Logistics system for automating transportation of goods
First Claim
1. A logistics management tool to facilitate the process of shipping goods by a shipper via a selected one of a plurality of carriers, comprising:
- a plurality of rate servers comprising computer-implemented rate storage and calculating means, at least one rate server for each of said plurality of carriers, at least one of said rate servers having message processing means for sending, receiving and handling messages;
at least one of said rate servers database means for maintaining a record of the rates applicable to a given one of said carriers and further having an embedded set of predefined methods representing the rate computation rules of said given one of said carriers;
at least one client application comprising computer-implemented input and output means separate from said rate servers and having a user interface to permit the shipper to interact with said logistics management tool in order to process the a shipment of goods;
at least one of said rate servers having a shipper interface means for defining a set of operations accessible to said client application;
the set of operations representing the a procedure by which the shipper ships goods to thereby isolate the set of operations by which a said shipper ships from the rules by which a said carrier transports;
at least one supervisory server for integrating operations of said at least one rate server, and for making said operations accessible to said client application, said supervisory server having message processing means for sending messages to and receiving messages from said at least one rate server and said client application and for handling messages sent and received based upon a predefined set of rules.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The various transportation logistics tasks, such as order processing, order fulfillment, transportation of goods and tracking, are assigned to individual client/server objects which make up the building blocks of the computerized logistics management system. A tokenized message handling scheme allows client and server objects to share information, even where the respective data types do not match. An external processing manager provides script handling services to other client applications, allowing those applications to modify the performance of other program objects and to communicate with the outside world.
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Citations
92 Claims
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1. A logistics management tool to facilitate the process of shipping goods by a shipper via a selected one of a plurality of carriers, comprising:
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a plurality of rate servers comprising computer-implemented rate storage and calculating means, at least one rate server for each of said plurality of carriers, at least one of said rate servers having message processing means for sending, receiving and handling messages;
at least one of said rate servers database means for maintaining a record of the rates applicable to a given one of said carriers and further having an embedded set of predefined methods representing the rate computation rules of said given one of said carriers;
at least one client application comprising computer-implemented input and output means separate from said rate servers and having a user interface to permit the shipper to interact with said logistics management tool in order to process the a shipment of goods;
at least one of said rate servers having a shipper interface means for defining a set of operations accessible to said client application;
the set of operations representing the a procedure by which the shipper ships goods to thereby isolate the set of operations by which a said shipper ships from the rules by which a said carrier transports;
at least one supervisory server for integrating operations of said at least one rate server, and for making said operations accessible to said client application, said supervisory server having message processing means for sending messages to and receiving messages from said at least one rate server and said client application and for handling messages sent and received based upon a predefined set of rules. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A logistics management system to facilitate the process of shipping goods by a shipper via a carrier, comprising:
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a rate server comprising computer-implemented rate storage and calculating means, said rate server having message processing means for sending, receiving and handling messages;
said rate server having database means for maintaining a record of rates applicable to said carrier and further having an embedded set of predefined methods representing rate computation rules of said carrier;
at least one client application comprising computer-implemented input and output means separate from said rate server and having a user interface to permit the shipper to process shipments of goods;
said rate server having a shipper interface means for defining a set of operations accessible to said client application;
the set of operations representing a procedure by which the shipper ships goods to thereby isolate the set of operations by which said shipper ships from rules by which said carrier transports;
at least one supervisory server for integrating operations of said rate server, and for making said operations accessible to said client application, said supervisory server having message processing means for sending messages to and receiving messages from said rate server and said client application and for handling messages sent and received based upon a predefined set of rules. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. A logistics management system to facilitate the process of shipping goods by a shipper via a carrier, comprising:
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a rate server, connected to a network, having a set of rules by which said carrier transports;
a client application, connected to the network, having a set of rules by which said shipper ships; and
a supervisory server, connected to the network, through which said rate server and said client application register to establish a mutual message communication capability by which said rate server and said client application thereafter pass messages independently of said supervisory server over an interface between them, said interface isolating the set of rules by which the shipper ships from the rules by which the carrier transports. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42)
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43. A logistics management system to facilitate the process of shipping goods by a shipper via a carrier, comprising:
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a rate server having a record of one or more rates applicable to said carrier and further having an embedded set of predefined methods representing rate computation rules of said carrier, said rate server being connected to a network for sending, receiving and handling messages;
at least one client application connected to said network and is separately located from said rate server on said network, said client application having a user interface to permit the shipper to process shipments of goods;
