Patent Application
20200193373
The field of invention relates in general to systems for delivering parcels to recipients. More specifically, the invention relates to a distributed system for delivering parcels, and to a parcel delivery assembly.
The development of e-marketing in the recent years has significantly increased the quantity and volume of parcels that are delivered world-wide by government posts or by private parcel delivery companies (hereinafter, both organizations will be referred to herein as “parcel delivery organizations”). The amount of parcel deliveries continues to significantly grow annually. The quantity of standard-envelope mail deliveries, on the other hand, significantly decreases annually, in view of sending most of the printed documents by e-mail, or by other internet-related communication means. Even in view of these developments, many parcel delivery organizations still request the parcel recipients to arrive at the post (or similar) office during the regular opening hours to collect their parcels. A vast majority of rented post office boxes that have been designed for standard-envelope mail, cannot assist the parcel recipients, as many of the parcels that are delivered today have a volume which is larger than the volume of the standard rented post office box.
The above developments have required the parcel delivery organizations to differently organize in terms of fast and efficient parcel processing and delivery, and in manners that are also more convenient to the parcel recipients. Various solutions that are more convenient to the recipients have been developed in the recent years. For example, parcel delivery organizations have begun to mount neighbourhood-type parcel collection assemblies. Throughout this application, the terms “parcel collection assembly” and “parcel delivery assembly” are used interchangeably. Such neighbourhood parcel collection assemblies are typically positioned indoor or outdoor, within, or in proximity of stores, gas stations, or commercial areas, etc., and include an array of boxes (compartments), sometimes with a variety of different-volume boxes. When a parcel is inserted into a compartment by a postman, the compartment door is locked, and the delivery organization sends a message to the recipient (typically to his mobile phone), which is associated with a compartment-identification (that identifies the specific compartment), and a code for unlocking and opening the respective compartment. The use of such neighbourhood-type parcel assemblies, particularly when positioned outdoor, extends the parcel collection hours, sometimes up to 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
The prior art provides two alternative solutions at the box assembly for enabling the recipient to unlock and open the respective compartment. A first, “distributed” approach, provides a keypad on each compartment door, such that typing the correct code on the keypad unlocks the door. A second, “central” approach provides a single, central touch (or similar) screen which serves the entire boxes of the assembly. When the user approaches the touch screen, he first types the compartment ID, and then the opening code that he previously received to his mobile phone. The typing of the correct code on the central touch screen unlocks the door of the respective compartment, such that the recipient can open the door and collect his item. Both of the above approaches suffer from significant drawbacks. The first approach is cumbersome and expensive, as it requires mounting of a keypad and some associated opening electronics in each compartment. The second approach is also expensive, as it requires the provision of a touch screen (or similar) which is prone to environmental damages, such as rain, heat, etc., therefore various additional means have to be provided at the assembly to protect the touch screen. Moreover, the touch screen itself comes in the expense of a space that may otherwise be dedicated to additional one or more parcel boxes. Furthermore, the “central” (touch screen) approach, in similarity to the case of an ATM, can serve one recipient at any given time, and does not enable a simultaneous retrieval of parcels from plurality of boxes.
In another aspect, it is of course desired to place neighbourhood-type box assemblies in various locations that are convenient to both the recipients and the parcel servicing staff (hereinafter “postman”). Some of these locations require the existence of parking areas nearby. This requirement somewhat excludes central and dense locations where parking spaces are limited. Moreover, the neighbourhood-type box assembly requires a provision of electric power. This requirement excludes even additional locations for placement of box assemblies, such as junctions in rural areas, sidewalks, etc., where car parking spaces are more available, but a supply of electric power is somewhat problematic or requires special installations and arrangements. Both the “distributed” and “central” prior art solutions, however, typically consume a relatively high power, or at least they are not designed for low power consumption, which has to be continuously supplied from the main electricity network.
In still another aspect, the increased number of parcels delivery significantly increases the load and the responsibility which is imposed on the postman. For example, in assemblies having a single large (front or rear) door which opens to allow a simultaneous access for the postman to a plurality (sometimes many) compartments, there is a significant risk for errors by the postman, who may insert a parcel to a wrong compartment. Of course, any of such errors is intolerable. It is therefor desired to provide a system for automatically checking, detecting, and alerting immediately upon occurrence of such errors.
