It has been working to cut delivery times, expanding its warehouse network to begin overnight and same-day deliveries. Last year, Amazon said it is working on unmanned flying vehicles that could take small packages to homes directly from its warehouses. In the patent, Amazon does not estimate how much the technique will reduce delivery times. The patent exemplifies a growing trend among technology and consumer firms to anticipate consumers' needs, even before consumers do. Today, there are refrigerators that can tell when it's time to buy more milk, smart televisions that predict which shows to record and Google's Now software, which aims to predict users' daily scheduling needs. It's not clear if Amazon has deployed or will deploy the technique. A spokeswoman declined to comment. But the patent demonstrates one way Amazon hopes to leverage its vast trove of customer data to edge out rivals. "It appears Amazon is taking advantage of their copious data," said Sucharita Mulpuru, a Forrester Research analyst. "Based on all the things they know about their customers they could predict demand based on a variety of factors." According to the patent, Amazon may fill out partial street addresses or zip codes to get items closer to where customers need them, and later complete the label in transit, the company said. For large apartment buildings, "a package without addressee information may be speculatively shipped to a physical address ... having a number of tenants, "Amazon said in the patent. Amazon said the predictive shipping method might work particularly well for a popular book or other items that customers want on the day they are released. As well, Amazon might suggest items already in transit to customers using its website to ensure they are delivered, according to the patent. Of course, Amazon's algorithms might sometimes err, prompting costly returns. To minimize those costs, Amazon said it might consider giving customers discounts, or convert the unwanted delivery into a gift. "Delivering the package to the given customer as a promotional gift may be used to build goodwill," the patent said. http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/01/17/amazon-wants-to-ship-your-package-before-you-buy-it Q5. Draw an Influence Diagram for Amazon's decision