Supply chain visibility for real-time tracking of goods

• US 7,136,832 B2
• Filed: 05/04/2001
• Issued: 11/14/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/07/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Savi Technology Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Savi Technology Incorporated
• Inventors: Hakeman, Darren Jeffrey, Li, Xi, Chang, Keng-Shao, Dooley, John J., Deshpande, Abhijit A., Greene, Thomas Alan
• Primary Examiner(s): Borissov, Igor N.
• Application Number:
  US09/849,510
• Publication Number:
  US 20020111819A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,020 Days
• Field of Search: 705/28, 705 22- 26, 705/27, 705/500, 705/34, 340/505
• US Class Current: 705/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing

Abstract

A commerce visibility network allows for the collection and distribution of real-time location and status information regarding the movement of goods and assets through a supply chain. Items and/or conveyances may be individually tagged using radio frequency identifiers or other tagging technologies, such as global positioning satellite technology. The location of an item or conveyance may be marked and information on the location may be stored at a site server. The site server may then upload location information to a data center. Supply chain users may then be charged a fee per tracked item or fee per transaction to access the data center and view reports compiled using the location information regarding each tracked item. This allows for instantaneous access to location and status information of any item in the supply chain. Additionally, aggregation information is provided to allow for the tracking of items which are stored in conveyances, even in several levels of conveyances. Compensation logic is applied to the asset movement data to provide a continuous knowledge of the asset locations, so as to compensate for deficiencies in the raw location data.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for the real-time tracking of goods in a supply chain, including:

affixing a tag to each good to be tracked;

marking a location of one of the goods at a data appliance and storing information on said location at a site server coupled to said data appliance;

uploading said information to a data center, said data center coupled to said site server;

compensating for missing information by using a previous tag read and a current tag read; and

charging users of said supply chain a fee dependent on the number of tracked goods to access said data center and view reports compiled using said location information regarding each tracked good.

2. The method of claim 1, further including aggregating at least two of said goods into a conveyance at a data point and wherein said marking includes indicating an aggregation event occurred at said data point.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said marking further includes performing aggregation-by-inference, wherein an aggregation event occurring at said location for said conveyance automatically indicates that said conveyance has been completely filled with goods.

4. The method of claim 2, further including performing de-aggregation-by-inference at a second data point, wherein a de-aggregation event indicating that all items have been removed from said conveyance is generated.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said tag affixed to said one of the goods is a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag and said marking includes scanning said tag affixed to said one of the goods using an RFID reader.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said one of the goods is stored in a conveyance, and said marking includes scanning said tag affixed to said conveyance using a reader.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said marking includes scanning a tag using a tag reader.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein said tag reader is coupled to a data appliance.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein said tag reader is part of a data appliance.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein said marking includes tracking said one of the goods using global positioning satellite (GPS) technology.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein said storing utilizes the Universal Data Appliance Protocol (UDAP) to communicate said location information from said data appliance to said site server.

12. The method of claim 1, further including accessing said data center and viewing said reports.

13. The method of claim 1, further including aggregating a good into a conveyance when said good is loaded into said conveyance and de-aggregating said good from said conveyance when said good is unloaded from said conveyance.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein said compensating includes detecting that a missing tag read occurred by learning that a tag read was made on said one of the goods at a first location and at a third location, but not at a second location, wherein said one of the goods could not arrive at said third location without first passing through said second location.

15. The method of claim 1, further including filtering out any duplicative tag reads.

47. The method of claim 1, wherein said compensating comprises compensating for missing information about said one of the goods by using aggregation information derived from a previous tag read and a current tag read to create a missing tag read for said one of the goods.

48. The method of claim 1, wherein said compensating comprises compensating for missing information about a second location by using location information from a previous tag read at a first location with location information from a current tag read at a third location to create a missing tag read for said one of the goods at the second location.

49. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving the missing information subsequent to the compensating; and

replacing compensated information with the missing information.

16. A computer-implemented meted for the real-time tracking of goods in a supply chain, including:

affixing a tag to each good to be tracked;

marking a location of one of the goods at a data appliance and storing information on said location at a site server coupled to said data appliance;

uploading said location information to a data center, said data center coupled to said site server;

compensating for missing information by using a previous tag read and a current tag read; and

charging users of said supply chain a fee per transaction to access said data center and view information regarding each tracked good, each transaction including a single tag read.

17. The method of claim 16, further including aggregating at least two of said goods into a conveyance at a data point and wherein said marking includes indicating an aggregation event occurred at said data point.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein said marking further includes performing aggregation-by-inference, wherein an aggregation event occurring at said location for said conveyance automatically indicates that said conveyance has been completely filled with items.

19. The method of claim 17, further including de-aggregation-by-inference at a second data point, wherein a de-aggregation event indicating that all items have been removed from said conveyance is generated.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein said tag affixed to said one of the goods is a Radio Frequency Identification (REID) tag and said marking includes scanning said tag affixed to said one of the goods using an RFID reader.

21. The method of claim 16, wherein said one of the goods is stored in a conveyance, and said marking includes scanning said tag affixed to said conveyance using a reader.

