Patents by Inventor Bruce W. Wilkinson

Bruce W. Wilkinson has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 10430751
    Abstract: In some embodiments, apparatuses and methods are provided herein useful to monitoring item distribution. In some embodiments, there is provided a system for monitoring item distribution including: a camera system comprising a plurality of cameras configured to capture a plurality of video streams along a distribution chain; an item record database comprising one or more monitored items; and a control circuit configured to: receive the plurality of video streams; identify a monitored item of the one or more monitored items; extract video data associated with the monitored item from at least one of the plurality of video streams; aggregate the video data to form an item distribution record; associate the item distribution record of the monitored item with a customer order for the monitored item in the item record database; and provide the item distribution record to a user associated with the customer order via an item record user interface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 1, 2019
    Assignee: Walmart Apollo, LLC
    Inventors: Bruce W. Wilkinson, Todd D. Mattingly
  • Publication number: 20190295099
    Abstract: Systems, apparatuses, and methods are provided herein for providing customer service agent assistance. A system for providing customer service agent assistance comprises a customer profile database storing customer partiality vectors for a plurality of customers, the customer partiality vectors comprise customer value vectors, a communication device, and a control circuit. The control circuit being configured to: provide a customer service agent user interface on a user device associated with a customer service agent, associate a particular customer with the customer service agent, retrieving at least one customer value vector for the particular customer from the customer profile database, and cause, via the communication device, the at least one customer value vector of the particular customer to be displayed on the customer service agent user interface of the user device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 14, 2019
    Publication date: September 26, 2019
    Inventors: Bruce W. Wilkinson, Todd D. Mattingly
  • Publication number: 20190295100
    Abstract: Systems, apparatuses, and methods are provided herein for providing customer service agent assistance. A system for providing customer service agent assistance comprises a customer profile database storing customer partiality vectors for a plurality of customers, the customer partiality vectors comprise customer value vectors, a communication device, and a control circuit. The control circuit being configured to: provide a customer service agent user interface on a user device associated with a customer service agent, associate a particular customer with the customer service agent, retrieving at least one customer value vector for the particular customer from the customer profile database, and cause, via the communication device, the at least one customer value vector of the particular customer to be displayed on the customer service agent user interface of the user device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 14, 2019
    Publication date: September 26, 2019
    Inventors: Bruce W. Wilkinson, Todd D. Mattingly
  • Patent number: 10423921
    Abstract: In some embodiments, apparatuses and methods are provided herein useful to manage reservations and deliveries for a docking station. More specifically, the various embodiments described herein track spaces on a docking station to determine whether one or more spaces are available when requested by a delivery device. Each space on the docking station has a corresponding capacity unit for each location on the docking station. The transactions for the capacity units are tracked in a ledger, with available capacity units indicating an open location on the docking station or contracted out capacity units indicating that either the location has a locker secured thereto or that the location is reserved for a future delivery.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 3, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 24, 2019
    Assignee: Walmart Apollo, LLC
    Inventors: Bruce W. Wilkinson, Todd D. Mattingly
  • Publication number: 20190279284
    Abstract: In some embodiments, apparatuses and methods are provided herein useful to collect information regarding haptic characteristics of objects and transmit the same to a haptic feedback device in order to simulate the haptic feedback characteristics of the object. In some embodiments, a sensor device contains movable parts to contact and exert force upon the object in order to measure its firmness, resilience, texture, or other haptic characteristics, and the haptic feedback device contains movable structures to replicate the haptic characteristics for a remote user.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 20, 2019
    Publication date: September 12, 2019
    Inventors: Eugene P. Sunday, Bruce W. Wilkinson
  • Publication number: 20190272398
    Abstract: In some embodiments, apparatuses and methods are provided herein useful to track objects on a moving conveyor system. In some embodiments, an RFID based tracking system comprises a conveyor system to move and transport objects along a conveyance path, wherein each object includes a near field only RFID tag associated therewith and identifying the object. Each near field only RFID tag is not coupled to a far field antenna such that it is not readable in a far field of RFID communication and communicates only in a near field of RFID communication. An RFID tag reader is positioned to attempt to read the near field only RFID tag of each object. And a control circuit processes reads of the near field only RFID tags by the first RFID reader to determine an order of the objects being conveyed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 21, 2019
    Publication date: September 5, 2019
    Inventor: Bruce W. Wilkinson
  • Patent number: 10399775
    Abstract: Generally speaking, pursuant to various embodiments, systems, apparatuses, and methods are provided herein useful for autonomously delivering lockers. In some embodiments, a system comprises a carrier vehicle, the carrier vehicle comprising a storage area, a docking station including a plurality of storage docks, each of the plurality of storage docks configured to secure at least one locker, wherein the docking station is located within the storage area, and a retrieval point, a plurality of lockers each configured to house at least one product, a delivery vehicle, the delivery vehicle comprising a delivery dock, wherein the delivery dock is configured to receive, at the retrieval point, at least one locker, and a propulsion mechanism, wherein the propulsion mechanism propels the delivery vehicle, and a control circuit, the control circuit configured to identify, from the plurality of lockers, a selected locker, and cause the selected locker to move to the retrieval point.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 1, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 3, 2019
