WO2019088856A1

WO2019088856A1 - System and method for a push notification service for tracking and locating shipments from their departure until they reach their destination

Info

Publication number: WO2019088856A1
Application number: PCT/PE2017/000023
Authority: WO
Inventors: José Antonio VICUÑA MUÑOZ
Original assignee: Vicuna Munoz Jose Antonio
Priority date: 2017-10-31
Filing date: 2017-10-31
Publication date: 2019-05-09

Abstract

The present invention proposes a novel system and method for tracking and locating shipments that includes the following steps: receiving shipments, by means of which the details of the customer making the shipment, the details of the customer who will receive the shipment, the details of the shipment to be made and the type of notification to be received are recorded; organising the shipments, by means of which all the shipments will be organised according to the operational routes and the intermediate destinations and will be associated with the GPS for all the shipments; generating notifications, by means of which the notifications that are sent to the customers are generated; and sending notifications to the customers via a mobile telephone network.

Description

SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR A PUSH TYPE NOTIFICATION SERVICE ON FOLLOW-UP AND LOCALIZATION OF SHIPMENTS SINCE ITS START UP TO DESTINATION TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention refers to the tracking and localization of packages and / or documents during the transport thereof through the use of GPS technology, cellular and / or satellite networks; likewise, tracking and tracking notifications to the users of said service. The service can be provided within a country or within a group of countries with a common border or globally.

STATE OF THE ART

Currently, the companies that provide the package and / or document messaging service also offer information for tracking and locating the shipments. The person or user who contracts the courier service receives a unique identification code associated with the package or document; the user can check the location of their shipments through service pages of the company that provides the courier service. Everyone who knows the code can have access to this information. This notification method is called PULL. There is also a messaging service called PUSH, through which it is possible to request through the service pages of the company providing the courier service, that such information is sent directly to a specified email or by SMS to a telephone indicated by the user; however, this option is not available for all routes and is not available for all users of the service. In this regard, patent application CN204679110 (U), published on September 30, 2015, discloses a system for detecting the movement of goods based on the Baidu map (Chinese navigation system by satellites) and the GSM Baidu short message, which comprises: setting up a detection terminal on the goods transport vehicle to collect the physical information and positional information of the goods transported, sending a request via an APP (application) loaded with Priority in a user's terminal, send the physical information and the positioning information of the goods via the APP to the user's terminal through the SMS mode or a short Baidu message, the physical information includes the acceleration, the inclination and the temperature inside the package of goods, the user can see in real time through the APP the physical status and positional information of the package transported, also, can perform the monitoring of the transported package in real time, storage, the delivery process; If the goods are damaged or if they are lost by accident, they can be traced back to clarify the responsibility of the accident.

The information for the tracking and location of shipments is mainly in the international air shipment of packages and / or documents, where each transit airport is reported throughout the trip that is making the shipment. Examples of this service are provided by companies such as UPS and DHL, among others.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The proposed invention describes an alternative method of the PUSH type that uses GPS devices and modems for transmitting data through cellular and / or satellite networks to notify users about the location of their packages, for domestic shipments, between countries. with common border or international level; without having to enter the service pages of the courier companies to know the status of their shipments.

The proposed invention defines a system comprising a set of interrelated elements and a method of generation of notifications on tracking and location of shipments, through the use of devices provided with GPS and cellular and / or satellite data transmission modem, with which the user of the service will be informed of what happens with his shipment, from the moment in which the Trip starts until arrival at destination; that is, the user can receive such notifications through the available methods, such as email, SMS or a custom application for that purpose.

For greater clarity of the description, the terms to be used are defined as follows:

- CLIENTS: The users of the service, among which we highlight those who make the shipments and those who receive the shipments.

- SHIPMENTS: Packages and / or documents.

- PHYSICAL IDENTIFIER: it is the unique identification label, generated for each shipment and that contains the destination and the recipient, among other data.

- PHYSICAL PROOF: the document that certifies the contracted service.

- DELIVERY DATA: characteristics of the shipment, person sending, person receiving, place of destination, among others.

- CONTRACTED NOTIFICATION: notification modalities that can be in real time, in predetermined time intervals, departure from origin, arrival at destination, arrival at an intermediate point in the route, departure from the intermediate point in the route, among others.

