Scheduling delivery of products via the internet Number:7,437,305 from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) owispatent Methods and apparatus for scheduling delivery of an order via a wide area network. A delivery interface is generated in which a plurality of delivery windows are presented. The delivery interface is transmitted to a remote platform via the wide area network. In response to selection of a first one of the plurality of delivery windows, it is determined whether the order may be delivered in the first delivery window. Where it is determined that the order may be delivered in the first delivery window, delivery of the order is scheduled in the first delivery window.<H Scheduling, internet, Scheduling, deli, 7437305.html, Patent, pto, 7437305

Title: Scheduling delivery of products via the internet

Abstract: Methods and apparatus for scheduling delivery of an order via a wide area network. A delivery interface is generated in which a plurality of delivery windows are presented. The delivery interface is transmitted to a remote platform via the wide area network. In response to selection of a first one of the plurality of delivery windows, it is determined whether the order may be delivered in the first delivery window. Where it is determined that the order may be delivered in the first delivery window, delivery of the order is scheduled in the first delivery window.

Patent Number: 7,437,305 Issued on 10/14/2008 to Kantarjiev, et al.

Inventors: Kantarjiev; Christopher Angel (Palo Alto, CA), Nijhawan; Sandeep (San Jose, CA), Miller; Justin (Sunnyvale, CA)
Appl. No.: 09/568,613

Filed: May 10, 2000

Related U.S. Patent Documents


Application Number	Filing Date	Patent Number	Issue Date
60133646	May., 1999

Current U.S. Class: 705/8 ; 705/7; 705/9

Current International Class: G06Q 10/00 (20060101)

Field of Search: 705/8,9

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Primary Examiner: Boyce; Andre

Parent Case Text

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims priority from U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/133,646 entitled ELECTRONIC COMMERCE ENABLED DELIVERY SYSTEM AND METHOD filed May 11, 1999, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference for all purposes. The present application also relates to a number of commonly assigned, copending U.S. patent applications filed simultaneously herewith including U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/568,603 for INTEGRATED SYSTEM FOR ORDERING, FULFILLMENT, AND DELIVERY OF CONSUMER PRODUCTS USING A DATA NETWORK, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/568,570 for INVENTORY REPLICATION BASED UPON ORDER FULFILLMENT RATES, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/568,614 for REAL-TIME DISPLAY OF AVAILABLE PRODUCTS OVER THE INTERNET, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/568,572 for TECHNIQUE FOR PROCESSING CUSTOMER SERVICE TRANSACTIONS AT CUSTOMER SITE USING MOBILE COMPUTING DEVICE, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/568,823 for LOAD BALANCING TECHNIQUE IMPLEMENTED IN A DATA NETWORK DEVICE UTILIZING A DATA CACHE, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/568,569, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,622,127 B1, for ORDER ALLOCATION TO SELECT FROM INVENTORY LOCATIONS STOCKING FEW UNITS OF INVENTORY, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/566,912, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,332,334 B1, for METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR HANDLING AND TRANSPORTING TEMPERATURE-SENSITIVE ITEMS, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/568,571 for ORDER ALLOCATION TO MINIMIZE CONTAINER STOPS IN A DISTRIBUTION CENTER. Each of the disclosures of these copending applications is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety for all purposes.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A computer implemented method for scheduling delivery of an order by an electronic commerce system via a wide area network, the electronic commerce system having a transportation system, said method comprising: generating a delivery interface in which a plurality of delivery windows are presented, the plurality of delivery windows being presented for scheduling delivery of the order using at least one of a plurality of existing delivery routes, the delivery interface that is generated being dependent on at least delivery routes information and a location of a customer; transmitting the delivery interface to a remote computer via the wide area network, the remote computer being associated with the customer that has placed the order; in response to selection by the customer of a first one of the plurality of delivery windows via the remote computer, determining via access to the transportation system of the electronic commerce system whether the order may be delivered in the first delivery window; and where it is determined that the order may be delivered in the first delivery window, scheduling delivery of the order in the first delivery window, wherein said method is performed prior to beginning delivery of the order, wherein generating the delivery interface comprises determining which of the plurality of delivery windows are available for delivery of the order with reference to currently available delivery resources, and wherein determining which of the plurality of delivery windows are available comprises estimating in accordance with an estimated order size whether the order may be accommodated by at least one of the plurality of existing delivery routes.

2. The method of claim 1 location of the customer is defined via latitude and longitude of the location, and wherein generating the delivery interface is done in response to receiving an indication from the customer via the wide area network that scheduling delivery of the order is desired.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein determining which of the plurality of delivery windows are available for delivery of the order is also done with reference to at least one of a plurality of previously scheduled delivery stops in a geographic zone associated with the order.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein determining which of the plurality of delivery windows are available for delivery of the order is done to avoid compromising a commitment associated with the at least one previously scheduled delivery stop.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein estimating whether the order may be accommodated on any of the plurality of existing delivery routes comprises computing slack time between the previously scheduled delivery stops on each of the existing delivery routes, estimating whether the order may be delivered in the slack time, and where the order may be delivered in the slack time, designating any of the delivery windows associated with the slack time as available.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein estimating whether the order may be delivered in the slack time comprises determining a new delivery stop duration for a new delivery stop corresponding to the order and comparing it with the slack time.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the new delivery stop duration comprises a driving component, a parking component, and a service component.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the slack time is associated with first and second previously scheduled delivery stops, the driving component of the new delivery stop duration comprising first driving time from the first previously scheduled delivery stop to the new delivery stop, and second driving time from the new delivery stop to the second previously scheduled delivery stop.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein the parking component of the new delivery stop duration comprises a default parking time for parking in the zone associated with the new delivery stop.

