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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
First Claim
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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.

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