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US 2011/0035230 A1Published application
Handling household tasks
AssigneeLaundry Locker, Inc.
InventorArik Seth Levy
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
In an embodiment, articles are left in storage areas, such as lockers or other receptacles, which may be associated with a household services company. In an embodiment, after depositing the articles in the storage area the articles are associated with the user by the household services company based on a claim by a user of using the storage area and/or tags associated with the articles.
Claims15
A method comprising:
- receiving articles in a storage area associated with a laundry service, the storage area being associated with an identifier that was assigned to the storage area prior to a user visiting the storage area, the storage area having a purely mechanical lock and a purely mechanical key, the key mechanically locking and mechanically unlocking the lock;
- allowing a user to take the key with the user, without being required to be at a location associated with the laundry service;
- receiving a notification that the articles are associated with the storage area, the notification including the identifier associated with the storage area and an identifier associated with the user and the notification being generated by the user, the notification being received via the Internet;
- associating the user with the articles based on the identifier associated with the storage area, and the identifier associated with the user;
- servicing the articles;
- and
- returning the articles to the storage area.
4 more elements
A method comprising:
- receiving articles in a storage area associated with a laundry service;
- allowing a user to take the key, the user being one from which the articles were received in the storage area;
- and
- receiving a notification that the articles are associated with the storage area,
- wherein the storage area is associated with a purely mechanical lock and a purely mechanical key;
- associating a user with the articles after establishing an account for a user associated with the articles and receiving the notification;
- cleaning the article;
- and
- returning the article to the storage area.
6 more elements
A system comprising:
- a storage area for receiving articles, the storage area being associated with a laundry service, the storage area having a purely mechanical lock and a purely mechanical key for locking the storage area, the storage area being stationary;
- the lock being configured such that removing the key locks the lock and such that in order for the lock to be in an unlocked state the key must be in the lock, therein encouraging a user to leave the key the in the lock when finished using the storage area;
- and
- one or more computer readable media storing thereon at least a method including at least receiving a request to service articles from the customer, the request including at least
- an identification of a location associated with a laundry service where the articles were placed by the user in the storage area,
- and
- information identifying the user.
4 more elements
A system comprising:
- one or more computer readable media storing thereon at least a method including at least receiving a request to service articles, the request including at least
- an identification of a location associated with a laundry service where the articles were placed by a user, and
- information identifying the user;
- receiving user service instructions from the user;
- and
- service equipment configured for automatically servicing the articles according to the user service instructions after the articles are placed into the service equipment.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.