To-go cubby unit

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11957259-B2
Application number	US-202217884182-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 9, 2022
Priority date	Jan 30, 2019
Publication date	Apr 16, 2024
Grant date	Apr 16, 2024

Abstract

A cubby unit includes a unit housing, a plurality of cubbies disposed within the unit housing, and an interface positioned along the unit housing. Each of the plurality of cubbies includes a cubby housing defining an internal compartment and a door coupled to the cubby housing. The door facilitates accessing the internal compartment of the cubby housing. The interface provides a cubby selection interface that facilitates manual assignment of a respective cubby to a respective order by an employee.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A cubby unit comprising:
a unit housing having a customer side and an employee side;
a plurality of cubbies disposed within the unit housing, each of the plurality of cubbies including:
a cubby housing having a front side and a rear side, the cubby housing defining an internal compartment between the front side and the rear side;
a customer door coupled to the front side of the cubby housing, the customer door facilitates accessing the internal compartment of the cubby housing from the front side of the cubby housing, at least a portion of the customer door including a transparent panel;
a locking mechanism positioned to selectively lock and unlock the customer door;
a lighting element disposed within the internal compartment; and
an employee door coupled to the rear side of the cubby housing, the employee door facilitates accessing the internal compartment of the cubby housing from the rear side of the cubby housing;

an employee interface positioned along the employee side of the unit housing, wherein the employee interface provides a cubby selection interface that facilitates manual assignment of a respective cubby to a respective order by an employee, the cubby selection interface configured to (i) instruct the employee to place the respective order in the respective cubby manually assigned by the employee and (ii) display a time indicating how long the respective order has been in the respective cubby manually assigned by the employee, and wherein access information associated with the respective order is transmitted to a customer associated with the respective order;
a customer interface positioned along the customer side of the unit housing, wherein the customer interface facilitates entry or acquisition of the access information; and
one or more processing circuits including one or more memory devices coupled to one or more processors, the one or more memory devices storing instructions thereon that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
receive the access information from the customer interface;
determine whether the access information is associated with the respective order within the respective cubby;
disengage the locking mechanism of the respective cubby to unlock the customer door of the respective cubby in response to the access information being associated with the respective order; and
flash the lighting element of the respective cubby in response to the access information being associated with the respective order such that flashing light emitted by the lighting element shines through the transparent panel to indicate in which one of the plurality of cubbies the respective order is located.

2. The cubby unit of claim 1 , wherein the cubby selection interface (i) indicates (a) which of the plurality of cubbies are occupied cubbies and (b) to which orders the occupied cubbies are associated and (ii) indicates which of the plurality of cubbies are unoccupied cubbies.

3. The cubby unit of claim 1 , wherein the access information is transmitted by the cubby unit.

4. The cubby unit of claim 1 , wherein the access information is transmitted by an external system separate from the cubby unit.

5. The cubby unit of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the plurality of cubbies includes a door actuator positioned to open and close the customer door, and wherein the one or more memory devices store instructions thereon that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to control the door actuator to open the customer door of the respective cubby associated with the respective order in response to receiving the access information to facilitate accessing the respective order.

6. The cubby unit of claim 5 , wherein the one or more memory devices store instructions thereon that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to control the door actuator to open the customer door of the respective cubby associated with the respective order for a period of time.

7. The cubby unit of claim 1 , further comprising a thermal management system configured to facilitate thermally regulating at least one of (i) a product selectively received within the internal compartment of at least one of the plurality of cubbies or (ii) the internal compartment of the at least one of the plurality of cubbies.

8. The cubby unit of claim 7 , wherein the one or more memory devices store instructions thereon that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
acquire an indication regarding a characteristic of the product received by the internal compartment; and
control the thermal management system to regulate a temperature of the product based on the indication.

9. The cubby unit of claim 8 , wherein the one or more memory devices store instructions thereon that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to control the thermal management system following removal of the product from the internal compartment such that the respective cubby is not thermally regulated.

10. A cubby unit comprising:
a unit housing;
a plurality of cubbies disposed within the unit housing, each of the plurality of cubbies including:
a cubby housing defining an internal compartment;
a light disposed within the internal compartment; and
a door coupled to the cubby housing, the door facilitates accessing the internal compartment of the cubby housing, at least a portion of the door including a transparent panel;

an interface positioned along the unit housing, wherein the interface provides a plurality of graphical user interfaces including:
a cubby selection interface that provides a plurality of selectable cubby tiles, each of the plurality of selectable cubby tiles displaying a number icon associated with a respective one of the plurality of cubbies, the plurality of selectable cubby tiles (a) indicate which of the plurality of cubbies are occupied cubbies, (b) indicate which of the plurality of cubbies are unoccupied cubbies, and (c) facilitate manual assignment of a respective unoccupied cubby to a respective order by an employee by selecting a respective cubby tile of the plurality of selectable cubby tiles associated with the respective unoccupied cubby through the cubby selection interface;
a classification interface provided in response to the respective cubby tile being selected through the cubby selection interface, the classification interface providing a keyboard that facilitates entering order information associated with the respective order to associate the respective order with the respective unoccupied cubby; and
an instruction interface providing a number identifier associated with the respective unoccupied cubby that instructs the employee to place the respective order in the respective unoccupied cubby manually assigned by the employee in response to the order information being received; and

one or more processing circuits including one or more memory devices coupled to one or more processors, the one or more memory devices storing instructions thereon that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
receive access information;
determine whether the access information is associated with the respective order within a respective cubby; and
activate the light of the respective cubby in response to the access information being associated with the respective order such that light emitted by the light shines through the transparent panel to indicate in which one of the plurality of cubbies the respective order is located.

11. The cubby unit of claim 10 , wherein t

Assignees

• Hatco Corp

Inventors

• Jakubowski James
• Wenzel Gerhard
• Ross Michael
• Bley Taylor
• Virgin Jim
• Bassill Nicholas

Classifications

• A47G29/14 Primary

  Deposit receptacles for food, e.g. breakfast, milk {, or large parcels}; Similar receptacles for {food or} large parcels with appliances for preventing unauthorised removal of the deposited articles {, i.e. food or large parcels} · CPC title

• A47F7/0071

  for perishable goods · CPC title

• A47F10/02

  for self-service type systems, e.g. supermarkets (A47F10/06 takes precedence; hand-carts B62B; baskets B65D) · CPC title

• A47F10/06

  for restaurant service systems (table equipment A47G {; dirty crockery transport in association with crockery washing machines A47L15/00}) · CPC title

• A47G29/141

  comprising electronically controlled locking means · CPC title