    Assignee: Walmart Apollo, LLC
    Inventors: Donald R. High, David C. Winkle, Michael D. Atchley, Brian G. McHale, Nicholas Ray Antel, John J. O'Brien, Todd D. Mattingly, Bruce W. Wilkinson
  • Publication number: 20190259120
    Abstract: Systems, apparatuses, and methods are provided herein for autonomous vehicles task management and organization. A system for organizing autonomous product delivery vehicles comprises a locomotion system of a first autonomous vehicle, a communication device, a memory device, and a control circuit. The control circuit being configured to retrieve one or more vehicle tasks assigned to the first autonomous vehicle from a hash chain database, decrypt the task parameters with a private key of the first autonomous vehicle stored on the memory device, identify a second autonomous vehicle as a transferee of the one or more vehicle tasks based on transfer rules in the task parameters, and update the hash chain database with a new block comprising a hash of preceding data in the hash chain database and the task parameters of the one or more vehicle tasks encrypted with a public key of the second autonomous vehicle.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 3, 2019
    Publication date: August 22, 2019
    Inventors: Todd D. Mattingly, Donald R. High, Bruce W. Wilkinson, Joseph Jurich, JR., Brian G. McHale, Robert L. Cantrell, John J. O'Brien
  • Patent number: 10380390
    Abstract: Described in detail herein are systems and methods for interacting with an interactive display using a shopping cart. A user navigate a shopping cart to a computing system including an interactive display and can actuate or press one or more push buttons associated with RFID tags integrated with the handle portion on a shopping cart to interact with the interactive display. A unique identifier can be associated with each RFID tag. A RFID reader disposed with respect to the computing system can detect the unique identifiers associated with the one or more detected RFID tags. The RFID reader can transmit the unique identifiers to the computing system. The computing system can execute the retrieved actions on the interactive display, based on the one or more buttons actuated or pushed and the correlated RFID tags.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 24, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 13, 2019
    Assignee: Walmart Apollo, LLC
    Inventors: Matthew Allen Jones, Nicholaus Adam Jones, Aaron Vasgaard, Bruce W. Wilkinson
  • Publication number: 20190244168
    Abstract: In some embodiments, systems, apparatuses and methods are provided to support the delivery of products. Some embodiments provide a retail delivery locker system comprising: multiple delivery lockers comprising: a housing enclosing an interior product cavity; a door enabling access to the product cavity; first and second docking couplers each configured to securely dock with a docking station and a docking coupler of another locker; and a communication link between the first and second docking couplers; and multiple docking stations each comprising: a locker coupler configured to secure a locker with the docking station; a station control circuit that obtains a first locker identifier from a first locker, confirms the first locker is scheduled to dock with a docking station, and authorize the locking of the docking station with the first docking coupler; and a transceiver enabling the station control circuit to communicate with a remote central control system.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 11, 2019
    Publication date: August 8, 2019
    Inventors: Donald R. High, Bruce W. Wilkinson, Todd D. Mattingly, Brian G. McHale
  • Patent number: 10373464
    Abstract: In some embodiments, apparatuses, systems, and methods are provided herein useful to detecting a deviation in a person's activity. In some embodiments, an apparatus comprises one or more sensors, the one or more sensors configured to monitor parameters associated with a person and the person's home, and a control circuit, the control circuit communicatively coupled to the one or more sensors and configured to generate one or more partiality vectors for the person, receive, from the one or more sensors, values associated with the parameters, create, based on the values associated with the parameters, a spectral profile for the person, determine, based on the spectral profile and a routine base state for the person, that a combination of the values indicates a deviation, and update at least one of the one or more partiality vectors for the person.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 6, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 6, 2019
    Assignee: Walmart Apollo, LLC
    Inventors: Bruce W. Wilkinson, Todd D. Mattingly
  • Publication number: 20190236678
    Abstract: In some embodiments, apparatuses and methods are provided herein useful to recommend items. In some embodiments, there is provided a system for recommending items for purchase based on smell of food including a user interface product configured to trigger an odor sensor, prompt a user to provide an indication, receive a location coordinate, and provide a listing of identified chemicals, the indication, and the location coordinate; a main database configured to store a first set of associations and a second set of associations; and a main control circuit configured to determine a filter parameter, determine a filtered set of recipe components from the first set of associations, determine at least one recipe component from the filtered set of recipe components, determine a filtered set of recipes from the second set of associations, determine one or more recipes from the filtered set of recipes, and provide the one or more recipes.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 23, 2019
    Publication date: August 1, 2019
    Inventors: Bruce W. Wilkinson, Brian G. McHale, Todd D. Mattingly, Kurt W.R. Bessel
  • Patent number: 10366396
