Kiosk management system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10600095-B2
Application number	US-201314038706-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 26, 2013
Priority date	Sep 26, 2013
Publication date	Mar 24, 2020
Grant date	Mar 24, 2020

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.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. 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, from a user device associated with a consumer, a request to view items available for purchase from a set of pre-stocked kiosks, the request including a location of the user device;
identifying a subset of the set of pre-stocked kiosks that are within a predetermined proximity of the location of the user device;
transmitting a query, to each kiosk in the subset of the kiosks, requesting a list of items available at the kiosk;
generating a list of items available at the subset of the kiosks from one or more responses to the transmitted query;
providing, to the user device, the list of items available at the subset of the kiosks; receiving a request from the consumer to conduct a transaction for an item of the list of items;
receiving a query response, from each kiosk in the subset of the kiosks, with a 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 from 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;
identifying, from account information stored by the one or more computer systems associated with the consumer, pre-registered payment information;
generating a code to be used for retrieval of the item from the designated kiosk and providing the code to the user device;
upon receiving the code from the designated kiosk, providing instructions to the designated kiosk to dispense the item, wherein the code is transmitted to the designated kiosk by the user device; and
using the payment information to initiate a payment process for the item to complete the transaction.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
upon determining the item is excluded from the list of items available at the subset of the set of pre-stocked kiosks,
transmitting to the consumer a list of the subset of the set of pre-stocked kiosks that are within the predetermined proximity of the location of the consumer;
receiving a selection from the consumer of a designated kiosk from the list of the subset of the set of pre-stocked kiosks;
instructing delivery to a distribution agent of a consolidated shipment of items including the item for which the consumer requested that a transaction be conducted; and
following delivery by the distribution agent of the item to the designated kiosk, instructing the designated kiosk to reserve the item for retrieval by the consumer.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the request to view items available for purchase includes global positioning system coordinates that are automatically determined by the user device.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving account information associated with a plurality of consumers;
receiving transaction history information associated with one or more transactions conducted for one or more consumers in the plurality of consumers; and
analyzing the transaction history information and account information to identify one or more items with which to pre-stock at least one kiosk.

5. A computer-implemented method comprising:
upon receiving a request from a user device, transmitting a query, to each kiosk in a plurality of geographically distributed kiosks within a predetermined distance from the user device, requesting a storage status of individual items in a plurality of items in each kiosk;
receiving a query response, from each kiosk, with the storage status of the individual items in the plurality of items in each kiosk;
generating, based at least in part on the query responses received from the plurality of geographically distributed kiosks, a list of available items from the plurality of geographically distributed kiosks;
providing the list of available items from the plurality of geographically distributed kiosks to the user device;
receiving a request from the user device for an item in the list of available items;
identifying a subset of kiosks having the item from the plurality of geographically distributed kiosks based at least in part on the request and the query response;
transmitting a response to the user device including the identified subset of kiosks and a corresponding location for each kiosk in the subset of kiosks;
receiving a selection from the user device of a designated kiosk from the subset of kiosks;
transmitting a reservation request to the designated kiosk to reserve the item in the designated kiosk;
notifying the user device that the item is reserved at the designated kiosk;
generating a code to be associated with the reservation request;
transmitting the code to the user device; and
upon receiving an indication that the user device has communicated the code to the designated kiosk, causing the designated kiosk to distribute the item.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 , further comprising:
receiving a location designated by a user, wherein identifying the subset of kiosks comprises identifying which kiosks from the plurality of geographically distributed kiosks are within a predetermined proximity of the location designated by the user, the subset of kiosks from the plurality of geographically distributed kiosks identified based at least in part on being within the predetermined proximity of the location designated by the user.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 , wherein the request for the item is received via a communications network from at least one of a device utilized by a user or a retail network site utilized by a user.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 , wherein the reservation request identifies a predetermined amount of time for retrieval of the item from the designated kiosk.

9. 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;
receive, from a user device, a request to view available items, the request including geographic location information related to the user device;
identify a subset of the plurality of kiosks within a predetermined distance from the user device;
transmit a query, to each kiosk in the subset of 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;
aggregate the storage status of the individual items in each kiosk into a list of items available within the predetermined distance from the user device;
provide the list of items available to the user device;
receive a request

Assignees

• Amazon Tech Inc

Inventors

• Ackerman Neil Scott

Classifications

• G06Q30/0603 Primary

  Catalogue creation or management · CPC title

• G06Q10/0836

  Recipient pick-ups · CPC title