Managing requests for in-person transactions

• US 9,996,817 B2
• Filed: 08/28/2015
• Issued: 06/12/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 08/29/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Accenture Global Services Limited (Accenture PLC)
• Original Assignee: Accenture Global Services Limited (Accenture PLC)
• Inventors: Biswas, Adrija, De Niese, David
• Primary Examiner(s): Masud, Rokib
• Application Number:
  US14/838,516
• Publication Number:
  US 20160063431A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,019 Days
• Field of Search: 705 28, 705 261
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0875 Itemisation or classification of parts, supplies or services, e.g. bill of materials

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, are described that receive, from a device, a request to obtain an amount of physical items from an account, the account defining a total quantity of the physical items able to be obtained from the account, and the account being maintained across multiple locations at which the physical items are stored. The request is transmitted to at least one computer that manages inventory of the physical items for at least one of the multiple locations. Inventory availability information is received from the at least one computer that manages inventory of the physical items, including information regarding availability of the amount of physical items, and availability of a combination of differently-sized subunits of physical items that satisfy the requested amount. The inventory availability information is then transmitted to the device.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method using one or more processors, the method comprising:

receiving, from a requesting device, a request to receive an amount of currency as physical items, the request identifying an account that is authorized to receive up to a total amount of currency from at least one of multiple locations where the physical items are stored, wherein the request indicates the amount as a plurality of sets of subunits of the physical items that have different denominations of the currency;

based on receiving the request;

transmitting an inventory availability request to at least one inventory management computer that manages inventory of the physical items for at least one of the locations, and

receiving, from the at least one inventory management computer and in response to transmitting the inventory availability request, inventory availability information that describes

an availability, at one or more of the locations, of the amount of currency that includes the requested plurality of sets of subunits of the physical items in the different denominations; and

based on the inventory availability information indicating that the amount of currency is available at the one or more locations, in the requested plurality of sets of subunits, transmitting at least a portion of the inventory availability information to the requesting device to indicate the availability, at the one or more locations, of the amount of currency in the requested plurality of sets of subunits.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the request received from the requesting device further specifies that the amount of currency is to be drawn from the account.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

transmitting, to the requesting device, a graphical user interface that allows selection of the sets of subunits of physical items that total requested amount; and

based on interaction with the graphical user interface, determining the plurality of sets of subunits of the physical items to be requested.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

based on the inventory availability information indicating that the amount of currency is available at the one or more locations,

determining authorization information that can be verified at the one or more locations to authorize obtaining at least a portion of the amount of currency from the one or more locations; and

transmitting the authorization information to one or more of the requesting device and the at least one computer that manages inventory of the physical items for at least one of the locations.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

receiving the authorization information from the at least one inventory management computer; and

transmitting the received authorization information to the requesting device.

6. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

receiving the authorization information from the requesting device; and

transmitting the received authorization information to the at least one computer that manages inventory of the physical items for at least one of the locations.

7. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

generating the authorization information; and

transmitting the generated authorization information to both the requesting device and the at least one computer that manages inventory of the physical items for at least one of the locations.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the authorization information comprises a fingerprint scan.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the authorization information comprises a personal identification number (PIN).

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting, to the requesting device, a map-based graphical user interface that displays at least the one or more of the locations where the amount of currency is available in the requested plurality of sets of subunits of physical items; and

receiving, from the requesting device, a selection of a particular location at which obtaining at least a portion of the amount of currency is requested.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the request further indicates a time period during which the amount currency is to be retrieved from the one or more locations.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting the request to the at least one inventory management computer further comprises:

transmitting, to the at least one inventory management computer and using an application programming interface, a message that complies with a communication protocol.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing the received request in a memory device; and

updating the stored request based on the inventory availability information.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the inventory availability information comprises:

receiving, from the at least one inventory management computer, a time period during which at least a portion of the amount of currency is available at the one or more locations.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting, to the requesting device, at least a portion of the inventory availability information comprises:

transmitting, to the requesting device, one or more of a text message, an email, and a pop-up display that includes the transmitted inventory availability information.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

based on determining that the amount of currency is not available at one or more of the locations, transmitting, to the requesting device, an indication that the request cannot be fulfilled at one or more of the multiple locations.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a list of people who are authorized to retrieve the amount of currency; and

based on the list of people, determining that the request specifies a person who is authorized to retrieve the amount of currency.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting, to an authorized supervisor, a confirmation of approval for the request to obtain the amount of currency.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting that the request is associated with unusual activity; and

sending alert information regarding the detected unusual activity to at least one of an authorized supervisor or the at least one inventory management computer.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein detecting that the request is associated with unusual activity comprises:

accessing one or more rules that have been specified for authorized obtainment of currency.

21. A system comprising:

one or more computers; and

a non-transitory computer-readable medium coupled to the one or more computers having instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the one or more computers, cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising;

receiving, from a requesting device, a request to receive an amount of currency as physical items, the request identifying an account that is authorized to receive up to a total amount of currency from at least one of multiple locations where the physical items are stored, wherein the request indicates the amount as a plurality of sets of subunits of the physical items that have different denominations of the currency;

based on receiving the request;

transmitting an inventory availability request to at least one inventory management computer that manages inventory of the physical items for at least one of the locations, and

receiving, from the at least one inventory management computer and in response to transmitting the inventory availability request, inventory availability information that describes

an availability, at one or more of the locations, of the amount of currency that includes the requested plurality of sets of subunits of the physical items in the different denominations; and

based on the inventory availability information indicating that the amount of currency is available at the one or more locations, in the requested plurality of sets of subunits, transmitting at least a portion of the inventory availability information to the requesting device to indicate the availability, at the one or more locations, of the amount of currency in the requested plurality of sets of subunits.

22. A non-transitory computer storage medium encoded with a computer program, the computer program comprising instructions that when executed by one or more processors cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

receiving, from a requesting device, a request to receive an amount of currency as physical items, the request identifying an account that is authorized to receive up to a total amount of currency from at least one of multiple locations where the physical items are stored, wherein the request indicates the amount as a plurality of sets of subunits of the physical items that have different denominations of the currency;

based on receiving the request;

transmitting an inventory availability request to at least one inventory management computer that manages inventory of the physical items for at least one of the locations, and

receiving, from the at least one inventory management computer and in response to transmitting the inventory availability request, inventory availability information that describes

an availability, one or more of the locations, of the amount of currency that includes the requested plurality of sets of subunits of the physical items in the different denominations; and

based on the inventory availability information indicating that the amount of currency is available at the one or more locations, in the requested plurality of sets of subunits, transmitting at least a portion of the inventory availability information to the requesting device to indicate the availability, at the one or more locations, of the amount of currency in the requested plurality of sets of subunits.