IP Library Granted Patent US 10,839,341
Granted Patent B2
US 10,839,341 · App. 15/952,494 · Granted Nov 17, 2020

Systems and methods for receiving retail products at a delivery destination

Inventors: Bruce W. Wilkinson (Rogers, AR); Todd D. Mattingly (Bentonville, AR)
Assignee: Walmart Apollo, LLC
G06Q10/0836G07C9/00896G07C2009/0092
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 10,839,341
App. No.
15/952,494
Granted
Nov 17, 2020
Kind
B2
Abstract

In some embodiments, apparatuses and methods are provided herein useful to receiving retail products at a delivery destination. In some embodiments, there is provided a system for receiving retail products including a housing; a retail product delivery locker formed within the housing; a cleaning system configured to: initiate a first cleaning based on a default cleaning process; and initiate a second cleaning based on a first level-up cleaning process in response to receiving a start-clean signal; a first sensor; a second sensor; and a control circuit configured to: receive a need-clean request from a user at a first time; receive first data indicating an opening of the retail product delivery locker; receive second data indicating at least one compartment is empty; and provide a start-clean signal to the cleaning system in response to the receipt of the first and second data and the need-clean request from the user.

Claims (34)

1. A retail product delivery locker system for receiving retail products at a delivery destination comprising:

a housing;

a retail product delivery locker formed within the housing and comprising at least one compartment configured to store at least one retail product delivered to a delivery destination;

a cleaning system positioned relative to the retail product delivery locker, the cleaning system configured to:

initiate a first cleaning of at least a portion of the at least one compartment of the retail product delivery locker, wherein the first cleaning is based on a default cleaning process of a plurality of cleaning processes stored in a memory device of the retail product delivery locker, wherein the memory device comprises the default cleaning process; and

initiate a second cleaning of at least the portion of the at least one compartment in response to receiving a start-clean signal, wherein the second cleaning is based on a first level-up cleaning process of the plurality of cleaning process;

a first sensor secured to the retail product delivery locker and configured to provide first data in response to an opening of the retail product delivery locker;

a second sensor secured to the retail product delivery locker and configured to provide second data when the at least one compartment is empty in response to the opening of the retail product delivery locker; and

a control circuit operably coupled to the first and second sensors and the cleaning system, the control circuit configured to:

receive a need-clean request from a user of the retail product delivery locker at a first time;

receive the first data indicating the opening of the retail product delivery locker;

receive the second data indicating the at least one compartment is empty; and

provide the start-clean signal to the cleaning system in response to the receipt of the first and second data and the need-clean request from the user.

2. The retail product delivery locker system of claim 1 , wherein a difference of the first level-up cleaning process from the default cleaning process is at least one of: length of cleaning time, amount of each of cleaning products used by the cleaning system to clean the at least one compartment, number of the cleaning products available for use by the cleaning system, type of cleaning products used by the cleaning system, and a particular combination of the cleaning products used by the cleaning system.

3. The retail product delivery locker system of claim 1 , wherein the cleaning system is further configured to initiate a third cleaning of at least the portion of the at least one compartment in response to receiving a second start-clean signal, wherein the third cleaning is based on a second level-up cleaning process stored in the memory device, wherein the second level-up cleaning process provides a cleaning that is enhanced over the first level-up cleaning process, and wherein the control circuit is further configured to:

receive a second need-clean request from the user at a second time;

receive third data indicating the opening of the retail product delivery locker from the first sensor;

receive fourth data indicating the at least one compartment is empty from the second sensor; and

provide the second start-clean signal to the cleaning system in response to the receipt of the third and fourth data and the second need-clean request from the user.

4. The retail product delivery locker system of claim 1 , wherein the memory device is further configured to store:

information including partiality information of the user in a form of a plurality of partiality vectors for the user, wherein each of the plurality of partiality vectors has at least one of a magnitude and an angle that corresponds to a magnitude of the user's belief in an amount of good that comes from an order associated with that partiality; and

vectorized characterizations for each of a plurality of cleaning products, wherein alignment values between one of the plurality of partiality vectors and each of a plurality of vectorized characterizations of a cleaning product of the plurality of cleaning products indicate an extent to which the cleaning product accords with the one of the plurality of partiality vectors.

