US 7,248,160 B2Granted

Computerized indelible tracking system

AssigneePinpoint Logistics Systems, Inc.

InventorsAnthony Mangan, Kenneth J. Malone

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Abstract

A new computerized tracking system, IndeliTrak, that incorporates the state-of-the-art technologies including cell phones, GPS, Internet, and scanners to gather and distribute up-to-the-minute tracking data with little effort. As an example, a courier carries a mobile phone that is attached to a barcode scanner and programmed with IndeliTrak's tracking software. The mobile phone enables the courier to log in, retrieve his service schedule, verify each service location, log arrival/departure time, scan packages for pickup and delivery, and sign off. Scanned data are stored on the phone and transmitted to a customized IndeliTrak database. End users can track the packages via IndeliTrak's browser-based user interface almost instantaneously. IndeliTrak does not require unique package identifications (IDs) or barcodes. Acceptable IDs include radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, non-serialized barcodes, electronic product codes (EPCs), etc. The same ID code can be reused daily.

Claims15

Dependent claims

A computerized tracking system, comprising:

a server connected to a distributed computer network;
a storage means implementing a database connected to said server;
at least one client capable of communicating with said server and said database in real time either wirelessly through a cellular network or directly through said distributed computer network;
wherein
said client is characterized as a mobile unit configured with computer executable program instructions;
wherein
a first portion of said instructions when executed enables a courier to log in, retrieve information about his daily service route stops, scan service locations and packages, and log off;
wherein
a second portion of said instructions when executed automatically records arrival and completion times, verifies service locations, transmits tracking data gathered at said stops, and monitors and reports events and errors associated therewith;
wherein
a third portion of said instructions when executed provides an intelligent linkage that links each individual package to its pickup stop, each pickup stop to one or more delivery stops, and each delivery stop to one or more pickup stops;
and wherein
said linkage allows a customer to generate, obtain, or reuse arbitrary identification codes for individual packages which remain unknown to said courier until said individual packages are scanned for pickup.

10 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.