FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates to improvements in parcel delivery systems and in particular to improved delivery systems for online purchases including software applications for facilitating improved delivery systems utilising mobile computing devices.

[0002] The invention has been developed primarily for use in methods and systems for an improved parcel delivery systems including software applications for assisting in the delivery system procedures utilising mobile computing devices and will be described hereinafter with reference to this application. However, it will be appreciated that the invention is not limited to this particular field of use.

BACKGROUND

[0003] Any discussion of the background art throughout the specification should in no way be considered as an admission that such background art is prior art nor that such background art is widely known or forms part of the common general knowledge in the field in Australia or worldwide.

[0004] Known delivery systems have not changed in many years. Accordingly, delivery and courier services generally are struggling to keep pace with the rapid changes in business structure with the introduction of secure only web portals for consumers to purchase goods and have them delivered directly to their door (or to that of a nominated recipient). Thus, ecommerce parcel delivery is generally considered to be broken at the last mile, primarily because: a) courier drivers do not provide the necessary quality service; and b) recipients of parcels are a moving target.

[0005] Online retail is a self - service model; the buyer does all the stages of the shopping process on their own. These are typically therefore people that are comfortable with maintaining control over the process to acquire goods. It is therefore a frustration when control is transferred to the retailer who all too often fails to deliver the goods according to the presented delivery guidelines, or places significant inconvenience on the buyer to complete delivery process. The buyer has the relationship with the retailer and therefore readily blames them for subsequent delivery issues. The majority of issues are not, however, the retailer's, the courier driver is more often than not the cause of the main consumer frustrations, yet it costs the retailer in customer service overheads and customer relationship damage. These failures are due to some fundamental weaknesses in the current approaches:

• The relationships are wrong: the customer of the retailer is the buyer, the customer of the courier company is the retailer not the buyer because it the retailer that contracts with the courier and pays the courier. The courier company is therefore essentially motivated to keep the retailer happy, however it should ultimately be about the buyer's satisfaction with the purchase process.

• Courier drivers are overworked and underpaid: the numerous difficulties faced by the courier drivers makes it difficult to maintain a high quality of service in the delivery process, so many courier drivers find shortcuts that allow them to complete their workload, or increase their efficiencies so that they can earn a living. These come at the expense of service to the buyer.

Accordingly, there is a long felt need to revitalise the last mile stage of the online purchase procedure and thus increase the buyer's satisfaction with purchasing via online merchant portals over the Internet, thus increasing internet sales to the benefit of the retailers and merchants.

SUMMARY

[0006] It is an object of the present invention to overcome or ameliorate at least one or more of the disadvantages of the prior art, or to provide a useful alternative.

[0007] One embodiment provides a computer program product for performing a method as described herein.

[0008] One embodiment provides a non-transitive carrier medium for carrying computer executable code that, when executed on a processor, causes the processor to perform a method as described herein.

[0009] One embodiment provides a system configured for performing a method as described herein.

[0010] According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a parcel delivery system for providing timely delivery of at least one parcel to a recipient. The system may comprise a software application adapted for use on a mobile computing device. The software application may be adapted to monitor the location of the recipient in near real-time and recording time-based location data of the recipient with respect to comprises a predetermined delivery address associated with the at least one parcel. The software application may be further adapted to receive input data from a delivery organisation regarding details of a failed delivery attempt of the parcel including the time the delivery attempt was made. The software application may be further adapted for correlating the time-based location data with the time of the failed delivery attempt to determine a correlation event. The software application may be further adapted for reporting the correlation event to a compliance authority. The compliance authority may be associated with the delivery system. The compliance authority may be associated with a particular merchant or merchant sales portal. The compliance authority may be associated with a plurality of merchants.

[001 1 ] According to an arrangement of the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a parcel delivery system for providing timely delivery of at least one parcel to a recipient, the system comprising: a software application adapted for use on a mobile computing device, said software application adapted to: monitor the location of said recipient in near real-time and recording time-based location data of said recipient with respect to comprises a predetermined delivery address associated with said at least one parcel; receive input data from a delivery organisation regarding details of a failed delivery attempt of said parcel including the time said delivery attempt was made; correlate said time-based location data with said time of said failed delivery attempt to determine a correlation event; and report the correlation event to a compliance authority.

[0012] The recipient may be the nominee of a buyer of the one or more parcels.

[0013] The reporting of the correlation event may occur in the event that the recorded failed delivery attempt occurs at a time when the software application records the location of the recipient as being at the delivery address at the recorded time of the failed delivery attempt.

[0014] The location data may be indicative of the time the recipient is within a predefined distance of the predetermined delivery address.

[0015] The system may be further adapted to improve the quality of service provided by the delivery organisation.

[0016] The system may be further adapted to operate in conjunction with wares of the seller or merchant by a buyer through an electronic network. The electronic network may comprise the internet. The electronic network may comprise a merchant shopping portal adapted to be accessed via the electronic network. [0017] The merchant shopping portal may comprise an indication means adapted to provide an improved trust level in the buyer prior to making a purchase. The increased trust level may comprise an induced increased expectation among the potential buyers that the one or more parcels purchased by the buyer will be delivered to a recipient address without undue difficulty.

[0018] The recipient may be the nominee of a buyer of the one or more parcels.

[0019] The software application may be further adapted to validate the delivery address with GPS coordinates. The GPS coordinates, in conjunction with a predefined radius, may define a delivery zone corresponding to the delivery address. The system may further comprise a recipient zone comprising a near real-time measurement of the location of the recipient and a predefined radius.

[0020] The system may further comprise communication means for communicating the intersection of the delivery zone and the recipient zone to the delivery organisation to determine the likelihood of success of an attempted delivery of the parcel to the delivery address. In the event that the intersection of the delivery zone and the recipient zone predicts a high probability of a failed delivery event at an estimated delivery time, the communicating means may be further adapted for advising the delivery organisation of an alternate delivery address thereby to avoid the failed delivery attempt.

[0021] The recipient zone may comprise a GPS location associated with the recipient and predetermined radius associated with the buyer. The recipient zone may further comprise a GPS location and predetermined radius associated with a recipient comprising a nominee of the buyer. The GPS location associated with the recipient may be updated in real-time or near real-time.

[0022] The nominee may be associated with a nominee zone comprising near real-time GPS coordinates of the location of the nominee and a predetermined radius. The delivery system may be further adapted to determine a low probability of a failed delivery event according to the intersection of the delivery zone with either the recipient zone or the nominee zone.

[0023] The system may further comprise authorisation means for the buyer or the recipient to authorise delivery of the parcel to a predetermined location regardless of the intersection between the delivery zone and the recipient zone.

[0024] The recipient zone may comprise a GPS location associated with the nominee and predetermined radius associated with a recipient comprising a predetermined alternate recipient and a predetermined alternate delivery address. The GPS location associated with the nominee may be updated in real-time or near real-time.

[0025] Failure to correlate the designated delivery address with GPS coordinates can be used to validate and/or correct the designated delivery address i.e. this provides a mechanism for address validation and correction, prior to delivery.

[0026] The delivery address may be associated with the parcel (i.e. the delivery address is not necessarily associated with either the buyer or the recipient - if they are different). The GPS coordinates may be adapted to reference an address lookup in order to validate the delivery address. The system may preferably be adapted to determine the answer to the question: "is the recipient at the address?" In this case, the correlation is then designed to determine if the recipient's current GPS coordinates are within close enough proximity of the GPS coordinates that were looked up and associated with the parcel's delivery address. Thus, there are at least two GPS zones associated with the process of delivering the at least one parcel: one GPS zone, the delivery zone (GPS coordinate plus a predetermined radius), being associated with the delivery address of the parcel, and at least a second GPS zone, the recipient zone (GPS coordinate plus a predetermined radius), being associated with the recipient. The recipient zone may be updated in real-time or near real-time to determine whether the recipient zone intersects with the delivery zone at a time when an attempt to deliver the at least one parcel is made or scheduled to be made. "Address validation" can be done as part of the process of translating the delivery address of the parcel into a GPS zone (coordinate plus radius); and the query "recipient at the address?" is done by determining if there is an intersection between the delivery zone and the recipient zone at a time when an attempt to deliver the at least one parcel is made or scheduled to be made.

[0027] According to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided, an authentication system for sellers or merchants adapted to provide an increased trust level among potential buyers of the merchant's wares. The system may comprise a parcel delivery system according to the first aspect. The system may further comprise a subscription service adapted to permit sellers or merchants to subscribe to the authentication system. The system may further comprise indication means adapted for informing the potential buyers that a selected seller or merchant is subscribed to the authentication system.

