Item tracking system architectures providing real-time visibility to supply chain

• US 6,901,304 B2
• Filed: 08/30/2002
• Issued: 05/31/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 01/11/2002
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Weng, Jie, Ebert, Peter S., Mo, Brian S., Lin, Tao, Swan, Richard J., Vogler, Hartmut K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Gandhi, Jayprakash N.
• Application Number:
  US10/232,764
• Publication Number:
  US 20030132854A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,005 Days
• Field of Search: 340/572.1, 340/10.1, 700/90, 700/95, 700/115, 705/28, 705/29
• US Class Current: 700/115
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/28 the pass enabling tracking or indicating presence

Abstract

Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, for providing multiple enterprises real-time access to information about items in a supply chain. Tags bound to items are read and information read from the tags and location information about the tags is provided by at least two enterprises and used to maintain disposition information about the items, which is made visible to enterprises in the supply chain. The tags can be radio-frequency identification tags having each having an ePC (electronic product code) as unique tag identifier. Visibility of the disposition information can be controlled through authorization. Visible information can include relationships between particular items and business documents such as order and shipping documents. With shipping documents visible, information read from item tags can be used to confirm the identify or completeness of a shipment.

Claims

1. A computer program product, tangibly embodied in an information carrier, for use in a commercial data processing environment where the environment includes multiple enterprises in a supply chain, the computer program product being operable to cause data processing apparatus to:

provide the enterprises with real-time visibility of the disposition of items in the supply chain, by;

receiving from a first enterprise multiple instances of tag-read-data, each instance including information read from a tag bound to an item, the information read including a unique tag identifier read automatically from the tag, each instance also including a location of the corresponding tag and its bound item when the tag identifier was read from the tag, the location including a latitude and a longitude, the multiple instances of tag-read-data received from the first enterprise collectively including information read from tags bound to multiple items;

using the tag-read-data received from the first enterprise to maintain disposition information for the items;

receiving from a second enterprise multiple instances of second tag-read-data, each instance including information read from a tag bound to an item, the item being either the same or not the same as the item for which tan-read-data was received from the first enteprise, the information read including a unique tag identifier read automatically from the tag, each instance also including a location of the corresponding tag and its bound item when the tag identifier was read from the tag, the location including a latitude and a longitude, the multiple instances of tag-read-data received from the second enterprise collectively including information read from tags bound to at least one of the multiple items;

using the tag-read-data received from the second enterprise to maintain disposition information for the items, where tag-read-data received from either enterprise for a particular item is used to update the disposition information; and

making the disposition information visible to the multiple enterprises in the supply chain, including the first and second enterprises.

2. The product of claim 1, wherein the computer program product is further operable to:

receive from a third enterprise multiple instances of third tag-read-data, each instance including information read from a tag bound to an item, the information read including a unique tag identifier read automatically from the tag, each instance also including a location of the corresponding tag and its bound item when the tag identifier was read from the tag, the multiple instances of tag-read-data received from the third enterprise collectively including information read from tags bound to at least one of the multiple items; and

use the tag-read-data received from the third enterprise to maintain disposition information for the items, where tag-read-data received from any enterprise for a particular item is used to update the disposition information.

3. The product of claim 1, wherein:

the tags bound to the multiple items include radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, each RFID tag carrying an electronic product code (ePC) as the unique tag identifier.

4. The product of claim 1, wherein:

the visibility is controlled visibility; and

the product is further operable to;

receive authorization information indicating the extent to which the disposition information should be made visible to a particular enterprise within the supply chain; and

make visible to the particular enterprise only the disposition information which is permitted by the authorization information.

5. The product of claim 4, wherein:

the disposition information includes a plurality of item attributes; and

the authorization information specifies, for at least one of the item attributes, the enterprises to which the item attribute can be made visible.

6. The product of claim 1, wherein:

the multiple enterprises include a source enterprise and a destination enterprise;

the source enterprise has an order document for an order placed by the destination enterprise and a shipping document for a physical shipment of goods prepared to satisfy the order placed by the destination enterprise;

visibility includes visibility of relationships between the tag-read-data and business documents including the order document and the shipping document; and

providing the enterprises with real-time visibility of the disposition of items further includes;

receiving shipping information including the following;

tag identifiers for items corresponding to goods in the shipment;

information associating each tag identifier with a shipment number for the shipping document, and

information associating the shipment number with an order number for the order document;

correlating the tag-read-data with the shipping information; and

making the correlations available to the destination enterprise such that the destination enterprise can use a tag identifier for an item in the shipment to confirm the shipment.

