Sensor-based customer arrival detection

• US 10,762,462 B1
• Filed: 08/07/2018
• Issued: 09/01/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 08/07/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Hapgood, Ryan, Edwards, Alexander, Silchanka, Uladzimir, Zelenskiy, Lev, Eather, James Lance, Lin, Sheng-Wei, Ducrou, Jon R., Neville, Michael John
• Primary Examiner(s): Miller, Alan S
• Application Number:
  US16/057,430
• Time in Patent Office: 756 Days
• Field of Search: 705 711- 742
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/12 executed aboard the object being navigated; Dead reckoning
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/20 Instruments for performing navigational calculations G01C21/24, G01C21/26 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06393 Score-carding, benchmarking or key performance indicator [KPI] analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0836 Recipient pick-ups

Abstract

Upon receiving an indication that a customer is initiating travel to a merchant location to pick up one or more items, sensor data may be obtained by, and received from, a customer device of the customer. After the customer has arrived at the merchant location, the customer may be greeted or otherwise interacted with and a corresponding interaction time may be determined. The service provider may identify one or more stop events based on the sensor data, where a stop event indicates that a customer stopped while in transit to the merchant location. A most recent stop event prior to the interaction time may constitute the customer arriving/stopping at the merchant location, and a corresponding arrival time may be estimated. A wait time of the customer may be determined based on a difference between the interaction time and the arrival time.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

one or more processors;

memory; and

one or more computer-executable instructions stored in the memory and executable by the one or more processors to perform operations comprising;

receiving, via a mobile application that resides on a first device of a customer and that is associated with a service provider, an order for one or more food items, the order identifying a physical store location at which the customer is to pick up the one or more food items;

receiving, from the first device and while the customer is in transit to the physical store location, sensor data, the sensor data being obtained by one or more sensors of the first device and including at least one of location data, velocity data, or acceleration data;

receiving, from a second device associated with the physical store location, an indication that the customer was located at the physical store location and a first time that corresponds to the indication;

determining, based on the sensor data, multiple stop events while the customer is in transit to the physical store location, each stop event of the multiple stop events indicating a location and a time at which the first device moved less than a threshold amount for a predetermined amount of time;

identifying, from the multiple stop events, a stop event representative of an arrival of the customer at a designated item pick-up area at the physical store location, the stop event being most proximate in time to the first time as compared to other stop events of the multiple stop events;

determining a second time associated with the stop event; and

estimating a wait time of the customer between the arrival of the customer at the physical store location and the indication by determining a difference between the first time and the second time.

2. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining a predetermined distance that extends from and surrounds the physical store location;

determining that a location associated with the stop event is equal to or less than the predetermined distance from the physical store location; and

identifying the stop event based on the location associated with the stop event being equal to or less than the predetermined distance.

3. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise determining an average wait time for customers at the physical store location based on the wait time and other wait times previously determined for other customers that picked up food items from the physical store location.

4. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining an estimated time of arrival (ETA) of the customer with respect to the physical store location;

determining, based on the ETA, that an estimated amount of travel time from a current location of the customer to the physical store location is equal to or less than a threshold amount of time; and

identifying the stop event based on the estimated amount of travel time being equal to or less than the threshold amount of time.

5. A method comprising:

determining one or more stop events associated with a first device of a customer that is in transit to a physical location, the one or more stop events being based at least in part on sensor data obtained by the first device;

determining, based at least in part on an indication received from a second device associated with the physical location, a first time at which the customer was located at the physical location;

determining, from the one or more stop events, a stop event that corresponds to an arrival of the customer at the physical location; and

determining a wait time of the customer at the physical location based at least in part on the first time and a second time associated with the stop event.

6. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein determining the stop event comprises determining that the stop event is most proximate in time to the first time as compared to other stop events of the one or more stop events.

7. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein determining the one or more stop events comprises determining that at least one of a velocity or an acceleration of the first device was less than a threshold amount for a predetermined amount of time.

8. The method as recited in claim 5, further comprising:

receiving, from the first device, an indication that the customer is initiating travel to the physical location to pick up one or more items; and

receiving, from the first device and in response to receiving the indication, the sensor data, the sensor data including at least one of location data, velocity data, or acceleration data of the first device.

9. The method as recited in claim 5, further comprising sending, to the second device or a third device associated with the physical location, a notification that indicates the wait time of the customer at the physical location.

10. The method as recited in claim 5, further comprising:

determining a predetermined distance that extends from the physical location;

determining that a location associated with the stop event is equal to or less than the predetermined distance; and

identifying the stop event based at least in part on the location being equal to or less than the predetermined distance.

11. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein determining the one or more stop events comprises determining that a change in location of the first device was less than a threshold amount for a predetermined amount of time.

12. The method as recited in claim 5, further comprising identifying the stop event by:

receiving multiple sensor data points over a period of time;

determining a number of the sensor data points that indicate that the first device is moving less than a threshold amount; and

determining that the number is equal to or greater than threshold value.

13. The method as recited in claim 5, further comprising:

identifying historical data that indicates stop events for other customers that traveled to the physical location; and

determining that the stop event corresponds to the arrival of the customer at the physical location based at least in part on the historical data.

14. The method as recited in claim 5, further comprising:

determining a predetermined distance that extends from the physical location;

determining that a location associated with a second stop event of the one or more stop events is greater than the predetermined distance; and

disregarding the second stop event based at least in part on the location being greater than the predetermined distance.

15. A method comprising:

determining one or more stop events associated with a first device of a customer that is in transit to a physical location, the one or more stop events being based at least in part on sensor data obtained by the first device;

determining, based at least in part on an indication received from a second device associated with the physical location, a first time at which the customer was located at the physical location;

determining that a stop event of the one or more stop events is most proximate in time to the first time; and

determining that the stop event corresponds to an arrival of the customer at the physical location.

16. The method as recited in claim 15, further comprising determining a wait time of the customer at the physical location based at least in part on the first time and a second time associated with the stop event.

17. The method as recited in claim 16, further comprising at least one of:

sending, to the second device, a notification indicating the wait time;

determining an average wait time based at least in part on the wait time and previous wait times of other customers at the physical location;

or

sending, to the first device, an option to refund an order for one or more items for pick-up at the physical location.

18. The method as recited in claim 15, further comprising receiving, from the first device, the sensor data, the sensor data including at least one of location data, velocity data, or acceleration data of the first device.

19. The method as recited in claim 15, wherein determining the one or more stop events comprises determining that at least one of a velocity or an acceleration of the first device was less than a threshold amount for a predetermined amount of time.

20. The method as recited in claim 15, wherein determining the one or more stop events comprises determining that a change in location of the first device was less than a threshold amount for a predetermined amount of time.