10. The method of claim 7 wherein the service component of the new delivery stop duration comprises a default service time for servicing a standard delivery.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein transmitting the delivery interface comprises transmitting a grid representing the plurality of delivery windows, selected ones of the delivery windows being represented as available.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein representing the selected delivery windows as available comprises presenting a graphic associated with the selected delivery windows.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the order is associated with a new delivery stop, the method further comprising for a first one of the selected delivery windows indicating that a previously scheduled delivery is being made near the new delivery stop and close in time to the first selected delivery window.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein indicating that a previously scheduled delivery is being made near the new delivery stop and close in time to the first selected delivery window comprises associating a graphic icon with the first selected delivery window.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the graphic icon represents a house.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein determining whether the order may be delivered in the first delivery window comprises determining whether a new delivery stop associated with the first order may be accommodated in the first delivery window with reference to at least one previously scheduled delivery stop in a geographic zone associated with the order.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprising where the new delivery stop cannot be accommodated in the first delivery window, adjusting at least one parameter associated with the new delivery stop and determining again whether the new delivery stop may be accommodated in the first delivery window.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the at least one parameter comprises a service component which includes a default service time for servicing a standard delivery.

19. The method of claim 17 further comprising during a closed period in which scheduling of additional delivery stops is not allowed, optimizing all scheduled delivery stops on all of the existing delivery routes.

20. The method of claim 16 wherein determining whether the order may be delivered in the first delivery window is done to avoid compromising a commitment associated with the at least one previously scheduled delivery stop.

21. The method of claim 16 wherein determining whether the order may be delivered in the first delivery window comprises computing slack time between first and second previously scheduled delivery stops on at least one of the existing delivery routes associated with the first delivery window, determining whether the order may be delivered in the slack time, and where the order may be delivered in the slack time, scheduling delivery of the order in the first delivery window.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein determining whether the order may be delivered in the slack time comprises determining a new delivery stop duration for the new delivery stop and comparing it with the slack time.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein the new delivery stop duration comprises a driving component, a parking component, and a service component.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein the slack time is associated with the first and second previously scheduled delivery stops, the driving component of the new delivery stop duration comprising first driving time from the first previously scheduled delivery stop to the new delivery stop, and second driving time from the new delivery stop to the second previously scheduled delivery stop.

25. The method of claim 23 wherein the parking component of the new delivery stop duration comprises a default parking time for parking in the zone associated with the new delivery stop.

26. The method of claim 23 wherein the service component of the new delivery stop duration comprises a default service time for servicing a standard delivery.

27. The method of claim 1 wherein the order has a first parameter associated therewith regarding a number of units, the method further comprising updating the first parameter at check out and determining again whether the order may be delivered in the first delivery window.

28. The method of claim 27 wherein updating the first parameter comprises determining the number of units with reference to the order.

29. The method of claim 28 wherein determining the number of units is done with reference to a total volume associated with the order.

30. The method of claim 27 further comprising where it is determined that the order may not be delivered in the first delivery window, readjusting the first parameter until the order may be delivered in the first delivery window.

31. A computer implemented method for generating a delivery interface in which a plurality of delivery windows are presented on a remote platform via a wide area network, the method comprising: determining which of a plurality of delivery windows are available for scheduling delivery of an order with reference to currently available delivery resources and at least one previously scheduled delivery stop, the order being with an electronic commerce system utilizing a transportation system for deliveries; presenting the plurality of delivery windows to a customer that is scheduling delivery of the order; and in response to selection by the customer of a selected one of the plurality of delivery windows, determining via access to the transportation system utilized by the electronic commerce system whether the order may be delivered in the selected delivery window, wherein determining which of the plurality of delivery windows are available comprises estimating in accordance with an estimated order size whether the order may be accommodated on at least one of a plurality of existing delivery routes supported by the transportation system, wherein said method is performed prior to beginning delivery of the order, and wherein estimating whether the order may be accommodated on any of the plurality of existing delivery routes comprises computing a slack time between the previously scheduled delivery stops on each of the existing delivery routes, estimating whether the order may be delivered in the slack time, and where the order may be delivered in the slack time, designating any of the delivery windows associated with the slack time as available.

32. The method of claim 31 wherein determining which of the plurality of delivery windows are available for delivery of the order is done to avoid compromising a commitment associated with the at least one previously scheduled delivery stop.

33. The method of claim 31 wherein computing the slack time comprises using approximations of driving speed and driving distance based on straight-line distances determined from a latitude and a longitude associated with the order.

34. The method of claim 31 wherein estimating whether the order may be delivered in the slack time comprises determining a new delivery stop duration for a new delivery stop corresponding to the order and comparing it with the slack time.

35. The method of claim 34 wherein the new delivery stop duration comprises a driving component, a parking component, and a service component.

36. The method of claim 35 wherein the slack time is associated with first and second previously scheduled delivery stops, the driving component of the new delivery stop duration comprising first driving time from the first previously scheduled delivery stop to the new delivery stop, and second driving time from the new delivery stop to the second previously scheduled delivery stop.

37. The method of claim 35 wherein the parking component of the new delivery stop duration comprises a default parking time for parking in a geographic zone associated with the new delivery stop.

38. The method of claim 35 wherein the service component of the new delivery stop duration comprises a default service time for servicing a standard delivery.

39. The method of claim 35 wherein at least one of the driving component, the parking component,