Shipping system and method for tracking customer personal information

• US 9,922,302 B2
• Filed: 01/27/2012
• Issued: 03/20/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/05/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fedex Supply Chain Logistics & Electronics, Inc. (FedEx Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Fedex Supply Chain Logistics & Electronics, Inc. (FedEx Corporation)
• Inventors: Gventer, Brian, Nguyen, Ken, Asbury, Kevin M., McCarty, Joel, Lowry, Mike
• Primary Examiner(s): Zare, Scott A
• Application Number:
  US13/360,355
• Publication Number:
  US 20120265706A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,244 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06311 Scheduling, planning or task assignment for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06312 Adjustment or analysis of established resource schedule, e.g. resource or task levelling, or dynamic rescheduling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/083 Shipping
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0837 Return transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0838 Historical data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0875 Itemisation or classification of parts, supplies or services, e.g. bill of materials
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/203 Inventory monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/016 After-sales
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other groups of this subclass

Abstract

A shipping system and method for tracking customer personal information in electronic devices. The shipping system includes a processor for executing a set of instructions and a memory for storing the set of instructions. The instructions are executed by the processor to receive one or more electronic devices for shipping to a destination, determine whether the one or more electronic devices include CPI, record an identification and metadata of the one or more electronic devices in response to determining CPI is included on the one or more electronic devices, and prevent the shipping system from generating a shipping label to ship the one or more electronic devices in response to determining the CPI is included on the one or more electronic devices.

Claims

1. A warehouse management system for tracking customer personal information (CPI) in electronic devices comprising:

a processor for executing a set of instructions; and

a memory for storing the set of instructions, wherein the set of instructions are executed by the processor to;

communicatively couple an electronic device to a shipping system,

disable all functionality of the electronic device except failsafe or failover operations once the electronic device is communicatively coupled with the shipping system;

receive libraries over a network from a service provider, wherein the libraries include data and logic for detecting and removing the CPI from the electronic device;

determine whether the electronic device includes the CPI using the libraries;

record a predetermined identifier previously assigned to the electronic device in response to determining the CPI is included on the electronic device, the predetermined identifier previously assigned to the electronic device by at least one of a manufacturer and service provider of the electronic device;

use the predetermined identifier to physically and electronically quarantine the electronic device from other electronic devices until verification of removal of the CPI is complete;

perform a CPI removal step to remove the CPI from the electronic device in response to determining the CPI is included on the electronic device;

verify that the CPI has been removed from the electronic device following the CPI removal step;

activate the electronic device to enable all the functionality of the electronic to function after the removal of the CPI from the electronic device; and

generate an audit trail, the audit trail containing model information of the electronic devices found to contain the CPI and information documenting removal of the CPI from the electronic devices found to contain the CPI.

2. The warehouse management system according to claim 1, wherein the set of instructions are further operable to:

record the predetermined identifier for the electronic device to a database in response to determining the CPI was included on the electronic device.

3. The warehouse management system according to claim 2, further comprising:

updating the predetermined identifier and metadata in the database of the electronic device in response to removing the CPI from the electronic device.

4. The warehouse management system according to claim 2, further comprising:

generating a shipping label for the electronic device in response to determining the CPI is removed from the electronic device.

5. The warehouse management system according to claim 4, further comprising:

redistributing the electronic device in response to generating the shipping label for the electronic device.

6. The warehouse management system according to claim 1, wherein a quarantine record is associated with the predetermined identifier of the electronic device in response to determining the CPI is included on the electronic device.

7. The warehouse management system according to claim 1, wherein the set of instructions are further executed to:

perform trend analysis using the audit trail to identify potential issues; and

reconfigure the warehouse management system based on the identified potential issues.

8. The warehouse management system according to claim 1, wherein the set of instructions are further executed to:

perform analysis to determine why the electronic device includes the CPI.

9. The warehouse management system according to claim 1, wherein the shipping system is configured to perform testing on a plurality of electronic devices at the same time.

10. The warehouse management system according to claim 1, wherein an operator is prompted to perform a plurality of steps utilizing the shipping system to determine whether the electronic device includes the CPI.

11. The warehouse management system according to claim 1, wherein the set of instructions are further executed to:

electronically quarantine the electronic device in response to determining the CPI is included on the electronic device.

12. The warehouse management system according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined identifier is at least one of an international mobile equipment identity (IMEI) number, serial number, and subscriber identity module (SIM) card number previously assigned to the electronic device.