System and method for weighing and tracking freight

• US 20030217870A1
• Filed: 04/28/2003
• Published: 11/27/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 04/29/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Smart Way Logistics LLC
• Original Assignee: Speed TRAC Technologies Incorporated
• Inventors: Ridling, David J.
• Granted Patent: US 6,983,883 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 177/25.13
• CPC Class Codes: G01G 19/083 lift truck scale
• CPC Class Codes: G01G 23/3735 using a digital network
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders

Abstract

In a freight shipment system and method, the lift trucks used by the freight carrier for handling and loading freight shipments are equipped with a weighing device capable of weighing each piece of freight handled by the lift truck. The lift truck is also equipped with a scanner for scanning coded identifying information associated with each piece of freight. As each piece of freight is handled by the lift truck, the coded identifying information for that piece of freight is captured along with the weight of the load. This information is transmitted to a computer system where it can be used for real-time invoicing. The system can also use the captured information to perform additional automated functions, such as tracking of shipments, freight loss control, and assisting in avoiding overloaded trucks. The same system can monitor maintenance information for the lift trucks so as to provide timely preventive maintenance, and can also provide the human resources information, such as the lift truck driver identification and amount of time worked.

Claims

1. A system for weighing and tracking freight comprising:

a lift truck equipped for lifting and moving a piece of freight;

a weighing device associated with the lift truck for obtaining the weight of the piece of freight;

a scanner accessible to an operator of the lift truck for scanning coded identifying information associated with the piece of freight;

a wireless transmitter communicatively connected to the weighing device and to the scanner and operable for transmitting weight data and identifying information obtained for the piece of freight to a receiving site;

a receiver at the receiving site communicatively connected to said transmitter and operable for receiving the weight data and identifying information transmitted by said transmitter;

a base computer communicatively connected to said receiver for receiving the weight data and identifying information; and

a database associated with said base computer for receiving and storing the weight data and identifying information for the freight.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein said weighing device is a load cell mounted to the lift truck for sensing the weight of the piece of freight.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the lift truck is a fork lift truck having forks for lifting the piece of freight, and wherein said weighing device is a load cell mounted to at least one of the forks of the lift truck.

4. The system of claim 1, additionally including a movement document for each freight shipment that is handled by the system, the movement document being intended to follow the freight shipment as it is transported by a freight carrier, and said movement document including a printed description of the freight shipment, the number of freight pieces, and coded identifying information that can be read by said scanner.

5. The system of claim 1, including at least one additional lift truck equipped for lifting and moving a piece of freight, said at least one additional lift truck also including a weighing device to obtain the weight from a piece of freight, a scanner to scan coded identifying information associated with the piece of freight, and a wireless transmitter communicating with said transmitter for transmitting weight data and identifying information obtained for the piece of freight to said receiving site.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein said base computer is located in the general proximity of the lift truck, and additionally including a central computer at another location communicatively connected to said base computer for accessing said weight data and identifying information.

7. The system of claim 1, including an invoicing module operable for generating customer invoices based upon the weight data and identifying information obtained by said lift truck.

8. The system of claim 1, including a remote computing unit provided on the lift truck and communicatively connected to said weighing device, said scanner, and said wireless transmitter, said remote computing unit including a data storage unit for storing weight data and identifying information for pieces of freight handled by the lift truck.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein said remote computing unit includes an output display device for displaying information to the operator of the lift truck.

10. The system of claim 9, including a loading module including means for receiving trailer identifying information obtained by said scanner as the lift truck approaches or enters a trailer delivering a piece of freight, means for associating said trailer identifying information with a maximum load limit for that trailer, means for generating an accumulated load weight for that trailer each time the lift truck delivers a piece of freight to that trailer, and means for comparing the maximum load limit with the accumulated load weight and for displaying information to the operator of the lift truck concerning the progress of loading via said output device.

11. The system of claim 8, including a maintenance module, said maintenance module including means in said remote computing unit operable for receiving lift truck status information from said lift truck and for transmitting said information via said transmitter, and means associated with said base computer for receiving said lift truck status information.

12. The system of claim 8, including a human resources module, said human resources module including means in said remote computing unit operable for receiving driver identification information from the driver of said lift truck and for transmitting said information via said transmitter, means for tracking driver operating time on the lift truck, and means associated with said base computer for receiving said driver identification information and said driver operating time.

