307 results about "Delivery cost" patented technology

A method and apparatus for efficient handling of product returns to reduce associated costs. A computer system at a regional product return center scans a returned product for identifying information, accesses a manufacturer return approval computer system through the internet or the like, and then submits the identifying information to the manufacturer for return approval. The manufacturer computer system utilizes the identifying information to access an electronic registration database to determine whether the returned product satisfies applicable return criteria. If so, the product is approved for return to the manufacturer. The regional product return center preferably scans a plurality of returned products in a single session. In response to the product identifying information submitted by the regional product return center, the manufacturer provides a list of approved returns and unapproved returns, along with a return authorization number for the batch of approved returns. The regional product return center then assembles the approved product returns into a box, shipping pallet, or the like, applies a label indicating the return authorization label, and ships the batch to the manufacturer. Shipping costs can be saved by omitting rejected product returns from the shipment. The manufacturer can handle the approved product returns from the regional return center as a batch, thereby reducing costs.

An electronic clearinghouse system (ECS) for securely delivering, retrieving, authenticating, storing, generating and distributing messages, such as financial documents and/or records are described. For message providers, the ECS can provide a secure and trusted venue for delivering messages, such as messages including financial data to their clients that reduces their delivery costs. For users of the ECS, the ECS can provide a central location where each user can receive and consolidate their messages, such as financial documents and associated financial data from a number of different financial data providers. To facilitate these functions, the ECS can include an automated system for recording delivery status as well as evidence of delivery of messages, including whether a message has been viewed by a particular user. Further, the ECS can include components for scheduling events, such as monetary transfers and bill payments, and providing reminders for such events. Also, the ECS can provide utilities that allow a user to package and securely deliver messages to other users.

An electronic control apparatus configured for use in routing customer orders, received over the internet, to a service provider such as a print service provider selected from a plurality of competing print service providers, comprises an electronic interface configured to receive and acknowledge customer orders; first processing means configured to compare the requirements of a received order with pre-stored information specific to each of the competing service providers; responsive means configured to establish a list of the service providers determined to be able to fulfill requirements of the received order; and processing means configurable, for a received order, to make the selection from the list and to route the received order to the selected service provider. Advantageously by applying a series of filters an optimum service provider is selected by a gateway device assigning a printing order to a print service provider taking into account geographical criteria, and attempts to minimize the final price, in particular the shipping costs. Whilst minimizing costs to the end customer, the gateway device seeks to ensure that a print service provider having competitive prices still receives work.

Improvement on delivery of continuous media programs, such as video, divides the programs into prefixes and suffixes of data. One of these groups, or other groups associated with alternate on-demand data streaming, may be stored at a remote location, while the other of the groups may be stored at a plurality of regional locations. Accordingly, when the media program is ordered by a plurality of clients, a portion of the program will be broadcast from the regional server, while the other portion of the program will be transmitted from the remote server. The prefixes and suffixes are chosen so as to maximize the efficiency of data transfer taking into account the cost of storing the data as well as bandwidth costs.

Methods and systems for improving auction-based online commerce are provided, including methods and systems for facilitating advance, rapid, accurate estimation of shipping costs between a seller and the winner of an online auction. Methods and systems include an application for facilitating seller estimation of shipping costs, including various components of shipping costs, and for providing to the buyer a shipping estimate based on the circumstances of the buyer and the auction.

The invention discloses an intelligent scheduling system for tail-end instant logistics. The intelligent scheduling system comprises an order receiving module, an order processing module, a deliveryman searching module, an order combination module, a merchant portrait module, a deliveryman portrait module, an order dispatching decision-making module, and a deliveryman examination module. On the basis of position information of a merchant and a user as well as positioning information generated by a deliveryman terminal APP, global optimal matching is carried out on an order and a deliveryman by considering the current position of the deliveryman, the order executed by the deliveryman, portrait image of the merchant and the deliveryman, and the requirement on allocation time by the user comprehensively and then an optimal deliveryman is determined finally to complete a delivery task. On the basis of the intelligent order dispatching way, optimal order distribution is carried out at a global angle to realize optimal utilization of the whole transport capacity; the need of instant logistics and the transport capacity supply can be balanced well; the logistics delivery efficiency can be improved; the logistics delivery cost can be lowered; and the service quality of the tail-end instant logistics can be improved.

