US 2026/0010862 A1Published application

Method and system for managing delivery resources

AssigneeOcado Innovation Limited

InventorsTim STEINER, Piotr SZOPA, Bartosz MALOCHA, Lukasz OPALUCH

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Abstract

A method of managing delivery resources comprising, for each of a plurality of delivery resources, defining a resource finalization time, an advance availability period, a deferred availability period, and a deferred availability release time. The method then further comprises, upon receiving a delivery slot request for an order, identifying delivery time slots for the order that can be fulfilled by one or more of the plurality of delivery resources, enabling selection of any one of identified delivery time slots, receiving a selection of one of the identified time slots and assigning the order to any of the plurality of delivery resources that can fulfil the selected delivery time slot and, after the resource finalization time of the assigned delivery resource, sending instructions to a storage and retrieval portion of the system to initiate picking and packing of the order, and loading of the order on to the delivery resource.

Claims19

Dependent claims

A method of managing delivery resources, the method comprising:

for each of a plurality of delivery resources, defining a resource finalization time, an advance availability period, a deferred availability period, and a deferred availability release time;
upon receiving a delivery slot request for an order, identifying delivery time slots for the order that can be fulfilled by one or more of the plurality of delivery resources, enabling selection of any one of identified delivery time slots, receiving a selection of one of the identified time slots and assigning the order to any of the plurality of delivery resources that can fulfil the selected delivery time slot;
and
after the resource finalization time of the assigned delivery resource, sending instructions to a storage and retrieval portion of the system to initiate picking and packing of the order, and loading of the order on to the delivery resource;
wherein the step of identifying delivery time slots for the order that can be fulfilled by one or more of the plurality of delivery resources comprises:
identifying the delivery resources that are capable of delivering the order;
for each of the identified delivery resources:
if an order request time is before the deferred availability release time defined for the delivery resource, identifying any available delivery time slots that are within the advance availability period of the delivery resource;
and
if an order request time is after the deferred availability release time and before the resource finalization time defined for the delivery resource, identifying any available delivery time slots that are within any of the advance availability period and the deferred availability period of the delivery resource.

7 more elements

A system for managing delivery resources, the system comprising:

a storage and retrieval portion arranged to store items;
a memory storing a definition for each of a plurality of delivery resources, each definition comprising a resource finalization time, an advance availability period, a deferred availability period, and a deferred availability release time;
a transceiver arranged to receive requests and to transmit responses;
and
one or more processors configured to, upon receiving a delivery slot request for an order, identify delivery time slots for the order that can be fulfilled by one or more of the plurality of delivery resources, enable selection of any one of identified delivery time slots, receive a selection of one of the identified time slots and assign the order to any of the plurality of delivery resources that can fulfil the selected delivery time slot;
wherein the one or more processors are further configured to, after the resource finalization time of the assigned delivery resource, send instructions to the storage and retrieval portion to initiate picking and packing of the order, and loading of the order on to the assigned delivery resource;
wherein the step of identifying delivery time slots for the order that can be fulfilled by one or more of the plurality of delivery resources comprises:
identifying the delivery resources that are capable of delivering the order;
for each of the identified delivery resources:
if an order request time is before the deferred availability release time defined for the delivery resource, identifying any available delivery time slots that are within the advance availability period of the delivery resource;
and
if an order request time is after the deferred availability release time and before the resource finalization time defined for the delivery resource, identifying any available delivery time slots that are within any of the advance availability period and the deferred availability period of the delivery resource.

9 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 19/274,711Filed 21 Jul 2025
Priority: GB 2300866.720 Jan 2023
Published: 8 Jan 2026
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification10 codes

G06Q 10/08
Administration; Management: logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
G06Q 10/0834
Shipping: choice of carriers
G06Q 10/0631
Operations research, analysis or management: resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations
G06Q 10/06312
Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations: adjustment or analysis of established resource…