[0028] According to an arrangement of the second aspect, there is provided, an authentication system for sellers or merchants adapted to provide an increased trust level among potential buyers of the merchant's wares, the system comprising; a parcel delivery system according to the first aspect; a subscription service adapted to permit sellers or merchants to subscribe to the authentication system; and indication means adapted for informing the potential buyers that a selected seller or merchant is subscribed to the authentication system.

[0029] The indication means may comprise an image adapted to be displayed in a location associated with a merchant shopping portal. The merchant shopping portal may comprise a web page in an online networked environment. The merchant shopping portal may be adapted to promote and provide facilities for potential buyers to purchase wares offered by the seller or merchant.

[0030] The indication means may comprise a digital image adapted to be displayed in a location on the merchant shopping portal in the online networked environment.

[0031] The authentication system may be adapted to engender or instil a sense of trust in the potential buyer that delivery of any purchased wares will be safely delivered to potential buyer or a nominated recipient.

[0032] According to a third aspect of the invention there is provided a parcel delivery system for providing timely delivery of at least one parcel to a recipient. The system may comprise processing means adapted to calculate the probability of a failed delivery event. The system may further comprise communication means. The communication means may be adapted for advising the delivery organisation of a delivery address associated with the at least one parcel. The communication means may be further adapted for, in the event of a high calculated probability of a failed delivery event, advising the delivery organisation of an alternate delivery address. The alternate delivery address may be located in close proximity to the delivery address. In the event that a delivery organisation records a failed delivery event on attempted delivery of the parcel to the recipient address, the delivery organisation may be authorised to deliver the parcel to the alternate delivery address.

[0033] According to an arrangement of the third aspect, there is provided a parcel delivery system for providing timely delivery of at least one parcel to a recipient, the system comprising: processing means adapted to calculate the probability of a failed delivery event; communication means adapted for: advising the delivery organisation of a delivery address associated with the at least one parcel; and in the event of a high calculated probability of a failed delivery event, advising the delivery organisation of an alternate delivery address, the alternate delivery address being located in close proximity to the delivery address, wherein, in the event that a delivery organisation records a failed delivery event on attempted delivery of the parcel to the recipient, address, the delivery organisation is authorised to deliver the parcel to the alternate delivery address.

[0034] According to the present aspect, the alternate delivery address may not be pre-selected by the recipient prior to the delivery attempt. The alternate delivery address may not be able to be determined prior to the delivery attempt. The processing means may be adapted to select an alternate delivery address in the event that a failed delivery event is recorded by the delivery organisation; and the parcel delivery system may be adapted to communicate the alternate delivery address to the delivery organisation via the communication means. Therefore, in the event of a failed delivery attempt, on recordal of the failed delivery attempt by the delivery organisation, the system may determine a suitable alternate delivery address and communicate a selected alternate delivery address to the delivery organisation on recordal of the failed delivery attempt. The alternate delivery address may be selected by the system from a pool of alternate recipients that have previously pre-registered with the system as alternate delivery recipients should the need arise to receive a parcel on behalf of a particular recipient in the event of a failed delivery attempt.

[0035] In alternate arrangements, the system may be adapted to determine whether an upcoming delivery attempt at a scheduled or expected time is likely to result in a failed delivery attempt. The system may make this determination of the probability of a failed delivery attempt on the basis of the real-time or near real-time intersection of the delivery zone with the recipient zone.

[0036] The system may be adapted to improve the quality of service provided by the delivery organisation. This may occur as the delivery organisation may not be informed of whether or not the recipient is associated with the parcel delivery system and thus makes their real-time or near-real-time location available to the parcel delivery system for correlation with any failed delivery attempts registered by the delivery organisation. Accordingly employees of the delivery organisation are disincentivised to falsely record a failed delivery attempt e.g. if no attempt was indeed made as the supposed time of the recorded failed delivery attempt is able to be correlated with the recipient's location at that time to determine whether or not the recipient was indeed at the delivery address at the time of the purported delivery attempt. Thus competing delivery organisation can be monitored and rated on the basis of the actual delivery attempts made to deliver parcels placed under their care. [0037] The electronic network may comprise the internet. The electronic network may comprise a merchant shopping portal adapted to be accessed via the electronic network.

[0038] The alternate delivery address may comprise a convenient location within reasonable proximity to the delivery address. The reasonable proximity may be determined on the basis of the ease with which the original recipient is able to access the alternate delivery address.

[0039] The alternate delivery address may comprise an alternate delivery recipient associated with the alternate delivery address. The alternate delivery recipient may be pre-registered with the parcel delivery system. The alternate delivery address may comprise a predetermined alternate delivery zone comprising GPS coordinates associated with the alternate delivery address and a predefined radius. The alternate delivery address may further comprise an associated alternate recipient zone comprising a real-time or near real-time indication of the GPS location of the alternate recipient and a predetermined radius.

[0040] The alternate delivery address may be selected on the basis of the intersection between the alternate delivery zone and the associated alternate recipient zone.

[0041] The communication means may be further adapted for communicating the selected alternate delivery address to the delivery organisation to facilitate delivery of the parcel to the the alternate delivery address and prevent recordal of a failed delivery event.

[0042] The alternate delivery recipient may comprise a preselected availability schedule during which the alternate delivery recipient has indicated a willingness to receive delivery of a parcel or parcels on behalf of a buyer, recipient or their nominee.

[0043] The system may further comprise processing means adapted to, on the basis of the intersection of the delivery zone and the near real-time recipient zone data, calculate the probability of a failed delivery attempt. In the event of a high probability of a failed delivery attempt, the processor may be adapted to select a suitable alternate recipient. The system may further comprise communicating to the delivery organisation, via the communication means, the selected alternate recipient address thereby to prevent a failed delivery attempt.

[0044] The software application may be further adapted to selectively operate in a mode wherein the recipient's mobile computing device reports that the recipient is unavailable to take delivery of goods regardless of the recipient's location.

[0045] According to a fourth aspect of the invention, there is provided a parcel delivery system for providing timely delivery of at least one parcel to a recipient. The system may comprise communication means adapted for advising the delivery organisation of a delivery address associated with the recipient. The communication means may be further adapted for advising the delivery organisation of an alternate delivery address, the alternate delivery address being located in close proximity to the delivery address. The system may further comprise a software application adapted for use on a mobile computing device. The software application may be adapted to monitor the location of the recipient over time and recording time-based location data with respect to a predetermined delivery address associated with the at least one parcel. The software application may be further adapted to receive input data from a delivery organisation regarding time details of a scheduled delivery attempt of the parcel. The software application may be further adapted to correlate the time-based location data with the time of the scheduled delivery attempt. The software application may be further adapted to, in the event that the recipient is outside a predetermined distance of the delivery address, advise the delivery organisation to deliver the parcel to the alternate delivery address.

[0046] According to an arrangement of the fourth aspect, there is provided a parcel delivery system for providing timely delivery of at least one parcel to a recipient, the system comprising: communication means adapted for advising the delivery organisation of a delivery address associated with the recipient; the communication means further adapted for advising the delivery organisation of an alternate delivery address, the alternate delivery address being located in close proximity to the delivery address; a software application adapted for use on a mobile computing device, the software application adapted to: monitor the location of the recipient over time and recording time-based location data with respect to a predetermined delivery address associated with the at least one parcel; receive input data from a delivery organisation regarding time details of a scheduled delivery attempt of the parcel; correlate the time-based location data with the time of the scheduled delivery attempt; and, in the event that the recipient is outside a predetermined distance of the delivery address (i.e. there is minimal or no intersection between the delivery zone and the recipient zone), advise the delivery organisation to deliver the parcel to the alternate delivery address.

[0047] The location data may be indicative of the time the recipient is within a predefined distance of the predetermined delivery address. The location data may be updated in realtime or near-real-time.

[0048] The system may be adapted to improve the quality of service provided by the delivery organisation. The system may be adapted to operate in conjunction with wares of the seller or merchant by a buyer through an electronic network. The electronic network may comprise the internet. The electronic network may comprise a merchant shopping portal adapted to be accessed via the electronic network. The merchant shopping portal may comprise an indication means adapted to provide an improved trust level in the buyer prior to making a purchase. The increased trust level may comprise an induced increased expectation among potential buyers that the one or more parcels purchased by the buyer will be delivered to a recipient address without undue difficulty.

[0049] According to a fifth aspect of the invention, there is provided a computer program product having a computer readable medium having a computer program recorded therein to provide a parcel delivery system for providing timely delivery of at least one parcel to a recipient. The computer program product may comprise computer program code means for monitoring the location of the recipient over time and recording time-based location data with respect to a predetermined delivery address associated with the at least one parcel. The computer program product may further comprise computer program code means for receiving input data from a delivery organisation regarding details of a failed delivery attempt of the parcel including the time the delivery attempt was made. The computer program product may further comprise computer program code means for correlating the time-based location data with the time of the failed delivery attempt to determine a correlation event. The computer program product may further comprise computer program code means for reporting the correlation event to a compliance authority.