The invention relates to a parcel delivery system for allowing recipients to retrieve parcels by use of a mobile electronic device of the recipient, the system includes: (a) a processing system including at least one processor and a communications subsystem; (b) an array of parcel boxes, each parcel box including: (b.1) an enclosure having a front opening; (b.2) a door displaceable between a closed state, obstructing the front opening, and an open state, allowing access via the front opening to the enclosure; (b.3) an electrically controlled lock mechanism configured to be switchable in response to a signal from the processing system from a locked state in which the lock mechanism prevents displacement of the door from the closed state to the open state to an unlocked state in which a recipient can displace the door from the closed state to the open state; (b.4) an enclosure occupancy sensor in communication with the processing system and configured to sense whether or not the enclosure contains a parcel; wherein the processing system is configured, for each parcel to be delivered, to: (i) allocate to the parcel one of the boxes determined to be empty based on an output of the occupancy sensor; (ii) determine when the parcel has been placed in the allocated box based at least in part on the output of the occupancy sensor; (iii) send to the mobile electronic device of the recipient a notification indicative of the allocated box; and (iv) on receipt of an unlock request received from the mobile electronic device of the recipient, to actuate the lock mechanism to switch from the locked state to the unlocked state, thereby allowing opening of the door by the recipient to retrieve the parcel.
In an embodiment of the invention, the system further includes a door opening sensor in communication with the processing system and deployed to sense whether the door is in the open state or in the closed state.
In an embodiment of the invention, the electrically controlled lock mechanism includes a bistable actuator, and wherein the processing system is further configured to be responsive to closing of the door as sensed by the door opening sensor to actuate the lock mechanism to switch from the unlocked state to the locked state.
In an embodiment of the invention, the processing system is further configured to be responsive to the occupancy sensor indicating that the parcel has been removed from the allocated box to designate the allocated box as an available box for allocation to a subsequent parcel.
In an embodiment of the invention, the parcel delivery system further includes a door biasing arrangement biasing the door to return from the open state to the closed state.
In an embodiment of the invention, the processing system is further configured to periodically retrieve an output from the occupancy sensor of each box and to compare a detected occupancy output with an expected occupancy output, the processing system generating an error signal if the detected occupancy output does not match the expected occupancy output.
In an embodiment of the invention, the processing system is configured to receive from a mobile electronic device of a mailman an indication of a parcel scanned prior to loading into an allocated box, the indication being used to update an expected occupancy setting for the allocated box.
In an embodiment of the invention, each parcel box further includes a lock status sensor associated with the processing system and configured to generate a signal indicative of whether the electrically controlled lock mechanism is in the locked state or the unlocked state.
In an embodiment of the invention, the processing system is responsive to signals from the lock status sensor and the door opening sensor to generate an error signal if the door remains in a state other than closed and locked for more than a defined period.
In an embodiment of the invention, the array or parcel boxes includes a plurality of parcel boxes, and wherein the enclosure of each of the parcel boxes includes at least four walls such that removal and replacement of one of the parcel boxes does not compromise the enclosure of neighboring parcel boxes.
In an embodiment of the invention, each of the parcel boxes carries a reconfigurable display for displaying a box identifier for each parcel box in the array.
In an embodiment of the invention, the at least one processor includes a local processor in wired connection with the electrically controlled lock mechanism and the occupancy sensor of each box.
In an embodiment of the invention, the local processor is powered at least in part by at least one electric battery that is charged by at least one solar panel.
In an embodiment of the invention, the communications subsystem includes a cellular or another radio communications module associated with the local processor.
In an embodiment of the invention, the at least one processor includes a regional processor based at a regional parcel processing center.
In an embodiment of the invention, the at least one processor includes a processor of a mobile electronic device of a mailman.
In an embodiment of the invention, the at least one processor includes a cloud-based processing system.
