Walmart Now Uses Blockchain To Ease Package Delivery Problems

Walmart Now Uses Blockchain To Ease Package Delivery Problems

We all know that delivery is one of the most challenging aspects of online retail and Walmart is looking to solve the puzzle one blockchain patent at a time.

On July 5th the Bentonville, Arkansas-headquartered big-box retailer was awarded a patent detailing an invention focusing on the delivery of packages as well as scheduling the delivery of these packages.

Titled ‘Delivery Reservation Apparatus and Method” the patent which was filed early last year talks of delivery hubs (locker docking station) which use a public ledger to determine available capacity and make reservations.

Information regarding which locker is available or reserved is recorded on a public ledger. Once requests for reservations are made, the public ledger is analyzed with a view of determining whether there is sufficient capacity available. If there is, a contract is executed seeking to reserve capacity. The public ledger is then updated to indicate this development.

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In order to utilize a blockchain reservation system, each docking station or delivery hub is essentially a node within a blockchain network.

“Updates to the blockchain may comprise transfer of capacity units into and out of the public ledger and one or more nodes on the system may be configured to incorporate one or more updates into blocks to add to the distributed database,” reads patent application number 62441705 and which lists Bruce Wilkinson and Todd Mattingly as the inventors.

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