Systems and methods for receiving shipment parcels

US8639384B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• AMAZON TECHNOLOGIES, INC. · US

Inventors

• Eric Young · Mercer Island, US
• Devesh Mishra · Issaquah, US
• Timothy Jesse Tien · Seattle, US
• Jun Zhao · Shanghai, CN
• Sameer Vinod Shah · Seattle, US
• Zongyi Liu · Issaquah, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Sep 30, 2008
• Grant date: Jan 28, 2014
• Expiry date: Jun 18, 2031

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G06Q50/40
• WIPO field: IT methods for management
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

Disclosed are various embodiments of systems and methods for receiving shipment parcels at materials handling facilities. A parcel receiving system has an imaging tunnel through which shipment parcels received at a materials handling facility are passed. While a shipment parcel is passing through the imaging tunnel, a camera captures at least one image of the parcel. The parcel image is electronically analyzed to discover various tracking information and to detect various types of exceptions, such as damage to the parcel or defective tracking information. In addition, the captured image is stored in order to create a visual record of the parcel at the time of reception. This record may be used in a variety of ways, such as resolving or tracking exceptions or providing feedback to the vendor or shipment carrier. In addition, the parcel image may be viewed by a user to enable the user to detect and/or resolve an exception. Thus, the overall process of receiving parcels is facilitated, and the percentage of parcels diverted to an exception bin may be decreased.