[0050] According to an arrangement of the fifth aspect, there is provided a computer program product having a computer readable medium having a computer program recorded therein to provide a parcel delivery system for providing timely delivery of at least one parcel to a recipient, the computer program product comprising: computer program code means for monitoring the location of the recipient over time and recording time-based location data with respect to a predetermined delivery address associated with the at least one parcel; computer program code means for receiving input data from a delivery organisation regarding details of a failed delivery attempt of the parcel including the time the delivery attempt was made; computer program code means for correlating the time-based location data with the time of the failed delivery attempt to determine a correlation event; and computer program code means for reporting the correlation event to a compliance authority.

[0051] According to a sixth aspect of the invention, there is provided a computer program for providing a parcel delivery system for providing timely delivery of at least one parcel to a recipient. The program may comprise code for monitoring the location of the recipient over time and recording time-based location data with respect to a predetermined delivery address associated with the at least one parcel. The program may further comprise code for receiving input data from a delivery organisation regarding details of a failed delivery attempt of the parcel including the time the delivery attempt was made. The program may further comprise code for correlating the time-based location data with the time of the failed delivery attempt to determine a correlation event. The program may further comprise code for reporting the correlation event to a compliance authority.

[0052] According to an arrangement of the sixth aspect, there is provided a computer program for providing a parcel delivery system for providing timely delivery of at least one parcel to a recipient, the program comprising: code for monitoring the location of the recipient over time and recording time-based location data with respect to a predetermined delivery address associated with the at least one parcel; code for receiving input data from a delivery organisation regarding details of a failed delivery attempt of the parcel including the time the delivery attempt was made; code for correlating the time-based location data with the time of the failed delivery attempt to determine a correlation event; and code for reporting the correlation event to a compliance authority.

[0053] According to a seventh aspect of the invention, there is provided a computer program element comprising computer program code means to make a computer execute a procedure to provide timely delivery of at least one parcel to a recipient.

[0054] According to an arrangement of the seventh aspect, there is provided a computer program element comprising computer program code means to make a computer execute a procedure to provide timely delivery of at least one parcel to a recipient.

[0055] According to an eighth aspect of the invention, there is provided a computer readable medium, having a program recorded thereon, where the program is configured to make a computer execute a procedure to providing timely delivery of at least one parcel to a recipient. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0056] Notwithstanding any other forms which may fall within the scope of the present invention, a preferred embodiment / preferred embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

[0057] Figure 1 shows a schematic diagram of an improved delivery system according to the improved delivery systems as disclosed herein;

[0058] Figure 2 shows a schematic diagram of the improved delivery system disclosed herein in an arrangement utilising location-aware mobile computing devices

[0059] Figure 3 shows a computing device on which the various embodiments described herein may be implemented in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

DEFINITIONS

[0060] The following definitions are provided as general definitions and should in no way limit the scope of the present invention to those terms alone, but are put forth for a better understanding of the following description.

[0061] Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by those of ordinary skill in the art to which the invention belongs. It will be further understood that terms used herein should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of this specification and the relevant art and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein. For the purposes of the present invention, additional terms are defined below. Furthermore, all definitions, as defined and used herein, should be understood to control over dictionary definitions, definitions in documents incorporated by reference, and/or ordinary meanings of the defined terms unless there is doubt as to the meaning of a particular term, in which case the common dictionary definition and/or common usage of the term will prevail.

[0062] For the purposes of the present invention, the following terms are defined below.

[0063] The articles "a" and "an" are used herein to refer to one or to more than one (i.e. to at least one) of the grammatical object of the article. By way of example, "an element" refers to one element or more than one element. [0064] The term "about" is used herein to refer to quantities that vary by as much as 30%, preferably by as much as 20%, and more preferably by as much as 10% to a reference quantity. The use of the word 'about' to qualify a number is merely an express indication that the number is not to be construed as a precise value.

[0065] Throughout this specification, unless the context requires otherwise, the words "comprise", "comprises" and "comprising" will be understood to imply the inclusion of a stated step or element or group of steps or elements but not the exclusion of any other step or element or group of steps or elements.

[0066] Any one of the terms: "including" or "which includes" or "that includes" as used herein is also an open term that also means including at least the elements/features that follow the term, but not excluding others. Thus, "including" is synonymous with and means "comprising".

[0067] The term, "real-time", for example "displaying real-time data" refers to the display of the data without intentional delay, given the processing limitations of the system and the time required to accurately measure the data.

[0068] The term, "near-real-time", for example "obtaining real-time or near-real-time data" refers to the obtaining of data either without intentional delay ("real-time") or as close to realtime as practically possible (i.e. with a small, but minimal, amount of delay whether intentional or not) within the constraints and processing limitations of the of the system for obtaining and recording or transmitting the data.

[0069] Although any methods and materials similar or equivalent to those described herein can be used in the practice or testing of the present invention, preferred methods and materials are described. It will be appreciated that the methods, apparatus and systems described herein may be implemented in a variety of ways and for a variety of purposes. The description here is by way of example only.

[0070] As used herein, the term "exemplary" is used in the sense of providing examples, as opposed to indicating quality. That is, an "exemplary embodiment" is an embodiment provided as an example, as opposed to necessarily being an embodiment of exemplary quality for example serving as a desirable model or representing the best of its kind.

[0071] The various methods or processes outlined herein may be coded as software that is executable on one or more processors that employ any one of a variety of operating systems or platforms. Additionally, such software may be written using any of a number of suitable programming languages and/or programming or scripting tools, and also may be compiled as executable machine language code or intermediate code that is executed on a framework or virtual machine.

[0072] In this respect, various inventive concepts may be embodied as a computer readable storage medium (or multiple computer readable storage media) (e.g., a computer memory, one or more floppy discs, compact discs, optical discs, magnetic tapes, flash memories, circuit configurations in Field Programmable Gate Arrays or other semiconductor devices, or other non- transitory medium or tangible computer storage medium) encoded with one or more programs that, when executed on one or more computers or other processors, perform methods that implement the various embodiments of the invention discussed above. The computer readable medium or media can be transportable, such that the program or programs stored thereon can be loaded onto one or more different computers or other processors to implement various aspects of the present invention as discussed above.

[0073] The terms "program" or "software" are used herein in a generic sense to refer to any type of computer code or set of computer-executable instructions that can be employed to program a computer or other processor to implement various aspects of embodiments as discussed above. Additionally, it should be appreciated that according to one aspect, one or more computer programs that when executed perform methods of the present invention need not reside on a single computer or processor, but may be distributed in a modular fashion amongst a number of different computers or processors to implement various aspects of the present invention.

[0074] Computer-executable instructions may be in many forms, such as program modules, executed by one or more computers or other devices. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. Typically the functionality of the program modules may be combined or distributed as desired in various embodiments.

[0075] Also, data structures may be stored in computer-readable media in any suitable form. For simplicity of illustration, data structures may be shown to have fields that are related through location in the data structure. Such relationships may likewise be achieved by assigning storage for the fields with locations in a computer-readable medium that convey relationship between the fields. However, any suitable mechanism may be used to establish a relationship between information in fields of a data structure, including through the use of pointers, tags or other mechanisms that establish relationship between data elements.

[0076] Also, various inventive concepts may be embodied as one or more methods, of which an example has been provided. The acts performed as part of the method may be ordered in any suitable way. Accordingly, embodiments may be constructed in which acts are performed in an order different than illustrated, which may include performing some acts simultaneously, even though shown as sequential acts in illustrative embodiments.

[0077] The phrase "and/or," as used herein in the specification and in the claims, should be understood to mean "either or both" of the elements so conjoined, i.e., elements that are conjunctively present in some cases and disjunctively present in other cases. Multiple elements listed with "and/or" should be construed in the same fashion, i.e., "one or more" of the elements so conjoined. Other elements may optionally be present other than the elements specifically identified by the "and/or" clause, whether related or unrelated to those elements specifically identified. Thus, as a non-limiting example, a reference to "A and/or B", when used in conjunction with open-ended language such as "comprising" can refer, in one embodiment, to A only (optionally including elements other than B); in another embodiment, to B only (optionally including elements other than A); in yet another embodiment, to both A and B (optionally including other elements); etc.