- ROUTES OF OPERATION (ORIGIN AND DESTINATION): Point of departure of the shipment and place of arrival or destination.

- GPS UNIT: it consists of two main functions, the GPS receiver that obtains the location information of the satellites and the cellular, satellite or hybrid modem that allows the sending of the information obtained from the satellites to the NOTIFICATION PROCESSING Platform. OFFICES OF RECEIPT OF SHIPMENTS: they are the physical installations so that the users can approach to leave their shipments and contract the services of notification.

GEOCERCAS: a predetermined geographical area controlled by the NOTIFICATION PROCESSING Platform, which provides information on the income and outputs of a GPS unit.

NOTIFICATIONS: processed information that will be sent to the clients.

ALERTS: notification created in the NOTIFICATION PROCESSING Platform to inform customers about the eventualities that may occur during the transport of their shipments.

DESTINATION CONTAINER: a container that packages all the shipments that go to a certain place.

ROUTE CONTAINER: a container that packages DESTINATION containers. The transport unit may leave the DESTINATION containers as it follows the established ROUTE.

READER: a reading mechanism that allows to register all the packaged SHIPMENTS in a PATH container. The methods of information collection can be manual, bar code reading, RFID, Beacon, among others.

TRANSPORTATION UNIT: it is the unit in charge of the movement of shipments, It consists of the unit, GPS, sensors that can take measurements of temperature in the cargo compartment of the transport unit, humidity measurements, measurements of amount of light, among others, in order to secure the cargo.

ELECTRONIC PADLOCK that allows to secure the cargo compartment of the transport unit and inform all closures and openings that may occur in the cargo compartment of the transport unit and having a GPS also provides the location of the event, among others. - Satellite Network: _^ satellite services that provide services GPS positioning units. The standards are GPS, GLONASS among others.

- CELLULAR NETWORK: the mobile data communication services available in a certain country.

- SHIPPING REGISTRATION PLATFORM: the data center that will store all the necessary information to be able to provide the service.

- NOTIFICATION PROCESSING PLATFORM: the data center that will process all the necessary information to be able to provide the service.

- APPLICATION FOR CUSTOMERS: the application of software that will be installed in the cell phones of the clients and whose function is to receive the NOTIFICATIONS sent by the NOTIFICATION PROCESSING PLATFORM so that the client can see them.

- The SMS is also an option for sending NOTIFICATIONS.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES In Figure 1, the system comprising one of the attention offices is shown, where the shipments are received or delivered.

In Figure 2, it shows how the shipments are organized according to the operation routes and the intermediate destinations; A GPS is also associated with the set of shipments; a reader registers the shipments that will go in a transport unit and sends the recorded data to a platform for information management on shipments, and a sensor unit placed inside the cargo compartment of the transport unit. Figure 3 shows how notifications are organized according to the routes of operation and intermediate destinations, between the departure and arrival of goods. In Figure 4, each of the communication elements of the system is shown.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION (DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION)

The proposed invention defines a system comprising a set of elements that interrelate and a method of generating notifications on tracking and location of shipments, by using devices provided with GPS and cellular and / or satellite data transmission modem.

The attached drawings illustrate only exemplary embodiments of the invention and should not be considered as limiting their scope; the invention can admit other equally effective embodiments.

The system for a PUSH type notification service for tracking and tracking shipments from the start of the shipment until arrival at destination includes: · A network of service offices, where shipments are received or delivered;

• Physical vouchers for the registration of the data of the client or user who will receive the shipment, the data of the shipment that is going to be made and the type of Notification that one wishes to receive.

• Physical identifiers or unique identification labels, which are generated and associated for each shipment and which contains the destination and the recipient, among other data.

• Destination container that packages all the shipments that go to a certain place;

• Route container that packages destination containers.

· GPS which consists of two main functions, GPS receiver that obtains the location information of the satellites and the cellular, satellite or hybrid modem that allows the sending of the information obtained from the satellites to the Notification Processing Platform. • SENSORS that can take measurements of temperature, humidity, amount of light, among others, in order to ensure the load.

• READER that is a reading mechanism that allows to register all the packaged SHIPMENTS in a PATH container.

