Abstract:
There is disclosed method of shipment verification and/or tamper detection, wherein a purchaser generates an ordering document such as a purchase order RFID-encoded with data identifying items on the order. The supplier gathers the items into a package or packages for the shipment and RFID encodes the shipment with both data relating to the items ordered and to the shipping package weight. When the shipment arrives at the customer&#39;s location, the customer decodes the RFID package transponder and compares the items ordered with the items received and/or compares the decoded shipping package weight with the actual weight of the shipment and if there is an unallowable discrepancy in either or both, the customer is on notice that the shipment may be erroneous.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION  
       [0001]     This is a continuation-in-part of pending U.S. application Ser. No. 10/935,385, filed. Sep. 7, 2004. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0003]     This invention relates to a method for verifying and/or detecting tampering.  
         [0004]     2. Brief Description of the Prior Art  
         [0005]     A prior art method for a customer to determine whether goods received correspond to goods that were shipped involve, in one example, manually inspecting the printed information on the outside of each individual package and comparing that to the purchase order or invoice information to confirm that the goods received correspond to the goods that were ordered and/or invoiced. In the event the goods are loaded onto a pallet and shrink wrapped, the customer would unpack the pallet and perform the above-mentioned comparison. It is also known to provide a load of palletized packages wherein the pallet and the package or packages are shrink wrapped into a unit and to have a shipping label applied to the shrink wrap. Such a shipping label has been provided with an RFID transponder encoded with shipping data. Typical shipping data comprises the shipper&#39;s return address, the carrier&#39;s information, the ship-to location, the postal code, the purchase order number, the product name, and the serial shipping container or product package number.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0006]     The invention relates to an improved method of indicating whether or not a product or a package was tampered with during shipment.  
         [0007]     One specific embodiment of the invention includes weighing a packaged product, providing a pressure sensitive label having an RFID transponder, printing shipping data on the label and encoding the RFID transponder with the shipping package weight, applying the label to the product or its packaging, shipping the packaged product to the customer, weighing the packaged product after delivery to the customer, decoding the shipping package weight in the RFID transponder, and comparing the shipping package weight decoded from the RFID transponder with the received package weight to indicate tampering when the difference between the shipping package weight and the received package weight is outside allowable limits.  
         [0008]     In another embodiment, when it is decided to order one or more products, an ordering document such as a purchase order is generated by the customer. The ordering document lists or accumulates the one or more products being ordered. Data representative of the product(s) being ordered is encoded in an RFID transponder applied to or already on the ordering document. A copy of the ordering document is sent to the supplier or the ordering data is transmitted to the supplier electronically. The order can be a single package, a pallet with one or more packages, multiple pallets, or pallets and one or more packages. The supplier gathers the ordered product or products to fill the order. If more than one product is ordered, the products may be grouped and packaged into at least one package and the packaged product or products are preferably weighed. An RFID transponder for the package is encoded with the shipping data and the shipping package weight. The package is forwarded, as by a common carrier, to the customer. The customer can weigh the package upon receipt from the supplier, decode the package transponder data, which includes the shipping data and the shipping package weight, compare the shipping package weight decoded from the package transponder and the actual package weight, and if the weight difference is outside allowable limits, the package is noticed as being suspect for example having been tampered with. Also, the customer can compare the ordering data to the shipping data, and if there is a lack of coincidence between the product(s) ordered and the product(s) received, the shipment is deemed to be flawed. When a shipment cannot be verified, that is fails the weight comparison test and/or the product coincidence test, the package and its contents can be further inspected as by diverting the shipment to another area for off-line inspection to assess the anomaly. While it is preferred to perform both the ordering document data comparison with the received product data and shipping package weight data comparison with the received package weight data, one can be performed without performing the other. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DIAGRAMMATIC DRAWINGS  
       [0009]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of packages on a pallet with an applied shipping-data-bearing label having an RFID transponder encoded with shipping weight data;  
         [0010]      FIG. 2  is a plan view of the label shown in  FIG. 1 ;  
         [0011]      FIG. 3  is a flow chart illustrating one embodiment of the method of the invention;  
         [0012]      FIG. 4  is a top plan view of an ordering document; and  
         [0013]      FIG. 5  is a flow chart illustrating another embodiment of the invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0014]     With reference to  FIG. 1 , there is shown a product package or load generally indicated at  10  having a plurality of individual packages or containers  11  of products loaded onto a pallet  12 . The packages  11  and the pallet  12  are essentially completely covered with shrink wrap, a transparent plastics film material, indicated at  13  to hold the individual packages  11  against shifting on the pallet  12 . A pressure sensitive label  14  having a pressure sensitive adhesive  14 ′ ( FIG. 2 ) on its underside is adhesively adhered to the outside of the shrink wrap  13 . The adhesive  14 ′ is preferably a permanent type adhesive which adheres tenaciously to the shrink wrap  13 . An RFID transponder  15  on label  14 , preferably on the underside of the label  14  between the label  14  and the shrink wrap  13 . The label  14  may be referred to as a shipping label or a load label. The label  14  may also be located on one of the packages  11  under the shrink wrap  13 . The load label  14  is shown in  FIG. 2  and has various fields requiring certain shipping information or data as illustrated.  
