Centralized System and Method for Automated Carrier Status Updates via SMS in a Multi-Carrier Environment

• US 20140087772A1
• Filed: 09/21/2012
• Published: 03/27/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/21/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Penske Truck Leasing Company LP (Penske Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Penske Truck Leasing Company LP (Penske Corporation)
• Inventors: Papa, Charles A., Bhathena, Percy R., Koch, Douglas J., Viggilucci, Michael, Sargeant, Jermaine G.
• Granted Patent: US 9,042,922 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/466
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/047 Optimisation of routes or paths, e.g. travelling salesman problem
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0833 Tracking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0835 Relationships between shipper or supplier and carriers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/00 Network arrangements, protocols or services for supporting real-time applications in data packet communication real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM] H04L51/04; selective video distribution H04N21/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/14 Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]

Abstract

A method for managing carrier status via the Short Message Service (SMS) by a centralized system in a multi-carrier environment includes: associating a driver with a first load to be transported, using an SMS-enabled cellphone number of the driver; storing the association of driver and load in a database of the system, along with a unique identifier of the carrier; transmitting, by the server to the driver, an instruction as a text message to the driver'"'"'s cell phone with instructions for replying upon arrival; receiving, by the server from the driver, a response consistent with the instructions for replying upon arrival; updating, by the server, a status associated with the driver'"'"'s response in the database; repeating the steps for a second driver of a second carrier; and providing, by the centralized system, status reports related to both the driver and associated load, and the second driver and associated load.

Claims

1. A method for managing carrier status via the Short Message Service (SMS) by a centralized system in a multi-carrier environment, comprising:

a) associating, by a dispatcher of a carrier, a driver with a first load to be transported, using an SMS-enabled cellphone number of the driver;

b) storing the association of driver and load in a database of the system using a centralized server comprising a processor and non-volatile storage media, along with a unique identifier of the carrier;

c) transmitting, by the server to the driver, a first instruction as a text message to the driver'"'"'s cell phone, wherein the first instruction contains information about the first load'"'"'s location, along with instructions for replying upon arrival;

d) receiving, by the server from the driver, a first response consistent with the instructions for replying upon arrival;

e) updating, by the server, a status associated with the driver'"'"'s first response in the database;

f) transmitting, by the server to the driver, a second instruction as a text message to the driver'"'"'s cell phone, wherein the second instruction contains instructions for replying upon departure;

g) receiving, by the server from the driver, a second response consistent with the instructions for replying upon departure;

h) updating, by the server, a status associated with the driver'"'"'s second response;

i) repeating (a)-(h) for a second load to be transported for the driver;

j) repeating (a)-(i) for a second driver of a second carrier; and

k) providing, by the centralized system, status reports related to both the driver and associated load, and the second driver and associated load.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the server comprises a web-based service that implements the associating, the storing, the transmitting, the updating, and the receiving.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising associating a second driver with the carrier and performing (a)-(h) for a different load.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the repeating (a)-(h) for the second driver is performed concurrently with (a)-(h) for the driver.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the providing of the status reports is performed by transmitting status messages from the server to a carrier server.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the transmitting of status messages is a transmitting of e-mails.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising removing any driver identification from a rejected load.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the associating is performed by the dispatcher using a web-based client.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the instructions for replying consists of a two-character reply.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the instructions for replying upon at least one of arrival or departure differ between the carrier and the second carrier.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein a mapping of instructions to action are stored in a lookup table in the database.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising, after receiving a requested response, transmitting a conformation message to the driver.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the server from a requester, a search request to search for loads; and

providing results of the request that are based on information stored in the database.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising, updating, in a status page, displayed load information in response to the receiving at least one of the first response and the second response.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein when an erroneous response is received, performing at least one of logging an error in the database and notifying the carrier of the error.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the notifying is performed by sending an e-mail.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising notifying the driver of the error.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising transmitting instructions to the driver for resolving the error.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein when at least one of the first and second response is not received within a predetermined amount of time for a subsequent pickup, performing at least one of logging an error in the database and notifying the carrier of the error.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, by the server, when multiple loads are associated with a single driver;

and then performing at least one of logging an error in the database and notifying the carrier of the error.

21. A non-transitory computer program product, comprising a computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein, said computer readable program code adapted to be executed to implement the method of claim 1.

22. A system for managing carrier status via the Short Message Service (SMS) by a centralized system in a multi-carrier environment, comprising:

a centralized server comprising;

a processor;

a database that associates a plurality of drivers of a plurality of carriers with a plurality of load to be transported, using an SMS-enabled cellphone number of each driver;

a non-volatile storage media that stores the association of each driver and each load in the database using the centralized server, along with a unique identifier of each carrier;

a transmitter that transmits to each driver an instruction as a text message to each driver'"'"'s cell phone, wherein the instruction contains information about each load'"'"'s location, along with instructions for replying upon arrival or departure;

a receiver that receives from each driver, a response consistent with the instructions for replying upon arrival or departure; and

the database updates a status of each load associated with each driver'"'"'s response in the database;

wherein the centralized server provides, to each respective carrier, status reports related to each driver of the respective carrier and the associated load.