System and method for order processing state management

• US 8,473,316 B1
• Filed: 06/04/2010
• Issued: 06/25/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/04/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Weight, Christopher F., Panzitta, Michael J., Xiang, Xin, Swensen, Gregory R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Dunham, Jason
• Assistant Examiner(s): Puri, Venay
• Application Number:
  US12/794,532
• Time in Patent Office: 1,117 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 705/7
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/083 Shipping
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0234 Rebates after completed purchase
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]

Abstract

Various embodiments of a system and method for order processing state management are described. Embodiments may include an order handling system that includes multiple processing components for performing a respective portion of an order fulfillment process for purchase orders. The order handling system may also include a data store for storing state information of the purchase orders. To process a given purchase order, the order handling system may utilize each processing component to complete a respective portion of the order fulfillment process for that purchase order. The order handling system may also utilize each component to, based on the respective task performed, update state information corresponding to the aforesaid purchase order in the data store. The order handling system may, subsequent to an interruption of the processing of the purchase order, resume the processing of the purchase order based on the updated state information.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

one or more computers, the one or more computers comprising one or more memories and one or more processors, wherein the one or more memories comprise program instructions executable by the one or more computers to implement an order handling system comprising a plurality of order processing components each configured to perform a respective portion of an order fulfillment process for one or more purchase orders, wherein the order handling system is configured to provide interruption resiliency through component-based state persistence;

a data store configured to store state information for one or more purchase orders received by the order handling system;

wherein to process a given purchase order for the order fulfillment process, each of at least some of the order processing components is configured to;

perform a respective task to complete a portion of the order fulfillment process for the given purchase order; and

based on the respective task performed, update state information corresponding to the given purchase order in the data store, wherein said update state information includes update a message data object, wherein the message data object includes;

a message identifier for a message sent or received as part of performing the respective task, a purchase order identifier for the given purchase order, and status information for the message;

wherein the order handling system is configured to, subsequent to an interruption of the order fulfillment process for the given purchase order, resume the processing of the given purchase order based on updated state information for that given purchase order, the updated state information for that given purchase order being previously updated by different processing components that each;

completed a different task for the given purchase order and updated the state information to indicate that the different task was completed.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the interruption of the order fulfillment process is caused by a failure within the order handling system.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the state information indicates one or more of:

a processing state of the order handling system with respect to the given purchase order,

a state of one or more orders submitted to an order processing system, wherein the one or more orders specify at least one item of the given purchase order;

a state of one or more items of a given purchase order;

or

a state of one or more order notification messages to be sent to an entity that submitted the given purchase order.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein a first order processing component of the order handling system is configured to store a data object within the data store and store an identifier of that data object in a queue accessible to a second order processing component of the order handling system.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein said second order processing component is configured to receive the identifier of the data object from the queue and retrieve the corresponding data object from the data store.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein said data object is one of:

a purchase order data object that specifies details of the given purchase order, an item data object including information identifying an item of the given purchase order, or a message data object comprising data representing a message received or sent by the message handling system with respect to the given purchase order.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the order handling system comprises an order creation component configured to:

receive a purchase order for one or more items,

submit an order for said one or more items to an order processing system, and

based on a response from the order processing system, generate a message for at least one of the one or more items;

wherein said message indicates whether an order for that item was successfully placed.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the order handling system comprises an outbound messaging component configured to send the generated message to an entity that submitted the given purchase order.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the outbound messaging component is configured to send the generated message in accordance with a format specified by the entity that submitted the given order.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the order handling system comprises a post order processing component configured to:

receive multiple notifications for a plurality of orders,

identify a subset of the notifications that correspond to the given purchase order, wherein said notifications are associated with a shipment delay for one or more items of the given purchase order or a shipment confirmation for one or more items of the given purchase order, and

for each at least some of the subset of notifications, generate a message specifying the notification, wherein the message is to be sent to an entity that submitted the given purchase order.

11. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

processing a given purchase order in an order handling system including a plurality of order processing components for performing a respective portion of an order fulfillment process for purchase orders, the order handling system providing interruption resiliency through component-based state persistence;

wherein said processing the given purchase order for the order fulfillment process comprises utilizing each processing component for;

performing a respective task to complete a portion of the order fulfillment process for the given purchase order, wherein the respective task includes a task performed in response to receiving the given purchase order; and

based on the respective task performed, updating state information corresponding to the given purchase order in a data store, wherein said updating state information includes updating a message data object, wherein the message data object includes;

a message identifier for a message sent or received as part of performing the respective task, a purchase order identifier for the given purchase order, and status information for the message;

subsequent to an interruption of the processing of the given purchase order, resuming the processing of the given purchase order based on updated state information for that given purchase order, the updated state information for that given purchase order being previously updated by different processing components that each;

completed a different task for the given purchase order and updated the state information to indicate that the different task was completed.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein the interruption of the order fulfillment process is cause by a failure within the order handling system.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein the state information indicates one or more of:

