Dynamically determining routing during shipping

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2020311676-A1
Application number	US-201916457056-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 28, 2019
Priority date	Mar 28, 2019
Publication date	Oct 1, 2020
Grant date	—

Abstract

Technologies are shown for dynamically rerouting a package during shipment, that involve receiving a shipping route for shipping a package to a recipient and receiving rules for rerouting the package based on physical conditions. Physical conditions relating to the package and the recipient are monitored to determine whether one of the rules for rerouting applies to the conditions. If a rule applies to the conditions relating to the package and the recipient, an action defined for the rule is triggered. The action can include sending a reroute message to a shipper in the shipping route or notifying the recipient. In some examples, notifying the client includes offering a special delivery option. Physical conditions include a current time of day, a current location of the package, an anticipated location of the package, a current location of the recipient, an anticipated location of the recipient at the later time of day.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A computer-implemented method for dynamically rerouting a package during shipment, the method comprising:
receiving a shipping route for shipping a package to a recipient; receiving one or more rules for rerouting the package, wherein said rules may be based on physical conditions; monitoring physical conditions relating to the package and physical conditions relating to the recipient; determining whether one of the rules for rerouting applies to the physical conditions relating to the package and physical conditions relating to the recipient; and if one of the rules for rerouting the package applies to the physical conditions relating to the package and physical conditions relating to the recipient, triggering an action defined for the one of the rules that applies to the physical conditions.

2 . The method of claim 1 , where the action defined for the one of the rules that applies to the physical conditions comprises sending a reroute instruction to a shipper in the shipping route.

3 . The method of claim 1 , where the action defined for the one of the rules that applies to the physical conditions comprises:
sending a notification to the recipient offering a special delivery option; receiving a message from the recipient accepting the special delivery option; and responsive to receiving the message accepting the special delivery option, sending a rerouting instruction to reroute the package for the special delivery option.

4 . The method of claim 3 , where the method includes:
responsive to receiving the message selecting the special delivery option, charging the recipient a fee for the special delivery option.

5 . The method of claim 1 , where the physical conditions include one or more of a current time of day, a current location of the package, an anticipated handoff of the package to another intermediary shipper, and an anticipated location of the package, a current location of the recipient, an anticipated location of the recipient at the later time of day.

6 . The method of claim 1 , where the rules for rerouting the package based on physical conditions includes at least one of a rule based on current physical proximity of the package and the recipient, a rule based on anticipated proximity of the package and the recipient, a rule based on an anticipated time of arrival for the package, and a rule based on an anticipated location of the recipient.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein:
one of the rules for rerouting the package based on physical conditions comprises a rule to reroute the package to a geolocation of the recipient; and the action defined for the rule to reroute the package to a geolocation of the recipient comprises sending a rerouting instruction to deliver the package to the geolocation of the recipient.

8 . A system for shipping an item, the system comprising:
one or more processors; and one or more memory devices in communication with the one or more processors, the memory devices having computer-readable instructions stored thereupon that, when executed by the processors, cause the processors to perform a method for dynamically rerouting a package during shipment, the method comprising: receiving a shipping route for shipping a package to a recipient; receiving one or more rules for rerouting the package based on physical conditions; monitoring physical conditions relating to the package and physical conditions relating to the recipient; determining whether one of the rules for rerouting applies to the physical conditions relating to the package and physical conditions relating to the recipient; and if one of the rules for rerouting the package applies to the physical conditions relating to the package and physical conditions relating to the recipient, triggering an action defined for the one of the rules that applies to the physical conditions.

9 . The system of claim 8 , the method including:
sending a notification message to the recipient with physical conditions relating to the package; receiving a reroute message from the recipient with an alternate geolocation; rerouting the package based on the alternate geolocation; and sending a reroute instruction to a shipper to reroute the package to the alternate geolocation.

10 . The system of claim 8 , where the action defined for the one of the rules that applies to the physical conditions comprises:
sending a notification to the recipient offering a special delivery option; receiving a message from the recipient accepting the special delivery option; and responsive to receiving the message accepting the special delivery option, sending a rerouting instruction to reroute the package for the special delivery option.

11 . The system of claim 10 , where the method includes:
responsive to receiving the message selecting the special delivery option, charging the recipient a fee for the special delivery option.

12 . The system of claim 8 , where the physical conditions include one or more of a current time of day, a current location of the package, an anticipated location of the package, a current location of the recipient, an anticipated location of the recipient at the later time of day.

13 . The system of claim 8 , where the rules for rerouting the package based on physical conditions includes at least one of a rule based on current physical proximity of the package and the recipient, a rule based on anticipated proximity of the package and the recipient, a rule based on an anticipated time of arrival for the package, and a rule based on an anticipated location of the recipient.

14 . The system of claim 8 , wherein:
one of the rules for rerouting the package based on physical conditions comprises a rule to reroute the package to a geolocation of the recipient; and the action defined for the rule to reroute the package to a geolocation of the recipient comprises sending a rerouting instruction to deliver the package to the geolocation of the recipient.

15 . One or more computer storage media having computer executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the processors to execute a method for dynamically rerouting a package during shipment, the method comprising:
receiving a shipping route for shipping a package to a recipient; receiving one or more rules for rerouting the package based on physical conditions; monitoring physical conditions relating to the package and physical conditions relating to the recipient; determining whether one of the rules for rerouting applies to the physical conditions relating to the package and physical conditions relating to the recipient; and if one of the rules for rerouting the package applies to the physical conditions relating to the package and physical conditions relating to the recipient, triggering an action defined for the one of the rules that applies to the physical conditions.

16 . The computer storage media of claim 15 , where the action defined for the one of the rules that applies to the physical conditions comprises:
sending a notification to the recipient offering a special delivery option; receiving a message from the recipient accepting the special delivery option; and responsive to receiving the message accepting the special delivery option, sending a rerouting instruction to reroute the package for the special delivery option.

17 . The computer storage media of claim 16 , where the method includes:
responsive to receiving the message selecting the special delivery option, charging the recipient a fe

Assignees

• Ebay Inc

Inventors

• Smith Jr Leonard

Classifications

• H04L67/52

  specially adapted for the location of the user terminal · CPC title

• H04L9/50

  using hash chains, e.g. blockchains or hash trees · CPC title

• H04W12/63

  Location-dependent; Proximity-dependent · CPC title

• H04W12/47

  using near field communication [NFC] or radio frequency identification [RFID] modules · CPC title

• H04W4/40

  for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P] · CPC title