SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR FORECASTING CONTAINER DENSITY
First Claim
1. A system for estimating the size of a select parcel having a weight and associated with one of a plurality of size categories, said system comprising:
- one or more databases storing data associated with a plurality of parcels, said data including weight data, size data, and size category data for each of said plurality of parcels; and
a size estimating module configured to;
retrieve weight and size data from said one or more databases for at least a portion of said plurality of parcels associated with the same size category as said select parcel;
analyze said retrieved data to determine a mathematical relationship between weight and size; and
estimate the size of said select parcel based on said mathematical relationship and said weight of said select parcel.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system and methods for estimating the size of a parcel based on a mathematical formula derived from other parcels within a size category. The system may include a variety of modules in communication with a relational database for storing data related to parcels being delivered. Similar data may be retrieved from a variety of sources with embodiments of the present invention prioritizing the data based on the reliability of the source. In a further aspect, equipment needs are forecasted by evaluating parcel data over a period of time.
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Citations
24 Claims
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1. A system for estimating the size of a select parcel having a weight and associated with one of a plurality of size categories, said system comprising:
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one or more databases storing data associated with a plurality of parcels, said data including weight data, size data, and size category data for each of said plurality of parcels; and
a size estimating module configured to;
retrieve weight and size data from said one or more databases for at least a portion of said plurality of parcels associated with the same size category as said select parcel;
analyze said retrieved data to determine a mathematical relationship between weight and size; and
estimate the size of said select parcel based on said mathematical relationship and said weight of said select parcel. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A method of estimating the size of a first parcel of a plurality of parcels shipped by a shipping enterprise comprising the steps of:
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associating each of said plurality of parcels with one of a plurality of categories based on relative size;
assigning said first parcel to a first category based on its size, wherein said first category is taken from said plurality of categories;
retrieving data including weight and size associated with a plurality of parcels in said first category;
analyzing said data for said plurality of parcels in said first category to determine a mathematical relationship between weight and size; and
applying said mathematical relationship to calculate the size of said first parcel based on its weight. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A system for forecasting capacity requirements for a delivery lane comprising:
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a forecasting database storing data relating to a plurality of parcels for said delivery lane, said data for each parcel including weight data, size data, and data indicating one of a plurality of categories based on size, and wherein said size data for at least some of said plurality of parcels is an estimated value; and
a forecasting module configured to;
retrieve said size data from said forecasting database;
calculate a cumulative size of said parcels by combining the size data for each of said plurality of parcels; and
forecast size capacity requirements by applying a growth rate to said cumulative size. - View Dependent Claims (13)
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14. A method for forecasting capacity needs for a delivery lane comprising the steps of:
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gathering parcel data comprising weight data, size data and size category data for a plurality of parcels associated with said delivery lane wherein components of said parcel data are collected from a plurality of sources;
building a database containing said parcel data;
combining said size data to obtain a cumulative size;
forecasting a future cumulative size by applying a growth rate to said cumulative size; and
comparing said forecasted future cumulative size to a present capacity for said delivery lane to determine future equipment needs. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A computer program product for estimating the size of a first parcel, the computer program product embodied on one or more computer-readable media and comprising computer-executable instructions for:
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associating each of a plurality of parcels with a category based on relative size;
assigning said first parcel to one of said categories based on its size;
retrieving data including weight and size associated with a plurality of parcels in said one of said categories;
analyzing said data for said plurality of parcels associated with said one of said categories to determine a mathematical relationship between weight and size; and
applying said mathematical relationship to calculate the size of said first parcel based on its weight. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24)
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Specification