Patent ID: 11883853
Assignee: UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICES
Field: Chemical engineering (Chemistry)
Classification: CPC B | IPC B

Claim 0:
1. A method of tracking items in a distribution network, the method comprising:
generating a first placard, wherein the first placard comprises a radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag;
associating, in a processor, the first placard and a first item container;
storing, in a memory, the association of the first placard and the first item container;
determining, in a processor, that the first item container has received items planned to be sorted into the first item container at a bin;
generating, in response to determining that the first item container has received the items, a second placard comprising another RFID tag;
generating a close event for the first placard;
storing, in the memory, the close event for the first placard;
associating, in a processor, the second placard and a second item container; and
storing, in the memory, the association of the second placard and the second item container.