Patent ID: 7487119
Filing Date: 2009-02-03
Classification: G06Q

Abstract:
1. A physical distribution business management method, comprising: an image data generation step for generating image data of a document on which a condition for exporting or importing goods is described, said image data generation step generating said image data upon reception of said document obtained as a result of execution of a physical distribution step; an image data storage step for storing the image data generated in said image data generation step to be associated with said goods to a freight tracking information database, upon generation of said image data; a document data storage step for storing document data described on said document to said freight tracking information database in association with said goods, upon generation of said image data, said document data including date data representing an execution date of the physical distribution step related to said document; an identification data storage step for storing identification data that identifies a party concerned with export or import of said goods among, in addition to a consignor and a consignee, a number of parties concerned with export or import of said goods; and a data output step, when said party concerned specifies data relating to goods, for obtaining image data and document data, in said freight tracking information database, and for outputting said obtained data, wherein said identification data storage step decides a range of the image and document data to said party concerned based on the stored identification data, and said data output step obtains data matching said decided range; wherein said data output step includes the steps of, based on said decided range and said specified data relating to the goods, obtaining image data of an associated one or a plurality of documents, and outputting said image data and said document data to a terminal of said concerned party to thereby display a status of a transfer of said goods, on said terminal of said concerned party; and wherein said data output step further comprises displaying, on a display device of the terminal based on said obtained data, a diagram illustrating the status of the transfer of said goods, wherein the step of displaying the diagram includes displaying a plurality of images, each image representing a physical location used in the transfer of said goods; and displaying an arrow between two images in said diagram when the date data in the obtained document data indicates that a physical distribution step involving the physical locations corresponding to the two images has been completed, and repeating the step of displaying an arrow for all of the date data in the obtained document data to thereby display a current and historical status of the transfer of the goods.