22. The method of claim 16, wherein said marking includes scanning a tag using a tag reader.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein said tag reader is coupled to said data appliance.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein said tag reader is part of said data appliance.

25. The method of claim 16, wherein said marking includes tracking said one of the goods using global positioning satellite (GPS) technology.

26. The method of claim 16, wherein said storing utilizes the Universal Data Appliance Protocol (UDAP) to communicate location information from said data appliance to said site server.

27. The method of claim 16, further including said accessing said data center and viewing reports.

28. The method of claim 16,further including aggregating a good into a conveyance when said good is loaded into said conveyance and de-aggregating said good from said conveyance when said good is unloaded from said conveyance.

29. The method of claim 16, wherein said compensating includes detecting that a missing tag read occurred by learning that a tag read was made on said one of the goods at a first location and at a third location, but not at a second location, wherein said one of the goods could not arrive at said third location without first passing through said second location.

30. The method of claim 28, further including filtering out any duplicative tag reads.

31. A system for real-time tracking of goods in a supply chain, including:

a data center comprising compensation logic;

a site server coupled to said data center;

a data appliance coupled to said site server; and

at least one tag, each tag affixed to a good in a way such that each tag is readable by a tag reader coupled to said data appliance;

wherein said compensation logic compensates for missing information by using a previous tag read and a current tag read, and users are charged a fee per good tracked to access said data center and view reports compiled using location information regarding each tracked good.

32. The system of claim 31, wherein said at least one tag and said tag reader utilize Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology.

33. The system of claim 31, further including an Intransit Data Appliance (IDA) and an Enterprise Server, said Enterprise Server coupled to said data center and said IDA coupled to said Enterprise Server to transmit data on a location of a good using Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) technology.

45. The system of claim 31, wherein said site server is configured to aggregate at least two of said goods into a conveyance at a data point and indicate an aggregation event.

46. The system of claim 45, wherein said site server is further configured to perform aggregation-by-inference, wherein an aggregation event automatically indicates that said conveyance has been completely filled with goods.

34. A system for real-time tracking of goods in a supply chain, including:

a data center comprising compensation logic;

a site server coupled to said data center;

a data appliance coupled to said site server;

at least one tag, each tag affixed to a good in a way such that each tag is readable by a tag reader coupled to said data appliance; and

wherein said compensation logic compensates for missing information by using a previous tag read and a current tag read, and users are charged a fee per transaction to access said data center and view reports compiled using location information regarding tracked goods, each of said transactions including a tag read.

35. The system of claim 34, wherein said at least one tag and tag reader utilize Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology.

36. The system of claim 34, further including an Intransit Data Appliance (IDA) and an Enterprise Server, said Enterprise Server coupled to said data center and said IDA coupled to said Enterprise Server to transmit data on a location of a good using Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) technology.

37. A system for real-time tracking of goods in a supply chain, including:

a collaboration center;

a data center comprising compensation logic, coupled to said collaboration center;

a site sever coupled to said data center;

a data appliance coupled to said site sever;

at least one tag, each tag affixed to a good in a way such that each tag is readable by a tag reader coupled to said data appliance; and

wherein said compensation logic compensates for missing information by using a previous tag read and a current tag read, and users are charged a fee per good tracked to access said data center and view location information regarding each tracked good.

38. The system of claim 37, wherein said at least one tag and said tag reader utilize Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology.

39. The system of claim 37, further including an Intransit Data Appliance (IDA) and an Enterprise Server, said Enterprise Server coupled to said data center and said IDA coupled to said Enterprise Server to transmit data on a location of a good using Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) technology.

40. A system for real-time tracking of goods in a supply chain, including:

a collaboration center;

a data center comprising compensation logic coupled to said collaboration center;

a site server coupled to said data center;

a data appliance, coupled to said site server;

at least one tag, each tag affixed to a good in a way such that each tag is readable by a tag reader coupled to said data appliance; and

wherein said compensation logic compensates for missing information by using a previous tag read and a current tag read, and users are charged a fee per transaction to access said data center and view reports compiled using location information regarding tracked goods, each of said transactions including a tag read.

41. The system of claim 40, wherein said at least one tag and said tag reader utilize Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology.

42. The system of claim 40, further including an Intransit Data Appliance (IDA) and an Enterprise Server, said Enterprise Server coupled to said data center and said IDA coupled to said Enterprise Server to transmit data on a location of a good using Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) technology.

43. A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform a method for the real-time tracking of goods in a supply chain, the method including:

affixing a tag to each good to be tracked;

marking a location of one of the goods at a data appliance and storing information on said location at a site server coupled to said data appliance;

uploading said location information to a data center, said data center coupled to said site server;

compensating for missing information by using a previous tag read and a current tag read; and

charging users of said supply chain a fee dependent on the number of tracked goods to access said data center and view reports compiled using location information regarding each tracked good.

44. A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform a method for the real-time tracking of goods in a supply chain, the method iucluding:

affixing a tag to each good to be tracked;

marking a location of one of the goods at a data appliance and storing information on said location at a site server coupled to said data appliance;

uploading said information to a data center, said data center coupled to said site server;

compensating for missing information by using a previous tag read and a current tag read; and

charging users of said supply chain a fee per transaction to access said data center and view information regarding each tracked good, each transaction including a single tag read.