Patents by Inventor William T. Florence

William T. Florence 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).

  • Method and system of delivering items using overlapping delivery windows
    Patent number: 8195494
    Abstract: A method and system for obtaining desired times from intended recipients of items is provided. The method provides each recipient with a plurality of time windows that overlap with one another in time from which the recipient may choose a time for delivery of an item and receives choices made by recipients from the plurality of overlapping windows. One aspect of the invention includes applying predetermined parameters to the time windows to determine which time windows to offer to the recipients as available times from which the recipient may choose a time for delivery. Such parameters may include, among others, which time windows have associated with them the least cost of service in making the delivery, whether the cost of delivering within a time window is less than a monetary threshold, and whether a maximum number of orders to be delivered within one time window has been reached.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 7, 2011
    Date of Patent: June 5, 2012
    Assignee: United Parcel Service of America, Inc.
    Inventor: William T. Florence
  • METHOD AND SYSTEM OF DELIVERING ITEMS USING OVERLAPPING DELIVERY WINDOWS
    Publication number: 20110161203
    Abstract: A method and system for obtaining desired times from intended recipients of items is provided. The method provides each recipient with a plurality of time windows that overlap with one another in time from which the recipient may choose a time for delivery of an item and receives choices made by recipients from the plurality of overlapping windows. One aspect of the invention includes applying predetermined parameters to the time windows to determine which time windows to offer to the recipients as available times from which the recipient may choose a time for delivery. Such parameters may include, among others, which time windows have associated with them the least cost of service in making the delivery, whether the cost of delivering within a time window is less than a monetary threshold, and whether a maximum number of orders to be delivered within one time window has been reached.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 7, 2011
    Publication date: June 30, 2011
    Inventor: William T. Florence
  • Method and system of delivering items using overlapping delivery windows
    Patent number: 7925524
    Abstract: A method and system for obtaining desired times from intended recipients of items is provided. The method provides each recipient with a plurality of time windows that overlap with one another in time from which the recipient may choose a time for delivery of an item and receives choices made by recipients from the plurality of overlapping windows. One aspect of the invention includes applying predetermined parameters to the time windows to determine which time windows to offer to the recipients as available times from which the recipient may choose a time for delivery. Such parameters may include, among others, which time windows have associated with them the least cost of service in making the delivery, whether the cost of delivering within a time window is less than a monetary threshold, and whether a maximum number of orders to be delivered within one time window has been reached.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 9, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 12, 2011
    Inventor: William T. Florence
  • Method and system of delivering items using overlapping delivery windows
    Publication number: 20020007299
    Abstract: A method and system for obtaining desired times from intended recipients of items is provided. The method provides each recipient with a plurality of time windows that overlap with one another in time from which the recipient may choose a time for delivery of an item and receives choices made by recipients from the plurality of overlapping windows. One aspect of the invention includes applying predetermined parameters to the time windows to determine which time windows to offer to the recipients as available times from which the recipient may choose a time for delivery. Such parameters may include, among others, which time windows have associated with them the least cost of service in making the delivery, whether the cost of delivering within a time window is less than a monetary threshold, and whether a maximum number of orders to be delivered within one time window has been reached.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 9, 2001
    Publication date: January 17, 2002
    Inventor: William T. Florence