Application programming interfaces for courier services

• US 9,934,530 B1
• Filed: 09/30/2016
• Issued: 04/03/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DoorDash, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Square Inc (Block, Inc. (f/k/a Square, Inc.))
• Inventors: Iacono, Jeffrey F., Hammer, Derek, Reiss, Jesse L., Soong, Alexander
• Primary Examiner(s): Levine, Adam L
• Application Number:
  US15/283,092
• Publication Number:
  US 20180096414A1
• Time in Patent Office: 550 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/083 Shipping
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0611 Request for offers or quotes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0637 Approvals
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0639 Item locations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces

Abstract

A system and environment to enable entities to utilize courier services provided by a service provider are described herein. In some examples, the service provider exposes the courier services to a computing device associated with a merchant, buyer, and/or others using one or more Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) provided by the service provider. The one or more APIs may enable merchants and/or others to automatically integrate the courier services into technologies used by the merchants and/or others in order to facilitate delivery of items that are offered for acquisition by the merchants.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a service computing device including a service computing device processor and a service computing device communication interface communicatively coupled to the service computing device processor, the service computing device communication interface for communicating over one or more networks with a plurality of courier devices, and further for communicating over the one or more networks via one or more Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) with a merchant application executable on a merchant computing device associated with a merchant, wherein the one or more APIs are exposed by the service computing device and integrated into the merchant application, the service computing device being configured to;

receive, from the merchant application on the merchant computing device, via the one or more APIs, a request regarding delivery of an item that is specified by a customer to be acquired from the merchant, the request indicating at least one of a location of delivery, a location of pick-up, a requested time of pick-up, a number of items being acquired, a size of the item, whether or not the item is associated with a predetermined category, or a weight of the item, the request being received via the one or more APIs from the merchant application on the merchant computing device;

generate a delivery proposal for delivering the item to the location of delivery, the delivery proposal including a cost for delivery of the item by a courier service associated with the service computing device and an estimated timing for delivery of the item by the courier service;

send the delivery proposal to the merchant application on the merchant computing device;

receive, via the one or more APIs, from the merchant application on the merchant computing device, an indication of acceptance of the delivery proposal;

receive location information for individual ones of the plurality of courier devices;

identify a courier associated with a first courier device of the plurality of courier devices to transport the item based at least in part on the indication of acceptance of the delivery proposal and the location information for the individual ones of the plurality of courier devices; and

send, without using the one or more APIs, a communication to a courier application executable on the first courier device requesting that the identified courier obtain the item from the location of pick-up and transport the item to the location of delivery;

wherein the courier application is executable by one or more processors of the first courier device to;

determine a geographic location of the first courier device based at least in part on data from a location sensor of the first courier device;

provide location information to the service computing device indicating the geographic location of the first courier device; and

based at least in part on the communication from the service computing device, present a notification to the identified courier via the first courier device requesting that the item be obtained from the location of pick-up and transported to the location of delivery;

wherein the service computing device is further configured to;

receive, from the merchant application on the merchant computing device, via the one or more APIs integrated into the merchant application, a request for a delivery status of the item, wherein the request is received based on an input via a first user interface presented by the merchant application on the merchant computing device;

receive further location information for the first courier device;

determine a delivery status of the item based at least partially on the received further location information; and

send, to the merchant application, the delivery status of the item, wherein the merchant application displays, in the first user interface, the delivery status of the item.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the merchant application is further executable to configure the merchant computing device to:

provide a second interface for presentation to at least one of the customer or the merchant on a display associated with the merchant computing device;

receive, via the second interface, a selection of the item for acquisition and information regarding at least one of the location of delivery, the location of pick-up, the requested time of pick-up, the number of items being acquired, the size of the item, whether or not the item is associated with the predetermined category, or the weight of the item;

receive, via the second user interface a request for information regarding delivery of the item;

send, via the one or more APIs and to the service computing device, the request for information regarding delivery of the item;

receive the delivery proposal from the service computing device;

determine that the delivery proposal is accepted; and

send, via the one or more APIs, the indication of acceptance of the delivery proposal to facilitate delivery of the item.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the merchant application is further executable to configure the merchant computing device to:

display at least one of the cost for delivery of the item or the estimated timing for delivery of the item via the second user interface;

receive, via the second user interface, an input regarding acceptance of the delivery proposal; and

send, via the one or more APIs, an indication that the delivery proposal is accepted based at least in part on the received input regarding acceptance of the delivery proposal.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the merchant application is further executable to configure the merchant computing device to:

refrain from displaying the cost for delivery of the item or refrain from including the cost for delivery of the item as part of a total cost for acquiring the item;

compare the delivery proposal to a plurality of criteria for accepting the delivery proposal, the criteria including a merchant criterion for determining that the cost for delivery is below a cost threshold, and a second criterion for determining that the estimated timing for delivery is within a timing threshold; and

send, automatically, via the one or more APIs, an indication of acceptance of the delivery proposal based on determining that the criteria are met.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the merchant application further configures the merchant computing device to:

present the delivery status of the item in a first portion of the first user interface with a delivery status of one or more other items for one or more other delivery jobs;

receive, via the first user interface, a selection of the delivery status of the item in the first portion of the first user interface;

send, via the one or more APIs integrated into the merchant application, a request for details of the selected delivery status of the item; and

receive, from the service computing device, additional details regarding the delivery status of the item.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the service computing device is further configured to:

receive, via the one or more APIs, an order from a customer application executable on a customer computing device associated with another customer;

