US 2015/0088731 A1Published application

Kiosk management system

AssigneeAmazon Technologies, Inc.

InventorNeil Scott Ackerman

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Abstract

A kiosk management system may identify items with which to pre-stock a plurality of geographically distributed kiosks. The identified items may be delivered from a distribution center to one or more distribution agents, who then deliver the identified items to individual kiosks. When the kiosk management system receives a request for an item from a consumer who has been browsing items in, e.g., an electronic marketplace, the kiosk management system can determine whether the requested item is available at any kiosks in proximity of the consumer and provide a list of such kiosks to the consumer for selection. Following selection of a kiosk by the consumer, the kiosk management system can send the consumer a notification identifying the designated kiosk and including a generated code for use by the consumer in retrieving of the requested item from the designated kiosk.

Claims24

Dependent claims

A computer-implemented method for conducting a transaction for an item, the computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, by one or more computer systems configured with specific computer executable instructions, a request from a consumer to conduct a transaction for an item stored among kiosks pre-stocked with a plurality of items available for purchase;
identifying a subset of the kiosks that are within a predetermined proximity of a location of the consumer;
transmitting a query, to each kiosk in the subset of the kiosks, requesting a storage status of the item for each kiosk in the subset;
receiving a query response, from each kiosk in the subset of the kiosks, with the storage status of the item for each kiosk in the subset;
identifying a plurality of kiosks in the subset of the kiosks that are pre-stocked with the item based at least in part on the storage status of each kiosk;
transmitting to the consumer a list of the identified plurality of kiosks, the list including a corresponding location for each of the identified plurality of kiosks;
receiving a selection from the consumer of a designated kiosk from the list;
indicating to the consumer that the item has been reserved at the designated kiosk;
subsequent to the consumer initiating retrieval of the item from the designated kiosk, receiving a communication from the designated kiosk to verify an identity of the consumer based at least in part on the request;
obtaining, from the designated kiosk, pre-registered payment information associated with the consumer;
and
using the payment information to initiate a payment process for the item to complete the transaction.

9 more elements

A system comprising:

a data store configured to store transaction history information for one or more items;
and
a computing device comprising a processor device and a memory, the computing device in communication with the data store and configured to at least:
select, based at least in part on the transaction history information, one or more items to be pre-stored in each kiosk of a plurality of kiosks;
instruct delivery of the one or more items by a distribution agent to each kiosk of a plurality of kiosks;
transmit a query, to each kiosk in the plurality of kiosks, requesting a storage status of individual items in each kiosk;
receive a query response, from each kiosk in the plurality of kiosks, with the storage status of the individual items in each kiosk;
receive a request from a consumer for an item, the requested item excluded from the one or more items for which delivery was instructed;
identify a subset of kiosks from the plurality of kiosks based at least in part on the request from the consumer and the query response;
transmit a response to the consumer with information identifying the subset of kiosks and a corresponding location for each kiosk in the subset of kiosks;
receive a selection from the consumer of a designated kiosk from the subset of kiosks;
instruct delivery of the requested item, along with other items selected to be stored in the designated kiosk, by the distribution agent to the designated kiosk;
instruct the designated kiosk to reserve the requested item for the consumer;
and
notify the consumer that the requested item is stored at the designated kiosk.

12 more elements

A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a computer system, configure the computer system to perform operations comprising:

receiving at least one of transaction history information or inventory information for a plurality of items;
selecting, from the plurality of items, one or more items to be delivered from an inventory entity to each kiosk of a plurality of kiosks, wherein the selecting is based at least in part on the at least one of transaction history information or inventory information;
generating instructions for a distribution agent to receive the selected one or more items from the inventory entity and deliver the selected one or more items to each kiosk of the plurality of kiosks;
and
provide to the plurality of kiosks information associated with the instructions generated for the distribution agent, wherein each kiosk in the plurality of kiosks is placed in a geographical location to autonomously distribute the selected one or more items to a plurality of consumers, causing each kiosk to be pre-stocked with the one or more selected items.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.