Patents by Inventor George F. Willard

George F. Willard 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).

  • Publication number: 20230306361
    Abstract: The customer order fulfillment and return system for returning items from a customer order to specified locations in a warehouse. The returned items are assigned to specific sub-compartments of a tote, and the tote is assigned to a specific mobile return cart. The system then generates a return tour and the returned items are then returned to specific locations in the warehouse.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 7, 2022
    Publication date: September 28, 2023
    Inventors: George F. WILLARD, III, Lei CAO, Mahendra SATRASALA, G. Shannon MEADE, Bradley K. WALLER, Stephen C. Nobert
  • Publication number: 20220222603
    Abstract: The customer order fulfillment system includes an order collection unit for collecting information associated with a plurality of customer orders having items and generating customer order data. Each of the plurality of customer order includes one or more items associated therewith. An order generating unit for receiving the customer order data and generating in response consolidated order fulfillment data, a pick tour generating subsystem for receiving the consolidated order fulfillment data and in response thereto generating pick tour instructions associated with a pick tour, and a bulk pick order fulfillment unit for grouping together similar ones of the items associated with the plurality of customer orders to form a plurality of bulk picks. An automated fulfillment system receives the consolidated order fulfillment data from the order generating unit and automatically selects one or more of the items from one or more carousels, employing the pick tour or the bulk pick.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 20, 2021
    Publication date: July 14, 2022
    Inventors: George F. Willard, III, Lei Cao, Dustin W. Cole, Mahendra Satrasala, David Byrd, G. Shannon Meade, Bradley K. Waller
  • Patent number: 11195129
    Abstract: The customer order fulfillment system includes an order collection unit for collecting information associated with a plurality of customer orders from a plurality of customers and generating customer order data that includes data associated with each of the plurality of customer orders and the plurality of customers. Each of the plurality of customer order includes one or more items associated therewith. The system also includes an order generating unit for receiving the customer order data from the order collection unit and generating in response thereto consolidated order fulfillment data, and a pick tour generating subsystem for receiving the consolidated order fulfillment data from the order generating unit and in response thereto generating pick tour instructions associated with a pick tour from the consolidated order fulfillment data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 26, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 7, 2021
    Assignee: America's Collectibles Network, Inc.
    Inventors: George F. Willard, III, Lei Cao, Dustin W. Cole, Mahendra Satrasala, David Byrd, G. Shannon Meade, Bradley K. Waller
  • Patent number: 11120378
    Abstract: A customer order fulfillment system comprising an order collection unit for collecting information associated with a plurality of customer orders and generating related customer order data. The system also includes an order generating unit for receiving the customer order data from the order collection unit and generating in response thereto consolidated order fulfillment data, and a bulk pick order fulfillment unit for receiving the consolidated order fulfillment data from the order generating unit and grouping together similar ones of the items associated with the customer orders to form a plurality of bulk picks, wherein one or more of the bulk picks can form part of one or more bulk pick tours. The system further includes a pick tour generating unit for receiving the consolidated order fulfillment data from the order generating unit and for generating pick tour instructions associated with a pick tour from the consolidated order fulfillment data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 17, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 14, 2021
    Assignee: America's Collectibles Network, Inc.
    Inventors: George F. Willard, III, Mahendra Satrasala, Lei Cao, G. Shannon Meade, Bradley K. Waller, Matthew Cardwell
  • Patent number: 11113648
    Abstract: The customer order fulfillment system includes an order collection unit for collecting information associated with a plurality of customer orders having items and generating customer order data. Each of the plurality of customer order includes one or more items associated therewith. An order generating unit for receiving the customer order data and generating in response consolidated order fulfillment data, a pick tour generating subsystem for receiving the consolidated order fulfillment data and in response thereto generating pick tour instructions associated with a pick tour, and a bulk pick order fulfillment unit for grouping together similar ones of the items associated with the plurality of customer orders to form a plurality of bulk picks. An automated fulfillment system receives the consolidated order fulfillment data from the order generating unit and automatically selects one or more of the items from one or more carousels, employing the pick tour or the bulk pick.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 27, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 7, 2021
    Assignee: America's Collectibles Network, Inc.
    Inventors: George F. Willard, III, Lei Cao, Dustin W. Cole, Mahendra Satrasala, David Byrd, G. Shannon Meade, Bradley K. Waller
  • Patent number: 11107148
    Abstract: Exemplary embodiments of the present application provide a packing system for an order fulfillment process. The packing system may include a scanner for scanning a barcode to retrieve a product identifier that is used to look up an order in a package database. A packager may package the product and a scale may weigh the packaged product. Using the weight from the scale and the order information from the package database, postage information for the packaged product may be retrieved from a postage database. One or more labels for the product may be printed based on the postage information and the order information, and the labels may be affixed to the packaged product. A workstation may display an interface providing an overview of the process, a time required to perform the steps in the process, and any errors associated with steps in the process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 6, 2014
    Date of Patent: August 31, 2021
    Assignee: America's Collectibles Network, Inc.
