Systems and methods of controlling delivery of retail products

Abstract

In some embodiments, systems and methods are provided to enable product deliveries based on an interruption condition, comprising: a delivery scheduling system; a cancellation system; and a time reserving system; wherein the delivery scheduling system comprises a delivery scheduling control circuit configured identify that a delivery interruption condition exists for a delivery day; the cancellation system is configured to identify multiple scheduled product deliveries on the delivery day that are to be halted; the time reserving system is configured to: identify a non-interrupted second delivery day, and reserve at least a portion of the second delivery day; and block the reserved portion of the second delivery day and prevent previously unscheduled deliveries from being scheduled during the reserved portion; and the delivery scheduling control circuit is configured to reschedule a delivery of a halted product delivery during the reserved portion of the second delivery day.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A delivery control system to control deliveries based on an interruption condition, comprising:
 a delivery scheduling system comprising a plurality of scheduling processors communicatively coupled over a distributed network;   a cancellation system comprising a plurality of cancellation processors communicatively coupled over the network; and   a time reserving system comprising a plurality of reserving processors communicatively coupled over the network, wherein the time reserving system is communicatively coupled over the network with at least the delivery scheduling system with at least the delivery scheduling system;   wherein the delivery scheduling system comprises a delivery scheduling control circuit implemented through one or more of the scheduling processors, wherein the scheduling control circuit is configured to access and apply a set of one or more cancellation rules to a plurality of sets of different conditions corresponding to different geographic areas and identify, corresponding to a first retail shopping facility, that a delivery interruption condition exists for at least a subsequent first delivery day, wherein the interruption condition comprises a condition having a predefined relationship with a safety threshold;   wherein the cancellation system is configured to access and apply one or more of the cancellation rules to identify multiple scheduled product deliveries of the plurality of product deliveries, scheduled to be delivered from the first retail shopping facility on the first delivery day, that are to be halted as a result of the interruption condition;   wherein the time reserving system accesses and applies a set of one or more time reserving rules and is configured to:
 receive notification of the interruption of the first delivery day and apply one or more of the time reserving rules to identify a non-interrupted second delivery day that occurs in time after the first delivery day; and 
 reserve at least a portion of the second delivery day to be available to allow customers associated with halted product deliveries to reschedule the halted product deliveries, wherein the portion of the second delivery date that is reserved is based on historic numbers of customers that rescheduled halted product deliveries relative to a corresponding number of the halted product deliveries, and block the reserved portion of the second delivery day and prevent previously unscheduled deliveries associated with the first shopping facility from being scheduled during the reserved portion of the second delivery day; and 
   wherein the delivery scheduling control circuit is configured to reschedule a delivery of at least a first halted product delivery during the reserved portion of the second delivery day based on communication from a first customer.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the delivery scheduling control circuit identifies a first delivery location associated with the first customer, and limits delivery times available to the first customer in rescheduling the delivery of the first halted product delivery to a sub-portion of the reserved portion of the second delivery day as a function of the first delivery location. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the delivery scheduling control circuit causes a notification to be communicated to first customer of a delivery time of a second delivery to a different customer that was previously scheduled for a second delivery location that is within a threshold distance of the first delivery location. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 2 , further comprising:
 a communication system communicatively coupled with the delivery scheduling system and configured to implement a communication of a notification to a customer associated with each of the multiple halted product deliveries, and provides access to a schedule that identifies available times, including available times during the reserve portion of the second delivery day, that can be reserved in rescheduling a corresponding one of the halted product deliveries.   
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the delivery scheduling control circuit in rescheduling the delivery of at least the first halted product delivery is configured to reschedule the delivery of the first halted product delivery without delaying previously scheduled product deliveries that are scheduled for the second delivery day and were scheduled prior to the identifying that the delivery interruption condition existed. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the time reserving system, in reserving at least the portion of the second delivery day to be available to allow the customers to reschedule the halted product deliveries, determines an amount of the second delivery day to be reserved as a function of historic numbers of customers that reschedule halted product deliveries and the number of the multiple halted product deliveries. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the delivery scheduling control circuit:
 identifies that at least a threshold quantity of product deliveries, to be picked at the first shopping facility for the multiple halted product deliveries, are yet to be picked by a threshold period of time prior to a scheduled departure on the second delivery day of at least a first delivery vehicle;   issues instructions to define a set of picking schedules that at least one worker is to sequentially follow in picking products to be delivered according to the halted product deliveries, wherein each picking schedule of the set of the picking schedules directs the picking of products for a portion of the products to be delivered on the second delivery day; and   issues instructions to define a set of sub-delivery routes that each correspond to one of the picking schedules such that the at least one worker picks products specified in a subsequent second one of the picking schedules while the first delivery vehicle is delivering products picked based on a previous first picking schedule.   
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 7 , wherein the delivery scheduling control circuit in issuing the instructions to define the set of sub-delivery routes issues instructions that the set of sub-delivery routes comprise routing to cause the first delivery vehicle to return to the first shopping facility upon completing each of a plurality of the set of sub-delivery routes to be loaded with the products picked based on a subsequent one of the set of picking schedules. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the time reserving system is further configured to identify types of products likely to be in more demand based on a type of interruption event, and identify one or more of the interrupted deliveries that include one or more of the identified types of products. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the delivery scheduling system communicates with geographically distributed user devices each associated with one of a set of multiple different customers of the customers each associated with the halted product deliveries, accesses calendar data from the user devices, determines from the calendar data for at least the first customer of the set of multiple different customers an availability for rescheduling, and applies one or more of the scheduling rules and limits potential available times presented to the first customer for rescheduling based on the availability for rescheduling for the first customer. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the delivery scheduling system communicates with geographically distributed user devices each associated with one of a set of multiple different customers of the customers each associated with the halted product deliveries, receives location information from at least a first user device of the user devices, and applies the one or more scheduling rules to limit potential available times presented to the first customer associated with the first user device for rescheduling based on the location information. 
     
