Method and system for anticipatory package shipping
First Claim
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1. A method, comprising:
- performing, by one or more computing devices;
determining a status of one or more shipped packages currently in transit to respective destination geographical areas, wherein said respective destination geographical areas include multiple delivery addresses to which said package is deliverable, wherein at least one of the one or more shipped packages comprises one or more items that have been shipped before an order has occurred for the one or more items in the at least one shipped package, and wherein the one or more shipped packages were shipped to a respective destination geographical area without completely specifying a delivery address at time of shipment, such that at the time of shipment, each shipped package is deliverable to said respective destination geographical area but is not deliverable to any delivery address;
for a given one of said one or more shipped packages, analyzing one or more business variables related to said one or more items included in said given shipped package;
dependent upon analyzing both said one or more business variables and said determined status, determining a disposition of said given shipped package.
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Abstract
A method and system for anticipatory package shipping are disclosed. According to one embodiment, a method may include packaging one or more items as a package for eventual shipment to a delivery address, selecting a destination geographical area to which to ship the package, shipping the package to the destination geographical area without completely specifying the delivery address at time of shipment, and while the package is in transit, completely specifying the delivery address for the package.
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Citations
24 Claims
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1. A method, comprising:
performing, by one or more computing devices; determining a status of one or more shipped packages currently in transit to respective destination geographical areas, wherein said respective destination geographical areas include multiple delivery addresses to which said package is deliverable, wherein at least one of the one or more shipped packages comprises one or more items that have been shipped before an order has occurred for the one or more items in the at least one shipped package, and wherein the one or more shipped packages were shipped to a respective destination geographical area without completely specifying a delivery address at time of shipment, such that at the time of shipment, each shipped package is deliverable to said respective destination geographical area but is not deliverable to any delivery address; for a given one of said one or more shipped packages, analyzing one or more business variables related to said one or more items included in said given shipped package; dependent upon analyzing both said one or more business variables and said determined status, determining a disposition of said given shipped package. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A system, comprising:
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a data warehouse configured to store business variables related to shipped packages; and a computer system configured to access said business variables stored on said data warehouse, wherein said computer system is further configured to; determine a status of one or more shipped packages currently in transit to respective destination geographical areas, wherein said respective destination geographical areas include multiple delivery addresses to which said package is deliverable, wherein at least one of the one or more shipped packages comprises one or more items that have been shipped before an order has occurred for the one or more items in said at least one shipped package, and wherein the one or more shipped packages were shipped to a respective destination geographical area without completely specifying a delivery address at time of shipment, such that at the time of shipment, each shipped package is deliverable to said respective destination geographical area but is not deliverable to any delivery address; for a given one of said one or more shipped packages, analyze one or more of said business variables related to said one or more items included in said given shipped package; dependent upon analyzing both said one or more business variables and said determined status, determine a disposition of said given shipped package. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A computer-accessible medium comprising program instructions, wherein the program instructions are computer-executable to:
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determine a status of one or more shipped packages currently in transit to respective destination geographical areas, wherein said respective destination geographical areas include multiple delivery addresses to which said package is deliverable, wherein at least one of the one or more shipped packages comprises one or more items that have been shipped before an order has occurred for the one or more items in the at least one shipped package, and wherein the one or more shipped packages were shipped to a respective destination geographical area without completely specifying a delivery address at time of shipment, such that at the time of shipment, each shipped package is deliverable to said respective destination geographical area but is not deliverable to any delivery address; for a given one of said one or more shipped packages, analyze one or more business variables related to said one or more items included in said given shipped package; dependent upon analyzing both said one or more business variables and the determined status, determine a disposition of said given shipped package. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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Specification