13. The system of claim 1, including a tracking module operable for generating real-time location information about the location of the piece of freight and for transmitting said location information to said base computer.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein said lift truck, said receiver and said base computer are located in a first freight terminal, and additionally including a second freight terminal at a location distant from said first freight terminal, said second freight terminal also including a lift truck equipped for lifting and moving a piece of freight, a weighing device associated with the lift truck for obtaining the weight the piece of freight, a scanner provided on the lift truck for scanning coded identifying information provided on the piece of freight, a wireless transmitter provided on the lift truck and communicatively connected to the weighing device and to the scanner and operable for transmitting weight data and identifying information obtained for the piece of freight to a receiving site at the second terminal, a receiver at the receiving site communicatively connected to said transmitter and operable for receiving the weight data and identifying information transmitted by said transmitter, a second terminal base computer communicatively connected to said receiver for receiving the weight data and identifying information, and a communications link connecting said second terminal base computer to said database whereby the database receives and stores the weight data and identifying information for the loads of freight at said second terminal.

15. The system of claim 14, including a loss control module, said loss control module including means for comparing the recorded weight of a piece of freight at said first terminal with the recorded weight of the same piece of freight at said second terminal, and for generating a notification if there is a discrepancy between the recorded weights at the first terminal and at the second terminal.

16. A system for weighing and tracking freight comprising:

a plurality of lift trucks, each equipped for lifting and moving pieces of freight;

a weighing device associated with each said lift truck for obtaining the weight of a piece of freight handled by the lift truck;

a scanner provided on each said lift truck for scanning coded identifying information associated with that piece of freight;

a wireless transmitter associated with each said lift truck communicatively connected to the weighing device and to the scanner on the said lift truck and operable for transmitting weight data and identifying information obtained for the piece of freight to a receiving site;

a receiver at the receiving site communicatively connected to each said transmitter and operable for receiving the weight data and identifying information transmitted by each transmitter;

a base computer communicatively connected to said receiver for receiving the weight data and identifying information;

a database associated with said computer for receiving and storing the weight data and identifying information; and

at least one data processing module communicatively connected to said database and operable for generating output information regarding the freight handled by the lift trucks.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein said data processing module comprises an invoicing module, said invoicing module including a customer information file with fields for storing customer information, and means for accessing said database and said customer information file and for generating customer invoices based upon the weight information obtained for the pieces of freight handled by the lift trucks.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein said data processing module comprises a loading module including means for receiving trailer identifying information obtained by said scanner as the lift truck approaches or enters a trailer delivering a piece of freight, means for associating said trailer identifying information with a maximum load limit for that trailer, means for generating an accumulated load weight for that trailer each time the lift truck delivers a piece of freight to that trailer, and means for comparing the maximum load limit with the accumulated load weight and for generating a signal before the maximum load limit for that trailer is exceeded.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein said data processing module includes a maintenance module, said a maintenance module including means for receiving lift truck status information from said lift truck and for transmitting said information via said transmitter, and means associated with said base computer for receiving said lift truck status information.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein said data processing module includes a human resources module, said human resources module including means for receiving driver identification information from the driver of said lift truck, means for tracking driver operating time on the lift truck, and means associated with said base computer for receiving said driver identification information and said driver operating time.

21. The system of claim 16, wherein said data processing module includes a loss control module, said lost control module including a history file containing prior weight data and identifying information for pieces of freight that have been handled at an earlier time;

and means for comparing current weight data for a piece of freight obtained by the lift truck with prior weight data in said history file for that same piece of freight and for generating an output if the current weight data differs from the prior weight data by a predetermined amount.

22. A system for weighing and tracking freight comprising:

a lift truck equipped for lifting and moving a piece of freight;

a weighing device associated with the lift truck for obtaining the weight of the piece of freight;

a scanner accessible to an operator of the lift truck for scanning coded identifying information associated with the piece of freight;

a base computer communicating with said weighing device for receiving weight data for a piece of freight and communicating with said scanner for receiving identifying information obtained for the piece of freight;

a database associated with said base computer for receiving and storing the weight data and identifying information for the freight; and

an invoice generator communicating with said database for generating customer invoices based upon the thus-obtained weight data and identifying information.

23. A method for weighing and tracking freight comprising:

equipping a lift truck with a weighing device capable of obtaining the weight of each piece of freight handled by the lift truck;

scanning coded identifying information associated with a piece of freight in connection with the handling of the piece of freight by the lift truck;

obtaining the weight data for the piece of freight handled by the lift truck;

transmitting to a receiving site the weight data obtained by the weighing device and the identifying information obtained by the scanner;

receiving at the receiving site the transmitted weight data and identifying information; and

storing the thus obtained weight data and identifying information for the piece of freight.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein said step of obtaining weight data comprises lifting the piece of freight by the lift truck and capturing weight data produced by the weighting device.