In another aspect, the invention relates to a parcel delivery system for delivering parcels to recipients at a plurality of neighborhood parcel delivery assemblies, which includes: (a) a main processing unit which includes at least a regional processor and an assembly processor; (b) at each neighborhood parcel delivery assembly: (b.1) an assembly processor; (b.2) an array of parcel boxes, each box including: (b.2.1) a front door, the door having an unlocked state, a locked state, a closed state, and an open state; (b.2.2) a controlled door-locking element configured to receive locking and unlocking signals from the assembly processor; (b.2.3) a door opening sensor configured to sense whether the front door is in an open state or in a closed state; (b.2.4) a box occupancy sensor configured to sense whether the box contains a parcel or not; and (b.2.5) the assembly processor, which is in communication with each of the boxes and with a regional processor, being configured to: (i) determine an occupancy status of each box within the array of boxes based on signals received from the occupancy sensors, and report periodically or upon any change to a regional processor; and, (ii) upon receipt of an unlock command activated by a recipient and sent from his mobile phone to unlock a specific box, sending an unlocking signal to the door-locking element of the respective box, thereby to enable the recipient to open the door and collect the parcel from the box.
In an embodiment of the invention, the system includes at a regional parcel processing center: (c) the regional processor, which is at least partially physically located at the regional parcel processing center, the regional processor being configured to: (c.1) communicate with each of the assembly processors at the neighborhood parcel delivery assemblies, receive from each the assembly processors information sufficient to determine the occupancy status of each box within each assembly, and store this occupancy data within a database; (c.2) for each given package, activate a reader to receive an input sufficient to determine from a tag attached to the package: (i) an ID of the package, (ii) a recipient ID, and (iii) a recipient address; and (c.3) based on the recipient address and the occupancy status stored at the database, assign to the given parcel a box at a selected neighborhood parcel delivery assembly.
In an embodiment of the invention, the unlock command is issued by the recipient in response to a notice of parcel arrival which is sent to him from the main processing unit, the issuance being activated only upon arrival of the recipient to the specific assembly ID and specific box ID as indicated within the notice of parcel arrival.
In an embodiment of the invention, the notice of parcel arrival is an SMS message or a message sent by another texting service.
In an embodiment of the invention, the unlock command is activated by the recipient from within the notice of parcel arrival.
In an embodiment of the invention, the system further includes a plurality of recipients' mobile applications, each application operating at a respective recipient mobile phone and being configured to: (a) receive a box unlock permission which is included within the notice of parcel arrival; and (b) send an unlock command to the respective assembly processor in order to unlock the respective box, thereby to enable the recipient to collect the parcel.
In an embodiment of the invention, the recipient application is password protected.
In an embodiment of the invention, the unlock command is sent from the recipient's mobile phone to the assembly processor indirectly through any other processing component of the main processing unit.
In an embodiment of the invention, the system further includes a door locking sensor which is configured to sense whether the front door is in an unlocked state or in a locked state.
In an embodiment of the invention, the system further includes a box circuit within each box, each of the box circuit interfaces between the assembly processor and the sensors and locking elements within the box.
In an embodiment of the invention, the box circuits are serially connected, and the first circuit in the series is connected to the assembly processor.
In an embodiment of the invention, the locking element includes a single bistate solenoid within each box.
In an embodiment of the invention, the boxes are embedded within a wall.
In an embodiment of the invention, the assembly includes one or more front or rear doors, each providing a simultaneous access to a plurality of the assembly compartments.
In an embodiment of the invention, the main processing unit further includes a postman's application which is installed within a mobile device of a postman, the application assists the postman in the delivery of the parcels to their assigned boxes.
In an embodiment of the invention, upon receipt of the parcels from the regional center by the postman, the postman downloads into his mobile phone a “Parcels+Recipients File”, the file details, for each parcel, at least (i) an assigned assembly, (ii) an assigned box within the assembly.
In an embodiment of the invention, any insertion of a parcel into a box is updated either by a barcode scan or manually by the postman within the “Parcels+Recipients File”.
