Amazon innovates in a wide range of technology areas including e-commerce, logistics, uavs, robotics, networking, cybersecurity, cloud technology and more.  This week, I review the patents obtained by Amazon and summarize the technology areas covered by their patents, as well as, highlight one or two interesting technologies.

Weekly Summary

Amazon obtained 43 US utility patents and 3 US design patents.  Networking technology is the largest area with 9 patents, followed by virtual machines with 3.  There are several patents in the areas of uav/robot delivery and warehouse robots.  See table for a summary of the technologies where Amazon obtained patents.

Interesting Patent

One interesting patent this week is patent 10,628,790 titled “Automated floor expansion using an unmanned fiducial marker placement unit”.  This invention describes how an unmanned robot can expand the floor of a warehouse by placing fiducial markers on the floor instead of a human being having to place the markers on the floor.

Amazon continues to innovate by introducing automation and unmanned robots throughout the inventory management and logistics.

For more information about any of these technology areas or for a patent analysis on Amazon’s patent portfolio, please reach out to me via email at rberndsen@harrityllp.com.