Abstract:
The efficiency with which loads carried by vehicles can be off-loaded is improved by allowing vehicle personnel or companies shipping goods by vehicle to directly schedule personnel and other resources needed for off-loading automatically without human intervention. During off-loading, information related to the off-loading is captured by dock personnel using a hand held terminal and sent to a database. The hand held terminal permits capture of images related to the load, including images of goods damaged during shipment. Control of access to an automated system is controlled by log-in identification and password. The privileges and format of information provided to a user is dictated by the log-in identification.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
       [0001]     This application claims priority to and incorporates by reference in its entirety U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/806,653, filed Jul. 6, 2006, entitled Distribution Center Processing of Vehicles and Cargo by inventors Edward Wickey, David Simono, Maria Wickey and Craig Moeller, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.  
         [0002]     This application is directed to techniques for processing of vehicles and cargo at a distribution center and to methods, apparatus, systems, computer program products, and methods of doing business related thereto. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0003]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0004]     The invention is directed to unloading of vehicles at a distribution point and more particularly to techniques, methods, systems, apparatus and computer program products for improving the scheduling, unloading and accounting for products delivered by vehicle to a distribution point.  
         [0005]     2. Description of the Prior Art  
         [0006]     Techniques for shipping of freight and for tracking vehicles and managing fleets of vehicles are known in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,474,927 to McAdams et al. discloses techniques for transportation and accounting for containers being delivered to a distribution point.  
         [0007]     U.S. Pat. No. 6,611,755 to Coffee et al. describes a vehicle fleet management system which identifies the location and direction of movement of each vehicle in a fleet of vehicles in real time and automatically reports the information as well as the status of predetermined events in which the vehicle is engaged to a fleet manager.  
         [0008]     However, neither of these inventions is directed to the problems that exist in managing the unloading of vehicles at a distribution center as described hereinafter.  
         [0009]     A distribution center or distribution point is operated, typically, by an owner of the distribution center. A typical owner of a distribution center might be a grocery chain which receives large shipments by truck or other vehicle at the distribution center. The trucks or other vehicles are unloaded and the products placed in inventory until such time as they are needed to be sent to the individual stores of the grocery chain.  
         [0010]     The drivers of trucks that arrive at the distribution center are not engaged to load and unload the trucks. As a result, either the distribution center maintains a staff of stevedores to load and unload the trucks or they contract with an organization that does provide the necessary staffing. Contracting out the loading and unloading function of the distribution center is desirable because the owner of the site then does not need to provide liability insurance or workmen&#39;s compensation for the staff. The distribution center also does not need to absorb the downtime when no trucks arrive by having permanent employees sitting idle until a truck comes into the distribution center for unloading.  
         [0011]     As a result, practices evolved in the industry in which the owners of the distribution centers contract with a source of temporary labor to handle the loading and unloading of vehicles. There are often contractual penalties involved for either the supplier or the truck bringing the supplies if the truck arrives late.  
         [0012]     There are a number of problems associated with the prior art approach to unloading vehicles at a distribution center. First, if the labor resources aren&#39;t available, unnecessary delays in unloading the truck may occur with the possibilities of penalties being assessed at some point in the delivery chain. About 60% of the vehicles scheduled for unloading are scheduled through the owner of the site. The rest occurs through brokers or individual truckers showing up.  
         [0013]     A set of problems are associated with having the driver be the sole source of information going back to the company that engages the driver to deliver the goods to the distribution point. In the past, the driver has been the main source of information relating to 1) the driver&#39;s time at the site; 2) the type of load (whether the load was palletized or consisted of individual cases); 3) reconciling the count of the cases and pallets delivered to the distribution point and the cost of unloading the load at the distribution point.  
         [0014]     It is customary in the business for the driver to be paid cash on the dock for the delivery. Another problem in managing the unloading a vehicle at the distribution point involves the fact that independent truckers often show up unannounced resulting in delays to other trucks that were expected in the unloading process.  
       BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0015]     The invention is directed to improve techniques for overcoming the problems of the prior art, and, more particularly, to methods, apparatus, systems, computer program products and methods of doing business related thereto.  
         [0016]     Specifically, the invention is directed to computer based systems, apparatus, methods and methods of doing business which facilitate the automatic scheduling and reporting of the unloading of vehicles at distribution centers. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0017]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram showing functional navigation of a computer server in accordance with one aspect of the invention.  