7. A system operating in conjunction with multiple enterprises in a supply chain, comprising:

means for receiving from a first enterprise multiple instances of tag-read-data, each instance including information read from a tag bound to an item, the information read including a unique tag identifier read automatically from the tag, each instance also including a location of the corresponding tag and its bound item when the tag identifier was read from the tag, the location including a latitude and a longitude, the multiple instances of tag-read-data received from the first enterprise collectively including information read from tags bound to multiple items;

means for using the tag-read-data received from the first enterprise to maintain disposition information for the items;

means for receiving from a second enterprise multiple instances of second tag-read-data, each instance including information read from a tag bound to an item, the item being either the same or not the same as the item for which tag-read-data was received from the first enterprise, the information read including a unique tag identifier read automatically from the tag, each instance also including a location of the corresponding tag and its bound item when the tag identifier was read from the tag, the location including a latitude and a longitude, the multiple instances of tag-read-data received from the second enterprise collectively including information read from tags bound to at least one of the multiple items;

means for using the tag-read-data received from the second enterprise to maintain disposition information for the items, where tag-read-data received from either enterprise for a particular item is used to update the disposition information; and

means for making the disposition information visible to the multiple enterprises in the supply chain, including the first and second enterprises.

8. The system of claim 7, further comprising:

means for receiving from a third enterprise multiple instances of third tag-read-data, each instance including information read from a tag bound to an item, the information read including a unique tag identifier read automatically from the tag, each instance also including a location of the corresponding tag and its bound item when the tag identifier was read from the tag, the multiple instances of tag-read-data received from the third enterprise collectively including information read from tags bound to at least one of the multiple items; and

means for using the tag-read-data received from the third enterprise to maintain disposition information for the items, where tag-read-data received from any enterprise for a particular item is used to update the disposition information.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein:

the tags bound to the multiple items include radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, each RFID tag carrying an electronic product code (ePC) as the unique tag identifier.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein:

the visibility is controlled visibility; and

the system further comprises;

means for receiving authorization information indicating the extent to which the disposition information should be made visible to a particular enterprise within the supply chain; and

means for making visible to the particular enterprise only the disposition information which is permitted by the authorization information.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein:

the disposition information includes a plurality of item attributes; and

the authorization information specifies, for at least one of the item attributes, the enterprises to which the item attribute can be made visible.

12. The system of claim 7, wherein:

the multiple enterprises include a source enterprise and a destination enterprise;

the source enterprise has an order document for an order placed by the destination enterprise and a shipping document for a physical shipment of goods prepared to satisfy the order placed by the destination enterprise;

visibility includes visibility of relationships between the tag-read-data and business documents including the order document and the shipping document; and

means for providing the enterprises with real-time visibility of the disposition of items further include;

means for receiving shipping information including the following;

tag identifiers for items corresponding to goods in the shipment;

information associating each tag identifier with a shipment number for the shipping document, and

information associating the shipment number with an order number for the order document;

means for correlating the tag-read-data with the shipping information; and

means for making the correlations available to the destination enterprise such that the destination enterprise can use a tag identifier for an item in the shipment to confirm the shipment.

13. A method for use in a commercial data processing environment that includes multiple enterprises in a supply chain, comprising:

receiving from a first enterprise multiple instances of tag-read-data, each instance including information read from a tag bound to an item, the information read including a unique tag identifier read automatically from the tag, each instance also including a location of the corresponding tag and its bound item when the tag identifier was read from the tag, the location including a latitude and longitude, the multiple instances of tag-read-data received from the first enterprise collectively including information read from tags bound to multiple items;

using the tag-read-data received from the first enterprise to maintain disposition information for the items;

receiving from a second enterprise multiple instances of second tag-read-data, each instance including information read from a tag bound to an item, the item being either the same or not the same as the item for which tag-read-data was received from the same enterprise, the information read including a unique tag identifier read automatically from the tag, each instance also including a location of the corresponding tag and its bound item when the tag identifier was read from the tag, the location including a latitude and longitude, the multiple instances of tag-read-data received from the second enterprise collectively including information read from tags bound to at least one of the multiple items;

using the tag-read-data received from the second enterprise to maintain disposition information for the items, where tag-read-data received from either enterprise for a particular item is used to update the disposition information; and

making the disposition information visible to the multiple enterprises in the supply chain, including the first and second enterprises.