Delivering ordered items to an appropriate address
First Claim
1. One or more computer memories storing program instructions that when executed by one or more computers cause the one or more computers to:
- automatically generate and maintain, in a database, a data structure for use in determining appropriate delivery addresses for items, the data structure comprising a multiplicity of entries respectively associated with distinct users of an item ordering service, wherein the individual entries of the data structure contain information indicating an association between an item type and one or more delivery addresses that are associated with the respective one of the distinct users with which the individual entries are respectively associated;
wherein to automatically generate and maintain the data structure in the database, the program instructions further cause the one or more computers, for individual ones of the distinct users of the item ordering service, to;
analyze, based on interaction with one or more computing devices that store associations between delivery addresses for previous orders and the one or more items of those orders, previous orders by the user to detect one or more patterns from addresses that were previously used for delivery of items of various types to delivery addresses of the user;
generate a plurality of mappings for the user that each map a distinct item type to a distinct delivery address of a plurality of addresses associated with the user, wherein to generate the plurality of mappings the program instructions further cause the one or more computers to determine item-type-to-delivery-address relationships for the user based at least in part on the detected one or more patterns;
store, to the database, the plurality of mappings in one or more entries of the data structure associated with the user;
subsequent to said generate the plurality of mappings and said store the mappings,revise one or more of the plurality of automatically-generated mappings based at least in part on received update information, wherein to revise the one or more of the plurality of automatically-generated mappings the program instructions further cause the one or more computers to;
receive update information associated with the user that is indicative of a relationship between one or more item types and one or more delivery addresses associated with the user; and
in response to said receive the update information, update one of the stored mappings, wherein to update the stored mappings, the program instructions further cause the one or more computers to determine the relationship indicated by the received update information; and
transmit, over a network and based at least in part on the data structure in the database, one or more of the one or more delivery addresses to which an item type is mapped, wherein the entries respectively associated with the distinct users are accessible for determination of appropriate delivery addresses for items for which the distinct users indicate potential orders, so that when a particular user indicates a potential order on a display of a graphical user interface for one or more items of an item type, one or more of the one or more delivery addresses to which the item type is mapped in the entry associated with that particular user can be selected from the display of the graphical user interface as being one or more potentially appropriate delivery addresses for the indicated one or more items.
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Abstract
A method, system, and computer-readable medium for automatically determining appropriate delivery information for one or more items of an order or potential order is described. A variety of types of information can be considered when determining what delivery information is appropriate for one or more items, such as a type of the items, the particular items, relationships of the items to other items, information about the purchaser, and/or information about the recipient. In addition, the automatic determination of an appropriate address for an item being ordered or potentially ordered by a user can be made in a variety of ways, such as based on inferences from past behavior when ordering items, on inferences from information about the item and from available delivery information for the user, and/or on previous explicit indications from the user.
15 Citations
20 Claims
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1. One or more computer memories storing program instructions that when executed by one or more computers cause the one or more computers to:
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automatically generate and maintain, in a database, a data structure for use in determining appropriate delivery addresses for items, the data structure comprising a multiplicity of entries respectively associated with distinct users of an item ordering service, wherein the individual entries of the data structure contain information indicating an association between an item type and one or more delivery addresses that are associated with the respective one of the distinct users with which the individual entries are respectively associated; wherein to automatically generate and maintain the data structure in the database, the program instructions further cause the one or more computers, for individual ones of the distinct users of the item ordering service, to; analyze, based on interaction with one or more computing devices that store associations between delivery addresses for previous orders and the one or more items of those orders, previous orders by the user to detect one or more patterns from addresses that were previously used for delivery of items of various types to delivery addresses of the user; generate a plurality of mappings for the user that each map a distinct item type to a distinct delivery address of a plurality of addresses associated with the user, wherein to generate the plurality of mappings the program instructions further cause the one or more computers to determine item-type-to-delivery-address relationships for the user based at least in part on the detected one or more patterns; store, to the database, the plurality of mappings in one or more entries of the data structure associated with the user; subsequent to said generate the plurality of mappings and said store the mappings, revise one or more of the plurality of automatically-generated mappings based at least in part on received update information, wherein to revise the one or more of the