a processing state of the order handling system with respect to the given purchase order,

a state of one or more orders submitted to an order processing system, wherein the one or more orders specify at least one item of the given purchase order;

a state of one or more items of a given purchase order;

or

a state of one or more order notification messages to be sent to an entity that submitted the given purchase order.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein the method comprises utilizing a first order processing component of the order handling system to store a data object within the data store and to store an identifier of that data object in a queue accessible to a second order processing component of the order handling system.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, wherein the method comprises utilizing the second order processing component to receive the identifier of the data object from the queue and to retrieve the corresponding data object from the data store.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, wherein said data object is one of:

a purchase order data object that specifies details of the given purchase order, an item data object including information identifying an item of the given purchase order, or a message data object comprising data representing a message received or sent by the message handling system with respect to the given purchase order.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein the method comprises performing an order creation process including:

receiving a purchase order for one or more items,

submitting an order for said one or more items to an order processing system, and

based on a response from the order processing system, generating a message for at least one of the one or more items;

wherein said message indicates whether an order for that item was successfully placed.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 17, wherein the method comprises performing an outbound messaging process by sending the generated message to an entity that submitted the given purchase order.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 18, wherein the generated message is sent in accordance with a format specified by the entity that submitted the given order.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein the method comprises performing a post order process including:

receiving multiple notifications for a plurality of orders,

identifying a subset of the notifications that correspond to the given purchase order, wherein said notifications are associated with a shipment delay for one or more items of the given purchase order or a shipment confirmation for one or more items of the given purchase order, and

for each at least some of the subset of notifications, generating a message specifying the notification, wherein the message is to be sent to an entity that submitted the given purchase order.

21. A computer-readable storage medium, storing program instructions computer-executable on a computer system to implement an order handling system comprising a plurality of order processing components each configured to perform a respective portion of an order fulfillment process for one or more purchase orders, wherein the order handling system is configured to provide interruption resiliency through component-based state persistence, wherein the order handling system is configured to:

access a data store configured to store state information for one or more purchase orders received by the order handling system;

wherein to process a given purchase order for the order fulfillment process, each of at least some of the order processing components are configured to;

perform a respective task to complete a portion of the order fulfillment process for the given purchase order; and

based on the respective task performed, update state information corresponding to the given purchase order in the data store, wherein said update state information includes update a message data object, wherein the message data object includes;

a message identifier for a message sent or received as part of performing the respective task, a purchase order identifier for the given purchase order, and status information for the message;

wherein the order handling system is configured to, subsequent to an interruption of the order fulfillment process for the given purchase order, resume the processing of the given purchase order based on updated state information for that given purchase order, the updated state information for that given purchase order being previously updated by different processing components that each;

completed a different task for the given purchase order and updated the state information to indicate that the different task was completed.

22. The medium of claim 21, wherein the interruption of the order fulfillment process is caused by a failure with the order handling system.

23. The medium of claim 21, wherein the state information indicates one or more of:

a processing state of the order handling system with respect to the given purchase order,

a state of one or more orders submitted to an order processing system, wherein the one or more orders specify at least one item of the given purchase order;

a state of one or more items of a given purchase order;

or

a state of one or more order notification messages to be sent to an entity that submitted the given purchase order.

24. The medium of claim 21, wherein a first order processing component of the order handling system is configured to store a data object within the data store and store an identifier of that data object in a queue accessible to a second order processing component of the order handling system.

25. The medium of claim 24, wherein said second order processing component is configured to receive the identifier of the data object from the queue and retrieve the corresponding data object from the data store.

26. The medium of claim 24, wherein said data object is one of:

a purchase order data object that specifies details of the given purchase order, an item data object including information identifying an item of the given purchase order, or a message data object comprising data representing a message received or sent by the message handling system with respect to the given purchase order.

27. The medium of claim 21, wherein the order handling system comprises an order creation component configured to:

receive a purchase order for one or more items,

submit an order for said one or more items to an order processing system, and

based on a response from the order processing system, generate a message for at least one of the one or more items;

wherein said message indicates whether an order for that item was successfully placed.

28. The medium of claim 27, wherein the order handling system comprises an outbound messaging component configured to send the generated message to an entity that submitted the given purchase order.

29. The medium of claim 28, wherein the outbound messaging component is configured to send the generated message in accordance with a format specified by the entity that submitted the given order.

30. The medium of claim 21, wherein the order handling system comprises a post order processing component configured to:

receive multiple notifications for a plurality of orders,

identify a subset of the notifications that correspond to the given purchase order, wherein said notifications are associated with a shipment delay for one or more items of the given purchase order or a shipment confirmation for one or more items of the given purchase order, and

for each at least some of the subset of notifications, generate a message specifying the notification, wherein the message is to be sent to an entity that submitted the given purchase order.