Out-of-store purchase routing systems, methods, and media
AssigneeSears Brands, L.L.C.
InventorJinxiang Pei
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Systems, methods, and media for picking-up and delivering products are disclosed. Some embodiments route shoppers to acquire products for multiple customers orders from multiple suppliers using a variety of transportation modes. The transportation modes may differing maximum weight carrying and volume carrying capacities, maximum vehicle speeds. Moreover, some embodiments may account for a different number vehicles for each transportation mode and may further account for the availability of shoppers and vehicles.
Claims18
A computer-implemented method comprising:
- forming, from a plurality of customer orders, a first collection of products to be acquired from a plurality of suppliers;
- generating a set of first routes for acquiring the first collection of products from the plurality of suppliers via a first mode of transportation;
- assigning a subset of first routes to one or more shoppers that use the first mode of transportation;
- forming a second collection of products by removing, from the first collection, products to be acquired via the assigned subset of first routes;
- generating a set of second routes for acquiring the second collection of products from the plurality of suppliers via a second mode of transportation;
- assigning a subset of second routes to one or more shoppers that use the second mode of transportation;
- and
- instructing the shoppers to acquire products from the plurality of suppliers per their assigned routes and their respective mode of transportation.
A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising a plurality of instructions that, in response to being executed, causes an order fulfillment system to:
- form, from a plurality of customer orders, a first collection of products to be acquired from a plurality of suppliers;
- generate a set of first routes for acquiring the first collection of products from the plurality of suppliers via a first mode of transportation;
- assign a subset of first routes to one or more shoppers that use the first mode of transportation;
- form a second collection of products by removing, from the first collection, products to be acquired via the assigned subset of first routes;
- generate a set of second routes for acquiring the second collection of products from the plurality of suppliers via a second mode of transportation;
- assign a subset of second routes to one or more shoppers that use the second mode of transportation;
- and
- instruct the shoppers to acquire products from the plurality of suppliers per their assigned routes and their respective mode of transportation.
An order fulfillment system, comprising:
- one or more vehicles corresponding to a first mode of transportation;
- one or more vehicles corresponding to a second mode of transportation;
- and
- an e-commerce platform configured to:
- form, from a plurality of customer orders, a first collection of products to be acquired from a plurality of suppliers;
- generate a set of first routes for acquiring the first collection of products from the plurality of suppliers via vehicles corresponding to the first mode of transportation;
- assign a subset of first routes to one or more shoppers that use vehicles corresponding to the first mode of transportation;
- form a second collection of products by removing, from the first collection, products to be acquired via the assigned subset of first routes;
- generate a set of second routes for acquiring the second collection of products from the plurality of suppliers via vehicles corresponding to the second mode of transportation;
- assign a subset of second routes to one or more shoppers that use vehicles corresponding to the second mode of transportation;
- and
- instruct the shoppers to acquire products from the plurality of suppliers per their assigned routes and vehicles of their respective mode of transportation.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.