In an embodiment of the invention, any intended insertion of a parcel into a specific box which is based on the “Parcels+Recipients File” transfers the box into an expectation state, in which the box expects to receive the parcel, if however, and based on one or more occupancy sensors, it is determined that a parcel has not been inserted into this specific box, or if it has been determined that a parcel has been inserted into another box, the assembly processor sends to the postman's application an insertion error alert, forcing him to correct the error before continuing to a next parcel insertion.
In an embodiment of the invention, the assembly processor is further configured to send a locking signal to the door-locking element of the respective box, a few seconds after sensing a closure of the front door by said door opening sensor.
In an embodiment of the invention, the assembly processor is further configured to issue a failure box error signal in case of sensing an open front door of the box by said door opening sensor for a duration above a predefined period.
In an embodiment of the invention, the transfer of a box into an expectation state becomes possible only if this box has not been reported as a failure box.
In an embodiment of the invention, the postman's application further includes authorizations for the postman to open doors in the assembly, by use of his mobile device.
In an embodiment of the invention, the “Parcels+Recipients File” further includes (iii) a phone number of the recipient, wherein upon completion of the parcel insertions into their assigned boxes, the postman application sends the notice of parcel arrival to each recipient, respectively.
In an embodiment of the invention, the notice of parcel arrival is sent to the respective recipients from the assembly processor, from the regional processor, or from any other processing component which is associated with the main processing unit.
In an embodiment of the invention, the door of each box is configured to automatically return from an open state to a closed state, unless manually held open by the parcel's recipient.
In an embodiment of the invention, the system further includes at each of the assemblies one or more solar panels and one or more batteries, and wherein each of the assemblies utilizes the solar energy which is accumulated by the solar panels.
In an embodiment of the invention, the assembly processor includes a cellular or radio communication module, for enabling communication with any portion of the main processing unit, and in order to receive via the module the unlock command which is issued by the recipient.
In another aspect, the invention relates to a neighborhood parcel-delivery assembly, which includes: (a) an array of parcel boxes, each box including: (a.1) a front door, the door having a locked state, an unlocked state, a closed state, and an open state; (a.2) a controlled door-locking element configured to receive locking and unlocking signals from an assembly processor; (a.3) a door opening sensor configured to sense whether the front door is in an open or in a closed state; and (a.4) a box occupancy sensor configured to sense whether the box contains a parcel or not; (b) the assembly processor which is in communication with each of the boxes, and with a regional processor, the assembly processor being configured to: (b.1) determine an occupancy status of each box within the array based on signals received from the occupancy sensors, and report periodically or upon any change to the regional processor; and (b.3) upon receipt of an unlock command activated by a recipient and sent from his mobile phone to unlock a specific box, sending an unlocking signal to the door-locking element of the respective box, thereby to enable the recipient to open the door and collect the parcel from the box.
When occupied, each compartment of the assembly A is designed to contain a single parcel delivery to a single recipient (this “delivery” may sometimes include several simultaneous parcels that are addressed to a same recipient). In contrast to the case of typical rented P.O. boxes, where each box in the array is rented by a specific recipient for a long period, each compartment in the assembly A of the invention is assigned to a recipient for a single delivery only. Upon completion of the single delivery, the empty compartment becomes available for a next parcel delivery, generally to another recipient. As will be described in more details hereinafter, the neighbourhood parcel delivery assembly A of the invention is preferably particularly designed for low power consumption and for simple and low-cost structure, so that it may operate based on independently produced solar power from within the assembly.
It should be noted that the term “neighbourhood-type assembly” does not necessarily limit the invention with respect to its actual positioning. In fact, the assembly may be positioned, or even attached to an external or internal wall of a residential or commercial building or of the regional center's building itself. The assembly may include any number of compartments, from as few as one compartment, to tens, even hundreds of compartments.
Moreover, the fact that the assembly is designed for a low-power operation suitable to be fed from solar plates should not limit the invention. The unit may be connected to the main electricity network as a sole power supply, or as a backup.
The compartment identification 44 may be formed either by a conventional sticker, or it may be a small LCD display in which the specific identification is issued by the assembly processor 30 (or the box circuitry).
The assembly A of the present invention is designed to be modular and scalable, such that the size of compartments, as well as their number may be easily changed.
