System and method for tracking shipment of items utilizing RFID-tags

• US 7,309,000 B2
• Filed: 07/01/2004
• Issued: 12/18/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 07/02/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: United States Postal Service (Government of the United States of America)
• Original Assignee: United States Postal Service (Government of the United States of America)
• Inventors: McDonald, Glenn E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Paik, Steven S.
• Application Number:
  US10/884,522
• Publication Number:
  US 20050004702A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,265 Days
• Field of Search: 235/375, 235/451, 235/492, 235/462.01, 235/385, 235/462.02
• US Class Current: 235/375
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/60 Business processes related to postal services shipping G06Q10/083; franking apparatus G07B17/00
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 17/00024 Physical or organizational aspects of franking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 2017/0004 Determining the location of mailpieces outside apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: G07G 1/009 the reader being an RFID reader

Abstract

A system and method of tracking a plurality of mail units during transfer from a source location to a destination. One embodiment is a method comprising associating information identifying the plurality of mail units with a radio frequency (RF) tag that identifies a carrier unit. The method further comprises storing said associated information in at least one of the RF tag and a computer memory. The method further comprises communicating with the RF tag to identify the location of the carrier unit. The method further comprises identifying the location of at least one of the plurality of mail units based at least in part on the location of the carrier unit. Another embodiment is a system configured to perform an embodiment of the method.

Claims

1. A method of tracking a plurality of mail units during transfer from a source location to a destination, the method comprising:

receiving an identifier of a carrier unit;

receiving an identifier for each of the plurality of mail units;

associating information identifying each of the plurality of mail units with a radio frequency (RF) tag that identifies a carrier unit;

storing said associated information in at least one of the RF tag and a computer memory, wherein storing said associated information comprises storing data that associates the identifier of the carrier unit with the identifier of each of the plurality of mail units;

communicating with the RF tag to identify the location of the carrier unit; and

identifying the location of at least one of the plurality of mail units based at least in part on the location of the carrier unit.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of associating information comprises matching the carrier unit to each of the plurality of mail units.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of associating information comprises receiving an identifier from the RF tag and storing said identifier in a database that relates the identifier with the plurality of mail units.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of receiving the identifier comprises receiving the identifier from each of a plurality of RF tags, each identifying one of the plurality of mail units, and wherein the step of storing said associated information comprises storing the plurality of RF tags in a database that relates the plurality of RF tags with the carrier unit.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the step of receiving the identifier comprises sending an interrogation signal to each of the plurality of RF tags and receiving the identifier from each of the plurality of RF tags.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of storing comprises storing the identifiers of the plurality of mail units into a memory associated with the RF tag that identifies the carrier unit.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising loading the mail units onto the carrier unit.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of storing associated information comprises storing in the RF tag at least one of:

the weight of at least one of the plurality of mail units, the total weight of the plurality of mail units, the volume of at least one of the plurality of mail units, the total volume of the plurality of mail units, a mail class, an expiration date, and a destination.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of associating information comprises associating an expiration date with at least one of the plurality of mail units and the method further comprising comparing the expiration date associated with the at least one of the plurality of mail units to predetermined criteria.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of identifying the location of at least one of the plurality of mail units comprises identifying the location of the RF tag of the carrier unit.

11. A system for tracking a plurality of mail units during transfer from a source location to a destination, the system comprising:

a carrier unit configured to transport the plurality of mail units;

an RF tag coupled to the carrier unit, wherein the RF tag is configured to identify the carrier unit and to store identifying information associated with each of the plurality of mail units; and

a processing station in communication with the RF tag, wherein the processing station is configured to identify the location of at least one of the plurality of mail units based at least in part on the location of the carrier unit, and wherein said processing station is further configured to;

receive an identifier of the carrier unit;

receive an identifier for each of the plurality of mail units; and

store data that associates the identifier of the carrier unit with the identifier of each of the plurality of mail units.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the processing station comprises at least one of a processor, a computer, a server, a receiver, a transmitter, a network interface, and a storage medium.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the RF tag comprises an active RF tag.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the processing station is configured to match each of the plurality of mail units to the carrier unit.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the processing station is configured to receive the identifier from the RF tag and to store said identifier in a database that relates the identifier with the plurality of mail units.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the processing station is configured to receive the identifier from each of a plurality of RF tags, each of the plurality of RF tags identifying one of the plurality of mail units and wherein the processing station is further configured to store the plurality of RF tags in a database that relates the plurality of RF tags with the carrier unit.

17. The system of claim 16, further comprising a reader configured to send an interrogation signal to each of the plurality of RF tags and receive the identifier from each of the plurality of RF tags, wherein the reader is further configured to communicate the identifier to the processing station.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein the processing station is configured to store the identifiers of the plurality of mail units into a memory associated with the RF tag that identifies the carrier unit.

19. The system of claim 11, further comprising a mover configured to load the mail units onto the carrier unit.

20. The system of claim 11, wherein the RF tag is configured to store at least one of:

the weight of at least one of the plurality of mail units, the total weight of the plurality of mail units, the volume of at least one of the plurality of mail units, the total volume of the plurality of mail units, a mail class, an expiration date, and a destination.

21. The system of claim 11, wherein the processing station is configured to compare an expiration date with at least one of the plurality of mail units.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the processing station is configured to compare the expiration date associated with the at least one of the plurality of mail units to predetermined criteria.

23. The system of claim 11, wherein the processing station is configure to identify the location of carrier unit based at least in part on identifying the location of the RF tag.

24. The system of claim 11, wherein the RF tag comprises an RF identification (RFID) tag.

25. A method of tracking utilization of a plurality of mail units, the method comprising:

receiving data indicative of the occupancy level of the plurality of mail units, each being designated to a transport unit;

determining the occupancy level of the transport unit based, at least in part, on the occupancy level of the plurality of the mail units;

providing data indicative of the space available in the transport unit;

determining data indicative of the efficiency of utilizing the transport unit based, at least in part, on the occupancy level of the transport unit.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein receiving the data comprises receiving at least one volume measurement from a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein each of the plurality of mail units comprises a mail carrier comprising a plurality of mail trays.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the transport unit comprises a truck.

29. The method of claim 25, wherein determining data indicative of the efficiency comprises determining a volume utilization rate or percentage of the plurality of mail units.