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US 11,883,853 B2Granted
Integrated on-demand placarding
AssigneeUnited States Postal Service
InventorsRobert Charles Moran, Marlon Guy Wells
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
This disclosure relates to systems and methods of integrated on-demand labeling of item containers. In particular, this disclosure relates systems and methods for automatically creating and using placards to label, track, and organize item containers and items.
Claims20
A method of tracking items in a distribution network, the method comprising:
- generating a first placard, wherein the first placard comprises a radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag;
- associating, in a processor, the first placard and a first item container;
- storing, in a memory, the association of the first placard and the first item container;
- determining, in a processor, that the first item container has received items planned to be sorted into the first item container at a bin;
- generating, in response to determining that the first item container has received the items, a second placard comprising another RFID tag;
- generating a close event for the first placard;
- storing, in the memory, the close event for the first placard;
- associating, in a processor, the second placard and a second item container;
- and
- storing, in the memory, the association of the second placard and the second item container.
7 more elements
A method of tracking distribution items, the method comprising:
- creating, via a processor, placard information for an item container, the placard information comprising a computer readable code and destination information;
- associating, in a memory, a unique computer readable identifier of the item container with the computer readable code of the placard information;
- generating a closed event when the item container has received items planned to be sorted into the item container;
- associating the closed event with the unique computer readable identifier of the item container;
- receiving, via a scan by a reader, scanned data of the unique computer readable identifier of the item container;
- querying the memory to identify destination information for the item container based on the scanned data of the unique computer readable identifier;
- and
- directing the item container to a destination within a distribution facility according to the destination information.
5 more elements
A system of tracking items in a distribution network, the system comprising:
- a processor in communication with an item processing machine, the item processing machine comprising a plurality of disposition locations, the item processing machine configured to sort items to the plurality of disposition locations, the processor configured to:
- apply first placard information to a first placard, the first placard comprising a radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag;
- associate, by the processor, the first placard with one of the plurality of disposition locations in the item processing machine;
- store, in a memory, the association between the one of the plurality of disposition locations and the first placard;
- receive an indication that the items planned to be sorted to the one of the plurality of disposition locations have been sorted;
- in response to the received indication, apply second placard information to a second placard, the second placard comprising a radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag;
- generate a close event for the first placard;
- store, in the memory, the close event for the first placard;
- and
- associate, by the processor, the second placard to the one of the plurality of disposition locations in the item processing machine.
7 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.