In view of the very significant increase in the number of parcels that are delivered annually, and in order to provide most convenience to the recipients, in some cases the neighbourhood-type assembly A may be relatively small in size, and may include very few, even 1-3 compartments. Such an assembly with 1-3 compartments may be placed, for example, in residential buildings, and may serve all the residents of the building. Such an assembly may be placed within a public area in the building (such as the lobby).
As previously mentioned, the parcel assemblies of the prior art typically employ either a single central display (such as a touch screen), or an individual keypad in each compartment, enabling the recipient to unlock the compartment's door and collect his parcel based on an electronic key which is delivered to him. In contrast, the low-power parcel collection assembly A of the invention preferably requires neither a central display, nor individual keypads in each box. As will be elaborated hereinafter, the recipient activates an “unlock instruction” at a mobile application running within his mobile phone or other mobile electronic device, which is forwarded to processor 30 for opening the specific box.
The processor 30 of each assembly A is typically responsible for some or all of the following functions:
It should be noted that the door of the compartment of the invention includes still an additional spring (or another equivalent component) that pulls the door to a closed-door state unless the door is held open by the recipient. This configuration secures the closure of the compartment independently from the recipient, immediately when the recipient releases the door after collection of the parcel. Processor 30, which senses the door closure by means of the opening door sensor 161, locks the door a few seconds thereafter. If however, a door is found to be in an open state an unreasonable duration (for example, more than 2 minutes), processor 30 may not activate the locking of the door, and will instead issue an error signal that will be sent to the regional processor 20, and/or to a postman's application 81, depending on the situation. Preferably, at any given time processor 30 unlocks at most one compartment door 41. This feature contributes to the privacy of the recipient, and also to the safety of the entire system, as it prevents a simultaneous parcel robbery from a plurality of the assembly's boxes.
As described, the entire mechanism of the invention which enables closure, locking, and opening of the door includes only a single bi-state solenoid. The rest of the door components are passive in terms of power consumption. Therefore, the closure, locking, and opening mechanism of the invention is very efficient in terms of power consumption.
Although the exemplary locking mechanism described herein is believed to be particularly advantageous, it should be noted that a wide range of variant and alternative mechanisms also fall within the scope of the present invention. Most preferably, the actuator mechanism is chosen to require power only during its change of state, for locked to unlocked, and from unlocked to locked, while being stable without consuming power in each state (i.e., bistable). A wide selection of linear or rotary electromechanical actuators or motors may be used to provide such functionality. Although less preferred, a one-way actuator acting to unlock against a spring bias which returns the lock to a locked state once power to the actuator is interrupted also falls within the broad scope of the present invention. Similarly, although described here with microswitches to detect closure of the door and locking of the lock mechanism, one or both of these sensors may be replaced by any other suitable sensor, including but not limited to, various optical sensors and any other type of contact switch. The geometry and direction of motion of components of the locking mechanism can also vary considerably, as will be clear to a person having ordinary skill in the art.
The system of the present invention allows a simultaneous retrieval of parcels from the boxes by plurality of recipients. The fact that in the box circuits of the invention are serially connected (in the exemplary embodiment of the invention), does not prohibit such a simultaneous retrieval.
An exemplary circuit 300 for processor 30 is shown in
The following is an exemplary configuration for each of the 8-wire flat cables that lead DC voltage and signals between processor 30 and each of the compartment's circuits (several of them in both directions):
As noted hereinabove, the invention preferably includes two dedicated mobile applications, one for the postman who delivers the parcels to the assemblies, and puts them in their assigned compartments, and another mobile application for the recipients. The term “mobile application” is used herein broadly to refer to the desired functionality as detailed below operating on a personal mobile electronic device, whether provided as a locally-installed “APP” on a mobile phone or the like, as a browser-based application running directly from a remote server or the “cloud”, or implemented using dedicated hardware or any other combination of hardware, firmware and software implemented in a dedicated mobile device (the latter option being particularly relevant for the postman mobile device). Typically, the following modules are provided in the recipient application and may optionally also be present in the postman application:
In addition, the postman's application typically includes one or more of the following modules:
Furthermore, if, a specific parcel does not have a barcode (and therefore the scanning step 507 cannot be performed), in optional step 510 the postman updates manually that the specific parcel was inserted into the assigned box. Steps 506-510 are repeated by the postman until the postman completes the insertion of all the parcels into their assigned boxes in this specific assembly A.
