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US 6,433,732 B1Granted
Package tracking system
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorsRabindranath Dutta, Janani Janakiraman
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
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AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorsRabindranath Dutta, Janani Janakiraman
Estimating the term…
A method and implementing system are provided in which the packaging for an item being shipped includes an item locator device for locating the item during shipment. The locator device is able to determine the location of the item being shipped through a Global Positioning System (GPS) or through another location-determining system such as a wireless telephone network. In an example, a sender maintains a database at the sender's server containing information concerning each shipping transaction. A requester is enabled to log-on to a sender's website and access the database to determine the last location and time of query for the item being shipped. The requester may access the sender's database directly for the requested location information or initiate a call from the sender to the item being shipped to update the sender's database at the time of the call. In another embodiment, a requester is able to call the item locator device directly for the location information.
A method for determining location of an item being shipped from a sender to a receiver, said method comprising:
A method for determining location of an item being shipped from a sender to a receiver, said method comprising:
A storage medium including machine readable coded indicia, said storage medium being selectively coupled through a reading device to processing circuitry within a computing system, said reading device being selectively operable to read said machine readable coded indicia and provide program signals representative thereof, said program signals being effective to process a determination of location of an item being shipped from a sender to a receiver, wherein said item being shipped is coupled to a locator device, said locator device being capable of determining and selectively transmitting a location of said locator device to said computing system, said program signals being selectively operable for:
A processing system at a sender site, said processing system including a system bus, a processor, a memory system, and a network interface, all coupled to said system bus, said processing system being operable in response to an input from a requester for providing a location of an item being shipped from said sender to a receiver, said processing system being selectively operable for maintaining a database containing a sequence of positions through which said item has passed along a route traveled by said item, said processing system being further selectively operable for enabling an updating of said database when said item has arrived at said receiver and also when said locator device is returned to said sender.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.