plurality of automatically-generated mappings the program instructions further cause the one or more computers to; receive update information associated with the user that is indicative of a relationship between one or more item types and one or more delivery addresses associated with the user; and in response to said receive the update information, update one of the stored mappings, wherein to update the stored mappings, the program instructions further cause the one or more computers to determine the relationship indicated by the received update information; and transmit, over a network and based at least in part on the data structure in the database, one or more of the one or more delivery addresses to which an item type is mapped, wherein the entries respectively associated with the distinct users are accessible for determination of appropriate delivery addresses for items for which the distinct users indicate potential orders, so that when a particular user indicates a potential order on a display of a graphical user interface for one or more items of an item type, one or more of the one or more delivery addresses to which the item type is mapped in the entry associated with that particular user can be selected from the display of the graphical user interface as being one or more potentially appropriate delivery addresses for the indicated one or more items. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method, comprising:
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performing, by one or more computers, for individual users of an item ordering service; automatically generating, in a database, a plurality of mappings per user, wherein the plurality of mappings generated for the user each map one or more item types to one or more delivery addresses associated with the user; wherein automatically generating comprises; analyzing, based on interaction with one or more computing devices that store associations between delivery addresses for previous orders and the one or more items of those orders, previous orders by the user to detect one or more patterns from addresses that were previously used for delivery of items of various types to delivery addresses of the user; determining item-type-to-delivery-address relationships for the user from existing information associated with the user based at least in part on the detected one or more patterns; and storing, to the database, the plurality of mappings generated for the user in a data structure; subsequent to said generating and storing the mapping, revising one or more of the plurality of automatically-generated mappings based at least in part on received update information, revising comprising; receiving update information associated with the user that is indicative of a relationship between one or more item types and one or more delivery addresses associated with the user; and in response to said receiving the update information, updating one or more of the stored plurality of mappings, wherein said updating comprises determining the relationship indicated by the received update information; and transmit providing access, over a network, one or more of the one or more delivery addresses to which an item type is mapped, wherein the mappings generated for the individual ones of the users are accessible for determination of appropriate delivery addresses for items for which the individual ones of the users indicate potential orders, so that when a particular user indicates a potential order on a display of a graphical user interface for one or more items of an item type, one or more of the one or more delivery addresses to which the item type is mapped in the plurality of mappings generated for the particular user can be selected from the display of the graphical user interface as being one or more potentially appropriate delivery addresses for the indicated one or more items. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A system, comprising:
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a processor; and a memory coupled to the processor, wherein the memory stores program instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the system to, for individual users of an item ordering service; automatically generate, in a database, a plurality of mappings per user, wherein the plurality of mappings generated for the user each map one or more item types to one or more delivery addresses associated with the user; wherein automatically generate comprises; analyze, based on interaction with one or more computing devices that store associations between delivery addresses for previous orders and the one or more items of those orders, previous orders by the user to detect one or more patterns from addresses that were previously used for delivery of items of various types to delivery addresses of the user; determine one or more item-type-to-delivery-address relationships for the user from existing information associated with the user based at least in part on the detected one or more patterns; and store, to the database, the plurality of mappings generated for the user in a data structure; subsequent to said generate and store the mapping, revise one or more of the plurality of automatically-generated mappings based at least in part on received update information, wherein revise comprises; receive update information associated with the user that is indicative of a relationship between one or more item types and one or more delivery addresses associated with the user; and in response to said receive the update information, update the stored plurality of mappings, wherein said update comprises determine the relationship indicated by the received update information; and transmit provide access, over a network, one or more of the one or more delivery addresses to which an item type is mapped, wherein the mappings generated for the individual ones of the users are accessible for determination of appropriate delivery addresses for items for which the individual ones of the users indicate potential orders, so that when a particular user indicates a potential order on a display of a graphical user interface for one or more items of an item type, one or more of the one or more delivery addresses to which the item type is mapped in the plurality of mappings generated for the particular user can be selected on the display of the graphical user interface as being one or more potentially appropriate delivery addresses for the indicated one or more items. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification