METHOD, SYSTEM AND APPARATUS FOR SUPPLY CHAIN EVENT REPORTING

• US 20200134530A1
• Filed: 10/29/2018
• Published: 04/30/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 10/29/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Zebra Technologies Corporation
• Original Assignee: Zebra Technologies Corporation
• Inventors: Clevenger, Nathan J., Ehlers, Andrew, Kowalski, Matthew Louis, Seimer, John M.
• Granted Patent: US 11,062,245 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06315 Needs-based resource requirements planning or analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/183 for receiving images from a single remote source
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

A system for recording events on a distributed ledger includes: a server; a terminal including a terminal processor executing an OS; and a data capture device including a housing, a data capture assembly configured to capture product data, a communication interface, a memory including a first driver and/or a firmware, and a processor executing instructions in the memory. The instructions include instructions to transmit the product data to the terminal through the communication interface. The terminal includes a second driver enabling the OS to communicate with the data capture device to accept the product data. At least one of the first and second drivers and the firmware includes a transmission flag changeable between activated and deactivated states. The activated state causes the product data to be transmitted to the server. Upon the product data satisfying a recordation condition, the product data is recorded, from the server, to the distributed ledger.

Claims

1. A system for recording events on a distributed ledger, comprising:

a cloud server;

a first terminal remote from the cloud server, the first terminal including at least one first terminal processor and an operating system (OS) executing on the at least one first terminal processor; and

a data capture device including;

a data capture device housing;

a data capture assembly positioned at least partially within the data capture device housing, the data capture assembly configured to capture product data associated with products;

a data capture device communication interface;

a data capture device memory including at least one of a first driver and a data capture device firmware; and

at least one data capture device processor configured to execute instructions stored in the data capture device memory, wherein;

the data capture device is communicatively coupled to the first terminal via the data capture device communication interface,

the instructions stored in the data capture device memory of the data capture device include instructions to transmit the product data through the data capture device communication interface,

the first terminal further includes a second driver configured to enable the OS to communicate with the data capture device and to accept the product data transmitted through the data capture device communication interface,

at least one of (i) the first driver, (ii) the second driver, and (iii) the data capture device firmware includes a transmission flag alternately changeable between an activated state and a deactivated state, the activated state causing at least some of the product data to be transmitted to the cloud server, and

upon at least a portion of the at least some of the product data satisfying a predetermined recordation condition, the at least a portion of the at least some of the product data transmitted to the cloud server is caused to be recorded, from the cloud server, to the distributed ledger.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the product data includes at least one of (i) decoded data associated with a symbology, (ii) payload data associated with a wireless tag, and (iii) event metadata associated with obtaining at least one of the decoded data and the payload data.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the data capture assembly is at least one of an imaging assembly operable to capture image data, a laser assembly operable to capture symbology data, and a wireless tag reader assembly operable to capture wireless tag payload data.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a media processing device including;

a media processing device housing;

a media processing assembly positioned at least partially within the media processing device housing, the media processing assembly configured to process media to impart identifying data thereon;

a media processing device communication interface;

a media processing device memory including at least one of a third driver and a media processing device firmware; and

at least one media processing device processor configured to execute instructions stored in the media processing device memory, wherein;

the media processing device is communicatively coupled to the cloud server via the media processing device communication interface,

responsive to receiving the at least some of the product data at the cloud server, the cloud server generates a media processing signal based at least in part on the at least some of the product data and transmits the media processing signal to the media processing device, and

responsive to receiving the media processing signal at the media processing device, the media processing device processes a media in accordance with the media processing signal.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the at least some of the product data includes a non-unique product-identifier, and wherein the media processing signal includes a unique product-identifier.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein responsive to processing the media in accordance with the media processing signal, the instructions stored in the media processing device memory of the media processing device include instructions to transmit an event completion signal through the media processing device communication interface to the cloud server.

7. The system of claim 4, wherein:

at least one of (i) third driver and (ii) the media processing device firmware includes a second transmission flag alternately changeable between an activated state and a deactivated state,

responsive to processing the media in accordance with the media processing signal and further responsive to the second transmission flag being in the activated state, the instructions stored in the media processing device memory of the media processing device include instructions to transmit an event completion signal through the media processing device communication interface to the cloud server to be recorded, from the cloud server, to the distributed ledger.

8. The system of claim 4, wherein processing the media in accordance with the media processing signal includes at least one of (i) printing a symbol and (ii) encoding a payload in a wireless electronic tag.

9. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

an enterprise resource planning (ERP) server communicatively coupled to the first terminal; and

a merchant ERP application executing partially on the ERP server and partially on the first terminal, the merchant ERP application configured to process the product data associated with the products,

wherein an activation of the transmission flag and/or a deactivation of the transmission flag is not controlled by the merchant ERP application.

10. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a merchant ERP application executing at least partially on the first terminal, the merchant ERP application configured to process the product data associated with the products,

wherein an activation of the transmission flag and a deactivation of the transmission flag is not controlled by the merchant ERP application.

11. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a second terminal remote from the cloud server, the second terminal including at least one second terminal processor and an OS executing on the at least one second terminal processor; and

a second data capture device including;

a second data capture device housing;

a second data capture assembly positioned at least partially within the second data capture device housing, the second data capture assembly configured to capture second product data associated with the products;

a second data capture device communication interface;

a second data capture device memory including at least one of a fourth driver and a second data capture device firmware; and

at least one second data capture device processor configured to execute instructions stored in the data capture device memory, wherein;

the second data capture device is communicatively coupled to the second terminal via the second data capture device communication interface,

the instructions stored in the second data capture device memory of the data capture device include instructions to transmit the second product data through the second data capture device communication interface,

the second terminal further includes a fifth driver configured to enable the OS executing on the at least one second terminal processor to communicate with the second data capture device and to accept the second product data transmitted through the second data capture device communication interface,

at least one of (i) the fourth driver, (ii) the fifth driver, and (iii) the second data capture device firmware includes a second transmission flag alternately changeable between an activated state and a deactivated state, the activated state causing at least some of the second product data to be transmitted to the cloud server,

upon at least a portion of the at least some of the second product data satisfying a second predetermined recordation condition, the at least a portion of the at least some of the second product data transmitted to the cloud server is caused to be recorded, from the cloud server, to the distributed ledger,

the cloud server is a multi-merchant server configured to be connected to by multiple merchants,

the first terminal is associated with a first merchant,

the second terminal is associated with a second merchant, and

the first terminal accepts the product data earlier in time than the second terminal accepts the second product data.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein at least one of (i) the at least a portion of the at least some of the product data and (ii) the at least a portion of the at least some of the second product data is augmented with metadata prior to or during recordation to the distributed ledger.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the metadata is associated with at least one of (i) expected product dispatch time, (ii) actual product dispatch time, (iii) expected product delivery time, (iv) actual product delivery time, and (v) geographic location of product at time of product data capture.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein:

the distributed ledger includes a plurality of evaluation conditions,

a product is transmitted from a first location associated with the first merchant to a second location associated with the second merchant,

a first metadata is captured at the first location,

a second metadata is captured at the second location,

each of the first metadata and the second metadata is evaluated against the plurality of evaluation conditions, and

a register is generated based at least in part on result of evaluating the each of the first metadata and the second metadata against the plurality of evaluation conditions.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the first terminal further includes a product processing application executing above the OS, and wherein the second driver (i) transmits the product data to the OS and (ii) transmits the at least some of the product data to the cloud server.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least a portion of the at least some of the product data is checked against the predetermined recordation condition in at least one of (i) the data capture device, (ii) the driver, and (iii) the cloud server.

17-51. -51. (canceled)

52. A data processing device operable to transmit data for recordation on a distributed ledger, comprising:

a data processing device housing;

a data processing assembly positioned at least partially within the data processing device housing, the data processing assembly configured to at least one of (i) capture product data associated with products and (ii) process media to impart identifying data thereon;

a data processing device communication interface;

a data processing device memory including at least one of a first driver and a data processing device firmware; and

at least one data processing device processor configured to execute instructions stored in the data processing device memory,

wherein;

the instructions stored in the data processing device memory of the data processing device include instructions to transmit an acknowledgement of successfully processing data by the data processing assembly, and

at least one of (i) the first driver and (ii) the data processing device firmware includes a recordation flag alternately changeable between an activated state and a deactivated state, the activated state causing acknowledgement data associated with the acknowledgement to be recorded to the distributed ledger.