Automatic error detection for inventory tracking and management systems used at a shipping container yard
First Claim
1. A method performed by at least one processor for detecting errors in a container inventory database provided in a memory device readable by the at least one processor associated with a container inventory tracking system of a container storage facility, the method comprising:
- obtaining at least one first data record, wherein the first data record is provided by at least one of the following data sources comprising;
the container inventory tracking system, an inventory management system associated with the inventory tracking mechanism, an input device for accepting entries from an operator, and a computer program configured to generate the at least one data record;
identifying an event among a pre-defined set of events based on the first data record associated with the container inventory and container handling equipment in the facility;
providing a list of error types based on the identified event; and
determining whether a data error has occurred through an error checking process, wherein for a plurality of the error types in the list the error checking process comprises;
selecting an error type from the list of error types;
determining a search criterion based on the selected error type and the first data record;
querying the container inventory database using the determined search criterion and obtaining query results from the container inventory database;
comparing the first data record together with data records in the inquiry results to detect data conflicts between the first data record and the data records in the inquiry results; and
reporting that the data error of the selected error type has been detected upon the detection of the data conflicts.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method automatically detects errors in a container inventory database associated with a container inventory tracking system of a container storage facility. A processor in the inventory tracking system performs a method that: obtains a first data record, identifies an event (e.g., pickup, drop-off, or movement) associated with the first record, provides a list of error types based on the identified event, and determines whether a data error has occurred through a checking process. In each of the checking steps, the processor selects an error type from the list of error types, determines a search criterion based on the selected error type and the first data record, queries the database using the search criterion, compares query results with the first data record to detect data conflicts between them, and upon the detection of the data conflicts, reports that a data error of the selected error type has been detected.
24 Citations
16 Claims
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1. A method performed by at least one processor for detecting errors in a container inventory database provided in a memory device readable by the at least one processor associated with a container inventory tracking system of a container storage facility, the method comprising:
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obtaining at least one first data record, wherein the first data record is provided by at least one of the following data sources comprising;
the container inventory tracking system, an inventory management system associated with the inventory tracking mechanism, an input device for accepting entries from an operator, and a computer program configured to generate the at least one data record;identifying an event among a pre-defined set of events based on the first data record associated with the container inventory and container handling equipment in the facility; providing a list of error types based on the identified event; and determining whether a data error has occurred through an error checking process, wherein for a plurality of the error types in the list the error checking process comprises; selecting an error type from the list of error types; determining a search criterion based on the selected error type and the first data record; querying the container inventory database using the determined search criterion and obtaining query results from the container inventory database; comparing the first data record together with data records in the inquiry results to detect data conflicts between the first data record and the data records in the inquiry results; and reporting that the data error of the selected error type has been detected upon the detection of the data conflicts. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A container inventory tracking and error detection system, comprising:
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a container inventory tracking system that tracks containers in a container storage facility, provides inventory data associated with the containers and container handling equipment, and stores the inventory data in an inventory tracking database, an error detection module provided in a processor that obtains at least one first inventory data from the container inventory tracking system, identifies an event among a predefined set of events based on the first inventory data, provides a list of error types based on the identified event, and determines whether an error of any of the error types has occurred; wherein the error detection module is configured to determine whether an error of any of the error types has occurred by employing an error checking process, wherein for a plurality of error types in the list the process; selects an error type from the list of error types; determines a search criterion based on the selected error type and the first data record; queries the inventory tracking database using the determined search criterion and obtains query results from the inventory tracking database; compares the first data record with data records in the query results to detect data conflicts between the first data record and the data records in the query results. - View Dependent Claims (11)
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12. A container inventory error detection system for detecting errors in an inventory tracking database associated with a container inventory tracking system of a container storage facility, comprising:
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image generating devices that provide images of the container storage facility; an image processing module that receives images provided by the image generating devices, recognizes containers in the images, determines locations of the recognized containers in the container storage facility based on the images, and generates inventory-validation data based on the recognized containers and their locations; a communication network that connects the image generating devices with the image processing module for transmitting images provided by the image generating devices to the image processing module; and an error detection module that receives the inventory-validation data, queries the inventory tracking database based on the inventory-validation data, and compares the inventory-validation data with the query results to detect errors in the inventory tracking database; wherein the error detection module is configured to determine whether an error of any of a list of error types has occurred by employing an error checking process, wherein for a plurality of error types in the list the process; selects an error type from the list of error types; determines a search criterion based on the selected error type and the inventory-validation data; queries the inventory tracking database using the determined search criterion and obtains query results from the inventory tracking database; compares the inventory-validation data with data records in the query results to detect data conflicts between the inventory-validation data and the data records in the query results. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16)
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Specification