Inventory item release apparatus and method

US10949801B1 · kind B1 · utility

Assignee

• AMAZON TECHNOLOGIES, INC. · US

Inventors

• Sudheer Babu Ramoji · Redmond, US
• Avishkar Misra · Redmond, US
• Yasser Baseer Asmi · Redmond, US
• Ohil Krishnamurthy Manyam · Bellevue, US
• Gopi Prashanth Gopal · Redmond, US
• Long Xuan Nguyen · Seattle, US
• Sudarshan Narasimha Raghavan · Snoqualmie, US
• Ramanathan Palaniappan · Bengaluru, IN
• Nadya Dhalla · Seattle, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Apr 16, 2019
• Grant date: Mar 16, 2021
• Expiry date: Apr 23, 2039

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G06Q10/087
• WIPO field: IT methods for management
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

This disclosure describes an item drop location for placing items that have been picked from an inventory location within a material handling facility but have not yet been transitioned from the materials handling facility and a return location for returning items that have been transitioned from the materials handling facility. Likewise, described is a system and method for identifying an item placed at a drop location or an item placed at a return location, processing the placed item and providing confirmation to a user that placed the item and facilitating a return of the item or a removal of the item from an item identifier list associated with the user.