Methods and systems for active shipment management using a container node within a wireless network enabled vehicle

• US 10,057,722 B2
• Filed: 02/15/2017
• Issued: 08/21/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/23/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fedex Corporate Services Incorporated (FedEx Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Fedex Corporate Services Incorporated (FedEx Corporation)
• Inventors: Skaaksrud, Ole-Petter
• Primary Examiner(s): MIZRAHI, DIANE D
• Application Number:
  US15/433,097
• Publication Number:
  US 20170280297A1
• Time in Patent Office: 552 Days
• 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 10/0833 Tracking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/18 Status alarms G08B21/02 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/08 using communication transmission lines G08B13/19658, G08B21/0286, G08B25/016 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/16 Threshold monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/303 Terminal profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0252 per individual bearer or channel dynamic wireless traffic scheduling H04W72/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/08 Reselecting an access point
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/30 by measured or perceived connection quality data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/025 using location based information parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/322 Power control of broadcast channels
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/006 with additional information processing, e.g. for direction or speed determination
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/11 : Allocation or use of connection identifiers
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/15 : Setup of multiple wireless link connections
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 : Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

Methods and systems are described for active shipment management within a wireless network enabled vehicle that may use an ID node associated with a package, a container node associated with a logistics container, a vehicle node on the vehicle, and a managing node external to the vehicle. In general, the vehicle node broadcasts a management request to the container node related to the package. The container node identifies the ID node associated with the package based upon shipping information included in the management request. The container node verifies the package is on the vehicle via the ID node'"'"'s location as determined by the container node. The container node transmits a verification message to the vehicle node to indicate whether the package is verified to be on the vehicle. The vehicle node then transmits a shipment update message to the managing node indicating updated shipping information related to the package.

Claims

1. An active shipment management system within a wireless network enabled vehicle and that interacts with a managing node external to the vehicle, the system comprising:

an ID node associated with a package being shipped, the ID node being operative to broadcast a plurality of advertising signals when disposed within the vehicle;

a container node disposed within the vehicle and associated with a storage unit maintained within the vehicle, the container node being operative to receive one or more of the broadcasted advertising signals from the ID node as part of determining a location of the ID node; and

a vehicle node disposed with the vehicle, the vehicle node providing a wireless communication path from within the vehicle to the managing node external to the vehicle, the vehicle node being further operative to broadcast a management request within the vehicle, the management request being related to the package being shipped;

wherein the container node, after the vehicle node broadcasts the management request, is further operative to

receive the broadcasted management request,

identify the ID node associated with the package based upon shipping information included in the management request,

verify the package is on the vehicle based upon the location of the ID node as determined by the container node, and

transmit a verification message to the vehicle node indicating whether the package is verified as being on the vehicle; and

wherein the vehicle node, in response to the verification message, is further operative to transmit a shipment update message to the managing node external to the vehicle, the shipment update message being based upon the verification message received by the vehicle node and indicating updated shipping information related to the package.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the container node comprises one of a plurality of container nodes disposed within the vehicle.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the container node is further operative to determine a location within the storage unit to be the location of the ID node in order to verify the package is on the vehicle.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the updated shipping information comprises at least one from the group consisting of an unloading instruction for the package relative to the location of the ID node, an environmental condition information related to the package and the location of the ID node, a package status indicating the package is on the wireless network enabled vehicle, and a package status indicating the package is not on the wireless network enabled vehicle.

5. The system of claim 1 further comprising an environment control unit operatively coupled to the ID node and associated with the package, wherein the ID node is responsive to a control message generated by the container node and provided to the ID node to cause the ID node to adjust a setting of the environmental control unit.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the ID node includes at least one sensor that captures sensor data characterizing a status of the package;

and wherein the control message generated by the container node is based upon the sensor data as provided by the located ID node to the container node.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein the control message generated by the container node provides at least one control parameter to the located ID node to cause the environmental control unit to provide a desired thermal effect on the package.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the container node is further operative to transmit an imbalance warning to the vehicle node when the container node identifies an imbalance condition based upon (a) shipping information related to the package and (b) a comparison of the determined location of the ID node and a weight-related placement scheme.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the weight-related placement scheme is related to at least one of the vehicle or the storage unit associated with the container node.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the vehicle node is further operative to generate a vehicle imbalance notification in response to receiving the imbalance warning from the container node.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the container node is further operative to generate a location-based unload instruction for the package upon verifying the package is on the vehicle and based upon the determined location of the ID node.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the location-based unload instruction is based upon the location of the ID node within the storage unit.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the location-based unload instruction is based upon the location of the ID node within the vehicle.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the container node is further operative to update a location-based unload scheme for the vehicle based upon the location of the ID node.