The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 03, 2011
Filed:
Jan. 15, 2009
Sean Handel, Moss Beach, CA (US);
Rick Hernandez, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Mark Orttung, Menlo Park, CA (US);
Shantanu Patwardhan, Cupertino, CA (US);
Sean Handel, Moss Beach, CA (US);
Rick Hernandez, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Mark Orttung, Menlo Park, CA (US);
Shantanu Patwardhan, Cupertino, CA (US);
Rearden Commerce, Inc., Foster City, CA (US);
Abstract
Described herein is a method and system to provide optimizing shipping costs that can help arbitrate between a precise solution at an unreasonable cost and a reasonable solution at a very reasonable cost. In one embodiment, a first shipping option is generated to deliver shipments to a first sub-set of recipients within a first time period, and to deliver shipments to a second sub-set of recipients within a second time period that is greater than the first time period, with the shipments to the second sub-set of recipients being a greater distance than shipments to the first sub-set of recipients. The first shipping option provides a cost of shipping savings relative to shipping to all of the recipients within the first time period. The generating of the first shipping option includes selecting the second sub-set of recipients to include a quantity of recipients to provide a cost of shipping savings equal or greater to a predetermined percentage.