[0078] As used herein in the specification and in the claims, "or" should be understood to have the same meaning as "and/or" as defined above. For example, when separating items in a list, "or" or "and/or" shall be interpreted as being inclusive, i.e., the inclusion of at least one, but also including more than one, of a number or list of elements, and, optionally, additional unlisted items. Only terms clearly indicated to the contrary, such as "only one of or "exactly one of," or, when used in the claims, "consisting of will refer to the inclusion of exactly one element of a number or list of elements. In general, the term "or" as used herein shall only be interpreted as indicating exclusive alternatives (i.e. "one or the other but not both") when preceded by terms of exclusivity, such as "either," "one of," "only one of," or "exactly one of." "Consisting essentially of," when used in the claims, shall have its ordinary meaning as used in the field of patent law.

[0079] As used herein in the specification and in the claims, the phrase "at least one," in reference to a list of one or more elements, should be understood to mean at least one element selected from any one or more of the elements in the list of elements, but not necessarily including at least one of each and every element specifically listed within the list of elements and not excluding any combinations of elements in the list of elements. This definition also allows that elements may optionally be present other than the elements specifically identified within the list of elements to which the phrase "at least one" refers, whether related or unrelated to those elements specifically identified. Thus, as a non-limiting example, "at least one of A and B" (or, equivalently, "at least one of A or B," or, equivalently "at least one of A and/or B") can refer, in one embodiment, to at least one, optionally including more than one, A, with no B present (and optionally including elements other than B); in another embodiment, to at least one, optionally including more than one, B, with no A present (and optionally including elements other than A); in yet another embodiment, to at least one, optionally including more than one, A, and at least one, optionally including more than one, B (and optionally including other elements); etc.

[0080] In the claims, as well as in the summary above and the description below, all transitional phrases such as "comprising," "including," "carrying," "having," "containing," "involving," "holding," "composed of," and the like are to be understood to be open-ended, i.e., to mean "including but not limited to". Only the transitional phrases "consisting of and "consisting essentially of alone shall be closed or semi-closed transitional phrases, respectively.

[0081] For the purpose of this specification, where method steps are described in sequence, the sequence does not necessarily mean that the steps are to be carried out in chronological order in that sequence, unless there is no other logical manner of interpreting the sequence.

[0082] In addition, where features or aspects of the invention are described in terms of Markush groups, those skilled in the art will recognise that the invention is also thereby described in terms of any individual member or subgroup of members of the Markush group. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0083] It should be noted in the following description that like or the same reference numerals in different embodiments denote the same or similar features.

[0084] For the purposes of the descriptions herein, the parties involved in a delivery transaction 100 are defined as depicted in Figure 1, wherein: the Buyer 101 is the purchaser of the goods; the Recipient 102 is the nominee of the Buyer whom the Buyer has designated as the party to which the goods are to be delivered; the Retailer 103 is the seller of the goods, which may be facilitated via a merchant portal on a website accessible via a computer network such as the internet; the Driver 104, is the agent who is required to complete the "final mile" delivery of the parcel/goods bought by the Buyer - these can be, for example, couriers, postal staff, independent delivery contractors, or franchisees; and the Courier Company 105 is the delivery organisation that manages the Driver(s) 104. In reality, the buyer is not always the final recipient of the goods. There are several reasons for this, for example: gifting - the buyer has ordered the goods for delivery to someone else; or alternate acceptable recipients - when a driver delivers a parcel to an address, typically anyone that answers the door is able to accept the delivery, therefore the actual recipient may be a family member or housemate of the buyer. The system described herein will permit the buyer to configure the associated instance of the software application installed on their mobile computing device (e.g smartphone, tablet or the like) to grant permission to any number of people who they wish to authorise to receive parcels on their behalf. There will, therefore, generally be two classes of alternate recipients (discussed in greater detail below) configurable by each buyer: temporary and permanent. The temporary alternate recipients will be able to be configured for one-off deliveries (e.g. gifts); the permanent alternate recipients will be able to continue to accept parcels on the buyer's behalf (e.g. family members, housemates etc). This is also an important viral model for encouraging the spread of members of the delivery system by encouraging all possible alternate recipients to install an instance of the software application associated with the system to enable real-time, or near-real -time location information tracking of possible recipients to avoid an undesirable failed delivery attempt. For the purposes of this document, the term "buyer" can generally be used interchangeably with each of these alternate recipients as the ultimate recipient of the parcel/goods.

[0085] Figure 2 shows a schematic layout of an improved delivery system 200 adapted for improving the user experience with a delivery or courier service, or especially that associated with an online purchase of wares from a merchant's Internet shopping portal.

[0086] Parcel delivery system 200 adapted for providing timely delivery of at least one parcel to a recipient comprises a central management server 210. System 200 also comprise a software application adapted for use on a mobile computing device 220 possessed by the buyer or their nominee recipient. The software application is installed on a location aware mobile computing device 220 and is adapted to monitor the location of the recipient in near real-time. The software application is also adapted to record time-based location data of the recipient with respect to a predetermined delivery address associated with the at least one parcel to be delivered to the recipient. The software application syncs the time-based location data of the recipient with an instance of the software application operating on the central management server 210. Central management server 210 is also adapted to receive input data from a delivery organisation regarding details of a failed delivery attempt of the parcel including the time said delivery attempt was made. The input data from the delivery organisation may be recorded in a further instance of the software application operating on a location aware mobile computing device 230 in the possession of the delivery/courier driver 104. Alternatively their software application may obtain the input data from the delivery organisation by way of syncing with a technology system possessed by the delivery organisation adapted to record timestamp records associated with the delivery of the parcel.

[0087] Software application instance running on central management server 210 is further adapted to correlate the time-based location data with the timestamp of a failed delivery attempt recorded by the delivery/courier driver 104 in order to determine a correlation event. The software application may also be adapted to report the correlation event to a compliance authority 240.

[0088] The system further comprises an authentication system for sellers or merchants adapted to provide an increased trust level among potential buyers of said merchant's goods or wares adapted to operate in conjunction with the parcel delivery system described above. The authentication system in its preferred form comprises a subscription service adapted to permit sellers or merchants to subscribe to the authentication system, and consequently to the parcel delivery system architecture. Seller /merchants subscribed to the authentication system will preferably be provided with an indication means adapted for informing potential buyers using their merchant portal that the particular seller/merchant is subscribed to the authentication system and thus makes use of the improved parcel delivery system described above. In particular arrangements of the authentication system, the indication means comprises an image adapted to be displayed in a location associated with a merchant shopping portal (wherein the merchant shopping portal comprises a web page in an online networked environment, and is adapted to promote and provide facilities for potential buyers to purchase goods or wares offered by the seller/merchant. In particular arrangements of the authentication system, the indication means is a digital image provided by the authentication system to subscribed merchants that is adapted to be displayed in a location on the shopping portal associated with the subscribed merchant in the online networked environment, for example, the internet. [0089] The authentication system is preferably adapted to engender a sense of trust in the potential buyer that delivery of any purchased goods or wares will be safely delivered to the potential buyer or to their nominated recipient.

[0090] The digital image serves the purpose of acting as a trust seal that is displayed on the merchant shopping portal to provide potential buyers with the confidence in the delivery service engaged by the merchant for safe delivery of purchased wares. The trust seal can preferably be associated with a trackable token that the merchant includes in electronic communications (e.g. emails) with the buyer. As a means to ensure integrity of the system, the merchants under the terms of their subscription to the authentication system would be required to provide access to central management server 210 with respect to tracking updates on their consignments. Such updates and trackable tokens would be analysed by the central management server 210 to allow it to correlate failed delivery attempts on a buyer's consignment with the buyer's, or their nominated recipient's, location. In particular, the trackable token in the electronic communications with the buyer are used to populate the central management server 210 with data on the consignment and associates the consignment data with the user (the buyer). In certain arrangements, the buyer, or their nominated recipient installs a software application (app) on a mobile computing device 220 in their possession, for example a smartphone, tablet, smartwatch device or the like. The mobile computing device 220 is preferably location aware (i.e. has integrated GPS positioning hardware included therein such that the mobile computing device 220 can obtain real-time or near-real -time information on its physical location which can be used as an input to the software application). The software application is in communication over an electronic or wireless communications network with the central management server 210 of the parcel delivery system 200. In a particular arrangement, the software application typically will advise the central management server 210 when the device arrives at or leaves the delivery address. The delivery address is preferably associated with a delivery zone defined by the GPS positional coordinates associated with the nominated delivery address by an address lookup process as would be appreciated by the skilled addressee; and also a predetermined radius from the GPS coordinate location. For example the predetermined radius may be about 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, or 100 metres or more and may depend on the type of residence associated with the delivery address (e.g. the predetermined radius may be choses to be less for a residential address than for a rural address, and typically the radius will be determined based on the characteristics of each delivery address). [0091] The GPS lookup process provides an additional advantage to the parcel delivery system 200 wherein the ability to geo-locate a delivery address entered into the system by the buyer is able to be validated, and thus the system is able to correct the delivery address for badly addresses parcels, thereby reducing courier driver efforts and failed delivery attempts. In particular cases where the delivery address entered into the system by the buyer is unable to be resolved by the lookup process, the buyer may be requested to clarify the delivery address before an actual delivery attempt is made, again reducing the instance of failed delivery attempts.

[0092] Additionally, the software application may be adapted to record real-time or near-real- time location data of the buyer or recipient (specifically the location of the mobile computing device 220 in the buyer's/recipient's possession) and such recorded location data can be communicated to the central management server 210 as required.

[0093] In the event that a courier driver 104 associated with a delivery organisation 105 and tasked with delivering a parcel records a failed delivery attempt, the delivery organisation 105 updates the parcel tracking information associated with the parcel in the usual manner as would be appreciated by the skilled addressee. This updated parcel tracking data is further uploaded to the central management server 210 which then correlates the time in the tracking data which it is reported that the failed delivery attempt occurred with the location data associated with the buyer/recipient. In this manner, it is possible to determine whether the delivery driver 104 was honest in the efforts to deliver the goods.

[0094] This correlation serves at its basic level to keep the delivery drivers 104 honest. For example, the courier driver 104 is typically not made aware of whether or not the buyer/recipient is actually at the delivery address when the driver is making a delivery attempt. Therefore, the driver 104 is not aware of whether their delivery attempt can be correlated with the actual location of the buyer/recipient, and thus is not motivated to falsify records of delivery attempts that may not have actually been made. Thus, even if the buyer has not engaged with the delivery service described herein, the driver 104 is not made aware of this fact and therefore is motivated to always make an honest attempt to deliver each parcel before recording a failed delivery attempt.

[0095] As will be appreciated by the above discussion, the central management server 210 acts as a monitoring platform for the improved delivery system, and ultimately acts as a monitoring platform designed to keep the delivery drivers 104 honest in recordal of their delivery attempts, by monitoring the drivers' delivery attempts and policing their honesty. If the driver 104 knows, or even suspects, that their actions may be monitored and that they will be directly and robustly measured on the quality of service they offer, then the driver will have reduced opportunity to short-cut the delivery process, thus immediately increasing their delivery quality For example, if they are being watched, the driver 104 will not be able to get away with common practice of either leaving a card at the delivery address without actually attempting delivery, or leaving the parcel at the door without ringing the doorbell.

[0096] The authentication system and trust seal described above operates as a platform in conjunction with the monitoring platform as a mechanism for protecting the retailer's/merchant's brand from courier- induced delivery frustrations among their customers, and as a service to reduce shopping cart abandonment caused by consumer concern regarding the expected quality of the delivery service. Presently, it is believed that over two thirds of online shopping carts are abandoned during the checkout process. Note that this does not simply refer to 2/3 of visitors leaving a site, but instead only to those visitors who have placed goods into the online shopping cart of the merchant and have chosen to embark on the checkout process, but which do not complete their order. Thus, these are highly qualified shopping leads who, for some reason, decide to abandon their orders without paying. It is believed that the main reasons for this high rate of abandonment is due to concerns that the buyer has, and a key concern factor is around whether or not they are about to embark on a negative delivery experience. It is well known that offering Free Shipping is the best leverage an online retailer has to reduce cart abandonment. This is purely a psychological strategy. By offering free shipping, the customer not only feels they're getting a better deal, but they are also more willing to accept the risk of a poor delivery experience if they don't feel that they paid for that poor experience. As a result, retailers end up increasing their product prices to protect their margins so, ultimately, the customer still effectively pays for the delivery service, good or bad.

[0097] A retailer that is signed up to the authentication system will be able to present to their potential buyers their participation in the improved delivery system described above, thereby achieving the objectives of providing an increased level of comfort to buyers as well as providing buyers with the impression that the retailer is working for them to ensure high delivery service quality results.

[0098] At a highly generalised level, the improved delivery system includes, a software application instance to be installed on a buyer's mobile computing device; a software application instance to be installed on a delivery driver's mobile computing device; a platform for authenticating, managing and reporting correlation events associated with attempted deliveries. In particular arrangements, the system also operates in conjunction with an authentication system in the form of a trust seal to be displayed on the merchant's shopping portal and checkout system to reduce or at least minimise shopping cart abandonment. The software applications on the mobile computing devices 220 and 230 of the buyer/recipient and the driver respectively are each location-aware i.e. they are adapted to take as an input GPS location data from GPS hardware commonly installed in such mobile computing devices. The buyer's instance of the software application typically will only use this location awareness when there is an expected delivery from a participating retailer. The location awareness will tie into the delivery address provided for the delivery and associated with the parcel as described herein. For example, if the delivery address refers to a particular house (the delivery zone), and the GPS-identified radius of the buyer's/recipient's mobile computing device (the recipient zone) intersects with the delivery zone, then the buyer/recipient is considered to be at the delivery address. While there is an expected delivery the buyer's mobile computing device 220 and the monitoring platform (central management server 210) will monitor and record location data comprising the times and dates that the buyer/recipient is at the delivery address.

[0099] The software application installed on the buyer's/recipient's mobile computing device 220 in preferred arrangements is adapted to monitor the location of the buyer/recipient 101/102 in real-time or near real-time and record time-based location data of the recipient with respect to a predetermined delivery address associated with the parcel to be delivered. The software application may further be adapted to receive input data from a delivery organisation regarding details of a failed delivery attempt of said parcel including the time said delivery attempt was made. Alternatively, a central instance of the software application installed on the central management server 210 may receive this data, and may then correlate the time-based location data with recorded time of the failed delivery attempt to determine a correlation event. In the event that the correlation event indicates that the buyer/recipient 101/102 was within the delivery zone (i.e. at the delivery address) at the recorded time of the failed delivery attempt, this may mean that the driver has been caught falsifying the parcel tracking data to indicate a delivery attempt that was not, in fact, made. The software application may then report this correlation event to a compliance authority (e.g. 204 of Figure 2). The compliance authority 204 may be configured to receive and collate such correlation events and associate them with a particular delivery organisation, or even a particular driver within a delivery organisation. Such collated correlation events may then be used for statistical evaluation of delivery organisations and/or drivers within a delivery organisation, and such statistical information may then be distributed to interested parties, such as, for example, the merchants, or merchant hosting organisations comprising a plurality of associated merchants and thus can be used for establishment and enforcement of service level contracts between merchants and delivery organisations.

[0100] Where the delivery address is associated with a delivery zone as described above, the buyer/recipient 101/102 can also be associated with a recipient zone., or alternatively a nominee zone associated with the recipient nominated by the buyer. The recipient/nominee zone is defined by the real-time or near-real-time GPS location of the recipient/nominee (specifically the recipient's/nominee's mobile computing device 220 upon which the software application is installed) and a predetermined radius. The predetermined radius associated with the recipient/nominee zone may be, for example, about 10, 20, 30, 40, or 50 metres and again may be dependent upon the location of the delivery zone. For example a smaller radius may be selected for the recipient zone when the recipient is within a densely populated e.g. urban, location and may be greater for a sparsely populated location such as a rural area.

[0101] The correlation performed by the software application (either on the mobile computing device 220 or by the central management server 210) is then reduced to the problem of determining whether the recipient's current GPS coordinates are within close enough proximity of the GPS coordinates that were looked up associated with the parcel's delivery address. Therefore, in preferred arrangements, there are two GPS zones - one associated with the delivery address of the parcel (the delivery zone), and the other associated with the recipient (the recipient zone). Thus, the answer to the question "Is the recipient at the delivery address" can be evaluated by determining if the delivery zone and the recipient zone intersect.

[0102] An additional problem that is known in current delivery services, particularly the last mile of ecommerce delivery services that must be overcome is that the buyer or recipient is often a moving target. This challenge is accepted because it is not reasonable to require the buyer/recipient to stay in one place, and any attempt to put demands on them will ultimately impact their satisfaction and their repeat purchase behaviour. Delivery/courier drivers can typically turn up at the delivery address within a delivery window that can be from hours to days wide. The wider the delivery window, the less likely the recipient will remain at the delivery address premises. The difficulties faced by the delivery drivers mean that they often cannot provide sufficiently accurate and narrow delivery time windows unless they are offering a dedicated, expensive service that buyers are typically reluctant to pay for. Failed deliveries result in either costly delivery reattempts, or depositing the goods at commercial premises (e.g. post offices, local stores, shopping centres). These premises suffer from issues such as limited business hours, limited storage space, high infrastructure rollout costs, high handling overheads, and - typically the most problematic - poor proximity to the intended delivery address. Accordingly, there is a need for a delivery driver to be able to deliver parcels during their working hours to areas that may be quite suburban and somehow, even though many people are not at home during these time windows, to be able to avoid the burden of redelivery attempts (that may also fail) or avoid transferring an unnecessary burden of collection on to the ultimate customer, the buyer/recipient.

[0103] In a further arrangement of the parcel delivery system 200 described above, the system may be extended to efficiently deal with the situation when the recipient is not at the delivery address at the time that a delivery attempt is made, scheduled, or attempted. In this particular arrangement, the central management server comprises suitable processing means which is adapted to calculate the probability of a failed delivery event. This calculation would be determined on the basis of the intersection between the delivery zone and the recipient zone at the time that a delivery attempt is expected or scheduled. The system also comprises a communication means adapted for advising the delivery organisation of a delivery address associated with said at least one parcel; and, in the event that the calculated probability of a failed delivery event is high, the system is adapted to advise the delivery organisation of an alternate delivery address. Typically the alternate delivery address would be located in close proximity to the original delivery address.

[0104] In this particular arrangement, the delivery attempt can be neatly summarised, as "If you cannot deliver to the intended address, then deliver to a nearby residential address". Unpacking this reveals much about the present arrangement: delivery is still attempted to the intended address (the delivery address); if a delivery attempt fails, then there is an attempt to delivery nearby; a suitable nearby residential address is selected for the delivery.

[0105] This is similar to a "friendly neighbour" system in which a failed delivery attempt may result in the parcel being dropped next door, with the buyer then provide with a notification as to where the goods were left. The alternate delivery solution disclosed herein provides a formal solution which turns the "friendly neighbour" model into a business model whereby residential agents are able to register with the delivery service as a formal alternate delivery recipient and alternate delivery address for failed initial delivery attempts. The residential agents may be described as proxy recipients or alternate recipients and may earn a fee for their service. As they are residential, they are typically at home at useful time for the final recipients to collect their goods. The alternate recipients are also potentially much closer to the buyers address than any current formal alternate delivery point such as a post office or store. The alternate recipients are also permitted within the system to be moving targets and are only used as alternate delivery points when they are at home (which as would be appreciated can by determined by the system by way of an instance of the location aware software application on a mobile computing device in their possession).

[0106] Depending on the nature of the service subscribed to, there may be two different levels of alternate delivery address notifications.

[0107] Firstly, in the event that a delivery organisation records a failed delivery event on attempted delivery of a parcel to the buyer or a nominated recipient, the system may communicate to the delivery driver an alternate delivery location and provide authorisation to the driver deliver the parcel to the selected alternate delivery address.

[0108] Alternatively, the system may calculate the probability of a failed delivery attempt before the attempt is made and may communicate this probability to the delivery driver 104 before the initial delivery attempt to the delivery address associated with the parcel is made. If this probability is high, the driver 104 may be advises and authorised to attempt delivery of the parcel to an alternate recipient at an alternate delivery address. Similar to the delivery zone and recipient zones defined above, the system also defines an alternate delivery zone and an alternate recipient zone (comprising a real-time or near real-time measurement of the location of said alternate recipient - specifically a mobile computing device associated with the alternate recipient upon which an instance of the software application is installed - and a predefined radius) associated with the alternate delivery address and the alternate recipient respectively.

[0109] In both of the above-described alternatives for an alternate delivery address, the alternate delivery address and/or the alternate recipient is not predetermined by the buyer or the nominated recipient, and nor can it be predicted prior to the delivery attempt (at least not until the driver is en-route to the initial delivery address and an estimated delivery time can be evaluated for determination of an intersection between the delivery zone and the recipient zone).

[01 10] In each alternate delivery option, the processing means associated with the central management server 210 is adapted to select an alternate delivery address in the event that either a failed delivery event is recorded by said delivery organisation or a high probability of a failed delivery attempt is predicted. The parcel delivery system is, in this situation, adapted to communicate the alternate delivery address to the delivery organisation via the communication means.

[01 1 1] In particular arrangements, the alternate delivery address is selected on the basis of the intersection between the alternate delivery zone and the associated alternate recipient zone. The system is preferably adapted to communicate the selected alternate delivery address to the delivery organisation 105 and/or the driver 104 via the communication means to facilitate delivery of the parcel to the selected alternate delivery address and prevent a failed delivery event.

[01 12] In preferred arrangements, the system includes a plurality of alternate recipients associated therewith such that a suitable alternate recipient can be selected as the need arises to prevent a failed delivery attempt by the delivery organisation 105. Each of the alternate delivery recipients preferably comprises a predetermined availability schedule during which the alternate delivery recipient has indicated a willingness to receive delivery of parcels on behalf of a buyer, recipient or nominee.

[01 13] In selecting a preferred alternate delivery recipient to take delivery of the parcel and prevent an undesirable failed delivery attempt, the processing means is further adapted to take into consideration a plurality of factors including, for example, but not limited to: the proximity of the alternate delivery zone to the delivery zone (i.e. is the alternate delivery address close to the original delivery address such that is would be convenient for the recipient to pick their parcel up from the alternate delivery recipient within a reasonable time frame?); the intersection between said alternate delivery zone and said associated alternate recipient zone (i.e. is the alternate recipient at home/at the alternate delivery address?); the preselected availability schedule associated with the alternate delivery recipient (i.e. is the estimated delivery time within the availability schedule?).

[01 14] In particular arrangements, the delivery driver 104 will also have access to a custom- designed instance of the software application particularly tailored to the needs and work flow of a typical delivery driver. The driver's mobile computing device 230 will particularly be adapted to permit the driver to record the outcome (success or failure) of all delivery attempts. It is not a critical or essential element of the system that the driver utilises an instance of the software application because the delivery organisation 105 will generally have a technology solution adapted for monitoring and tracking a parcel from pickup to delivery and would maintain records of all events captured by the driver 104 e.g. "attempted delivery, but no-one home". The timestamp of such records can then be used after the event to backfill the equivalent knowledge that the driver's instance of the software application would be able to deliver in real-time or near-real-time. The essential data item is the time and date of a recorded failed delivery attempt. In particular arrangements, use of an instance of the software application on a mobile computing device in the possession of the driver 104 would be required for all drivers operating in a delivery system which includes as needs redirection services to an alternate delivery address to prevent failed delivery attempts.

[01 15] As described above, the mechanism for keeping the driver 104 honest is simply a matter of comparing the times that the driver attempted delivery of the parcel with the times that the buyer or recipient was recorded as being at the delivery address. In the event that a failed delivery occurred while the buyer/recipient was at the delivery address, then that correlation event would be marked as a possible lie on the driver's part and the delivery organisation 105 would be able to use that information to take appropriate disciplinary action with the driver 104. In some cases, an honest driver may be caught in a situation where, despite providing quality service, but appearing to have falsified the delivery attempt record for reasons beyond their control (e.g. where the driver could not ring the doorbell or knock on the door, the recipient was out of earshot, recipient was in the shower, the recipient was out but had left their mobile computing device at home, couldn't find the street address etc.) so particular arrangements of the system will support a threshold level of adverse correlation events against a particular driver to provide sufficient leniency so as not to unfairly discipline the honest drivers.

[01 16] The delivery system described herein has the capability of providing value to the participants even with a very low subscribed user base as, since the driver will not know if they may be caught out in a lie, because they are not provided with the visibility as to whether or not the buyer/recipient is actually at the delivery address. This point is a crucial enabler for successful launch of the system and ensures that there is value in the system to the participants from the outset. If there are very few buyers engaged with the delivery system disclosed herein, or even if no buyers at all are engaged, the driver will not know. Therefore, this supports a widespread launch of the system as soon as the delivery organisation is engaged - there is no requirement for a critical user mass to be achieved for value to the participants to be gained. The is also no incentive for the merchant, buyer or delivery organisation to reveal either publicly or to the delivery drivers what level of market penetration the system has, and which buyers, if any, have engaged with the system.

[01 17] As will be appreciated, there are a number of ways by which a retailer/merchant will gain value from the delivery system disclosed herein, for example: the merchant will receive a conversion uplift from a trust seal displayed on their website or online shopping portal; quality delivery service by the monitoring system to keep the delivery drivers honest; visibility of performance of the delivery organisation and/or specific drivers; and an opportunity to include enforceable service quality levels into delivery contracts. Aside from these obvious benefits, there is also a motivation for the retailer to be participants of the delivery system disclosed herein as essentially a motivation to not be outside of the system and not be able to provide the competitive advantage of a quality delivery service that would be able to be offered by the retailer's competitors that are engaged with the system. Essentially, the drivers would be able to determine which retailers a package has originated from and also whether a particular retailer is a participant of the delivery system. Accordingly, if the driver is able to determine that a particular parcel is not being monitored by the delivery system disclosed herein, the driver may be able to revert to a poor service quality in respect of that parcel. Accordingly, a particular retailer would not want to risk being one of the only retailers outside of the improved delivery system. The system would also encourage continued engagement from retailers in the system due to the ease with which data associated with goods deliveries associated with a retailer could be excluded from the system.

[01 18] In terms of the delivery organisations, the presently disclosed delivery system provides significant advantages to those organisation whom are engaged with the system. During the early stage of the system being offered, the promise of an improved service quality in their delivery services would offer a clear competitive advantage. Also, in later stage of the system, non-participating delivery organisations would be at a clear competitive disadvantage. Delivery organisation would be able to report concrete statistics relevant to the service quality they offer, so organisations with better scores would gain a competitive advantage and tangible value in publicising their service quality scores as evidence of their high service quality levels.

[01 19] The methods of providing an improved delivery service disclosed herein may be implemented using a computing device / computer system 300, such as that shown in Figure 3 wherein the processes disclosed herein may be implemented as software, such as one or more application programs executable within the computing device 300. In particular, the steps of the disclosed methods are effected by instructions in the software that are carried out within the computer system 300. The instructions may be formed as one or more code modules, each for performing one or more particular tasks. The software may also be divided into two separate parts, in which a first part and the corresponding code modules performs the described methods and a second part and the corresponding code modules manage a user interface between the first part and the user. The software may be stored in a computer readable medium, including the storage devices described below, for example. The software is loaded into the computer system 300 from the computer readable medium, and then executed by the computer system 300. A computer readable medium having such software or computer program recorded on it is a computer program product. The use of the computer program product in the computer system 300 preferably effects an advantageous apparatus for improved delivery systems for online purchases including software applications for facilitating improved delivery systems utilising mobile computing devices

[0120] With reference to Figure 3, an exemplary computing device 300 is illustrated. The exemplary computing device 300 can include, but is not limited to, one or more central processing units (CPUs) 301 comprising one or more processors 302, a system memory 303, and a system bus 304 that couples various system components including the system memory 303 to the processing unit 301. The system bus 304 may be any of several types of bus structures including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, and a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures.

[0121] The computing device 300 also typically includes computer readable media, which can include any available media that can be accessed by computing device 300 and includes both volatile and non-volatile media and removable and non-removable media. By way of example, and not limitation, computer readable media may comprise computer storage media and communication media. Computer storage media includes media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information such as computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data. Computer storage media includes, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (DVD) or other optical disk storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used to store the desired information and which can be accessed by the computing device 300. Communication media typically embodies computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data in a modulated data signal such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism and includes any information delivery media. By way of example, and not limitation, communication media includes wired media such as a wired network or direct-wired connection, and wireless media such as acoustic, RF, infrared and other wireless media. Combinations of the any of the above should also be included within the scope of computer readable media.

[0122] The system memory 303 includes computer storage media in the form of volatile and/or non-volatile memory such as read only memory (ROM) 305 and random access memory (RAM) 306. A basic input/output system 307 (BIOS), containing the basic routines that help to transfer information between elements within computing device 300, such as during start-up, is typically stored in ROM 305. RAM 306- typically contains data and/or program modules that are immediately accessible to and/or presently being operated on by processing unit 301. By way of example, and not limitation, Figure 3 illustrates an operating system 308, other program modules 309, and program data 310.

[0123] The computing device 300 may also include other removable/non-removable, volatile/non- volatile computer storage media. By way of example only, Figure 3 illustrates a hard disk drive 311 that reads from or writes to non-removable, non-volatile magnetic media. Other removable/non-removable, volatile/non-volatile computer storage media that can be used with the exemplary computing device include, but are not limited to, magnetic tape cassettes, flash memory cards, digital versatile disks, digital video tape, solid state RAM, solid state ROM, and the like. The hard disk drive 311 is typically connected to the system bus 304 through a non-removable memory interface such as interface 312.

[0124] The drives and their associated computer storage media discussed above and illustrated in Figure 3, provide storage of computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules and other data for the computing device 300. In Figure 3, for example, hard disk drive 311 is illustrated as storing an operating system 33, other program modules 314, and program data 315. Note that these components can either be the same as or different from operating system 308, other program modules 309 and program data 310. Operating system 33, other program modules 314 and program data 315 are given different numbers hereto illustrate that, at a minimum, they are different copies.

[0125] The computing device also includes one or more input/output (I/O) interfaces 330 connected to the system bus 304 including an audio-video interface that couples to output devices including one or more of a video display 334 and loudspeakers 335. Input/output interface(s) 330 also couple(s) to one or more input devices including, for example a mouse 331, keyboard 332 or touch sensitive device 333 such as for example a smartphone or tablet device.

[0126] Of relevance to the descriptions below, the computing device 300 may operate in a networked environment using logical connections to one or more remote computers. For simplicity of illustration, the computing device 300 is shown in Figure 3 to be connected to a network 320 that is not limited to any particular network or networking protocols, but which may include, for example Ethernet, Bluetooth or IEEE 802.X wireless protocols. The logical connection depicted in Figure 3 is a general network connection 321 that can be a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN) or other network, for example, the internet. The computing device 300 is connected to the general network connection 321 through a network interface or adapter 322 which is, in turn, connected to the system bus 304. In a networked environment, program modules depicted relative to the computing device 300, or portions or peripherals thereof, may be stored in the memory of one or more other computing devices that are communicatively coupled to the computing device 300 through the general network connection 321. It will be appreciated that the network connections shown are exemplary and other means of establishing a communications link between computing devices may be used.

[0127] Computer program code instructions may be loaded into the memory 303 of computing device 300 from a suitable storage media using the input/output interface 330 or from the network 230 using network interface 321. During the bootstrap phase, an operating system and one or more software applications are loaded into the memory 303. During the fetch-decode-execute cycle, the processors) 302 fetches computer program code instructions from memory 303, decodes the instructions into machine code, executes the instructions and stores one or more intermediate results in memory 303. [0128] In this manner, the instructions stored in the memory 303, when retrieved and executed by the processor(s) 302, may configure the computing device 300 as a special- purpose machine that may perform the functions described herein.

INTERPRETATION

Bus

[0129] In the context of this document, the term "bus" and its derivatives, while being described in a preferred embodiment as being a communication bus subsystem for interconnecting various devices including by way of parallel connectivity such as Industry Standard Architecture (ISA), conventional Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) and the like or serial connectivity such as PCI Express (PCIe), Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (Serial ATA) and the like, should be construed broadly herein as any system for communicating data.

In accordance with:

[0130] As described herein, 'in accordance with' may also mean 'as a function of and is not necessarily limited to the integers specified in relation thereto.

Composite items

[0131] As described herein, 'a computer implemented method' should not necessarily be inferred as being performed by a single computing device such that the steps of the method may be performed by more than one cooperating computing devices.

[0132] Similarly objects as used herein such as 'web server', 'server', 'client computing device', 'computer readable medium' and the like should not necessarily be construed as being a single object, and may be implemented as a two or more objects in cooperation, such as, for example, a web server being construed as two or more web servers in a server farm cooperating to achieve a desired goal or a computer readable medium being distributed in a composite manner, such as program code being provided on a compact disk activatable by a license key downloadable from a computer network.

Database:

[0133] In the context of this document, the term "database" and its derivatives may be used to describe a single database, a set of databases, a system of databases or the like. The system of databases may comprise a set of databases wherein the set of databases may be stored on a single implementation or span across multiple implementations. The term "database" is also not limited to refer to a certain database format rather may refer to any database format. For example, database formats may include MySQL, MySQLi , XML or the like.

Wireless: [0134] The invention may be embodied using devices conforming to other network standards and for other applications, including, for example other WLAN standards and other wireless standards. Applications that can be accommodated include IEEE 802.1 1 wireless LANs and links, and wireless Ethernet.

[0135] In the context of this document, the term "wireless" and its derivatives may be used to describe circuits, devices, systems, methods, techniques, communications channels, etc., that may communicate data through the use of modulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium. The term does not imply that the associated devices do not contain any wires, although in some embodiments they might not. In the context of this document, the term "wired" and its derivatives may be used to describe circuits, devices, systems, methods, techniques, communications channels, etc., that may communicate data through the use of modulated electromagnetic radiation through a solid medium. The term does not imply that the associated devices are coupled by electrically conductive wires.

Processes:

[0136] Unless specifically stated otherwise, as apparent from the following discussions, it is appreciated that throughout the specification discussions utilizing terms such as "processing", "computing", "calculating", "determining", "analysing" or the like, refer to the action and/or processes of a computer or computing system, or similar electronic computing device, that manipulate and/or transform data represented as physical, such as electronic, quantities into other data similarly represented as physical quantities.

Processor:

[0137] In a similar manner, the term "processor" may refer to any device or portion of a device that processes electronic data, e.g., from registers and/or memory to transform that electronic data into other electronic data that, e.g., may be stored in registers and/or memory. A "computer" or a "computing device" or a "computing machine" or a "computing platform" may include one or more processors. [0138] The methodologies described herein are, in one embodiment, performable by one or more processors that accept computer-readable (also called machine-readable) code containing a set of instructions that when executed by one or more of the processors carry out at least one of the methods described herein. Any processor capable of executing a set of instructions (sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be taken are included. Thus, one example is a typical processing system that includes one or more processors. The processing system further may include a memory subsystem including main RAM and/or a static RAM, and/or ROM.

Computer-Readable Medium: [0139] Furthermore, a computer-readable carrier medium may form, or be included in a computer program product. A computer program product can be stored on a computer usable carrier medium, the computer program product comprising a computer readable program means for causing a processor to perform a method as described herein.

Networked or Multiple Processors: [0140] In alternative embodiments, the one or more processors operate as a standalone device or may be connected, e.g., networked to other processor(s), in a networked deployment, the one or more processors may operate in the capacity of a server or a client machine in server- client network environment, or as a peer machine in a peer-to-peer or distributed network environment. The one or more processors may form a web appliance, a network router, switch or bridge, or any machine capable of executing a set of instructions (sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be taken by that machine.

[0141] Note that while some diagram(s) only show(s) a single processor and a single memory that carries the computer-readable code, those in the art will understand that many of the components described above are included, but not explicitly shown or described in order not to obscure the inventive aspect. For example, while only a single machine is illustrated, the term "machine" shall also be taken to include any collection of machines that individually or jointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein.

Additional Embodiments: [0142] Thus, one embodiment of each of the methods described herein is in the form of a computer-readable carrier medium carrying a set of instructions, e.g., a computer program that are for execution on one or more processors. Thus, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, embodiments of the present invention may be embodied as a method, an apparatus such as a special purpose apparatus, an apparatus such as a data processing system, or a computer-readable carrier medium. The computer-readable carrier medium carries computer readable code including a set of instructions that when executed on one or more processors cause a processor or processors to implement a method. Accordingly, aspects of the present invention may take the form of a method, an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Furthermore, the present invention may take the form of carrier medium (e.g., a computer program product on a computer-readable storage medium) carrying computer-readable program code embodied in the medium.

Carrier Medium:

[0143] The software may further be transmitted or received over a network via a network interface device. While the carrier medium is shown in an example embodiment to be a single medium, the term "carrier medium" should be taken to include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed database, and/or associated caches and servers) that store the one or more sets of instructions. The term "carrier medium" shall also be taken to include any medium that is capable of storing, encoding or carrying a set of instructions for execution by one or more of the processors and that cause the one or more processors to perform any one or more of the methodologies of the present invention. A carrier medium may take many forms, including but not limited to, non-volatile media, volatile media, and transmission media.

Implementation:

[0144] It will be understood that the steps of methods discussed are performed in one embodiment by an appropriate processor (or processors) of a processing (i.e., computer) system executing instructions (computer-readable code) stored in storage. It will also be understood that the invention is not limited to any particular implementation or programming technique and that the invention may be implemented using any appropriate techniques for implementing the functionality described herein. The invention is not limited to any particular programming language or operating system. Means For Carrying out a Method or Function:

[0145] Furthermore, some of the embodiments are described herein as a method or combination of elements of a method that can be implemented by a processor or a processor device, computer system, or by other means of carrying out the function. Thus, a processor with the necessary instructions for carrying out such a method or element of a method forms a means for carrying out the method or element of a method. Furthermore, an element described herein of an apparatus embodiment is an example of a means for carrying out the function performed by the element for the purpose of carrying out the invention.

Connected [0146] Similarly, it is to be noticed that the term connected, when used in the claims, should not be interpreted as being limitative to direct connections only. Thus, the scope of the expression a device A connected to a device B should not be limited to devices or systems wherein an output of device A is directly connected to an input of device B. It means that there exists a path between an output of A and an input of B which may be a path including other devices or means. "Connected" may mean that two or more elements are either in direct physical or electrical contact, or that two or more elements are not in direct contact with each other but yet still co-operate or interact with each other.

Embodiments:

[0147] Reference throughout this specification to "one embodiment", "an embodiment", "one arrangement" or "an arrangement" means that a particular feature, structure or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment/arrangement is included in at least one embodiment/arrangement of the present invention. Thus, appearances of the phrases "in one embodiment/arrangement" or "in an embodiment/arrangement" in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment/arrangement, but may. Furthermore, the particular features, structures or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner, as would be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art from this disclosure, in one or more embodiments/arrangements.

[0148] Similarly it should be appreciated that in the above description of example embodiments of the invention, various features of the invention are sometimes grouped together in a single embodiment, figure, or description thereof for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure and aiding in the understanding of one or more of the various inventive aspects. This method of disclosure, however, is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed invention requires more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive aspects lie in less than all features of a single foregoing disclosed embodiment. Thus, the claims following the Detailed Description of Specific Embodiments are hereby expressly incorporated into this Detailed Description of Specific Embodiments, with each claim standing on its own as a separate embodiment of this invention.

Furthermore, while some embodiments described herein include some but not other features included in other embodiments, combinations of features of different embodiments are meant to be within the scope of the invention, and form different embodiments, as would be understood by those in the art. For example, in the following claims, any of the claimed embodiments can be used in any combination.

Specific Details

[0149] In the description provided herein, numerous specific details are set forth. However, it is understood that embodiments of the invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known methods, structures and techniques have not been shown in detail in order not to obscure an understanding of this description

Terminology

[0150] In describing the preferred embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawings, specific terminology will be resorted to for the sake of clarity. However, the invention is not intended to be limited to the specific terms so selected, and it is to be understood that each specific term includes all technical equivalents which operate in a similar manner to accomplish a similar technical purpose. Terms such as "forward", "rearward", "radially", "peripherally", "upwardly", "downwardly", and the like are used as words of convenience to provide reference points and are not to be construed as limiting terms.

Different Instances of Objects

[0151] As used herein, unless otherwise specified the use of the ordinal adjectives "first", "second", "third", etc., to describe a common object, merely indicate that different instances of like objects are being referred to, and are not intended to imply that the objects so described must be in a given sequence, either temporally, spatially, in ranking, or in any other manner. Comprising and Including:

[0152] In the claims which follow and in the preceding description of the invention, except where the context requires otherwise due to express language or necessary implication, the word "comprise" or variations such as "comprises" or "comprising" are used in an inclusive sense, i.e. to specify the presence of the stated features but not to preclude the presence or addition of further features in various embodiments of the invention.

[0153] Any one of the terms: "including" or "which includes" or "that includes" as used herein is also an open term that also means "including at least" the elements/features that follow the term, but not excluding others. Thus, including is synonymous with and means comprising.

Scope of Invention

[0154] Thus, while there has been described what are believed to be the preferred arrangements of the invention, those skilled in the art will recognize that other and further modifications may be made thereto without departing from the spirit of the invention, and it is intended to claim all such changes and modifications as fall within the scope of the invention. Functionality may be added or deleted from the block diagrams and operations may be interchanged among functional blocks. Steps may be added or deleted to methods described within the scope of the present invention.

[0155] Although the invention has been described with reference to specific examples, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the invention may be embodied in many other forms.

Industrial Applicability

[0156] It is apparent from the above, that the arrangements described are applicable to the mobile device industries, specifically for methods and systems for distributing digital media via mobile devices.

[0157] It will be appreciated that the methods/apparatus/devices/systems described/illustrated above at least substantially provide improved delivery systems for online purchases including software applications for facilitating improved delivery systems utilising mobile computing devices

[0158] The systems and methods described herein, and/or shown in the drawings, are presented by way of example only and are not limiting as to the scope of the invention. Unless otherwise specifically stated, individual aspects and components of the systems and methods may be modified, or may have been substituted therefore known equivalents, or as yet unknown substitutes such as may be developed in the future or such as may be found to be acceptable substitutes in the future. The systems and methods may also be modified for a variety of applications while remaining within the scope and spirit of the claimed invention, since the range of potential applications is great, and since it is intended that the present systems and methods be adaptable to many such variations.