· ELECTRONIC PADLOCK that allows to secure the cargo compartment of the transport unit and inform all closures and openings that may occur in the cargo compartment of the transport unit and having a GPS also provides the location of the event, among others.

· SATELLITE NETWORK, which provide positioning services for GPS units. The standards are GPS, GLONASS among others.

• CELLULAR NETWORK, which provides mobile data communication services.

• SHIPMENT REGISTRATION PLATFORM that stores the information necessary to provide the service.

· NOTIFICATION PROCESSING PLATFORM that processes the necessary information to be able to provide the service.

• Transport Units, responsible for the movement of shipments; consists of the GPS unit, sensors, electronic lock.

• APP, Application of software that is installed in the cellular telephones of the clients and whose function is to receive the NOTIFICATIONS sent by the PLATFORM OF PROCESSING OF NOTIFICATIONS so that the client can visualize them.

• SMS that is also an option for sending NOTIFICATIONS. The method for a PUSH type notification service for tracking and locating shipments from the start of the shipment until arrival at destination, includes the following steps:

Step 1 - RECEIPT OF SHIPMENTS, in which the data of the client that makes the shipment is registered, the data of the client that will receive the shipment, the data of the shipment that is going to be carried out and the type of Notification that one wishes to receive; the physical voucher that is delivered to the client is generated, the Contracted Notification record is generated and sent to a Registration Platform of Shipments, the shipment data record is generated and sent to the Information Management Platform; and a physical identifier is associated with the shipment.

Step 2 - ORGANIZATION OF SHIPMENTS, in which the shipments are organized according to the routes of operation and the intermediate destinations; A GPS is also associated with the set of shipments; a reader registers the shipments that will go in a transport unit and sends the registered data to a Platform of Management of the Information on the shipments; A sensor unit placed inside the cargo compartment of the transport unit can record parameters such as: temperature, humidity, amount of light and its variations during the trip; an Electronic Lock unit provides notifications about the closing and opening of the cargo compartment of the transport unit; A Cellular and / or Satellite Modem transmits to a Data Center the records obtained with the GPS.

Step 3.- GENERATION OF NOTIFICATIONS, in which the notifications that are sent to the clients are generated; the transport unit generates the notification of Start of Trip at the moment of leaving the Geo Close Source, generates the notification Arrival to Transit at the moment in which the unit of transport enters the Geo Close to Transit; the Transit Exit notification is generated at the moment in which the transport unit abandons the Geo Close to Transit; The Arrival to Destination notification is generated at the moment in which the transport unit enters the Geo Cerca Destino. Step 4.- SENDING THE NOTIFICATIONS TO THE CUSTOMERS OR USERS, the processing and preparation of the information that is sent to the clients is done in the NOTIFICATION PROCESSING PLATFORM and the SHIPMENT REGISTRATION PLATFORM that has the relationship of the CUSTOMERS who requested the service of sending notifications.

In a certain moment of time, the GPS unit associated with the transport unit obtains the data of its location, then the cellular modem of the GPS unit requests from the cellular network a communication channel with the NOTIFICATION PROCESSING PLATFORM to send the information through the MOBILE APPLICATION that is installed in the CLIENT's cell phone. According to the figures shown, and in accordance with the numbering adopted therein, an example of a preferred embodiment of the invention can be observed.

As mentioned above other modifications and alternative embodiments of this invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art in view of this disclosure. It will be recognized, therefore, that the present invention is not limited only to be used in cellular equipment. Accordingly, this description is to be construed as illustrative only and is for the purpose of teaching those skilled in the art, how to carry out the invention.

It should be noted that the invention shown and described here should be taken as the presently preferred embodiment. Several changes can be made in the implementations and architectures. For example, equivalent elements can be substituted for those illustrated and described herein, and certain features of the invention can be used independently of the use of other features, all of which would be apparent to one skilled in the art after have the benefit of this description of the invention.