    Abstract: Systems, apparatuses, and methods are provided herein for providing customer service agent assistance. A system for providing customer service agent assistance comprises a customer profile database storing customer partiality vectors for a plurality of customers, the customer partiality vectors comprise customer value vectors, a communication device, and a control circuit. The control circuit being configured to: provide a customer service agent user interface on a user device associated with a customer service agent, associate a particular customer with the customer service agent, retrieving at least one customer value vector for the particular customer from the customer profile database, and cause, via the communication device, the at least one customer value vector of the particular customer to be displayed on the customer service agent user interface of the user device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 15, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 30, 2019
    Assignee: Walmart Apollo, LLC
    Inventors: Bruce W. Wilkinson, Todd D. Mattingly
  • Publication number: 20190222418
    Abstract: Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure are related to a system for key exchange in a blockchain based system associated with warranty-ownership of physical objects. Embodiments of the key exchange system can include user terminal devices, one or more non-transitory computer-readable media, and a computing system.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 11, 2019
    Publication date: July 18, 2019
    Inventors: John Jeremiah O'Brien, Aditya Prakash Hemdev, Adrian Cabal, Steven Jackson Lewis, Chris Heeney, Joseph Jurich, JR., Robert Cantrell, Todd Davenport Mattingly, Brian Gerard McHale, Bruce W. Wilkinson, Donald High
  • Patent number: 10346656
    Abstract: In some embodiments, apparatuses and methods are provided herein useful to track objects on a moving conveyor system. In some embodiments, an RFID based tracking system comprises a conveyor system to move and transport objects along a conveyance path, wherein each object includes a near field only RFID tag associated therewith and identifying the object. Each near field only RFID tag is not coupled to a far field antenna such that it is not readable in a far field of RFID communication and communicates only in a near field of RFID communication. An RFID tag reader is positioned to attempt to read the near field only RFID tag of each object. And a control circuit processes reads of the near field only RFID tags by the first RFID reader to determine an order of the objects being conveyed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 17, 2015
    Date of Patent: July 9, 2019
    Assignee: Walmart Apollo, LLC
    Inventor: Bruce W. Wilkinson
  • Patent number: 10331123
    Abstract: Systems, apparatuses, and methods are provided herein for autonomous vehicles task management and organization. A system for organizing autonomous product delivery vehicles comprises a locomotion system of a first autonomous vehicle, a communication device, a memory device, and a control circuit. The control circuit being configured to retrieve one or more vehicle tasks assigned to the first autonomous vehicle from a hash chain database, decrypt the task parameters with a private key of the first autonomous vehicle stored on the memory device, identify a second autonomous vehicle as a transferee of the one or more vehicle tasks based on transfer rules in the task parameters, and update the hash chain database with a new block comprising a hash of preceding data in the hash chain database and the task parameters of the one or more vehicle tasks encrypted with a public key of the second autonomous vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 18, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 25, 2019
    Assignee: Walmart Apollo, LLC
    Inventors: Todd D. Mattingly, Donald R. High, Bruce W. Wilkinson, Joseph Jurich, Jr., Brian G. McHale, Robert L. Cantrell, John J. O'Brien
  • Publication number: 20190180598
    Abstract: Systems, apparatuses, and methods are provided herein for providing reminders. A system for providing reminders comprises a communication device configured to receive location information associated with a tracker coupled to an item, a movement pattern database, and a control circuit. The control circuit being configured to: track a current movement pattern of the tracker based on the location information received via the communication device, select an expected movement pattern from the movement pattern database based on the location information associated with the tracker, compare the current movement pattern of the tracker with the expected movement pattern, and generate an alert based on detecting a deviation from the expected movement pattern.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 20, 2019
    Publication date: June 13, 2019
    Inventors: Bruce W. Wilkinson, Todd D. Mattingly
  • Publication number: 20190168966
    Abstract: Generally speaking, pursuant to various embodiments, systems, apparatuses, and methods are provided herein useful for autonomously delivering lockers. In some embodiments, a system comprises a carrier vehicle, the carrier vehicle comprising a storage area, a docking station including a plurality of storage docks, each of the plurality of storage docks configured to secure at least one locker, wherein the docking station is located within the storage area, and a retrieval point, a plurality of lockers each configured to house at least one product, a delivery vehicle, the delivery vehicle comprising a delivery dock, wherein the delivery dock is configured to receive, at the retrieval point, at least one locker, and a propulsion mechanism, wherein the propulsion mechanism propels the delivery vehicle, and a control circuit, the control circuit configured to identify, from the plurality of lockers, a selected locker, and cause the selected locker to move to the retrieval point.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 1, 2019
    Publication date: June 6, 2019
    Inventors: Donald R. High, David C. Winkle, Michael D. Atchley, Brian G. McHale, Nicholas Ray Antel, John J. O'Brien, Todd D. Mattingly, Bruce W. Wilkinson
  • Publication number: 20190170423
    Abstract: In some embodiments, apparatuses and methods are provided herein useful to delivering and maintaining perishable items within a certain temperature range during delivery.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 4, 2019
    Publication date: June 6, 2019
    Inventors: David C. Winkle, Bruce W. Wilkinson, Todd D. Mattingly
  • Publication number: 20190160994
    Abstract: In some embodiments, apparatuses and methods are provided herein useful to receiving retail products.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 15, 2018
    Publication date: May 30, 2019
    Inventors: Eric A. Letson, Bruce W. Wilkinson, Todd D. Mattingly