A method for determining the postage associated with the delivery of an article including the steps of receiving an acquired image of the article over a network from a web enabled device (ii) comparing the acquired digital imaged to a plurality of stored digital images to ermine the identity of the acquired digital image, (iii) determining at least one characteristic of the identified digital image useful to determine a delivery cost associated with the identified digital image of the identified article, (iv) calculating the estimated cost of delivering the identified article to a destination address, and, (v) transmitting the estimated cost to the web enabled device. The method also determines the postage associated with the delivery of an article by means of a wireless communication network using a wireless mobile device having an optical imaging device. Furthermore, a system also determines the postage associated with the identified article.

The invention discloses an information processing method, a server and a logistics terminal. The processing method include: receiving an inquire request sent by the logistics terminal; determining target order information corresponding to an authentication logo and containing a delivery address which uses a current position of the logistics terminal as a center and is in a delivery distance threshold value range in at least one order which is prestored; feeding decided target order information back to the logistics terminal; and pushing on-line prompt information to corresponding order user terminals according to order user accounts in target orders after arrival notice instructions sent by the logistics terminal are received. After logistics staff arrive at a delivery plate, a plurality of order users in specific delivery areas can be informed simultaneously according to a mode that the server pushes information to order user terminals, every order user does not need to be informed to take delivery of goods by phone, and purposes of improvement of goods delivery efficiency and reduction of delivery cost are achieved.

A system and method for enabling direct transactions between a customer and a provider of goods and/or services. A plurality of suppliers or service providers provide data regarding offerings and services, and a database of selected information is collected and integrated for review and comparison by potential customers. An efficient distribution system delivers products and services to local service and pick-up centers where the customer retrieves them, or delivers the products and services directly to the customer, depending on customer preference. The cost of delivery is dependent on the customer preference and is based on proximity of delivery to customer.

The invention discloses a logistic system delivery scheduling method and system. Through a system order distribution mode, rapid matching of an optimal deliveryman can be realized, an order merging rate is improved, artificial order distribution cost is substantially saved, deliveryman experience requirements are reduced, order grabbing burden and risks can be avoided, maximized order merging is realized, delivery efficiency is improved, delivery experience is enhanced, delivery cost is reduced, and integral system efficiency is improved. The system comprises a service end and a delivery end, and the two ends realize communication through the mobile Internet.

The invention is applicable to the technical field of take-out delivery of internet or mobile internet take-out service platforms or systems and provides a method and a system allowing a take-out deliverer to compete for orders. The method includes the steps of receiving a delivery order submitted by a smart terminal or a website server and including a delivery address, a merchant's address and details of items; pushing the delivery order to delivery terminals which deliverer accounts are logged in; according to received order competition information fed back by the delivery terminals, distributing the delivery order to deliverers related to the delivery terminals. The method and the system have the advantages that the deliverers are fully motivated by competing for orders, the delivery terminals allow the deliverers to make full consideration on problems such as delivery range, routes and duty state while competing for the orders, optimal scheduling is achieved, delivery is easier and more efficient, and delivery cost is lowered.

Price comparison sites on the Internet, which allow users to compare prices across multiple shops (or in other words allow shopping meta-search), are very popular today. However, these price comparison sites perform optimizations for only one item at a time but not for combinations of more than one item which can be purchased from more than one dealer. In other words, If the user wants to buy for example multiple books at the same time or for example a number of computer parts at the same time, he has to search for the best shop for each item separately, and then any attempt for example to optimize the shipping costs by aggregating more than one item from the same shop have to be done manually by the user, which can take quite a long time, and the user many times will not succeed to reach the best option or even close to it. The present invention describes a system and method for automatic finding of one or more acceptable or near-optimal suggestions for dividing the order between various vendors (preferably in terms of at least item prices plus shipment costs) in price-comparison sites when the user buys more than one product at the same time, preferably by using efficient and practical heuristics, and preferably with automatically offering additional complementary services when needed. The invention solves many problems that are involved in accomplishing this in an efficient and practical manner, and also describes additional preferable features.

