Real-time tracking of parcels in a facility

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12134111-B2
Application number	US-202318227090-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 27, 2023
Priority date	Oct 23, 2020
Publication date	Nov 5, 2024
Grant date	Nov 5, 2024

Abstract

Read events capturing parcel information as a parcel is transported through a facility is received, and a configuration file mapping readers capturing the read events to workspace locations within the facility is accessed. Utilizing the read events and configuration file, one or more locations are determined for a parcel being transported through a facility. The locations may form a most likely path, or sequence of locations, through the facility. The determined locations may be utilized for generating one or more graphical user interface elements for tracking parcel and/or other operational aspects. For example, a graphical user interface may indicate errors, such as errors in the parcel's path and slowdowns, detected from the read events. Additionally, volume of parcels over time may be determined from the read events. Further, a graphical user interface may indicate employee performance based on errors and/or read events attributed to the employee.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
receiving tracking data comprising a plurality of read events for an object traveling through a facility, wherein each read event of the plurality of read events indicates a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag associated with the object being read by a reader of a plurality of readers;
determining, by a computer processor and based at least in part on a configuration file and the tracking data, a path for the object to travel through the facility, wherein:
the path comprises a sequence of locations derived from a plurality of locations within the facility,
the configuration file (i) assigns each reader of the plurality of readers to a location of the plurality of locations and (ii) indicates a physical path between each pair of sequential locations in the sequence of locations, and
a read event of the plurality of read events indicates the RFID tag associated with the object being read by the reader assigned to at least one location of the sequence of locations, and

causing, by the computer processor, presentation of a graphical user interface comprising at least a portion of the path on a computer device.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the graphical user interface displays a visual representation of the facility that includes location indicators for the object that are positioned at locations from the plurality of locations that correspond to the plurality of read events found in the tracking data.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the graphical user interface further displays a location table that comprises a descriptor for each location of the sequence of locations and a time corresponding to the read event of the plurality of read events indicating the RFID tag associated with the object being read by the reader assigned to the at least one location of the sequence of locations.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising determining, by the computer processor and based at least in part on the path and an expected path for the object, a path error for the object, wherein the graphical user interface displays the path error.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising attributing, by the computer processor, the path error to an individual who is assigned to a first location of the sequence of locations where the path error occurred, wherein the graphical user interface displays an identity of the individual.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
identifying, by the computer processor and based at least in part on the tracking data, a duration of time that the object took to traverse between a first location and a second location in the sequence of locations for the path;
identifying, by the computer processor and based at least in part on the configuration file, a threshold time period for traversing between the first location and the second location; and
determining, by the computer processor and based at least in part on the duration of time being greater than the threshold time period, a slowdown error, wherein the graphical user interface displays the slowdown error.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising aggregating a read event from the plurality of read events associated with a first location of the plurality of locations with other read events indicating other RFID tags associated with other objects being read by the reader of the plurality of readers at the location to generate a total object count for the location, wherein the graphical user interface displays the total object count.

8. A system comprising:
a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions; and
a processing device communicatively coupled to the non-transitory computer-readable medium, wherein the processing device is configured to execute the instructions and thereby perform operations comprising:
receiving tracking data comprising a plurality of read events for an object traveling through a facility, wherein each read event of the plurality of read events indicates the object being identified by a reader of a plurality of readers;
determining, based at least in part on a configuration file and the tracking data, a path for the object to travel through the facility, wherein:
the path comprises a sequence of locations, and
the configuration file (i) assigns each reader of the plurality of readers to at least one of a location within the facility or an individual located within the facility and (ii) indicates a physical path between each pair of sequential locations in the sequence of locations, and

causing presentation of a graphical user interface comprising at least a portion of the path on a computer device.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the graphical user interface displays a visual representation of the facility that includes location indicators for the object that are positioned at locations that correspond to the plurality of read events found in the tracking data.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the graphical user interface further displays a location table that comprises a descriptor for each location of the sequence of locations and a time corresponding to a read event of the plurality of read events indicating the object being identified by the reader assigned to at least one of a first location of the sequence of locations or an individual associated with the location of the sequence of locations.

11. The system of claim 8 , wherein the operations further comprise determining, based at least in part on the path and an expected path for the object, a path error for the object, wherein the graphical user interface displays the path error.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the operations further comprise attributing the path error to a particular individual who is located in a particular location of the sequence of locations where the path error occurred, and the graphical user interface displays an identity of the individual.

13. The system of claim 8 , wherein the operations further comprise:
identifying, based at least in part on the tracking data, a duration of time that the object took to traverse between a first location and a second location in the sequence of locations for the path;
identifying a threshold time period for traversing between the first location and the second location; and
determining, based at least in part on the duration of time satisfying the threshold time period, a slowdown error, wherein the graphical user interface displays the slowdown error.

14. The system of claim 8 , wherein the operations further comprise determining, based at least in part on the tracking data, a measure of productivity for a particular individual associated with a particular reader of the plurality of readers, and the graphical user interface displays the measure of productivity.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by computing hardware, configure the computing hardware to perform operations comprising;
determining, based at least in part on a configuration file and tracking data, a path for an object travelling through a facility, wherein:
the tracking data comprises a plurality of read events for the object as the object travels through the facility,
each read event of the plurality of read events indicates a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag associated with the object being read by a reader of a plurality of readers,
the path comprises a sequence of locations derived from a plurality of locations within the facility, and
the configuration file (i) assigns each reader of the plurality of readers to a location of the plurality of lo

Assignees

• United parcel service america inc

Inventors

• Freeman Mallory
• Major Timothy
• Wu David
• Skorb Lauren
• Britton Matthew

Classifications

• G06Q50/60

  Business processes related to postal services (shipping G06Q10/083; franking apparatus G07B17/00) · CPC title

• G06Q10/0833

  Tracking · CPC title

• B07C3/10

  Apparatus characterised by the means used for detection ofthe destination (methods or arrangements for reading and recognising printed or written characters or geometric figures G06V30/00) · CPC title

• B07C3/08

  using arrangements of conveyors {(transport of sheets B65H; transport in general B65G)} · CPC title

• B07C3/006

  Electric or electronic control circuits, e.g. delay lines (delay devices per se H03H7/30, H03H11/26) · CPC title