Patent Application
20180005183
The invention disclosed herein relates to an automatic, smart and secure receiver that could receive packages on behalf of the home-owners.
Shipping companies such as FedEx, USPS, and UPS use a physical address to deliver a parcel from online shopping. The postal carriers have three options to deliver the parcel (1) intentionally leave it in front of the door or inside the buyer's mailboxes; or (2) only deliver the guaranteed parcel to the buyers after having an authorized signature; (3) or take the guaranteed parcel back to the designated post-office if nobody is present when delivery. In the first case, the parcel may be stolen if it is left unattended. The buyers thereby are encouraged to use the guaranteed delivery method for the costly parcel. However, the buyers need to be present at the delivery moment because a signature is required for endorsement. This becomes a hassle to the buyers since the delivery moment is mostly not fixed. In the worst case, if the buyers keep missing the delivery moment for three times, the postal carriers will schedule the buyers to pick the parcel up at the designated post-office. In rural areas, it may take hours for the buyers to travel to the post-office for picking up. This whole process may waste time, money and efforts of both the buyers and the postal carriers.
This invention discloses an autonomous and secure package receiver that could track status of online orders, automatically collect the package and print out the confirmation for the postal carriers.
It is necessary to make clear about the function of the smart receiver. It is an apparatus to receive the packages on behalf of the home-owners. The design of the apparatus is compatible with online shopping where it can store the information of the buyers so that the buyers do not need to input their address and billing information while ordering. The apparatus has a capability to access to Internet or cloud server to download the buyers' database and ordering information.
The smart receiver is assigned with an identification (ID) representing a digital address which is shared with the post-office's or delivery companies' databases. The smart receiver can receive any regular mails and be compatible with the traditional mailing system.
The system includes a built-in software application and a secure box controlled by a driver circuitry, namely a control unit center. The secure box are made of materials that are resistant to harsh weather conditions or external physical forces. The secure box in this illustrative embodiment has a rectangular shape. Another alternative embodiments could have different shapes or combination of different shapes including but not limited to cylinders, cubes, ovals and/or spheres. The control unit center could communicate with other electronic hand-held devices, computers and routers of the home-owners.
The receiver could collect information of incoming packages through the home-owners' smart devices. The receiver is also designed to directly access to the home-owners' online shopping accounts including but not limited to Amazon.com and eBay.com. Once the home-owners finish ordering, the information and delivery date of packages are automatically transferred to the smart receiver.
This apparatus and system act on behalf of the home-owners to receive the arriving packages. The control unit center has capability to communicate with postal carriers to validate the packages. If a signature is required for the guaranteed packages, the smart receiver prints a receipt for endorsement. The postal carriers can then place the packages inside the secure box. The packages that are not fit into this secure box can be placed outside with attached GPS tags. This helps the receiver to monitor the location of the out-of-door packages and send alarms to the home-owners if these packages are dislocated. The home-owners can track the movement of the packages using a built-in software application installed in computers and/or hand-held smart devices. The fully autonomous and secure receiving process allows online-shipment to be delivered without the presence of the home-owners.
The built-in software is compatibly designed for electronic devices that are supporting Wi-Fi connection such as smartwatches, smartphones, tablets, laptops and personal computers. The software has a user friendly interface allowing the home-owners to connect and control the smart receiver.
Communication between the electronic hand-held devices and the control unit center inside the smart receiver is two-way communication compatible with or without a cloud server. The hand-held devices send information of incoming packages to the receiver while the secure box can notify the hand-held devices any the packages' arrival. In this illustrative embodiment, the cloud server shares ordering information, billing addresses and the status of the shipping packages among all electronic devices. In other embodiments, the home-owners have an option to configure a specific electronic device as a personal server. This allows other electronic devices to access and share information without any cloud server. All information transferring between devices is securely encrypted.
In the illustrative embodiment, the control unit center of the secure box compromises of a processor, magnetic lock, thermal printer, speaker and microphone, radio-frequency (RF) wireless transceiver, Bluetooth low energy transceiver, GPS tags and solar panel system. The RF wireless transceiver connects to the Wi-Fi router at home to establish a secure communication between the secure box and the wireless local area network (WLAN). The control unit center can access to the home-owners' accounts to download personal information of the incoming packages. Once the packages arrive, the control unit center will send instant messages or notifications to the home-owners.
The smart receiver described herein could be mounted to the fence, front door or placed anywhere in a house. It is visually perceptible to the postal carriers. In an illustrative embodiments, the smart receiver may have a light-emitting diode (LED) array to signal the postal carriers. In other embodiments, they have a GPS transceiver for the postal carriers to locate them with any GPS tracking devices. The GPS transceiver also benefits for drones to navigate in un-maned delivery approaches.
The smart receiver also implements tracking technology to monitor the locations of packages that are keeping nearby. A GPS tag is attached on the packages by the postal carriers. The control unit center thereby monitors the location of this package. Alarm will be activated if any displacement is detected. An instant message is sent to the electronic devices. The home-owners are able to monitor the movement of the packages. In some embodiments, a speaker and microphone are equipped to establish communication between the home-owners and the one moving the packages. The approach improves security levels since it allows the remoted home-owners attentively watching over the arrived packages. Some other embodiments are implemented surveillance sensors, including but not limited to infrared detectors and/or ultrasound sensors, to monitor the packages. This intrusion prevention option is a well alternative choice for the GPS tags as it could monitor a group of packages.