The preferred embodiment of the method comprises: STEP 1: RECEIPT OF SHIPMENTS

In this step the data of the client that sends, the data of the client that will receive the shipment, the data of the shipment that is going to be carried out and the type of Notification that you want to receive is registered. In Figure 1 the client that sends 1 carries out the interaction 3 with the office of reception of shipments 4 carrying his shipment 2. Personnel of the office of shipments 4 requests the data to the client 1 and with them generate the following events: event 5 that generates the Physical Voucher 9 which is delivered to customer 1 through interaction 10, event 6 generated by the Contracted Notification 15 record which is sent to the Shipment Registration Platform 19 through interaction 17 , event 7 that generates the record of Shipment Data 16 which is sent to the Information Management Platform about shipments 19 through interaction 18 and event 7 that generates the Physical Identifier 11 that will be attached to shipment 2 through the interaction 12. Finally the shipment 2 with its Physical Identifier 11 is sent to Warehouse 14 through interaction 13.

STEP 2: ORGANIZATION OF SHIPMENTS

In this step all shipments will be organized according to the routes in operation and the intermediate destinations and the GPS will be associated to the set of shipments. In Figure 2 the warehouse personnel of the shipping reception office 4 will group each shipment labeled 20 in the containers by destination 21. After that, each container will be grouped by destination 21 in the containers by route 22. The organizer by route 22 interacts with the Reader 23 process to record all the shipments 20 that will be in the transport unit 24. With this registration the GPS unit 26 associated with the transport unit 24 will be able to register the location information, which is part of the notifications to inform customers. The transport unit 24 can also have the sensor unit 25 and the electronic lock unit 27. The sensor unit 25 can provide additional information to the interior of the cargo compartment of the transport unit 24, such as: temperature, humidity, amount of light and its variations during the trip. The Electronic Padlock unit 27 provides notifications about closing and opening the cargo compartment of the transport unit 24.

The GPS unit 26 consists of 2 main functions:

1.- GPS receiver, which asks the satellites for information about their location.

2.- Cellular and / or Satellite Modem, which transmits the records obtained with the GPS Receiver to the data center. Reader 23 will send the recorded data to the Information Management Platform about shipments 19

STEP 3: GENERATION OF NOTIFICATIONS

This step describes how notifications that will be sent to clients are generated. In Figure 3 the transport unit 24 generates the notification of TRAVEL START 31 at the moment of leaving the Geo Near ORIGIN 28. The notification ARRIVAL ON TRANSIT 1 32 is generated at the instant in which the transport unit 24 enters the GEO NEAR TRANSIT 1 30, after having traveled section t1. The notification TRANSIT EXIT 1 33 is generated at the instant in which the transport unit 24 leaves the GEO NEAR TRANSIT 1 30.

The UP TO TRANSIT notification n 34 is generated at the moment in which the transport unit 24 enters the GEO NEAR TRANSIT n 35, after having crossed section t2. The notification TRANSIT DEPARTURE n 36 is generated at the instant in which the transport unit 24 leaves the GEO NEAR TRANSIT n 35. The notification ARRIVING AT DESTINATION 37 is generated at the moment in which the transportation unit 24 enters the Geo Near DESTINY 29, after having crossed the stretch tn.

The notification described is an example. Being able to be notified by time, points of interest. Additionally you can send alerts according to how the trip is developing. For example, a delay alert caused by reasons of force majeure.

STEP 4: SENDING NOTIFICATIONS TO CUSTOMERS

This step describes how notifications are generated to clients. In Figure 4 we describe an implementation for sending notifications to customers. The location of the shipments, located in the transport unit 24, will be obtained from the satellite service (GPS or GLONASS), represented by satellite 38.

The sending of said location, at a certain moment, to the NOTIFICATION PROCESSING PLATFORM 44 will be carried out through the available cellular network, represented by the cellular stations 39 and the APN (Access Point Ñame) 40 communication servers with third party applications. . The processing and preparation of the information that will be distributed to the clients is carried out in the NOTIFICATION PROCESSING PLATFORM 44, which has the rules on what type of notifications must be prepared and the SHIPMENT REGISTRATION PLATFORM 19, which has the relationship of the CUSTOMERS 49 who requested the service of sending notifications.

At a certain time, the GPS unit 26 associated with the transport unit 24 will request the satellite 38 to send it its location. Once said information is received, the cellular modem of the GPS unit 26 will request the cellular network a communication channel with the NOTIFICATION PROCESSING PLATFORM 44. The cellular network will determine the necessary resources identifying: which cellular station 39 and which APN 40 server will provide the service. This will enable segment 41 with INTERNET 42 and segment 43 with the NOTIFICATION PROCESSING PLATFORM 44.