25. The method of claim 23, wherein said scanning step is performed by the operator of the lift truck in connection with handling a piece of freight.

26. The method of claim 23, additionally including generating a movement document for a freight shipment, the movement document including a printed description of the freight shipment, the number of freight pieces, and coded identifying information that can be read by a scanner, and wherein said step of scanning coded information comprises scanning the coded identifying information from the movement document.

27. The method of claim 23, including equipping at least one additional lift truck with a weighing device to obtain the weight from a piece of freight, a scanner to scan coded identifying information associated with the piece of freight, and a wireless transmitter for transmitting weight data and identifying information obtained for the piece of freight to the receiving site.

28. The method of claim 23, including the step of equipping the lift truck with a remote computing unit communicatively connected to the weighing device, to the scanner, and to a wireless transmitter for transmitting weight data and identifying information for pieces of freight handled by the lift truck to the receiving site.

29. The method of claim 28, including the step of storing weight data and identifying information for pieces of freight handled by the lift truck in a memory unit associated with the remote computing unit.

30. The method of claim 28, including displaying via the remote computing unit to the operator of the lift truck information about the pieces of freight handled by the lift truck.

31. The method of claim 23, including the steps of reading via the scanner trailer identifying information as the lift truck approaches or enters the trailer to deliver a piece of freight, associating the trailer identifying information with a maximum load limit for that trailer, generating an accumulated load weight for that trailer each time the lift truck delivers a piece of freight to that trailer, comparing the maximum load limit with the accumulated load weight, and generating a signal to the operator of the lift truck when the accumulated load weight reaches a predetermined value in relation to the maximum load limit for the trailer.

32. The method of claim 23, including generating customer invoices based upon the weight data and identifying information obtained by said lift truck.

33. The method of claim 23, including generating real-time location information about the location of the piece of freight and transmitting said location information to said receiving site.

34. The method of claim 23, wherein said steps of scanning, obtaining weight data and transmitting the weight data and identifying information are performed at a first freight terminal, and including the further steps of

transporting freight from the first terminal to a second freight terminal at a location distant from said first freight terminal, said second freight terminal also having a lift truck equipped with a weighing device capable of obtaining the weight of each piece of freight handled by the lift truck,

scanning coded identifying information associated with a piece of freight in connection with the handling of the piece of freight by the lift truck at the second terminal;

obtaining the weight data for the piece of freight handled by the lift truck at the second terminal;

transmitting to a receiving site the weight data obtained by the weighing device and the identifying information obtained by the scanner;

receiving at the receiving site the transmitted weight data and identifying information; and

storing the thus obtained weight data and identifying information for the piece of freight.

35. The system of claim 34, including the steps of comparing the recorded weight of a piece of freight at said first terminal with the recorded weight of the same piece of freight at said second terminal, and generating a notification if there is a discrepancy between the recorded weights at the first terminal and at the second terminal.

36. A method for weighing and tracking freight comprising:

equipping a lift truck with a weighing device capable of obtaining the weight of each piece of freight handled by the lift truck;

generating a movement document for a freight shipment, the movement document including a printed description of the freight shipment, the number of freight pieces, and coded identifying information that can be read by a scanner,

scanning coded information comprises scanning the coded identifying information from the movement document

scanning coded identifying information associated with a piece of freight from the movement document for that piece of freight;

lifting the piece of freight by the lift truck and obtaining the weight data for the piece of freight from the weighing device;

transmitting to a receiving site the weight data obtained by the weighing device and the identifying information obtained by the scanner;

receiving at the receiving site the transmitted weight data and identifying information;

storing the thus obtained weight data and identifying information for the piece of freight; and

generating customer invoices based upon the stored weight data and identifying information.

37. The method of claim 36, including generating real-time location information about the location of the piece of freight and transmitting said location information to said receiving site.

38. A method for weighing and tracking freight comprising:

equipping a lift truck equipped with a weighing device capable of obtaining the weight of each piece of freight handled by the lift truck;

scanning coded identifying information associated with a piece of freight in connection with handling of the piece of freight by the lift truck;

obtaining the weight data for the piece of freight handled by the lift truck;

storing the weight data and identifying information for the freight; and

generating a customer invoice based upon the thus-obtained and stored weight data and identifying information.