A system for efficiently transporting hydrogen from where it can be economically made to where it is most needed using specially designed airships. Technologies such as geothermal, wind, solar, wave tidal or hydropower can be used to generate electricity in-situ or very near to the primary energy sources. This electricity can then be used to produce hydrogen directly from water through various methods known in the art. Hydrogen can be delivered from the place where it is produced to the place where it is needed using an airship in which the hydrogen gas can also be used for generating lift, providing propulsion energy and serving ancillary needs. In other embodiments of the invention, the airship of the present invention can be used to dramatically reduce the cost of transportation of freight, the cost of passenger transportation, and to save on the area required for landing at the points of loading/unloading and embarkation/debarkation. And in another embodiment, the airship of the present invention can be used for transporting water and food to areas where needed. A unique docking system can use a remotely piloted unmanned aircraft flown from the mother craft to carry a guide line into a receiving attachment point.

The invention discloses a construction optimizing and operating method of an automatic fixed-point picking-up system of a logistics express. A system optimizing scheme containing a picking-up machine layout, a customer demand point attribution division and an express delivery line is generated according to the geographical position, demand amount and relevant logistics cost of a demand point of city express customers. When the system operates, a delivery center classifies expresses according to an automatic picking-up machine service range of the delivery center and the expresses are delivered by delivery workers according to an optimized delivery line scheme; and meanwhile, picking-up information is sent to the customers. After the customers pick up the expresses, the information is fed back to the delivery center by a picking-up machine so as to finish the whole express delivery task; otherwise, the customers are manually called to pick up the expresses; and if the customers cannot be contacted, the expresses are sent back to sending places to finish the delivery task. By virtue of the operation of the system, the abutting problem of time and space of the delivery workers and picking-up persons can be effectively solved in the express delivery process, so that the express delivery cost is reduced, the whole efficiency is improved, and the low carbonization and greening of the logistics express are realized.

The invention discloses an omni-channel advertisement accurate delivery system and method. The omni-channel advertisement accurate delivery system comprises a media management unit, an advertisement delivery unit, an advertisement content management unit, a data acquisition and analysis unit and an operation support unit, wherein the media management unit, the advertisement delivery unit, the advertisement content management unit, the data acquisition and analysis unit and the operation support unit are mutually connected. The media management unit sends out an delivery request to the advertisement delivery unit, the advertisement delivery unit feeds advertisement information corresponding to the delivery request back to the media management unit, the media management unit searches the advertisement content management unit for corresponding advertisement content according to the advertisement information and pushing the advertisement content to delivery media according to the types of channels of the delivery media, and meanwhile advertisement delivery data are stored through the data acquisition and analysis unit. Based on true, comprehensive and dynamically-updated user information, an advertisement accurate delivery scheme oriented to omni channels is provided, efficiency can be improved, accuracy of advertisement delivery is improved, delivery cost of advertisers is reduced, the advertisement delivery effect is improved, and benefits can be increased.

A networked data processing system (D-NET) facilitates and conducts secure electronic commerce based on national deployment independent of the Internet. A “publish and subscribe” model is used in which vendors publish catalogs and information about product and service offerings to D-NET applications which utilize an electronic product/service database with predefined structures. Subscribing organizations may then browse and search the vendor data using database queries, search engines and agents. Buyers and sellers may communicate directly using and integrated messaging service. Buyers may obtain quotations from sellers and calculate the total landed (delivered) cost of goods prior to purchase. Buyers may place blanket and standard purchase orders and track shipments to destination. Sellers receive payment electronically for goods and services. Orders for goods and services may be translated to XML or EDI formats and transmitted directly to seller order processing systems or serve as input to standard or customized supply chain management applications hosted at D-NET sites.

