Pickup locations

• US 9,830,572 B2
• Filed: 03/29/2012
• Issued: 11/28/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/29/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Wan, Lin, Lakshman, Girish, Ferguson, Eric T., Bhaskaran, Michael Mahesh
• Primary Examiner(s): Misiaszek, Michael
• Application Number:
  US13/434,824
• Publication Number:
  US 20130262251A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,070 Days
• Field of Search: 705 261- 272
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0836 Recipient pick-ups
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/13 the containers being a postal pick-up locker

Abstract

A pickup location that includes a control station and one or more storage compartment modules provides the ability for items to be ordered and delivered for pickup by a user without having to pack those items in a shipping package prior to shipping from a materials handling facility. Delivering items for pickup by a user without having to package the items prior to shipping, may provide a better experience for the customer, reduce waste in packaging material and a lower cost of delivering the ordered items to the customer.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

under control of one or more computing devices configured with executable instructions, receiving a request for a first item of a first order associated with a customer;

identifying a pickup location to which the first item is to be delivered and stored for retrieval;

in response to receiving the request for the first item and identifying the pickup location, identifying a delivery container including at least one item of a second order to be delivered to the pickup location, the second order being associated with a different customer than the customer associated with the first order;

causing the first item of the first order to be picked from inventory at a materials handling facility and placed in the delivery container at the materials handling facility;

initiating transport of the delivery container from the materials handling facility to the pickup location;

identifying, at least in part by a control station of the pickup location, the delivery container;

selectively disengaging, at least in part by the control station, at least one locking mechanism corresponding to at least one compartment to provide access to at least one interior space of the at least one compartment;

subsequent to identifying the delivery container, causing the control station of the pickup location to generate instructions to move the first item of the first order and the at least one item of the second order from the delivery container into the at least one interior space of the at least one compartment of the pickup location such that the first item of the first order and the at least one item of the second order are stored separately at the pickup location; and

transmitting information to an electronic device associated with the customer, the information indicating that at least the first item is available for pickup at the pickup location.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

prior to receiving the request for the first item of the first order, causing the at least one item of the second order to be transferred from inventory at the materials handling facility to the delivery container at the materials handling facility without packing the at least one item of the second order in a shipping package.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

receiving at a second materials handling facility a request for a second item of the first order;

causing the second item of the first order to be picked from inventory at the second materials handling facility and placed in a second delivery container;

initiating transport of the second delivery container from the second materials handling facility to the pickup location; and

generating further instructions to place the second item of the first order into the at least one compartment of the pickup location such that the first item of the first order and the second item of the first order are stored together, wherein transmitting information to the electronic device associated with the customer occurs subsequent to the further instructions being generated.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

causing the first item to be picked from inventory at the materials handling facility and placed in the delivery container without packing the first item in a shipping package.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the pickup location includes:

selecting the pickup location from a plurality of pickup locations based on a size of one or more items in the first order and a space available at the pickup location.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

identifying a pickup location prior to initiating transport of the delivery container from the materials handling facility.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting a notification when the first item is retrieved from the pickup location.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the generated instructions further include instructions to move:

the first item of the first order from the delivery container to a first compartment of the pickup location; and

the at least one item of the second order from the delivery container to a second storage compartment of the pickup location.

22. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating instructions to transfer, at a first materials handling facility, at least the first item from an inventory to the first delivery container without packing the first item in a shipping package.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein the generated instructions are to move the first item of the first order and the at least one item of the second order from the delivery container into the at least one interior space of the at least one compartment of the pickup location.

4. One or more non-transitory computer readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed on one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform acts comprising:

identifying, at least in part with a control station of a pickup location, a first delivery container at the pickup location, the first delivery container including a first item;

identifying, at least in part with the control station, a second delivery container at the pickup location, the second delivery container including a second item;

identifying a storage compartment that is at the pickup location;

selectively disengaging, at least in part with the control station, a locking mechanism of the storage compartment to provide access to an interior space of the storage compartment; and

subsequent to identifying at least one of the first delivery container or the second delivery container, generating, at least in part with the control station of the pickup location, instructions to place at least one of the first item or the second item in the storage compartment,

wherein the storage compartment is identified prior to the instructions being generated, and wherein the storage compartment is identified at least in part by selecting the storage compartment from a plurality of storage compartments that are at the pickup location.

5. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media as recited in claim 4, the acts further comprising:

sending an indication to an electronic device associated with a customer that the first item and the second item are available for pickup at the pickup location.

6. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media as recited in claim 4, wherein the second delivery container is stored in a second storage compartment at the pickup location.

7. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media as recited in claim 4, wherein the first delivery container further includes a plurality of items.

8. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media as recited in claim 4, wherein a third item is to be placed in the storage compartment along with the first item and the second item.

9. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media as recited in claim 4, wherein the first delivery container is received at the pickup location during a first time interval and the second delivery container is received at the pickup location during a second time interval.

10. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media as recited in claim 4, wherein the first delivery container is received from a first materials handling facility and the second delivery container is received from a second materials handling facility.

11. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media as recited in claim 4, wherein generating instructions to place at least one of the first item or the second item in the storage compartment includes:

generating instructions to place the first delivery container and the second delivery container in the storage compartment.

12. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media as recited in claim 4, wherein generating instructions to place the at least one of the first item or the second item in the storage compartment further includes:

generating instructions to place the first item in the second delivery container and place the second delivery container that includes both the first item and the second item in the storage compartment.

13. The one or more non-transitory computer readable media as recited in claim 4, the acts further comprising:

identifying a third delivery container at the pickup location, the third delivery container including a third item; and

generating instructions to place the third item in the storage compartment.

14. The one or more computer non-transitory readable media as recited in claim 4, wherein identifying the second delivery container includes identifying a storage compartment at the pickup location that currently includes the second delivery container.

15. The one or more computer non-transitory readable media as recited in claim 4, wherein identifying the first delivery container at the pickup location includes scanning a barcode located on the first delivery container.

21. A method comprising:

receiving a request for a first item of a first order associated with a customer;

identifying, by an order planning system, a pickup location to which the first order is to be delivered;

subsequent to receiving the request for the first item and identifying the pickup location, identifying, at least in part by the order planning system, a delivery container that includes a second item of a second order to be delivered to the pickup location, wherein the second order is associated with a different customer than the customer associated with the first order;

picking the first item from inventory at a materials handling facility;

placing, at the materials handling facility, the first item of the first order in the delivery container with the second item of the second order;

transporting the delivery container from the materials handling facility to the pickup location;

identifying the delivery container at least in part with a control station of the pickup location;

selectively disengaging, at least in part by the control station, at least one locking mechanism corresponding to at least one compartment of the pickup location to provide access to at least one interior space of the at least one compartment;

subsequent to identifying the delivery container at least in part with the control station, causing the control station of the pickup location to generate instructions to move the first item of the first order and the second item of the second order from the delivery container to the at least one interior space corresponding to the at least one compartment of the pickup location such that the first item of the first order and the second item of the second order are stored separately at the pickup location; and

sending, to an electronic device associated with the customer, information indicating that the first item is ready for pickup.