In an illustrative embodiment, the smart receiver has communication with the home-owners through wireless radio frequency such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth low energy connection. The Wi-Fi protocol allows the smart receiver to directly connect to the home router and link to a cloud server, while the Bluetooth low energy protocol requires a hand-held electric devices having authority to access to the cloud server. The home-owners can download a list of pending packages into the external memory of the smart receiver. The incoming packages will be sorted by control unit center. If endorsement or a signature is required for delivery, the smart receiver could send a request to the home-owners and establish communication with the postal carriers. In this particular embodiments, the smart receivers have a built-in speaker and microphone to help the home-owners to talk directly to the postal carriers. Such conversation eliminate the need of the home-owners' presence during delivery. In other embodiments, the smart receivers have a built-in thermal printer to automatically provide signature or validation when the home-owners acknowledge the packages' arrival. The smart receivers could issue a verification code and send directly to the post-office or delivery companies, which thereby no signature is necessary.
In an illustrative embodiment, the smart receiver has solar panels for self-powering. In addition, it has batteries as the back-up power sources. The batteries are rechargeable by the solar panels during day time. The control unit center of the smart receiver can monitor the capacity of the batteries and trigger alarms if the batteries become low. In some embodiments that are not using any batteries or solar panels, they are powered by connecting directly to the main power lines at home. The control unit center of the smart receiver also implements low-power circuitry to optimally minimize power consumption.
The invention disclosed herein is compatible with any current delivery methods from contemporary delivery companies including but not limited to FedEx, United States Postal Service (USPS), and United Parcel Service (UPS). Although the aim of this invention is not replacing the current delivery methods, it supports and improves the quality and security levels of the traditional delivery methods. The advantages of this invention for the current delivery methods and home-owners include cost savings, time savings and improved risk management for online shopping.
The invention discloses a secure and automated receiver to receive guaranteed parcels. The machine-like receiver comprises a secure box to store the parcels. The secure box only opens when the identities of the postal carriers and the home-owners are verified. One of the main innovations is that this receiver is able to print a receipt to the postal carriers for endorsement. The receipt is a replacement of the buyers' signature. The buyers benefits from this autonomous receiver because of non-necessity to be present during delivery moment. Meanwhile, this feature also helps postal carriers lessen hassles of coming back and forth for guaranteed parcels. The smart receiver has a control unit center to verify the package and send notifications to the buyers, online shopping companies and delivery companies when the packages are delivered.
The invention also improves risk management by having an intrusion prevention function. The postal carrier attaches GPS tags on the parcels that are kept outside of the secure box. The anti-theft feature is then initiated to continuously monitor the parcels' location. Any unverified movement of the parcels will be immediately notified to the home-owners. The autonomous tracking system integrated inside the smart receiver update locations of the parcels if they are stolen. The home-owners can provide such information to police or designated security forces.
The smart receiver in this invention has a digital address identification or ID that could be linked to the delivery companies. This enables an autonomous delivery method using drones or any un-maned devices. The drones benefitting from global positioning system can navigate to the smart receiver and drop the packages. The smart receiver described herein has capabilities of not only communicating with the postal carriers but also machine-based delivery objects.
The apparatus and method for smart and secure receivers are described below. In this description, reference will be made to the accompanying drawings, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, and wherein:
Detailed embodiments of the smart receiver are disclosed herein. It should be understood that the invention may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout.
Generally, a smart receiver compromises of at least five advanced functions and capabilities: (1) automatically download list of incoming packages in online shopping, (2) establish a wired call to the home-owners, (3) send notifications and/or alerts to the home-owners, (4) print receipts to the postal carriers and (5) securely contain packages. The smart receiver is controlled by a control unit center and able to establish connection to any authorized electronic devices supporting wireless communication or web service through Bluetooth low-energy and Wi-Fi connection. The smart receiver integrates a speaker and microphone that allows the postal carriers to communicate directly with the home-owners. This embodiment of the smart receiver is powered by solar panels or power lines.
Referring now to the invention in more detail,
As shown in
The top view of the smart receiver 100 is shown in
The front view of the smart receiver 100 with an opening door is illustrated in
In more detail, still referring to the
As shown in
Referring now to the invention shown in
Referring now to the
The postal carriers have three options to deliver a package as shown in FIG.6. In the first option, if the package is small, the postal carriers just drop it through the slid 110 on the door 200 as in the step 602. In the second option, if the post carriers need to open the smart receiver, they enters the access code 604 using the input keyboard 310 on the display control panel. The postal carriers can also access to the smart receiver using an authorized hand-held device that supports Bluetooth low-energy protocol. When the receiver door is unlocked in the step 606, the postal carriers can drop the package if it fits into the secure box. In the case of an unfit package, the postal carriers can take a GPS tag and attach on the package 608. The control unit center then starts monitoring the location of the package with the attaching GPS tag. In other embodiments, the control unit center can utilize proximity sensors, for instance sound sensors to locate the package. Afterward, the postal carriers can verify the package 610 from the list displaying on the screen 312. At this moment, the navigation buttons 314 are helpful to find the package in the list. In the third options, the postal carriers can choose to talk to the home-owners 612 using the speaker and microphone. The secure box then can be remotely unlocked in step 614. The postal carriers deposit the package 616 and print receipts 618.
In the
Some other embodiments use low-cost proximity sensors such as acoustic sensors or light sensors instead of the GPS tracking devices.
Many modifications and other embodiments of the invention will come to mind to one skilled in the art to which this invention pertains having the benefit of the teachings presented in the foregoing descriptions and the associated drawings. For example, as will be understood by one skilled in the relevant field in light of this disclosure, the invention may take form in a variety of different mechanical and operational configurations. For example, the smart receiver device described in this embodiment may include different types or number of sensors and actuators, such as, speaker and microphones, wireless transceivers or thermal printer, etc. Therefore, it is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the specific embodiments disclosed and that the modifications and other embodiments are intended to be included within the scope of the appended exemplary concepts. Although specific terms are employed herein, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for the purposes of limitation.
