick-up unit based at least in part the selection of the interactive control.

7. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein the pick-up unit comprises a mobile pick-up unit that is movable between multiple predetermined locations, and the sensory feature comprises at least one of an auxiliary light, an auxiliary speaker, a smoke machine, a bubble machine, or a motion machine.

8. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein the geographic perimeter is a radius around the pick-up unit, the pick-up unit having predetermined global positioning system (GPS) coordinates.

9. The method as recited in claim 8, wherein the radius around the pick-up unit is at least about 15 yards and at most about 50 yards.

10. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein determining that a mobile device is within the perimeter further comprises:

determining global positioning system (GPS) coordinates of the mobile device; and

determining that the GPS coordinates of the mobile device are within a predetermined distance of GPS coordinates of the location of the pick-up unit.

11. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein the pick-up unit includes at least one item for acquisition and the sensory feature is specific to the item.

12. A system comprising:

one or more processors;

one or more computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform acts comprising;

providing an instruction to a mobile device to present an interface, the interface including;

information associated with an item for acquisition; and

multiple locations at which a mobile pick-up unit will be present at specified time periods;

receiving an indication of a selected location, from among the multiple locations, the selected location corresponding to a specific time period;

receiving an indication that the mobile pick-up unit is at the selected location during the specific time period; and

instructing the mobile device to present an icon representing the location of the mobile pick-up unit on the interface.

13. The system as recited in claim 12, the acts further comprising:

determining a distance between the mobile device and the mobile pick-up unit; and

causing presentation of the icon representing the location of the mobile pick-up unit based at least in part on the distance between the mobile device and the mobile pick-up unit.

14. The system as recited in claim 13, wherein determining the distance between the mobile device and the mobile pick-up unit comprises determining that the mobile device is within a predetermined distance of the mobile pick-up unit and the acts further comprise:

providing an instruction to the mobile device to present a second interface, the second interface including an interactive control;

receiving an indication of a selection of the interactive control on the mobile device; and

sending instruction to the mobile pick-up unit to implement at least one function of the mobile pick-up unit based at least in part on the selection of the interactive control.

15. The system as recited in claim 14, wherein the at least one function of the mobile pick-up unit is based on the distance between the mobile device and the mobile pick-up unit.

16. The system as recited in claim 14, wherein the predetermined distance is about at least about 15 yards and at most about 50 yards.

17. The system as recited in claim 14, wherein the mobile pick-up unit comprises a truck, and the at least one function includes emitting light, producing sound, emitting smoke, emitting bubbles, or causing motion.

18. The system as recited in claim 12, the acts further comprising determining a distance between the mobile device and the mobile pick-up unit, wherein the determining comprises:

accessing a first location of the mobile pick-up unit;

determining a perimeter around the first location of the mobile pick-up unit;

analyzing location information of the mobile device;

determining a second location of the mobile device based at least in part on the second location information;

determining that the second location of the mobile device is outside the perimeter around the mobile pick-up unit; and

causing presentation of an icon representing the location of the mobile pick-up unit based on the determining that the second location of the mobile device is outside the perimeter around the mobile pick-up unit.

19. The system as recited in claim 18, wherein the determining further comprises:

analyzing third location information of the mobile device;

determining a third location of the mobile device based at least in part on the third location information;

determining that the third location of the mobile device is within the perimeter around the mobile pick-up unit; and

causing alteration of the icon representing the location of the mobile pick-up unit based on determining that the third location of the mobile device is within the perimeter around the mobile pick-up unit.

20. The system as recited in claim 12, wherein the interface includes a map of a geographical area showing each of the multiple locations at which the mobile pick-up unit will be present.