Electronic shipping notifications
First Claim
1. A method of providing notification of impending delivery of a shipment shipped by a shipper to a shipping address specified by a customer, the method comprising:
- periodically querying, by a computer system, a shipper system to obtain status information for the shipment with each query;
responsive to status information obtained with a periodic query indicating an estimated delivery date for the shipment, halting, by the computer system, the periodic queries and scheduling a restart time for periodic queries of the shipper system responsive to the estimated delivery date;
restarting, by the computer system, the periodic queries of the shipper system at the scheduled restart time to obtain updated status information with each restarted periodic query;
calculating, by the computer system, an estimated delivery time for the shipment based at least in part on updated status information obtained with a restated periodic query; and
transmitting, by the computer system, the estimated delivery time to a customer device.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A broker facilitates customer purchases from merchants. Shippers ship shipments containing the purchases from merchants to the customers. A shipper identifies a shipment using a shipment identifier. The broker uses the shipment identifier to obtain the status information for the shipment from the shipper. The broker analyzes the status information in combination with other information to calculate an estimate of the time that the shipment will arrive at the customer'"'"'s address. The broker sends an electronic message, such as an email or text message, to the customer prior to the estimated shipment arrival time to inform the customer of the impending arrival. The customer can thus arrange for someone to be at the shipping address to receive the shipment at the estimated arrival time.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method of providing notification of impending delivery of a shipment shipped by a shipper to a shipping address specified by a customer, the method comprising:
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periodically querying, by a computer system, a shipper system to obtain status information for the shipment with each query; responsive to status information obtained with a periodic query indicating an estimated delivery date for the shipment, halting, by the computer system, the periodic queries and scheduling a restart time for periodic queries of the shipper system responsive to the estimated delivery date; restarting, by the computer system, the periodic queries of the shipper system at the scheduled restart time to obtain updated status information with each restarted periodic query; calculating, by the computer system, an estimated delivery time for the shipment based at least in part on updated status information obtained with a restated periodic query; and transmitting, by the computer system, the estimated delivery time to a customer device. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method of providing notification of impending delivery of a shipment by a delivery service to a shipping address specified by a customer, the method comprising:
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periodically querying, by a computer system, a delivery service system to obtain status information for the shipment with each query; responsive to status information obtained with a periodic query including estimated delivery information, halting, by the computer system, the periodic queries and scheduling a restart time for periodic queries of the delivery service system based on the estimated delivery information; restarting, by the computer system, the periodic queries of the delivery service system at the scheduled restart time to obtain updated status information with each restarted periodic query; calculating, by the computer system, an estimated delivery time for the shipment based at least in part on updated status information obtained with a restated periodic query; and transmitting, by the computer system, the estimated delivery time to a customer device. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A system for providing notification of impending delivery of a shipment shipped by a delivery service to a shipping address specified by a customer, the system comprising:
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a computer processor; and a computer-readable storage medium storing computer program modules configured to execute on the computer processor, the computer program modules comprising; a shipper interface module configured to; periodically query a delivery service system to obtain status information for the shipment with each query; halt the periodic queries and schedule a restart time for periodic queries of the delivery service system based on status information obtained with a periodic query, responsive to the status information obtained with the periodic query including predetermined information; restart the periodic queries of the delivery service system at the scheduled restart time to obtain updated status information with each restarted periodic query; and calculate an estimated delivery time for the shipment based at least in part on updated status information obtained with a restarted periodic query; and an arrival notification module configured to transmit the estimated delivery time to a customer device. - View Dependent Claims (20)
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Specification