US 11,144,868 B1Granted

Visual graphic tracking of item shipment and delivery

AssigneeStamps.com Inc.

InventorsKenneth Thomas McBride, John Roland Clem, Charles John Atkinson

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Abstract

Exemplary embodiments of the present invention would determine exemplary projected routes, delivery dates, times and rates for multiple carriers and multiple delivery services/methods. Exemplary embodiments would generate and provide an exemplary interactive graphic comparison mapping of the exemplary projected carrier-specific, delivery-service-specific routes, and associated projected delivery dates, times and rates. Exemplary embodiments of the present invention would generate and provide an exemplary interactive graphic mapping of a projected carrier-specific, delivery-service-specific route, and associated projected delivery date, time and rate for a user-selected carrier and delivery service/method. Exemplary embodiments of the present invention would then track shipping/mailing progress and delivery status of the item according to carrier-provided shipping/mailing progress and delivery status “events,” such as, for example, carrier-provided item scanning events.

Claims18

Dependent claims

A system for facilitating item tracking visualization via time-triggered presentation of a tracking event prediction, the system comprising:

a computer system comprising one or more processors programmed with computer program instructions that, when executed, cause the computer system to:
obtain historical information related to tracking of previously-shipped items, the historical information indicating scan events for the previously-shipped items, carriers used to ship or deliver the previously-shipped items, shipping services used to ship or deliver the previously-shipped items, or routes used to ship or deliver the previously-shipped items;
determine a first predetermined time period related to shipment of a first item and a second predetermined time period related to shipment of a second item;
obtain, prior to an expiration of the first predetermined time period, a first tracking event update related to the first item, the first tracking event update indicating a current location of the first item;
predict a current location of the second item based on the historical information;
generate, based on the prediction, a predicted tracking event update related to the second item such that the predicted tracking event update indicates the predicted current location of the second item;
and
generate, and send to a user device, an item-specific, self-executing application configured to perform the following operations:
cause, based on the first tracking event update being obtained prior to the expiration of the first predetermined time period, a graphical representation of the first tracking event update to be presented on a user interface;
and
cause, based on a lack of a tracking event update occurring by an expiration of the second predetermined time period, a graphical representation of the predicted tracking event update related to the second item to be presented on a user interface, the graphical representation of the predicted tracking event update indicating the predicted current location of the second item.

8 more elements

A method for facilitating item tracking visualization via time-triggered presentation of a tracking event prediction, the method being implemented by one or more processors executing computer program instructions that, when executed, perform the method, the method comprising:

obtaining historical information related to tracking of previously-shipped items, the historical information indicating scan events for the previously-shipped items, carriers used to ship or deliver the previously-shipped items, shipping services used to ship or deliver the previously-shipped items, or routes used to ship or deliver the previously-shipped items;
determining a first predetermined time period related to shipment of a first item and a second predetermined time period related to shipment of a second item;
obtaining, prior to an expiration of the first predetermined time period, a first tracking event update related to the first item, the first tracking event update indicating a current location of the first item;
predicting a current location of the second item based on the historical information;
generating, based on the prediction, a predicted tracking event update related to the second item such that the predicted tracking event update indicates the predicted current location of the second item;
and
generating, and sending to a user device, an item-specific, self-executing application configured to perform the following operations:
causing, based on the first tracking event update being obtained prior to the expiration of the first predetermined time period, a graphical representation of the first tracking event update to be presented on a user interface;
and
causing, based on a lack of a tracking event update occurring by an expiration of the second predetermined time period, a graphical representation of the predicted tracking event update related to the second item to be presented on a user interface, the graphical representation of the predicted tracking event update indicating the predicted current location of the second item.

7 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.