Upon completion, and based the details that are listed in the “Parcels+Recipients File”, in step 511 the mobile application of the postman sends via the postman's mobile phone respective SMS messages to the mobile phones of all the relevant recipients. The message to a recipient may have, for example, the following form: “Dear customer: A parcel having a parcel ID 7346872 is waiting for you in Box 94 in a neighbourhood parcel collection assembly which is located at 107, 14th street NY, N.Y. Upon arrival to the assembly, and in order to open the box, please type the following code within your application: 657849. The door of the box will be unlocked for you for a duration of 20 seconds to enable you to collect your parcel, and then will be relocked. Please take care not to activate this code unless you are in the proximity of the above-indicated assembly and parcel compartment”. Alternatively, the SMS messages (or any other short texting messages) of step 511 may be sent via remote SMS server, which is networked with the mobile phone of the postman.
Following the sending of the SMS messages, the “Parcels+Recipients File” is updated respectively that the messages were sent, and the sending date and time of the messages is also recorded. Alternatively, the messages may be sent from any other computerized unit which is a part or is associated with the main processing unit.
As shown, the fact that the SMS messages are sent directly from the mobile phone of the postman is advantageous, as the messages are in fact sent to the recipients automatically and essentially immediately after the insertion of the packages into their assigned compartments. Alternatively, and as said, the messages may be sent to the recipients from the assembly computer 30, from the regional computer 20, or from any other system which is capable of sending SMS messages, however the latter procedure requires an additional communication between the postman's application and the relevant computer in order to share relevant data which is necessary for the issuance of the messages.
In one embodiment of the invention, and upon arrival of the parcel into the regional center, the regional center sends a notification SMS to the parcel's recipient giving the recipient an opportunity to select, within a limited period, a neighbourhood assembly which is most convenient to him. If the recipient indeed utilizes this option, the regional center sends the parcel to the assembly, as selected by the recipient.
As described the invention provides a procedure which enables a recipient to conveniently collect his parcel 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The regional center receives an update from the processor 30 of the assembly essentially immediately upon the parcel's collection. This information is registered at the regional center, so the regional center knows that the compartment has become available for a next parcel delivery. If, however, the regional center notices that a parcel was not collected within a reasonable time, the regional center may send one or more SMS reminders to the recipient, giving him an additional time for the collection of the parcel. If, however, the recipient does not come to collect the parcel even within the additional period, this parcel is assigned for the collection by the postman in the “Parcels+Recipients File”. The postman collects the parcel in a similar manner to the procedure of
The estimated power that each compartment's circuit continuously consumes is negligible. The highest consumer of current in the system is the single solenoid existing in each compartment. This consumption is, however, temporary, and occurs only during times of solenoid transitions from lock to unlock states and vice versa. During each of such transfer of state the solenoid consumes about 6 W (12V, 0.5 A). Assuming that 60 openings occur per day in an assembly (1 minute each), it is estimated that the power will not exceed 1 A-h per day. The power consumption of the cellular communication from processor 30 is comparable to the power consumption of a smartphone in which the touch screen is never activated, while the smartphone operates with communication of SMS only. This power consumption of processor 30 is therefore estimated to be about 1 A-h. Therefore, the total power consumption in an assembly according to the present invention is estimated to be about 7 A-h per day.
As shown, the present invention provides a parcel delivery system, a parcel delivery assembly, a parcel delivery box structure, that are very convenient and efficient to the recipient, to the postman, and to the delivery organization. The parcel delivery assembly is also very efficient in terms of power consumption, so it may operate solely based on solar energy.
While the invention has been described with respect to a limited number of embodiments, it will be appreciated that many variations, modifications and other applications of the invention may be made. Therefore, the claimed invention as recited in the claims that follow is not limited to the embodiments described herein.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 251528 | Apr 2017 | IL | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/IL2018/050405 | 4/8/2018 | WO | 00 |
