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US 11,769,108 B2Granted
Determining alternative delivery destinations
AssigneeUnited Parcel Service of America, Inc.
InventorsJeffrey Carl Sager, William Gensburg
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Systems, methods, apparatus, and computer program products are provided for determining alternative delivery destinations. For example, in various embodiments, a method may be provided comprising receiving shipping information/data for an item indicating the item to be delivered to an original consignee by a carrier and comprising at least a default delivery location, determining whether the original consignee has indicated a first priority alternative consignee among one or more alternative consignees, and in an instance in which a determination is made that the original consignee has indicated the first priority alternative consignee among the one or more alternative consignees, delivering the item to the first priority alternative consignee.
Claims20
A method for delivering an item to an alternative final delivery destination the method comprising:
- receiving the item at a facility within a delivery network;
- receiving, via a data transmission computer network, shipping information/data for the item, the shipping information/data, input at a client device, indicating the item to be delivered to an original consignee, the original consignee being a default customer for which the item is scheduled be delivered for at a default delivery location, the default delivery location being an address indicated on a shipping label as indicated by a consignor;
- determining whether the original consignee is one participant among a plurality of participants in an alternate consignee delivery network, each participant, of the plurality of participants, being able to select, an alternative consignee from among the plurality of participants in the alternative consignee delivery network when the participant is unavailable to receive items for acting as the alternative consignee, the alternative consignee being another customer associated with another delivery location;
- in response to a determination that the original consignee is among the plurality of participants in the alternative consignee delivery network, determining that the original consignee has not indicated a first priority alternative consignee among the plurality of participants in the alternative consignee delivery network to deliver the item to, wherein the first priority alternative consignee is associated with a respective alternative delivery location that is a candidate for delivery of the item;
- at least partially in response to the determining that the original consignee has not indicated the first priority alternative consignee, determining, using a location determining device of an unattended vehicle associated with the original consignee, a first set of coordinates of the location determining device;
- subsequent to the determining of the first set of coordinates, receiving a code entered at a carrier device of a carrier service provider;
- in response to the receiving of the code, causing, by one or more processors, a control signal to be sent from the carrier device to the unattended vehicle that causes the unattended vehicle to open or unlock such that the unattended vehicle is able to receive the item.
4 more elements
A system for delivering an item to an alternative final delivery destination, the system comprising:
- a carrier system, comprising one or more processors, that operates to:
- receive, over a wired or wireless protocol computer network and via input at a user interface of a client device, shipping information for the item, the item located at a facility within a delivery network, the shipping information indicating the item to be delivered to an original consignee by a carrier and comprising at least a default delivery location, the original consignee being a default customer for which the item is scheduled be delivered for at a default delivery location, the default delivery location being an address on a shipping label as indicated by a consignor;
- determine whether the original consignee is one participant among a plurality of participants in an alternate consignee delivery network;
- upon determination that the original consignee is among the plurality of participants in the alternative consignee delivery network, determine, based at least in part on whether a selection was made to the user interface of the client device, whether the original consignee has indicated a first priority alternative consignee among the plurality of participants in the alternative consignee delivery network to deliver the item to, wherein the first priority alternative consignee being another customer and is associated with a respective alternative delivery location for delivery of the item;
- and
- the delivery network comprising one or more facilities or third party car monitoring service, that operates to:
- based on whether the original consignee has indicated, via the user interface, the first priority alternative consignee among the one or more alternative consignees, determine, via a location determining device of an unattended vehicle associated with the original consignee or the first priority alternative consignee, a first set of coordinates of the location determining device;
- and
- based at least in part on receiving a code entered at a carrier device of a carrier service provider, send, by the one or more processors, a control signal from the carrier device to the unattended vehicle that causes the unattended vehicle to open or unlock such that the item is able to be placed in the unattended vehicle.
6 more elements
A system for delivering an item to an alternative final delivery destination, the system comprising:
- a computer program product comprising at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program code portions stored therein, the computer-readable program code portions comprising:
- an executable portion configured to receive, over a computer network, shipping information for the item, the item located at a facility within a delivery network, the shipping information, input at a client device, indicating the item to be delivered to an original consignee by a carrier, the original consignee being a default person or organization for which the item is scheduled be delivered for at a default delivery location;
- an executable portion configured to determine whether the original consignee is one participant among a plurality of participants in an alternate consignee delivery network;
- an executable portion configured to, upon determination that the original consignee is among the plurality of participants in the alternative consignee delivery network, determine whether the original consignee has indicated a first priority alternative consignee among the plurality of participants in the alternative consignee delivery network, wherein the first priority alternative consignee is another person or organization associated with a respective alternative delivery location that is a candidate for receiving the item;
- and
- in an instance in which a determination is made that the original consignee has indicated the first priority alternative consignee among the one or more alternative consignees, send a control signal to an unattended vehicle associated with the first priority alternative consignee to open or unlock the unattended vehicle for delivery of the item from the facility to the unattended vehicle as a final delivery location instead of the default delivery location.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.