| CPC G06Q 10/087 (2013.01) | 21 Claims |
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1. A method comprising:
a) at a first device, wherein the first device is selected from a set consisting of a mobile device and an automotive computing device, wherein the automotive computing device comprises a computerized system that forms part of a mobile vehicle and is capable of running applications to perform specific functions, the first device generating a plurality of heartbeat tokens by:
i) receiving from a GPS device associated with the first device a GPS location comprising a current longitude value and a current latitude value,
ii) embedding the GPS location into the heartbeat token,
iii) embedding a user identifier into the heartbeat token, and
iv) embedding a timestamp into the heartbeat token;
b) transmitting, from the first device, a set of heartbeat tokens at intervals as a heartbeat signal, wherein when the first device is stationary the heartbeat tokens are sent at a first interval, and further wherein when the first device is moving, the heartbeat tokens are sent at a second interval faster than the first interval;
c) at a server, receiving the heartbeat signal from a first device, the heartbeat signal identifying a physical location for the first device based on the GPS locations in the heartbeat tokens and identifying a user of the first device based on the user identifier found in the heartbeat tokens;
d) at the server, identifying a plurality of fulfillment locations, wherein each fulfillment location is capable of at least partial automated processing;
e) at the server, identifying a first subset of fulfillment locations based upon the physical location for the first device identified by the heartbeat signal, the first subset of fulfillment locations comprising more than one fulfillment location, wherein a non-selected fulfillment location is not part of the first subset of fulfillment locations;
f) at the server, identifying an order for the first device;
g) at the server, transmitting the order to each of the first subset of fulfillment locations to cause each of the first subset of fulfillment locations to initiate automated processing of the order;
h) identifying a selected fulfillment location, wherein the first subset of fulfillment locations includes the selected fulfillment location and a non-selected sub-subset of fulfillment locations;
i) at the server, transmitting instructions to terminate the automated processing to the non-selected sub-subset of fulfillment locations before completion of automated processing; and
j) at the server, transmitting instructions to complete processing the order to the selected fulfillment location to generate a desired product.
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