         [0015]     In one specific embodiment illustrated in  FIG. 3 , the supplier prepares the product package  10  for shipment as indicated at  16 . The package or load  10  can comprise a single product or container, or it can comprise multiple products or containers as shown at  11  in  FIG. 1 . The packaged product  10  is weighed as shown at  17  and the weight data or shipping package weight is then inputted into an RFID printer/encoder as indicated at  18 . The shipping data can also be inputted or encoded directly into the transponder. Next the supplier prints some or all of the shipping data in the selected fields on the shipping label and electromagnetically encodes or writes the shipping package weight and, if desired, the shipping data into the transponder  15  as indicated at  19 . This can be performed in an RFID printer sold by Paxar Americas, Inc. depicted in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/873,979 filed Jun. 22, 2004, publication No. U.S. 2006/0052981 published Mar. 9, 2006. If desired, the weight data can be inputted from a scale directly to a printer/encoder where the weight data can be written into the transponder, either with or without the shipping data. Next the load  10  is typically taken by the common carrier for transport to the customer as indicated at  20 . However, the load  10  may pass through numerous hands before reaching the customer, thereby affording thieves numerous opportunities to remove some of the contents of the load. For example, the common carrier may collect the load  10  from the supplier and truck it to the trucker&#39;s consolidation terminal, and from there it may be trucked to a customer&#39;s distribution warehouse, and from there the product package may be trucked to the customer&#39;s place of business. After the customer takes delivery of the product package  10  as indicated at  21 , the customer weighs the product package  10  as indicated at  22 . For security reasons, the weight data may be encoded solely in the transponder  15 , the thus the weight data is not visible or readily accessible to a would-be thief. The customer can decode the transponder  15  to retrieve the weight data therein as indicated at  23 . In that the customer now has both the weight data of the received product package  10  and the weight data stored in the transponder  15 , the customer can compare the two pieces of data as indicated at  24  and decide whether or not the difference between the two pieces of data is within allowable limits as indicated at  25  or is outside allowable limits as indicated at  26 .  
         [0016]     One of the advantages of this RFID-based security system is that the process is automatable in a computer-connected arrangement, virtually eliminating lost time and a source of human error.  
         [0017]     The weight data can be derived from a scale that can input the weight data into a computer according to block  22 , and the weight data from the transponder  15  can be inputted into the same computer according to block  23 . The computer can be programmed to compare the two pieces of weight data. The allowable difference can be predetermined both as to actual differences and/or as to a percentage difference. For example, a decision can be made that a weight difference equaling up to plus or minus one kilogram can be within allowable limits, but any greater difference may indicate tampering. Alternatively, if the difference is no more than plus or minus one-quarter percent, then the difference is within allowable limits, but any greater percentage difference may indicate tampering. Also, the computer can be programmed to indicate tampering if the difference is greater either than a certain weight, e.g., one kilogram, or a certain percentage, e.g., one-quarter percent. If the received product package is within allowable limits, the product package  10  can be opened or routed to other handling stations or locations. If the received product package  10  is outside allowable-limits, the product package  10  can be sent to a compound or quarantine area where tampering can be documented for insurance and/or law enforcement purposes before the product package  10  is opened.  
         [0018]     While the steps in blocks  16  through  26  are illustrative, they are not to be considered limiting because this disclosure is more extensive than the flow chart of  FIG. 3 . For example, the shipping data need not be inputted into the transponder  15  if desired, and the weight data can be inputted to the computer or the computer printer directly from the scale used to weight the product package  10  according to block  17 . Also, the customer can decode the transponder  15  before or simultaneously with weighing of the delivered product package  10 . Once the weight of the delivered product package  10  is ascertained and the RFID transponder  15  is decoded, the customer can compare the two weights and determine for himself/herself without the use of any aid such as a computer whether or not the product package  10  may have been tampered with.  
         [0019]     While it is preferred that the RFID transponder be part of a pressure sensitive label, the RFID transponder can be suitably incorporated into the package carton or it can be on the product per se.  
         [0020]     With reference to  FIG. 4 , there is illustrated diagrammatically an ordering document  30  in the form of a purchase order, however, an ordering document can take many forms. The customer visually records the quantity of products being ordered, the codes designating the products ordered, a brief human readable description of the products ordered, and the price. According to the illustrated embodiment, the customer may either encode an RFID transponder which is already part of the ordering document  30  or, as shown applies an RFID label  31  having an RFID transponder  32  is encoded and applied directly to a copy of the ordering document  30 . The customer retains the RFID transponder-encoded ordering document, as indicated in block  33  of  FIG. 5 . The original of the ordering document is either sent to the supplier by mail, facsimile, hand delivery or electronically as indicated in block  34 . When the supplier receives the order, the supplier gathers the products represented by the order and prepares a product package for shipment as disclosed with respect to block  16 . When the package is complete, the supplier weighs the package, block  17 , and inputs shipping data and shipping package weight into a printer/encoder block  18 . The shipping data includes the information in the purchase order as indicated above and any other desired information. If the RFID transponder is already part of the ordering document  30 , then the RFID transponder can be encoded with a hand-held RFID reader/writer as in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/222,692 filed Aug. 16, 2002, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.  
         [0021]     The process proceeds through steps  19  through  24  as disclosed above. Also, when the customer takes delivery, block  21 ; the customer decodes the ordering document transponder  32  as indicated at block  35 . In that both the shipping data and the shipping package weight were decoded at block  23 , both the decoded data from the ordering document and the shipping data are compared at block  36 . If the products received correspond to the products ordered and the shipping weight encoded by the supplier and the actual weight of the package received by the customer correspond within acceptable limits, the package is found acceptable, block  37 . However, if either of these comparisons fails, the package and/or its contents are further inspected (block  38 ) to ascertain the nature of the discrepancy, for example, off-line in a compound area. If desired, the customer can print out the shipping data and/or the shipping package weight to serve as a hard copy record, particularly in the event there is a discrepancy; alternatively, these data may simply be viewed on a display or other visual medium.  
         [0022]     Other embodiments and modifications of the invention will suggest themselves to those skilled in the art, and all such of these as come within the spirit of this invention are included within its scope as best defined by the appended claims.