Autonomous Communication in Shipping

Abstract

The invention provides a system and method for the autonomous wireless communication between a service provider device and a customer device. The customer device may notify the service provider device whether the customer has work to be performed by the service provider. The service provider device may provide information to the customer about work to be performed by the service provider. In one embodiment, a shipping service is notified autonomously about items that a customer has for pick up and shipment. The shipping service is also capable of wirelessly transferring information to a customer device about items to be delivered to that customer.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for determining whether a service provider needs to make a schedule pickup of an item at a customer location comprising:
 in response to global positioning system (GPS) of a mobile acquisition device detecting a geolocation corresponding to a customer location, establishing communication with customer computing devices associated with the geolocation, the communication established by sending electronic communication signals to network addresses associated with the customer computing devices; and   autonomously receiving, via the mobile acquisition device while the mobile acquisition device is at the customer location, data from at least one of the customer computing devices indicating that an item is to be picked up at an additional address at the customer location.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 causing a display on the mobile acquisition device of a plurality of location identifiers, wherein each location identifier (a) identifies the customer location and (b) is associated with one of the network addresses that correspond respectively to the customer computing devices at the customer location.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising receiving a user input selecting the customer location. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the mobile acquisition device is usable by an agent proximate to the customer location and at the customer location. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein establishing communication with the customer computing devices further comprises polling one or more of the customer computing devices. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , further comprising receiving an acknowledgement signal from the one or more the customer computing devices in response to polling the one or more of the computing devices. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising identifying at least a portion of a street address for the customer location associated with the geolocation. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the network address are Media Access Control (MAC) addresses. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 identifying, via the mobile acquisition device, at least a portion of a street address for the customer location associated with a location identifier identifying the customer location and which is associated with the network addresses that correspond to the customer computing devices at the customer location.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 autonomously receiving, via the mobile acquisition device while the mobile acquisition device is at the customer location, content from another customer computing device of the customer computing devices at the customer location, indicating at least one other item to be picked up at a different address of the network addresses of the customer location in response to establishing communication with the another customer computing device of the customer computing devices.   
     
     
         11 . An apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the processor, to cause the apparatus to at least:
 in response to global positioning system (GPS) of a mobile acquisition device detecting a geolocation corresponding to a customer location, establish communication with customer computing devices associated with the geolocation, the communication established by sending electronic communication signals to network addresses associated with the customer computing devices; and   autonomously receive, via the mobile acquisition device while the mobile acquisition device is at the customer location, data from at least one of the customer computing devices indicating that an item is to be picked up at an additional address at the customer location.   
     
     
         12 . The apparatus of  claim 11 , wherein the memory and computer program code are further configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to:
 display, via a display device, a plurality of location identifiers, wherein each location identifier (a) identifies the customer location and (b) is associated with one of the network addresses that correspond respectively to the customer computing devices at the customer location.   
     
     
         13 . The apparatus of  claim 11 , wherein the memory and computer program code are further configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to receive a user input selecting the customer location. 
     
     
         14 . The computer system of  claim 13 , wherein the apparatus comprises the mobile acquisition device usable by an agent proximate to the customer location and at the customer location. 
     
     
         15 . The apparatus of  claim 11 , wherein the memory and computer program code are further configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to:
 poll one or more of the customer computing device to establish communication with the one or more customer computing device.   
     
     
         16 . The apparatus of  claim 15 , wherein the memory and computer program code are further configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to:
 receive an acknowledgement signal from the one or more of the customer computing device in response to polling the one or more of the customer computing device.   
     
     
         17 . The apparatus of  claim 11 , wherein the memory and computer program code are further configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to:
 identify at least a portion of a street address for the customer location associated with the geolocation.   
     
     
         18 . The apparatus of  claim 11 , wherein the one or more network addresses are a Media Access Control (MAC) address. 
     
     
         19 . The apparatus of  claim 11 , wherein the memory and computer program code are further configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to:
 identify at least a portion of a street address for the customer location associated with a location identifier identifying the customer location and which is associated with the network addresses that correspond to the customer computing devices at the customer location.   
     
     
         20 . A method for determining whether a service provider needs to make a schedule pickup of an item at a customer location comprising:
 in response to global positioning system (GPS) of a mobile acquisition device detecting a geolocation corresponding to a customer location, establishing communication with customer computing devices associated with the geolocation, the communication established by sending electronic communication signals to network addresses associated with the customer computing devices;   autonomously receiving, via the mobile acquisition device while the mobile acquisition device is at the customer location, data from at least one of the customer computing devices indicating that no item is to be picked up at an additional address at the customer location.