         [0018]      FIG. 2  is a diagram showing an exemplary main menu shown in  FIG. 1 .  
         [0019]      FIG. 3  is a diagram showing a screen for entry of information used to schedule a truck for servicing at a distribution center.  
         [0020]      FIG. 4  is a diagram of an exemplary screen permitting export of information related to truck scheduling to an Excels spreadsheet.  
         [0021]      FIG. 5  is a diagram of an exemplary screen showing a view of purchase order information entered preferably at the time of scheduling a truck for service at a distribution center.  
         [0022]      FIG. 6  is a diagram illustrating functionality accessible through the administration selection of the main menu shown in  FIG. 2 .  
         [0023]      FIG. 7  is a diagram illustrating functionality accessible through the Operations selection of this main menu shown in  FIG. 2 .  
         [0024]      FIG. 8  is a diagram illustrating functionality accessible through the Reports selection of the main menu shown in  FIG. 2 .  
         [0025]      FIG. 9  is an illustration of an exemplary DOT report shown in  FIG. 8 .  
         [0026]      FIG. 10  is an illustration of an OPS report selection window activated by selection of the OPS report functionality shown in  FIG. 8 .  
         [0027]      FIG. 11  shows an exemplary OPS report generated from information entered in the OPS report selection window of  FIG. 10 .  
         [0028]      FIG. 12  is a block diagram of the steps users of the system disclosed herein take to process unloading of a vehicle at a distribution center.  
         [0029]      FIG. 13  is a picture showing use of a hand held terminal to capture an image of damage identified upon unloading to goods received.  
         [0030]      FIG. 14  is an exemplary view of purchase order information after job completion.  
         [0031]      FIG. 15  is an exemplary layout of a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) report.  
         [0032]      FIG. 16  is a diagram of a purchase order search screen.  
         [0033]      FIG. 17  is a diagram showing a hand held terminal or a wireless equiped truck and its interaction with the database associated with a local host or a remote server. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0034]     As noted above, the problems of unloading vehicles at a distribution center include insuring an adequate staff of personnel to load and unload the trucks while, at the same time, avoiding the down time that results from having permanent employees sitting around idle until a truck comes to the distribution center for unloading. In accordance with the invention, an integrated set of services are provided to shippers and to truckers and to operators of distribution centers that permit the problems of the prior art to be significantly overcome.  
         [0035]     One aspect of solving the problems of the prior art involves the use of a server, interacting with a database, in novel ways, which permits the problems of the prior art to be overcome.  
         [0036]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram showing functional navigation of a computer server in accordance with one aspect of the invention. In a preferred embodiment, a user logs on to the home page of a company managing the servicing of vehicles at a distribution point. A home page,  100 , is preferably, an HTML based page accessible via wire or wireless connections. When a user accesses the home page, he will undertake an e-portal login  110 . This provides him with access to the functionality of the server. With entry of the users identification information, typically, a log in identification and password, the server checks for the privileges associated with the user. The privileges available to a user are dependant upon the user&#39;s role. In one case, the log in identification and password may indicate that the user is a trucker. Only the functions that should be available to a trucker are then accessible to the trucker through that log in (item  120 ). If the user is a client company, a different and broader set of privileges are available to a client company user, including the acquisition of reports that are specific to the client company. If the user logging in to the server is an employee of the company managing the staffing on the docks of the distribution center, there may be various levels of privilege depending upon whether the employee logging on is a dock worker, a manager, or an executive or other officer of the company. Once the user is successfully logged in, the user is provided access to a main menu  130 . The functionalities that are not permitted to the user logging in with be either grayed out or just not visible to such a user logging in.  
         [0037]     The main menu provides access to functionalities such a scheduling a truck ( 140 ), administration ( 150 ), operations ( 160 ) and reports ( 170 ). Note that the set of reports available to the user logging in maybe specific to a particular customer. In fact, the reports maybe customized for a particular customers needs and be available only to users from that company upon successful log in by a user from that company.  
         [0038]      FIG. 2  is a diagram showing an exemplary main menu shown in  FIG. 1 . In this exemplary main menu,  200 , a user has access to four sets of functionality. The first set,  210 , relates to functionality needed to schedule a truck for arrival and unloading at a distribution center. The second function relates to the administrative functions  220  that might be needed to service the arrival and processing of a truck. Operational functionality  230  relates to functionality that is appropriate to the management of operations at the distribution center. Finally, reports functionality  240  can be accessed through the main menu. As noted above, the specific items of functionality that might be available under each of these menu selections may differ from user to user depending upon the privileges assigned to that user during set up of the account.  