5. The retail product delivery locker system of claim 4 , wherein the control circuit is further configured to:

compare a particular one of the plurality of partiality vectors of the user to each of a plurality of the vectorized characterizations to thereby determine an alignment value of a particular one of the plurality of cleaning products that reaches a threshold indicating alignment with the particular one of the plurality of partiality vectors; and

determine the alignment value between the particular one of the plurality of partiality vectors and one of the plurality of the vectorized characterizations as a function of a vector dot product calculation.

6. The retail product delivery locker system of claim 5 , wherein the alignment values are calculated based on the comparison of the particular one of the plurality of partiality vectors with each of the plurality of the vectorized characterizations.

7. The retail product delivery locker system of claim 4 , wherein the first level-up cleaning process is based on at least one of the plurality of partiality vectors of the user.

8. The retail product delivery locker system of claim 1 , wherein the control circuit is further configured to determine a time to provide the start-clean signal to the cleaning system based on a prediction of a period of time the retail product delivery locker is empty, and wherein the prediction is based on a pattern determined from a plurality of periods of time the retail product delivery locker is empty.

9. The retail product delivery locker system of claim 1 , wherein the initiation of the first cleaning is in response to a receipt of an auto-clean signal by the cleaning system, and wherein the control circuit is further configured to provide the auto-clean signal to the cleaning system based on a prescheduled cleaning time.

10. The retail product delivery locker system of claim 1 , wherein the control circuit is operably coupled to a delivery agent interface configured to operate on an electronic device associated with a delivery agent, and wherein the delivery agent interface is configured to provide a period of time for a delivery of a retail product to the retail product delivery locker such that the first cleaning and the second cleaning occur at times outside the period of time for the delivery.

11. The retail product delivery locker system of claim 1 , wherein the control circuit is further configured to assign the first level-up cleaning process to be the default cleaning process in response to the second cleaning.

12. The retail product delivery locker system of claim 8 , further comprising a memory device configured to store a third data comprising one or more time periods that the control circuit determined that the at least one compartment is empty based on the second data provided by the second sensor over the plurality of periods of time.

13. The retail product delivery locker system of claim 8 , wherein the second sensor is further configured to periodically send the second data to the control circuit, and wherein the control circuit is further configured to periodically determine whether the at least one compartment is empty based on the second data and, in response, determine the pattern over the plurality of periods of time.

14. The retail product delivery locker system of claim 8 , wherein the control circuit is further configured to provide a start-clean signal to the cleaning system to clean the at least one compartment at the determined time.

Assignments (4)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Aug 29, 2018
From: WILKINSON, BRUCE W.; MATTINGLY, TODD D.
To: WALMART APOLLO, LLC
Reel/Frame 046741/0215 →
CORRECTIVE ASSIGNMENT TO CORRECT THE APPLICATION NUMBER 15284853 TO APPLICATION NUMBER 15284835 PREVIOUSLY RECORDED ON REEL 046459 FRAME 0009. ASSIGNOR(S) HEREBY CONFIRMS THE ASSIGNMENT. Recorded Aug 3, 2018
From: WAL-MART STORES, INC.
To: WALMART APOLLO, LLC
Reel/Frame 046703/0001 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jun 28, 2018
From: WAL-MART STORES, INC.
To: WALMART APOLLO, LLC
Reel/Frame 046459/0009 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded May 13, 2018
From: WILKINSON, BRUCE W.; MATTINGLY, TODD D.
To: WAL-MART STORES, INC.
Reel/Frame 045791/0263 →
Continuity (3)
Provisional Application 62515675 · Jun 6, 2017
Provisional Application 62485045 · Apr 13, 2017
Related Publication 20180300677A1 · Oct 18, 2018
Cited By (5)
US 12,321,804 US 12,321,805 US 12,340,267 US 12,505,319 US 12,572,762