Method of collecting information of physical distribution of products and system for offering information of product positions

• US 6,650,286 B2
• Filed: 04/06/2001
• Issued: 11/18/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 11/01/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Kitamura, Koichi, Tsukishima, Takahiro, Chiba, Kyoji, Kan, Masayuki
• Primary Examiner(s): Blum, Theodore M.
• Application Number:
  US09/826,871
• Publication Number:
  US 20020050945A1
• Time in Patent Office: 956 Days
• Field of Search: 342/357.13, 342/357.1, 342/357.09, 342/357.07, 701/213
• US Class Current: 342/357.59
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/42 Determining position

Abstract

A position information acquiring apparatus for receiving an electric wave and for on the basis of the received signal, acquiring the position information exhibiting the position where the product is kept to record successively the position information thus acquired is packed together with an objective matter of conveyance in a package box and then is operated in the state of being able to be moved to receive an electric wave signal radiated from the GPS satellite group to acquire successively the position information. On the basis of the position information, a map of a part corresponding to the position information is retrieved from map information which is previously obtained to carry out an output for showing visibly the resultant partial map and a symbol with which the position contained in a position history information is shown on the map.

Claims

1. A method of collecting transportation information of a shipped product, and supplying collected transportation information to a maker of the product comprising the steps of:

placing a position history recorder for recording histories of positions of a product under transportation in a state in which said position history recorder can be transported together with said product to be transported, wherein said position history recorder receives an electric wave signal and obtains position information of said position history recorder on the basis of the electric wave signal received according to a timing signal outputted from a timing generating apparatus included in said position history recorder; and

records said position information obtained;

recording transportation information including said position information and time information in said position history recorder during transportation of said product; and

collecting information representing a history of transportation of said product from said transportation information stored in said position history recorder and supplying collected information to a maker of said product.

2. A method of collecting and supplying transportation information according to claim 1, wherein said timing signal is generated at a predetermine timing.

3. A method of collecting and supplying transportation information according to claim 2, wherein a GPS apparatus is mounted to said position history recorder, and the electric wave radiated from the GPS satellite group is received by said GPS apparatus when said timing signal is generated, and on the basis of the received signal, the position information is acquired.

4. A method of collecting transportation information of a product according to claim 3, wherein said position history recorder obtains time information representing a time containing a data on the basis of said electric wave signal received, and said step of serially recording transportation information comprises a step of recording said position information and time information in a manner that said position information and time information are associated with each other.

5. A method of collecting and supplying transportation information according to claim 3, wherein said position history recorder obtains said time information from a timer included in said position history recorder when said timing signal is generated, and comprises a step of recording the time information and the position information in a manner that said time information and position are associated with each other.

6. A method of collecting and supplying transportation information according to claim 1, wherein when the position exhibited by the position information acquired by said position history recorder exhibits the position falling in a predetermined range with respect to the acquired position information of interest, the record is not added thereto.

7. A method of collecting and supplying transportation information according to claim 2, wherein an apparatus having an acceleration detector is employed as said position history recorder, and under the condition in which said acceleration detector detects the change in acceleration equal to or higher than a fixed level, the timing signal is generated.

8. A method of collecting and supplying transportation information according to claim 1, wherein the product to be transported is an apparatus including a function of carrying out the mail transmission;

the state in which said position history recorder can be moved together with the product to be transported is the state in which said position history recorder is electrically connected to said apparatus; and

the mail address is stored in the state of being able to be referred thereto by said apparatus in said position history recorder.

9. A method of collecting and supplying transportation information according to claim 8, wherein said apparatus has a program for realizing an online registration function and in response to an instruction to carry out the online registration, when carrying out the online registration by the program, reads out the transportation information from said position history recorder and also reads out the mail address to transmit the transportation information from the product to be transported towards the mail address.

10. A method of collecting and supplying transportation information according to claim 1, wherein said step of placing a position history recorder comprises a step of packing said position history recorder together with said product in a package box, and said step of collecting and supplying collected information comprises a step of collecting said position history recorder and supplying said position history recorder to said maker of said product.

11. A method of collecting and supplying transportation information according to claim 2, wherein said timing generating apparatus is programmed so as to generate said timing signal at predetermined intervals determined on the basis of a transportation pattern of the product.

12. A position history recorder for collecting transportation information of a shipped product and supplying collected transportation information to a maker of the product, comprising:

means for generating a timing signal at a predetermined timing;

means for receiving an electric wave according to said timing signal to acquire position information exhibiting the position where said position history recorder is kept on the basis of the received electric wave signal;

means having a recording medium for recording the acquired position information as transportation information together with time information in said recording medium;

means for receiving a read request to output the recorded transportation information; and

means having a power source for supplying an electric power used to drive each of said means from said power source.

13. A position history recorder according to claim 12 wherein said means for acquiring the position information receives the electric wave radiated from the GPS satellite group to acquire the position information, when said timing signal is generated.

14. A position history recorder according to claim 13, wherein said means for acquiring the position information receives the electric wave radiated from the GPS satellite group to further acquire the time information exhibiting a time containing a date, and said recording means associates the position information and the time information, which have been acquired, with each other to record them as the transportation information.

15. A position history recorder according to claim 13, wherein said means for generating a timing signal comprises a timer, and said means having a recording medium for recording successively the acquired position information as transportation information acquires said time information from said timer, when said timing signal is generated, and records the time information and the position information in a manner that said time information and position information are associated with each other.

16. A position history recorder according to claim 12, further comprising an acceleration detector, wherein said timing signal is generated when an output of said acceleration detector shows a change in acceleration equal to or high than a fixed level.

17. A position history recorder according to claim 12, a mail address is stored in said recording medium.

18. A method of collecting transportation information of a product shipped and supplying collected transportation information to a maker of the product, comprising the steps of:

placing a position history recorder for recording transportation information including position information of a product under transportation and time information in a state in which said position history recorder can be transported together with said product to be transported;

recording transportation information according to a timing signal generated from a timing signal generating apparatus included in said position history recorder; and

supplying information to said maker of said product after processing or analyzing said transportation information collected.