Object loading system and method

• US 7,383,188 B2
• Filed: 11/09/2006
• Issued: 06/03/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: System Application Engineering Incorporated
• Original Assignee: System Application Engineering Incorporated
• Inventors: Vestal, Kenneth Ray, Parks, James Michael, Sacks, Jerry Dennis
• Primary Examiner(s): ABEBE, DANIEL DEMELASH
• Application Number:
  US11/595,406
• Publication Number:
  US 20070083443A1
• Time in Patent Office: 572 Days
• Field of Search: 704/270, 704/275, 235/462.14, 235/462.45, 715/728
• US Class Current: 704/270
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 13/00 Speech synthesis; Text to speech systems

Abstract

The invention is a method for objects selection at a location comprising the steps of using a mobile computer having a bar code reader, a display, an audio output device, an audio input device, a tactile input device, text to speech software, a voice recognition software, objects selection applications software, and radio frequency identification (RFID) reader, wherein said mobile computer is adapted for communication between an order systems server and a user and the order systems server is adapted for communication between the mobile computer and at least one external computer system.

Claims

1. A method for loading object on a transport vehicle comprising:

a. using a mobile computer usable with a transport vehicle having a bar code reader, a display, an audio output device, an audio input device, a tactile input device, text-to-speech software, a voice recognition software, loader applications software, a printer and radio frequency identification (RFID) reader wherein the mobile computer is adapted for communication between an loader server system and a user and the loader server system is adapted for communication between the mobile computer and at least one external computer system;

b. entering a user code to log onto the mobile computer;

c. training the voice recognition software by the user to recognize any number of unique commands using the language;

d. providing instructions to the user from the loader applications software using the text-to-speech software to the audio output device and providing information from the loader applications software to the display;

e. transmitting a request from the mobile computer to the loader server system to obtain a list of objects to be loaded;

f. using the applications software to generate a summary of the objects to be loaded from the list;

g. displaying the summary of the objects to be loaded on the display;

h. providing the summary of the objects to be loaded using via the text-to-speech software to the audio output device;

i. performing a step which is a member of the group;

acknowledging the summary of objects to be loaded by the user using the tactile input device and acknowledging the summary of objects to be loaded using the audio input device;

j. identifying an object to determine if the object is to be loaded by a step selected from the group consisting of;

i. speaking the characters identifying the object into the audio input device;

ii. scanning a barcode on the object;

iii. reading a RFID data on the object;

k. advising the user with the text-to-speech software to the audio output device of a member of the group consisting of;

i. the object can be loaded;

ii. the object is not loadable;

iii. the object is out of sequence for the load;

iv. the object is for a different load;

l. acknowledging the object has been loaded using a method selected from the group;

i. providing an acknowledgement using the voice recognition software;

ii. bar code scanning a transport vehicle;

iii. bar code scanning the location of the transport vehicle;

iv. reading an RFID tag for a transport vehicle; and

v. reading an RFID tag for the location of the transport vehicle;

m. repeating steps (j) through (l) until all objects have been loaded;

n. providing an acknowledgement to the loader server system the results of the process steps (b) through (m); and

o. transferring the results from the loader server system to the at least one external computer system.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the acknowledgement word is “

ready”

.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of using the mobile computer to obtain status information for the user that is an indication of the user'"'"'s performances compared to the expected completion time for steps (b) through (m).

4. The method of claim 1, wherein answers to a series of safety questions are required from the user regarding the transport vehicle into which the objects are being loaded from the group comprising:

i. are the brakes working?;

ii. is the horn working?;

iii. is the steering working?;

iv. are there any leaks in the transport vehicle?;

v. is there any damage to the transport vehicle?;

vi. are the tires and wheels inflated and undamaged?; and

vii. combinations thereof.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein at any time during the method, a second user can contact the user from a remote location via the loader server system, which communicates with the mobile computer which then provides the communication via audio output device and display.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the object comprises a transport device containing product.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the object comprises product.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the object comprises a piece of equipment.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of alerting the user of the object missing product prior to loading.