Once the NOTIFICATION has been processed, the NOTIFICATION PROCESSING PLATFORM 44 will ask the cellular network for a communication channel with the MOBILE APPLICATION 48 of the CLIENT 49. The cellular network will determine the necessary resources identifying: which cellular station 39 and which APN server 40 they will provide the service. This will enable segment 45 with internet 42 and segment 46 with the cellular network. Identified the cellular station 39 that is providing the service will be enabled segment 47 so that the information reaches the MOBILE APPLICATION 48 and with it it will be available for the CUSTOMER 49.

Claims

A system for a notification service type PUSH for tracking and localization of shipments from the beginning until the arrival to destination, which includes the interaction of the following elements:

A network of service offices, where the shipments are received or delivered;

Physical vouchers for the registration of the data of the client or user who will receive the shipment, the data of the shipment that is going to be carried out and the type of notification that one wishes to receive;

Physical identifiers or unique identification labels, which are generated and associated for each shipment and which contain the destination and the recipient, among other data;

Destination container that packages all the shipments that go to a certain place;

Path Container that packages Destination containers;

GPS which consists of two main functions, GPS receiver that obtains the satellite location information and the cellular, satellite or hybrid modem that allows the sending of the information obtained from the satellites to the Notification Processing Platform;

Sensors that can take measurements of temperature, humidity, amount of light, among others, in order to ensure the load;

Reader that is a reading mechanism that allows to record all shipments packaged in a container path;

Electronic lock to secure the cargo compartment of the transport unit and inform all closures and openings that may occur in the cargo compartment of the transport unit and having a GPS also provides the location of the event, among others;

Satellite network, which provides positioning services for GPS units. The standards are GPS, Glonass among others;

Cellular network, which provides mobile data communication services; Shipment registration platform that stores the necessary information to be able to provide the service;

Notification processing platform that processes the information necessary to provide the service;

Transport Units, responsible for the movement of shipments; consists of the GPS unit, sensors, electronic lock;

APP, Application of software that is installed in the cellular telephones of the clients and whose function is to receive the notifications sent by the platform of processing of notifications so that the client can visualize them;

SMS that is also an option for sending notifications.

A method for a notification service type PUSH for tracking and localization of shipments from its beginning to arrival at destination, which includes the following steps:

STEP 1, reception of shipments, in which the data of the client that makes the shipment is recorded, the data of the client that will receive the shipment, the data of the shipment that is going to be made and the type of notification that it is desired to receive; the physical voucher that is delivered to the customer is generated, the contracted notification record is generated and sent to a shipment registration platform, the shipment data record is generated and sent to the information management platform; and a physical identifier is associated with the shipment;

STEP 2, organization of the shipments, in which the shipments are organized according to the routes of operation and the intermediate destinations; A GPS is also associated with the set of shipments; a reader registers the shipments that will go in a transport unit and sends the registered data to a platform for managing the information on the shipments; A sensor unit placed inside the cargo compartment of the transport unit can record parameters such as: temperature, humidity, amount of light and its variations during the trip; an electronic padlock unit provides notifications on the closing and opening of the cargo compartment of the transport unit; a cellular and / or satellite modem transmits to a data center the records obtained with the GPS;

STEP 3, Generation of Notifications, in which the notifications that are sent to the clients are generated; the transport unit generates the notification of start of travel at the moment of leaving the Geo Close Source, generates the notification arrival to transit at the instant in which the unit of transport enters the Geo Close to Transit; the transit exit notification is generated at the moment in which the transport unit leaves the Geo Cerca de Tránsito; the arrival arrival notification is generated at the moment in which the transportation unit enters the Geo Cerca Destino;

STEP 4, Send Notifications to customers or users, the processing and preparation of the information sent to customers is done in the notifications processing platform and the shipping registry platform that has the customer relationship they requested the service of sending notifications; in a certain moment of time, the GPS unit associated with the transport unit obtains the data of its location, then the cellular modem of the GPS unit requests from the cellular network a channel of communication with the notifications processing platform to send the information through the mobile application that is installed on the customer's cell phone.