Systems and methods of managing item pickup at attended delivery/pickup locations

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10929806-B2
Application number	US-201414201029-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 7, 2014
Priority date	Mar 12, 2013
Publication date	Feb 23, 2021
Grant date	Feb 23, 2021

Abstract

Systems and methods for facilitating pick up of items delivered to attended delivery/pickup locations. In various embodiments, the system is configured for confirming an identity of a person attempting to pick up a parcel from an attended delivery/pickup location before releasing the parcel to the person. The system may confirm the identity by receiving identifying information, by confirming a geographic location of a person attempting to retrieve the parcel, etc. In some embodiments, the system may be configure to enable parcel recipients to provide other persons the authorization to retrieve parcels and may be further configured to confirm this authorization before releasing parcels to a person other than the intended parcel recipient.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method of delivering a parcel to an alternate delivery/pickup location, the method comprising:
providing, by at least one processor, a selection of one or more attended delivery/pickup locations to a first user;
receiving, by at least one processor, a request from the first user to deliver one or more parcels to a particular one of the one or more attended delivery/pickup locations, the one or more parcels having one or more intended parcel recipients;
providing, by at least one processor, an electronic identification (ID) to a user device associated with the one or more intended parcel recipients;
facilitating delivery, by at least one processor, of the one or more parcels from an origin location to the particular one of the one or more attended delivery/pickup locations;
receiving, by at least one processor, a first indication of a delivery of the one or more parcels at the particular one of the one or more attended delivery/pickup locations, wherein the first indication comprises scanning a barcode associated with the one or more parcels when presented to the particular one of the one or more attended delivery/pickup locations;
receiving, by at least one processor, a second indication of an attempt to pickup the one or more parcels from the particular one of the one or more attended delivery/pickup locations;
based at least in part on the first indication and the second indication, confirming the attempt was by at least one of the one or more intended parcel recipients by:
deriving information from the electronic ID of the user device by using Optical Character Recognition and comparing the information that the electronic ID includes with information associated with the one or more intended parcel recipients; or
determining the electronic ID is at a particular geographical location and close enough to a computing device to communicate with the computing device using near-field communication, wherein the computing device is located at the particular one of the one or more attended delivery/pickup locations;

based at least in part on the confirming the attempt, validating the electronic ID; and
at least partially in response to the confirming the attempt and the validating the electronic ID, causing physical release, by at least one processor, of the one or more parcels to the one or more intended parcel recipients.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more intended parcel recipients comprise the first user.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the confirming the attempt comprises receiving an identifying input from the one or more intended parcel recipients.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3 , wherein the identifying input is selected from a group consisting of:
(a) an image of a machine-readable indicia associated with the one or more intended parcel recipients;
(b) the electronic ID associated with the one or more intended parcel recipients; and
(c) an image of a photo ID associated with the one or more intended parcel recipients.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 3 , wherein the method further comprises:
facilitating provision, by at least one processor, of the electronic ID associated with the one or more intended parcel recipients to the one or more intended parcel recipients; and
the identifying input comprises the electronic ID.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 , wherein receiving the identifying input from the one or more intended parcel recipients comprises:
receiving the identifying input from a representative associated with the particular one of the one or more attended delivery/pickup locations; and
enabling release of the one or more parcels to the one or more intended parcel recipients comprises providing one or more instructions to the representative to release the one or more parcels.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 , wherein the method further comprises enabling, by at least one processor, the one or more intended parcel recipients to display the electronic ID on a computing device associated with the one or more intended parcel recipients.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7 , wherein confirming the attempt is based at least in part on demographic data associated with the particular one of the one or more attended delivery/pickup locations.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the confirming the attempt comprises substantially automatically confirming a location of the one or more intended parcel recipients.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9 , wherein the confirming the attempt comprises determining that a computing device associated with the one or more intended parcel recipients is geographically located at the particular one of the one or more attended delivery/pickup locations.

11. A computer system for facilitating delivery of a parcel to a recipient comprises:
at least one processor, wherein the computer system is configured for:
receiving, from a first computing device associated with a first user, a first request to deliver one or more parcels to an attended delivery/pickup location, the first request comprising an intended recipient for the one or more parcels;
at least partially in response to receiving the first request:
providing an electronic identification (ID) to the first computing device, wherein the electronic ID is transferable to a second computing device;
providing, via an application stored on the first computing device, the electronic ID to the second computing device by providing an image of machine readable indicia associated with the electronic ID to the second computing device;
facilitating delivery of the one or more parcels to the attended delivery/pickup location;
confirming delivery of the one or more parcels to the attended delivery/pickup location by scanning a barcode associated with the one or more parcels when delivered;
receiving, at the attended delivery/pickup location, a second request to retrieve the one or more delivered parcels from the second computing device associated with a second user;
validating the electronic ID based on scanning the barcode and receiving location coordinates from the second computing device while the one or more delivered parcels are being picked up;
confirming an authorization of the second user to retrieve the one or more parcels based on electronically reading the image of machine readable indicia and the location coordinates of the second computing device, the confirming the authorization comprising receiving, from the second computing device, through the electronic ID; and
at least partially in response to the confirming that the second user has the authorization, causing physical release of the one or more parcels to the second user.

12. The computer system of claim 11 , wherein the computer system is further configured for enabling the intended recipient to provide the electronic ID to the second user.

13. The computer system of claim 12 , wherein the electronic ID comprises one or more machine readable indicia.

14. The computer system of claim 13 , wherein the computer system is further configured to display the electronic ID on a computing device associated with the second user.

15. The computer system of claim 11 , wherein the second user is the intended recipient.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions for:
receiving, from a first computing device associated with a first user, a first request to deliver one or more parcels to an attend

Assignees

• United parcel service america inc

Inventors

• Lievens Daniel
• Dethier Vincent
• Pirenne Luc

Classifications

• G06Q10/02

  Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events · CPC title

• G06Q30/0233

  Method of redeeming a frequent usage reward · CPC title

• G06Q30/0207

  Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates · CPC title

• G06Q10/087

  Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders · CPC title

• G06Q10/0837 Primary

  Return transactions · CPC title