said rate server having a shipper interface for defining a set of operations accessible to said client application, the set of operations representing a procedure by which the shipper ships goods to thereby isolate the set of operations by which said shipper ships from rules by which said carrier transports; and
at least one supervisory server for making said operations of said rate server accessible to said client application, said supervisory server being connected to said network for sending messages to and receiving messages from said rate server and said client application and for handling messages sent and received based upon a predefined set of rules. - View Dependent Claims (44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54)
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55. A logistics management method for facilitating the process of shipping goods by a shipper via a carrier, said shipper having a computer-implemented client application that has access to a network and which is related to shipping said goods, said client application having a set of rules by which the shipper ships, said method comprising the steps of:
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providing a rate server having a set of rules by which the carrier transports in order to determine data related to shipping the goods;
providing access to said rate server on said network from the client application such that said rate server is separately located from said client application on said network; and
communicating the determined data from said rate server to said client application through an interprocess communication mechanism connected to said network and thereby isolating the set of rules by which the shipper ships from the rules by which the carrier transports. - View Dependent Claims (56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70)
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71. A logistics management system to facilitate the process of shipping goods by a shipper via a carrier, comprising:
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a rate server, connected to a network, having a set of rules by which said carrier transports;
a client application, connected to the network, having a set of rules by which said shipper ships;
a supervisory server, connected to the network, with which said rate server and said client application register to facilitate communication of messages between said rate server and said client application independently of said supervisory server; and
an interface associated with at least one of said rate server and said client application which isolates the set of rules by which the shipper ships from the set of rules by which the carrier transports. - View Dependent Claims (72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85)
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86. A delivery management system, comprising:
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at least one rate server having rate information based upon a set of rules by which a carrier delivers;
at least one client configured to collect input information from a user;
at least one supervisory server including at least one computer configured to provide registration services to facilitate communication between the rate server and the client via a client/server architecture utilizing an interprocess communication mechanism, said communication being independent of said supervisory server; and
whereby rules by which the user operates are isolated from the set of rules by which the carrier delivers. - View Dependent Claims (87, 88, 89)
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90. A logistics management system to facilitate the delivery of goods comprising:
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a network architecture for passing messages;
a supervisory server having a registrar enabling communication with said network architecture;
at least one client application having a set of shipper rules and a first data processing service including a first registration service to register said client application with said registrar for establishing a line of communication between said client application and said network architecture, a first interface service to collect input data, generate a request message based on said input data and said set of shipper rules and display a response message, and a first message handling service to communicate said request message and said response message between said client application and said network architecture; and
at least one rate server having a set of carrier rules and a second data processing service including a second registration service to register said rate server with said registrar for establishing a line of communication between said rate server and said network architecture, a second interface service to generate said response message based on said set of carrier rules and said request message, and a second message handling service to communicate said request message and said response message between said rate server and said network architecture;
wherein said first and second message handling services enable communication between said at least one client application and said at least one rate server via said network architecture and isolate said set of carrier rules from said set of shipper rules.
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91. A computer-readable storage medium containing a set of computer-executable instructions for a method for facilitating the process of shipping goods by a shipper via a carrier, said shipper having a computer-implemented client application that has access to a network and which is related to shipping said goods, said client application having a set of rules by which the shipper ships, said set of instructions comprising:
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providing a rate server having a set of rules by which the carrier transports in order to determine data related to shipping the goods;
providing access to said rate server on said network from the client application such that said rate server is separately located from said client application on said network; and
communicating the determined data from said rate server to said client application through an interprocess communication mechanism connected to said network and thereby isolating the set of rules by which the shipper ships from the rules by which the carrier transports.
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92. A computer-controlled apparatus configured to perform a method for facilitating the process of shipping goods by a shipper via a carrier, said shipper having a computer-implemented client application that has access to a network and which is related to shipping said goods, said client application having a set of rules by which the shipper ships, said method comprising the steps of:
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providing a rate server having a set of rules by which the carrier transports in order to determine data related to shipping the goods;
providing access to said rate server on said network from the client application such that said rate server is separately located from said client application on said network; and
communicating the determined data from said rate server to said client application through an interprocess communication mechanism connected to said network and thereby isolating the set of rules by which the shipper ships from the rules by which the carrier transports.
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Specification