send a request to fulfill the order to the merchant application on the merchant computing device to fulfill the order;

receive, from the merchant computing device, via the one or more APIs, an indication of acceptance of the order from the merchant application on the merchant computing device;

determine another courier to deliver the order to a location associated with the other customer;

send a communication to a second courier device that is associated with the other identified courier requesting that the other identified courier obtain the order from the location of pick-up of the merchant and transport the order to the location associated with the other customer;

determine a first delivery status of the item by the identified courier and a second delivery status of the order by the other courier; and

send the first delivery status and the second delivery status to the merchant application on the merchant computing device, wherein the merchant application configures the merchant computing device to present the first delivery status and the second delivery status in a first portion of the first user interface, wherein selection of one of the first delivery status or the second delivery status in the first portion of the first user interface causes the first user interface to present details of the selected first or second delivery status in a second portion of the first user interface.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the delivery proposal further indicates at least one of an estimated pick-up time for delivery of the item or an estimated drop-off time for delivery of the item.

8. A method comprising:

exposing, by a service computing device, to a merchant computing device, one or more Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) for accessing a courier service, wherein the one or more APIs are integrated into a merchant application executable on the merchant computing device;

receiving, by the service computing device, from the merchant application on the merchant computing device, and via the one or more APIs, a request regarding delivery of an item that is specified by a customer to be acquired from the merchant, the request indicating at least one of a location of delivery, a location of pick-up, a requested time of pick-up, a number of items being acquired, a size of the item, whether or not the item is associated with a predetermined category, or a weight of the item;

generating, by the service computing device, a delivery proposal for delivering the item to the location of delivery, the delivery proposal including a cost for delivery of the item by a courier service associated with the service computing service;

sending, by the service computing device, the delivery proposal to the merchant application;

receiving, by the service computing device, from the merchant application on the merchant computing device, and via the one or more APIs, an indication of acceptance of the delivery proposal;

receiving, by the service computing device, location information for individual ones of a plurality of courier devices;

determining a geographic location of a first courier device of the plurality of courier devices based at least in part on data from a location sensor of the first courier device;

identifying, by the service computing device and without using the one or more APIs, a courier associated with the first courier device to transport the item based at least in part on the indication of acceptance of the delivery proposal and the location information for individual ones of the plurality of courier devices;

sending, by the service computing device, a communication to the first courier device that is associated with the identified courier requesting that the identified courier obtain the item from the location of pick-up and transport the item to the location of delivery;

presenting a notification to the identified courier, via the first courier device, requesting that the item be obtained from the location of pick-up and transported to the location of delivery;

receiving, from the merchant application on the merchant computing device, via the one or more APIs integrated into the merchant application, a request for a delivery status of the item, wherein the request is received based on an input via a first user interface presented by the merchant application on the merchant computing device;

receiving further location information for the first courier device;

determining a delivery status of the item based at least partially on the received further location information; and

sending, to the merchant application, the delivery status of the item, wherein the merchant application displays, in the first user interface, the delivery status of the item.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

providing, by the merchant application on the merchant computing device, a second user interface for presentation to at least one of the customer or the merchant on a display associated with the merchant computing device;

receiving, by the merchant application on the merchant computing device and via the second user interface, a selection of the item for acquisition and information regarding at least one of the location of delivery, the location of pick-up, the requested time of pick-up, the number of items being acquired, the size of the item, whether or not the item is associated with the predetermined category, or the weight of the item;

receiving, by the merchant application on the merchant computing device, via the second user interface, a request for information regarding delivery of the item;

sending, by the merchant application on the merchant computing device, via the one or more APIs and to the service computing device, the request for information regarding delivery of the item;

receiving, by the merchant application on the merchant computing device, the delivery proposal from the service computing device;

determining, by the merchant application on the merchant computing device, that the delivery proposal is accepted; and

sending, by the merchant application on the merchant computing device and via the one or more APIs, the indication of acceptance of the delivery proposal to facilitate delivery of the item.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

displaying, by the merchant application on the merchant computing device, at least one of the cost for delivery of the item or the estimated amount of time for delivery of the item via the second user interface; and

receiving, by the merchant application on the merchant computing device, via the second user interface an input regarding acceptance of the delivery proposal; and

sending, via the one or more APIs, an indication that the delivery proposal is accepted is based at least in part on the received input regarding acceptance of the delivery proposal.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

refraining, by the merchant application, from displaying the cost for delivery of the item or refraining, by the merchant application, from including the cost for delivery of the item as part of a total cost for acquiring the item;

comparing, by the merchant application, the delivery proposal to a plurality of criteria for accepting the delivery proposal, the criteria including a merchant criterion for determining that the cost for delivery is below a cost threshold, and a second criterion for determining that the estimated timing for delivery is within a timing threshold; and

send, by the merchant application, automatically, via the one or more APIs integrated into the merchant application, an indication of acceptance of the delivery proposal based on determining that the criteria are met.

12. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

presenting, by the merchant application, the delivery status of the item in a first portion of the first user interface with a delivery status of one or more other items for one or more other delivery jobs;

receive, by the merchant application, via the first user interface, a selection of the delivery status of the item in the first portion of the first user interface;

send, via the one or more APIs integrated into the merchant application, a request for details of the selected delivery status of the item; and

receive, from the service computing device, additional details regarding the delivery status of the item.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the delivery proposal further indicates at least one of an estimated pick-up time for delivery of the item or an estimate drop-off time for delivery of the item.