# US 2020/0401998 A1 · Concepts for monitoring shipments > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2020/0401998 A1 - Document ID: US20200401998A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 17/013,952 - Filed: 2020-09-08 - Published: 2020-12-24 - Earliest claimed: 2014-08-06 - Assignees: United Parcel Service of America, Inc. - Applicants: United Parcel Service of America, Inc. - Inventors: Shannon C. Goodman; David A. Gittings - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20200401998A1 ## CPC - G06Q 10/0833: Tracking - G06Q 10/0838: {Historical data} - G06Q: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR ## Abstract Various embodiments of the present invention are directed to systems and methods for tracking the location of a shipped item. According to various embodiments, the systems and methods may include features designed to determine whether the shipped item is likely to comply with customer-defined shipping requirements throughout the entire shipping process. In various embodiments, the systems and methods are configured to indicate to a user certain shipments that are likely to arrive without complying with all of the customer-defined shipping requirements, such that a user can take remedial action to minimize or eliminate the likelihood of the shipment failing to comply with the customer-defined shipping requirements. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A self-configuring shipment monitoring system for monitoring a plurality of shipments, the system comprising one or more memory storage areas and at least one processor, the system configured to: receive customer data comprising customer-defined shipping requirements for a plurality of customers; at least partially in response to the receiving of the customer-defined shipping requirements, automatically decode, by one or more electronic control module (ECM) devices, real-time tracking data received from one or more location sensors and received from one or more telematics sensors coupled to a plurality transporters that carry shipments for the plurality of customers, wherein the real-time tracking data received from the one or more location sensors indicate a geolocation of the plurality of transporters, and wherein the real-time tracking data received from the one or more telematics sensors indicate real-time attributes of the plurality of transporters; present the decoded real-time tracking data to one or more communication buses to transfer the decoded real-time tracking data to one or more data collection devices; transmit, by the one or more data collection devices, the decoded real-time tracking data to a carrier server, at least partially in response to the transmitting of the decoded real-time tracking data to the carrier server and based at least in part on analyzing the decoded real-time tracking data identify, by the carrier server, a plurality of shipments associated with the plurality of customers, and determine geo-coordinates associated with the plurality of transporters; cause generation, by the carrier server and in response to the analyzing of the decoded real-time tracking data for the plurality of shipments, of an interactive user interface that includes a plurality of transporter indicators that each represent geo-coordinates of a respective transporter of the plurality of transporters; based at least in part on the analyzing of the decoded real-time tracking data and further based on one or more milestones not being reached for a first shipment, determine, by the carrier server, that the first shipment is at risk of failing to comply with a customer-defined shipping requirement of a customer; based on the determining that the first shipment is at risk of failing to comply with the customer-defined shipping requirement, cause modification of a first transporter indicator to indicate that the first shipment is at risk of failing to comply with the customer-defined shipping requirement, wherein other of the plurality of transporter indicators are not modified. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The system according to claim 1, wherein the real-time attributes include at least one attribute from a group of attributes consisting of: transporter speed data, propeller rotational speed data, propeller rotational speed data, engine usage data, revolutions per minute (RPM) data, oil pressure data, seat belt usage data, transporter mileage data, and transporter fuel data. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The system according to claim 1, wherein the customer-defined shipping requirements include information corresponding to items to be shipped on a regular basis. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The system according to claim 1, wherein the customer-defined shipping requirements include at least one requirement from a group of requirements consisting of: times during which a carrier is able to pick up shipments from a shipper/customer location, times during which a carrier is able to drop off shipments at a shipper/customer location, consignee destinations to which the shipper/customer ships items, holiday schedules for each shipper/customer location, and shipper/customer-specific delay codes. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The system according to claim 1, wherein the customer-defined shipping requirements comprise at least one condition associated with a shipping lane, the shipping lane comprises a route travelled between a particular origin and a particular destination, wherein the at least one condition includes a condition that in order to ship to the particular destination, the particular shipping lane must be used. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The system according to claim 1, wherein the determining that the first shipment is at risk of failing to comply with the customer-defined shipping requirement includes determining that the first shipment is not on schedule based on the first shipment not reaching a particular milestone by an assigned deadline of the customer-defined shipping requirement. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The system according to claim 1, wherein the first shipment is not in compliance with the customer-defined shipping requirement based on movement of the first shipment not completed by a corresponding deadline. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The system according to claim 1, wherein the system is further configured to cause display of, via the user interface, a timeline showing one or more milestones associated with the customer-defined shipping requirement and the real-time tracking data. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The system according to claim 1, wherein the causing modification of the first transporter indicator to indicate that the first shipment is at risk of failing to comply with the customer-defined shipping requirement includes changing a color of the first transporter indicator from a second color to a first color, and wherein each of the other of the plurality of transporter indicators are the second color. ### Claim 10 A method for configuring a shipment monitoring system configured for monitoring a plurality of shipments comprising the following steps: receiving customer data comprising customer-defined shipping requirements for a customer; at least partially in response to the receiving of the customer-defined shipping requirements, automatically decoding, by an electronic control module (ECM) device, real-time tracking data received from a location sensor and received from one or more telematics sensors coupled to a first transporter that carries a first shipment, wherein the real-time tracking data received from the location sensor indicates a geolocation of the first transporter, and wherein the real-time tracking data received from the telematics sensor indicates real-time attributes of the first transporter; presenting the decoded real-time tracking data to a communication bus to transfer the decoded real-time tracking data to a data collection device; transmitting, by the data collection device, the decoded real-time tracking data to a carrier server, at least partially in response to the transmitting of the decoded real-time tracking data to the carrier server and based at least in part on analyzing the decoded real-time tracking data, identifying a first shipment associated with the customer, and determining geo-coordinates associated with the first transporter; causing generation, in response to the analyzing of the decoded real-time tracking data for the first shipment, of an interactive user interface that includes a first transporter indicator representing the geo-coordinates of the first transporter; based at least in part on the analyzing of the decoded real-time tracking data and, determining that the first shipment is at risk of failing to comply with the customer-defined shipping requirements of the customer; and based on the determining that the first shipment is at risk of failing to comply with the customer-defined shipping requirements, causing display of the first transporter indicator that indicates that the first shipment is at risk of failing to comply with the customer-defined shipping requirements; ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The method of claim 10, wherein the real-time attributes include at least one attribute from a group of attributes consisting of: transporter speed data, propeller rotational speed data, propeller rotational speed data, engine usage data, revolutions per minute (RPM) data, oil pressure data, seat belt usage data, transporter mileage data, and transporter fuel data. ### Claim 12 (depends on 10) The method of claim 10, wherein the customer-defined shipping requirements include information corresponding to items to be shipped on a regular basis. ### Claim 13 (depends on 10) The method of claim 10, wherein the customer-defined shipping requirements include at least one requirement from a group of requirements consisting of: times during which a carrier is able to pick up shipments from a shipper/customer location, times during which a carrier is able to drop off shipments at a shipper/customer location, consignee destinations to which the shipper/customer ships items, holiday schedules for each shipper/customer location, and shipper/customer-specific delay codes. ### Claim 14 (depends on 10) The method of claim 10, wherein the customer-defined shipping requirements comprise at least one condition associated with a shipping lane, the shipping lane comprises a route travelled between a particular origin and a particular destination, wherein the at least one condition includes a condition that in order to ship to the particular destination, the particular shipping lane must be used. ### Claim 15 (depends on 10) The method of claim 10, wherein the determining that the first shipment is at risk of failing to comply with the customer-defined shipping requirement includes determining that the first shipment is not on schedule based on the first shipment not reaching a particular milestone by an assigned deadline of the customer-defined shipping requirements. ### Claim 16 (depends on 10) The method of claim 10, wherein the first shipment is not in compliance with the customer-defined shipping requirement based on movement of the first shipment not completed by a corresponding deadline. ### Claim 17 (depends on 10) The method of claim 10, further comprising causing display of, via the user interface, a timeline showing one or more milestones associated with the customer-defined shipping requirement and the real-time tracking data. ### Claim 18 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the causing display of the first transporter indicator to indicate that the first shipment is at risk of failing to comply with the customer-defined shipping requirement includes causing display of the first transporter indicator in a particular color. ### Claim 19 A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising computer executable instructions for: receiving customer data comprising one or more customer-defined shipping requirements for a customer; at least partially in response to the receiving of the customer-defined shipping requirements, obtaining, via an electronic control module (ECM) device, decoded real-time tracking data received from a location sensor and received from one or more telematics sensors coupled to a first transporter that carries a first shipment, wherein the real-time tracking data received from the location sensor indicates a geolocation of the first transporter, and wherein the real-time tracking data received from the telematics sensor indicates real-time attributes of the first transporter; at least partially in response to the obtaining of the decoded real-time tracking data and based at least in part on analyzing the decoded real-time tracking data, identifying a first shipment associated with the customer, and determining geo-coordinates associated with the first transporter; causing generation, in response to the analyzing of the decoded real-time tracking data for the first shipment, of an interactive user interface that includes a first transporter indicator representing the geo-coordinates of the first transporter; based at least in part on the analyzing of the decoded real-time tracking data, determining that the first shipment is at risk of failing to comply with the one or more customer-defined shipping requirements of the customer; and based on the determining that the first shipment is at risk of failing to comply with the one or more customer-defined shipping requirements, causing display of the first transporter indicator to indicate that the first shipment is at risk of failing to comply with the one or more customer-defined shipping requirements. ### Claim 20 (depends on 19) The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the one or more customer-defined shipping requirements comprise a requirement to use a particular shipping lane to ship the first shipment to a particular destination.