An adjustable punching bag includes an outer jacket bag and an inner bag set received in the outer bag. The inner bag set contains core stuffing, in which the content and kind of the stuffing can be adjusted to change the weight of the entire punching bag for meeting different practicing needs of users. Further, it is convenient to pack, store all parts thereof to lower delivery cost.

A service planning engine may predict the future wind speed at a wind farm as well as the future price of energy of the utility grid coupled to the wind turbines. Based on the predicted values, the service planning engine identifies times to perform maintenance when lost revenue is minimized—e.g., when the predicted price of energy is low. Furthermore, the service planning engine may calculate a service priority associated with the turbine to determine when to perform service. The service priority may be based on a status signal associated with the component to be serviced or the time window stipulated in the service contract for performing the maintenance. In one embodiment, the service planning engine also considers resource constraints such as labor costs (e.g., work schedules, overtime costs, availability of technicians with certain skills, availability of components, shipping costs, and the like).

A method and system for comparing cost of shipping options are provided. The method includes determining, with a computer system, based on shipping data input into the computer system, a first shipping cost for shipping the package using a first mail carrier; determining, with the computer system, based on the shipping data, a second shipping cost for shipping the package using a second mail carrier; calculating, with the computer system, a cost difference between the first shipping cost and the second shipping cost; outputting by the computer system the cost difference; and periodically sending the cost difference for shipping the package or a plurality of packages to an individual or organization monitoring shipping costs.

The invention discloses an emergency logistic route optimization method based on an improved ant colony algorithm. The method comprises the steps of: constructing a multi-target static route optimizing model with minimum delivery time and minimum delivery cost serving as a target, and determining constraint conditions of the optimizing model, such as the emergency supply flows of temporary transfer stations, the fairness, and the vehicle-mounted capacity; using the ant colony algorithm to search for all routes, ordering the routes according to the lengths of the found routes after that all ants complete once searching, attaching a corresponding pheromone increment to each ant finding each route according to the route lengths; and setting upper and lower bounds of the pheromone, updating the pheromone of each route, completing traversal of all disaster points, determining a total target function value of each route and determining the optimal route and the optimal target function value. According to the invention, the ant colony algorithm is improved on the aspects of pheromone updating, pheromone limiting and the like, the convergence rate and the solving quality are increased and a theoretical basis is provided for the optimizing of the emergency route.

A system and method for providing a shipper with a carrier service based on mix and match of transit days and times for better matching of shipper's needs with carriers' services. The shipper inputs origin and destination, wherein distance is calculated between origin and destination zip codes and a zone is assigned corresponding to transit days. The shipper is then presented with options and cost to ship based on transit days. Shipper makes the decision and the computer presents the shipper with options and cost for delivery time based on the distance from carrier's facility. Shipper then makes a decision based on delivery time, and the package is routed through the appropriate network. Shipper can also make both decisions about day and time for delivery (including delivery by desired appointment window of one, two or such defined time period in minutes or hours) in one step.

Another aspect of the present invention provides a method of providing a best bid and a best offer to a buyer, including receiving one or more offers to sell a commodity according to a predetermined contract at one or more specified prices. The specified prices are adjusted based on shipping costs associated with a destination specified by the buyer. A best offer is determined from the adjusted prices. A source location is determined corresponding to the best offer price. One or more bids are received to purchase the commodity. A best bid is determined corresponding to the source location. The best bid is adjusted based on the shipping cost between the source location and the destination and the adjusted best bid and the best offer are transferred to the buyer over a computer network for display by a networked host. The shipping cost may be computed as a function of the distance between the destination and the source location.

Described herein is an apparatus is capable of generating hydrogen and oxygen gases from water containing little or no electrolyte. The apparatus includes a container and at least one electrolysis assembly comprising one or more permanent magnets which are covered with at least one pair of porous conductive electrodes separated by a non conductive insulator. The assembly is connected to the leads of a direct current power supply. After the container is filled with water to cover the electrodes, application of voltage from the power supply results in the generation of hydrogen and oxygen gases. This apparatus and method provides a means of producing and distributing hydrogen on-site, simply and inexpensively, since it uses very little energy and liquefaction, transportation, and delivery costs can be avoided.