     
         12 . A method of controlling deliveries based on an interruption condition, comprising:
 accessing, by a delivery scheduling control circuit of a delivery scheduling system comprising a scheduling processor communicatively coupled with a distributed network, a set of one or more cancellation rules;   applying one or more of the set of the one or more cancellation rules to a plurality of sets of different conditions corresponding to different geographic areas and identifying, corresponding to a first retail shopping facility, that a delivery interruption condition exists for at least a subsequent first delivery day, wherein the interruption condition comprises a condition having a predefined relationship with a safety threshold;   identifying, by a cancellation system comprising a cancellation processor communicatively coupled with the distributed network, multiple scheduled product deliveries of the one or more product deliveries, scheduled to be delivered from the first retail shopping facility on the first delivery day, that are to be halted as a result of the interruption condition;   accessing and applying, by a time reserving system comprising a reserving processor communicatively coupled with the distributed network, a set of one or more time reserving rules and identifying a non-interrupted second delivery day that occurs in time after the first delivery day;   reserving at least a portion of the second delivery day to be available to allow customers associated with halted product deliveries to reschedule the halted product deliveries, wherein the portion of the second delivery date that is reserved is based on historic numbers of customers that rescheduled halted product deliveries relative to a corresponding number of the halted product deliveries, and block the reserved portion of the second delivery day and prevent previously unscheduled deliveries associated with the first shopping facility from being scheduled during the reserved portion of the second delivery day; and   rescheduling a delivery of at least a first halted product delivery during the reserved portion of the second delivery day based on communication from a first customer.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , further comprising:
 identifying a first delivery location associated with the first customer; and   limiting delivery times available to the first customer in rescheduling the delivery of the first halted product delivery to a sub-portion of the reserved portion of the second delivery day as a function of the first delivery location.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising:
 communicating a notification to the first customer of a delivery time of a second delivery to a different customer that was previously scheduled for a second delivery location that is within a threshold distance of the first delivery location.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising:
 causing a notification to be communicated to a customer associated with each of the multiple halted product deliveries; and   providing access to a schedule that identifies available times, including available times during the reserve portion of the second delivery day, that can be reserved in rescheduling a corresponding one of the halted product deliveries.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the rescheduling the delivery of at least the first halted product delivery comprises rescheduling the delivery of the first halted product delivery without delaying previously scheduled product deliveries that are scheduled for the second delivery day and were scheduled prior to the identifying that the delivery interruption condition existed. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the reserving at least the portion of the second delivery day to be available to allow the customers to reschedule the halted product deliveries comprises determining an amount of the second delivery day to be reserved as a function of historic numbers of customers that reschedule halted product deliveries and the number of the multiple halted product deliveries. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 12 , further comprising:
 identifying that at least a threshold quantity of product deliveries, to be picked at the first shopping facility for the multiple halted product deliveries, are yet to be picked by a threshold period of time prior to a scheduled departure on the second delivery day of at least a first delivery vehicle;   issuing instructions to define a set of picking schedules that at least one worker is to sequentially follow in picking products to be delivered according to the halted product deliveries, wherein each picking schedule of the set of the picking schedules directs the picking of products for a portion of the products to be delivered on the second delivery day; and   issuing instructions to define a set of sub-delivery routes that each correspond to one of the picking schedules such that the at least one worker picks products specified in a subsequent second one of the picking schedules while the first delivery vehicle is delivering products picked based on a previous first picking schedule.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the issuing the instructions to define the set of sub-delivery routes comprises issuing instructions that the set of sub-delivery routes comprise routing to cause the first delivery vehicle to return to the first shopping facility upon completing each of a plurality of the set of sub-delivery routes to be loaded with the products picked based on a subsequent one of the set of picking schedules.