Linking customs entry packets to electronic entries

• US 20050177426A1
• Filed: 05/26/2004
• Published: 08/11/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Inventors: Potts, Tom, Peach, Laurie, Holmes, Frederic, Halterman, Matt, Swirt, Mark, Thorn, Denise, Uy, Anthony
• Granted Patent: US 8,015,120 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/330
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063 Operations research, analysis or management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/083 Shipping
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0831 Overseas transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0875 Itemisation or classification of parts, supplies or services, e.g. bill of materials
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/944 Business related
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99942 Manipulating data structure, e.g. compression, compaction, compilation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

The disclosures herein relate to methods of managing customs data and shipment data. The methods include procedures for correlating various types of data related to a single shipment of goods, including data received from customs brokers and data received with shipments of goods. The methods extend to importing operations comprising many shipments of goods.

Claims

1. A method of managing customs data and shipment data comprising:

receiving a shipment of imported goods from a seller;

receiving customs data electronically from a customs broker, the customs data including information about the imported goods reported by the customs broker to a customs agency;

receiving shipment data from the seller related to details of the shipment;

storing the customs data and the shipment data in a computer system; and

establishing a logical link in the computer system between the customs data and the shipment data.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the customs data comprise an electronic image of a customs entry packet which includes one or more forms submitted by the customs broker to the customs agency.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the customs entry packet comprises a form having a format promulgated by the customs agency and containing information relating to the imported goods.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein the customs entry packet comprises a commercial invoice related to the imported goods.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the commercial invoice comprises an amount of duty that was paid for the imported goods.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein the commercial invoice comprises a bill of lading associated with the shipment.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the customs data comprise an electronic shipment information entry providing information about the shipment of imported goods.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the electronic shipment information entry comprises a text file, the file further comprising:

a header including a unique identifier for the shipment; and

one or more records associated with the header, each record comprising data relating to one of the imported goods that was included in the shipment.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the shipment data comprise billing information associated with the imported goods.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the billing information includes an amount of money charged by the seller for the imported goods.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein the billing information includes the quantity of imported goods that were in the shipment.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the customs data and the shipment data are stored within in a relational database system.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the logical link between the electronic customs data and the shipment data comprises an active link that is associated with both the electronic customs data and the shipment data.

14. A method of accessing customs data that are linked to shipment data, the method comprising:

retrieving, from a computer system, stored electronic shipment data that were received from a seller, the shipment data being associated with a shipment of imported goods that was received from the seller;

activating a link in the computer system that is associated with the shipment data; and

in response to the activating, recovering from the computer system stored electronic customs data that were received from a customs broker, the customs data being related to the imported goods and including information that was provided by the customs broker to a customs agency.

15. A method of managing customs data and shipment data comprising:

receiving a plurality of shipments of imported goods from one or more sellers;

receiving customs data electronically from one or more customs brokers that collectively provides information about each of the shipments of imported goods that is reported by the one or more customs brokers to one or more customs agencies;

receiving shipment data from the one or more sellers that collectively provides details about each of the shipments;

storing the customs data and the shipment data in a computer system; and

with respect to each of the shipments, establishing a logical link in the computer system between the shipment data about that shipment and the customs data about that shipment.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

retrieving from the computer system and displaying at least a portion of the shipment data about one of the shipments;

activating a link related to the retrieved shipment data; and

in response to the activating, retrieving from the computer system and displaying at least a portion of the customs data that is linked by one of the logical links to the retrieved shipment data.

17. Computer-readable media embodying a program of instructions executable by a computer to perform a method of managing customs data and shipment data, the method comprising:

receiving a shipment of imported goods from a seller;

receiving customs data electronically from a customs broker, the customs data including information about the imported goods reported by the customs broker to a customs agency;

receiving shipment data from the seller related to details of the shipment;

storing the customs data and the shipment data in a computer system; and

establishing a logical link in the computer system between the customs data and the shipment data.

23. The computer-readable media of claim 17 wherein the customs data comprise an electronic shipment information entry providing information about the shipment of imported goods.

24. The computer-readable media of claim 23 wherein the electronic shipment information entry comprises a text file, the file further comprising:

a header including a unique identifier for the shipment; and

one or more records associated with the header, each record comprising data relating to one of the imported goods that was included in the shipment.

25. The computer-readable media of claim 17 wherein the shipment data comprise billing information associated with the imported goods.

26. The computer-readable media of claim 25 wherein the billing information includes an amount of money charged by the seller for the imported goods.

27. The computer-readable media of claim 25 wherein the billing information includes the quantity of imported goods that were in the shipment.

28. The computer-readable media of claim 17 wherein the customs data and the shipment data are stored within in a relational database system.

29. The computer-readable media of claim 17 wherein the logical link between the electronic customs data and the shipment data comprises an active link that is associated with both the electronic customs data and the shipment data.

18. The computer-readable media of clam 17, wherein the customs data comprise an electronic image of a customs entry packet which includes one or more forms submitted by the customs broker to the customs agency.

20. The computer-readable media of claim 18 wherein the customs entry packet comprises a commercial invoice related to the imported goods.

21. The computer-readable media of claim 20 wherein the commercial invoice comprises an amount of duty that was paid for the imported goods.

22. The computer-readable media of claim 20 wherein the commercial invoice comprises a bill of lading associated with the shipment.

19. The computer-readable media of clam 17, wherein the customs entry packet comprises a form having a format promulgated by the customs agency and containing information relating to the imported goods.

30. Computer-readable media embodying a program of instructions executable by a computer to perform a method of accessing customs data that are linked to shipment data, the method comprising:

retrieving, from a computer system, stored electronic shipment data that were received from a seller, the shipment data being associated with a shipment of imported goods that was received from the seller;

activating a link in the computer system that is associated with the shipment data; and

in response to the activating, recovering from the computer system stored electronic customs data that were received from a customs broker, the customs data being related to the imported goods and including information that was provided by the customs broker to a customs agency.

31. Computer-readable media embodying a program of instructions executable by a computer to perform a method of managing customs data and shipment data, the method comprising:

receiving a plurality of shipments of imported goods from one or more sellers;

receiving customs data electronically from one or more customs brokers that collectively provides information about each of the shipments of imported goods that is reported by the one or more customs brokers to one or more customs agencies;

receiving shipment data from the one or more sellers that collectively provides details about each of the shipments;

storing the customs data and the shipment data in a computer system; and

with respect to each of the shipments, establishing a logical link in the computer system between the shipment data about that shipment and the customs data about that shipment.

32. The computer-readable media of claim 31 further comprising:

retrieving from the computer system and displaying at least a portion of the shipment data about one of the shipments;

activating a link related to the retrieved shipment data; and

in response to the activating, retrieving from the computer system and displaying at least a portion of the customs data that is linked by one of the logical links to the retrieved shipment data.