MANAGING REQUESTS FOR IN-PERSON TRANSACTIONS

• US 20160063431A1
• Filed: 08/28/2015
• Published: 03/03/2016
• 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
• Granted Patent: US 9,996,817 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 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;

based on receiving the request;

transmitting, to at least one computer that manages inventory of the physical items for at least one of the multiple locations, the request to obtain the amount of physical items from the account, and

receiving, from the at least one computer that manages inventory of the physical items for at least one of the multiple locations and in response to transmitting the request, inventory availability information regarding;

availability, at one or more of the multiple locations, of the amount of physical items, and

availability, at each of the one or more of the multiple locations, of a combination of differently-sized subunits of physical items that satisfy the requested amount;

based on determining that the amount of physical items is available at one or more of the multiple locations, transmitting, to the device, the inventory availability information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the request received from the device further specifies that the amount of physical items are to be obtained from the account in the combination of differently-sized subunits of physical items.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

transmitting, to the device, a graphical user interface that allows selection of the combination of differently-sized subunits of physical items that satisfy the requested amount; and

based on a user'"'"'s interaction with the graphical user interface, determining the combination of differently-sized subunits of physical items that satisfy the requested amount.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

based on determining that the amount of physical items is available at one or more of the multiple locations,

determining authorization information that can be verified at the one or more of the multiple locations to authorize obtaining the amount of physical items from the account; and

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

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

receiving the authorization information from the at least one computer that manages inventory of the physical items for at least one of the multiple locations; and

transmitting the received authorization information to the device.

6. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

receiving the authorization information from the 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 multiple locations.

7. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

generating the authorization information; and

transmitting the generated authorization information to both the device and the at least one computer that manages inventory of the physical items for at least one of the multiple 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 device, a map-based graphical user interface that displays at least the one or more of the multiple locations at which the amount of physical items is available, and

receiving, from the device, a selection of a particular location at which obtaining the amount of physical items is requested.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the request further includes a specified time at which the amount of physical items is to be obtained from the account.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting, to the at least one computer that manages inventory of the physical items for the at least one of the multiple locations, the request to obtain the amount of physical items from the account comprises:

transmitting, to the at least one 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 received from the at least one computer that manages inventory of the physical items for at least one of the multiple locations.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving, from the at least one computer that manages inventory of the physical items for at least one of the multiple locations and in response to transmitting the request, inventory availability information comprises:

receiving, from the at least one computer, a time at which the amount of physical items will be available at the one or more of the multiple locations.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting, to the device, the inventory availability information comprises:

transmitting, to the device, at least one of a text message, an email, or a pop-up display that includes the inventory availability information.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

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

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a list of people who are authorized to obtain the amount of physical items from the account; and

based on the list of people, determining that the request specifies a person who is authorized to obtain the amount of physical items from the account.

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 physical currency from the account.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting that the request to obtain the amount of physical items from the account indicates unusual activity; and

sending alert information regarding the detected unusual activity to at least one of the authorized supervisor or the at least one computer that manages inventory of the physical items for at least one of the multiple locations.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein detecting that the request to obtain the amount of physical items from the account indicates unusual activity comprises:

accessing one or more rules that have been specified for authorized obtainment of physical items from the account.

21. A system comprising:

one or more computers; and

a 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 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;

based on receiving the request;

transmitting, to at least one computer that manages inventory of the physical items for at least one of the multiple locations, the request to obtain the amount of physical items from the account, and

receiving, from the at least one computer that manages inventory of the physical items for at least one of the multiple locations and in response to transmitting the request, inventory availability information regarding;

availability, at one or more of the multiple locations, of the amount of physical items, and

availability, at each of the one or more of the multiple locations, of a combination of differently-sized subunits of physical items that satisfy the requested amount;

based on determining that the amount of physical items is available at one or more of the multiple locations, transmitting, to the device, the inventory availability information.

22. A 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 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;

based on receiving the request;

transmitting, to at least one computer that manages inventory of the physical items for at least one of the multiple locations, the request to obtain the amount of physical items from the account, and

receiving, from the at least one computer that manages inventory of the physical items for at least one of the multiple locations and in response to transmitting the request, inventory availability information regarding;

availability, at one or more of the multiple locations, of the amount of physical items, and

availability, at each of the one or more of the multiple locations, of a combination of differently-sized subunits of physical items that satisfy the requested amount;

based on determining that the amount of physical items is available at one or more of the multiple locations, transmitting, to the device, the inventory availability information.