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Transportation connection cache for dynamic network and route determination

  • US 9,811,797 B2
  • Filed: 03/15/2013
  • Issued: 11/07/2017
  • Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2013
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A transportation management system for retrieving transportation information related to a shipment of goods using a transportation cache database without having to access and search multiple databases, the transportation management system comprising:

  • one or more processors;

    a replication engine configured to replicate transportation information, describing one or more connections, from a plurality of databases and store the transportation information, describing the one or more connections, as transportation objects having only the transportation information, describing the one or more connections, in the transportation cache database, the transportation cache database including an in-memory database, wherein upon creation of a transportation object within one of the plurality of databases, the replication engine is configured to populate the transportation cache database with only the transportation information, describing the one or more connections, associated with the created transportation object,the plurality of databases storing schedules and freight documents for multiple modes of transportation, the schedules defining transportation capabilities of ocean, air, rail, and vehicle carriers, the freight documents including freight bookings and freight orders, the freight bookings including air-freight bookings and ocean-freight bookings, the freight orders including road-freight orders and rail-freight orders, the plurality of databases having separate access structures that permit access to respective transportation objects stored therein, the transportation cache database not storing details of the schedules and the freight documents that are not related to determining potential connections for the shipment of goods;

    a connection cache access engine configured to receive transportation parameters including a first location and a second location, and query the transportation cache database via a single uniform interface using the transportation parameters to dynamically select transportation objects from the transportation cache database that are relevant for transporting the shipment of goods between the first location and the second location instead of independently accessing and searching the plurality of databases via the separate access structures;

    a routing selector configured to select a transportation network including determining connections within the transportation network between the first location and the second location based on the transportation information, describing the one or more connections, in the transportation cache database;

    a transportation proposal unit configured to determine transportation proposals based on the determined connections within the selected transportation network, each transportation proposal providing a different transportation plan for transporting the shipment of goods from the first location to the second location, the transportation proposals including a first transportation proposal for freight and ocean transportation, and a second transportation proposal for freight and air transportation; and

    a geo-map unit configured to display a map providing a visualization of the transportation proposals based on the determined connections from the routing selector,wherein the transportation proposals are provided via a transportation proposal user interface, the transportation proposal user interface defining a section that lists the transportation proposals and the determined connections, wherein a display of the first transportation proposal identifies the connections of different stages of the first transportation proposal, and the connections identify one or more of the freight documents.

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