    Inventors: George F. Willard, III, Mahendra Satrasala, Lei Cao, Dustin Cole, Shannon Meade, Matthew Cardwell
  • Publication number: 20200311644
    Abstract: The customer order fulfillment system includes an order collection unit for collecting information associated with a plurality of customer orders from a plurality of customers and generating customer order data that includes data associated with each of the plurality of customer orders and the plurality of customers. Each of the plurality of customer order includes one or more items associated therewith. The system also includes an order generating unit for receiving the customer order data from the order collection unit and generating in response thereto consolidated order fulfillment data, and a pick tour generating subsystem for receiving the consolidated order fulfillment data from the order generating unit and in response thereto generating pick tour instructions associated with a pick tour from the consolidated order fulfillment data.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 26, 2019
    Publication date: October 1, 2020
    Inventors: George F. WILLARD, III, Lei CAO, Dustin W. COLE, Mahendra SATRASALA, David BYRD, G. Shannon MEADE, Bradley K. WALLER
  • Publication number: 20200272970
    Abstract: The customer order fulfillment system includes an order collection unit for collecting information associated with a plurality of customer orders having items and generating customer order data. Each of the plurality of customer order includes one or more items associated therewith. An order generating unit for receiving the customer order data and generating in response consolidated order fulfillment data, a pick tour generating subsystem for receiving the consolidated order fulfillment data and in response thereto generating pick tour instructions associated with a pick tour, and a bulk pick order fulfillment unit for grouping together similar ones of the items associated with the plurality of customer orders to form a plurality of bulk picks. An automated fulfillment system receives the consolidated order fulfillment data from the order generating unit and automatically selects one or more of the items from one or more carousels, employing the pick tour or the bulk pick.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 27, 2020
    Publication date: August 27, 2020
    Inventors: George F. WILLARD, III, Lei CAO, Dustin W. COLE, Mahendra SATRASALA, David BYRD, G. Shannon MEADE, Bradley K. WALLER
  • Publication number: 20200265381
    Abstract: The customer order fulfillment and return system for returning items from a customer order to specified locations in a warehouse. The returned items are assigned to specific sub-compartments of a tote, and the tote is assigned to a specific mobile return cart. The system then generates a return tour and the returned items are then returned to specific locations in the warehouse.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 20, 2020
    Publication date: August 20, 2020
    Inventors: George F. WILLARD, III, Lei CAO, Dustin W. COLE, Mahendra SATRASALA, David BYRD, G. Shannon MEADE, Bradley K. WALLER
  • Patent number: 9458354
    Abstract: The presently disclosed and claimed inventive concept(s) relates generally to polyethylene terephthalate (“PET”) polymers, digested oligomeric derivatives of PET (“dPET”), functionalized oligomeric derivatives of dPET (“dfPET”), and polyurethane dispersions (“PUD”) made from or incorporating dfPET therein.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 21, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2016
    Assignee: Resinate Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Kristopher M. Felice, Adam W. Emerson, George F. Willard, Eric W. Uffman, Albert C. Lee
  • Publication number: 20140360141
    Abstract: Exemplary embodiments of the present application provide a packing system for an order fulfillment process. The packing system may include a scanner for scanning a barcode to retrieve a product identifier that is used to look up an order in a package database. A packager may package the product and a scale may weigh the packaged product. Using the weight from the scale and the order information from the package database, postage information for the packaged product may be retrieved from a postage database. One or more labels for the product may be printed based on the postage information and the order information, and the labels may be affixed to the packaged product. A workstation may display an interface providing an overview of the process, a time required to perform the steps in the process, and any errors associated with steps in the process.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 6, 2014
    Publication date: December 11, 2014
    Inventors: George F. WILLARD, III, Mahendra SATRASALA, Lei COA, Dustin COLE, Shannon MEAD, Matthew Cardwell
  • Publication number: 20140107374
    Abstract: The presently disclosed and claimed inventive concept(s) relates generally to the functionalized polyethylene terephthalate polymers and functionalized derivatives of PET. More particularly, but not to be construed as limiting, the presently disclosed and claimed inventive concept(s) relate to lower molecular weight functionalized digested PET materials from digesting recycled and methods of making and using same.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 13, 2013
    Publication date: April 17, 2014
    Inventors: Kristopher M. Felice, George F. Willard, Eric W. Uffman, Albert C. Lee
  • Publication number: 20120259061
    Abstract: The presently disclosed and claimed inventive concept(s) relates generally to polyethylene terephthalate (“PET”) polymers, digested oligomeric derivatives of PET (“dPET”), functionalized oligomeric derivatives of dPET (“dfPET”), and polyurethane dispersions (“PUD”) made from or incorporating dfPET therein.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 21, 2012
    Publication date: October 11, 2012
    Inventors: KRISTOPHER M. FELICE, Adam W. Emerson, George F. Willard, Eric W. Uffman, Albert C. Lee
  • Publication number: 20120190800
    Abstract: The presently disclosed and claimed inventive concept(s) relates generally to the functionalized polyethylene terephthalate polymers and functionalized derivatives of PET. More particularly, but not to be construed as limiting, the presently disclosed and claimed inventive concept(s) relate to lower molecular weight functionalized digested PET materials from digesting recycled and methods of making and using same.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 25, 2011
    Publication date: July 26, 2012
    Inventors: Kristopher M. Felice, George F. Willard, Eric W. Uffman, Albert C. Lee
  • Publication number: 20120149791
    Abstract: The presently disclosed and claimed inventive concept(s) relates generally to the method of producing a resin replacement compound, the resin replacement compound itself, and the use of the resin replacement compound. More particularly, but not to be construed as limiting, the presently disclosed and claimed inventive concept(s) relate to the recovery of an oligomeric form of polyethylene terephthalic acid from waste polyethylene terephthalate. In one particular aspect, the presently disclosed and claimed inventive concept(s) relate to the recovery of an oligomeric form of polyethylene terephthalic acid from waste products, such as beverage containers, made from polyethylene terephthalate. In an additional aspect, the presently disclosed and claimed inventive concept(s) relate to the use of a recovered oligomeric form of polyethylene terephthalic acid in a toner composition.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 9, 2011
    Publication date: June 14, 2012
    Inventors: Kristopher M. Felice, George F. Willard, Eric W. Uffman, Albert C. Lee