         [0039]      FIG. 3  is a diagram showing a screen for entry of information used to schedule a truck for servicing at a distribution center. The type of user that may have a need to schedule a truck maybe an independent trucker him(her)self, a shipper representative, an employee of the company receiving phone calls about pending deliveries from individuals or companies, the trucks of which may need service upon arrival of the distribution point. There are three main categories of information shown in this exemplary screen, namely purchase order information  200 , load information  220  and time information  230 . In the example shown, purchase order information includes a processing date  201 , a purchase order number  202 , a receipt number  203 , and carrier identification  204 , a supplier identification  205  and location information  206 . The location information is shown as a drop down menu from which locations serviced by the company that operates the server can be selected from the drop down menu. The processing date  201  includes calendar functionality identified as CAL_ to the right of the box which allows calendar information to pop up and be utilized to select a processing date and have that date automatically inserted into the processing date field  201 .  
         [0040]     The load information  220  typically used includes the load type  221 , meaning the type of cargo, the weight of the cargo  222 , the number of pallets  223 , the number of pallets broken down at the distribution point  224  and the number of cases that is associated with the load.  
         [0041]     The time information  230  includes an appointment date  231  with the same type of calendar entry assistance ( CAL ) discussed in conjunction with the purchase order information  201 , the time of the appointment ( 232 ) in hours and ( 233 ) in minutes. The form may be optionally cleared by depressing button  234  and may be optionally saved using the save button  235 .  
         [0042]      FIG. 4  is a diagram showing a screen for entry of information used to schedule a truck for servicing at a distributing center. This particular screen allows a user to export the information selected to an Excel® spreadsheet.  
         [0043]      FIG. 5  is a diagram of an exemplary screen showing a view of purchase order information entered, preferably at the time of scheduling a truck for service at a distribution center. This view of the information is more complete than that shown in  FIG. 3 . Specifically, the information shown in the purchase order information section  200 , the load information section  220  and part of the information shown in the time information  230  of  FIG. 3  is replicated in this view of the information. Note that in addition to the information shown in  FIG. 3 , this view of the information shows revenue information  500  and general comments  600 . In the time information block  530 , the information shown in information  230  is replicated with additional information fields. The additional information fields include the check in date  531 , the hours and minutes of the driver check in ( 532  and  533 ), the check out date  534  and driver check out time  535  and  536 , the hours and minutes ( 537  and  538 ) of time required by the service provider (in this case Eclipse) who provided the unloading services to the incoming truck. Information about load completion,  539 , driver delay  540  and the reason for any driver delay  541  are also viewable from this screen.  
         [0044]     The revenue information  500  is utilized to provide information for billing as described more hereinafter. In addition, the general comments  520  allow for explanatory comments needed to place the context of the billing in focus. Finally, one may return to a higher level view in the navigational hierarchy by pressing the return button.  
         [0045]      FIG. 6  is a diagram illustrating functionality accessible through the administration  220  selection of the main menu shown in  FIG. 2 . When the administration function is selected, there are three major sets of functionality available to a user. The first is the user administration function  600 , second is the load administration function  605  and third is the enter KPI data function  610 .  
         [0046]     When the user administration functionality is selected, an authorized user can create and administer the user privileges for new users and for existing users. Usually this is done by a system administrator who has full privileges to administer the system. The user roles are defined together with the company relationship and the types of privileges available to that user. As noted before, this information will be accessed during user log in, to specify the functionality on the system available to the particular user. The system administrator can set and enforce security policies with respect to all users of the system.  
         [0047]     When load administration is selected, an authorized user can input information relating to the off loading of a particular load by entering the information into the system that is related to that process.  
         [0048]     When the enter KPI data function  610  is selected, key performance indicator data (KPI) relating to profitability of particular tasks undertaken with respect to a particular load, with respect to a particular customer of the service and particularly with respect to a location are entered so that appropriate performance metrics can be saved and reported to track the profitability of the personnel and management at a particular location.  
         [0049]      FIG. 7  is a diagram illustrating functionality accessible through the operations  230  selection of the main menu shown in  FIG. 2 . When the operations functionality  230  is selected from the main menu, four sets of functions can be selected. The first function involves the entry of a new purchase order. This function is utilized in response to customer request for service and are generally performed by employees of the service providing organization. As additional information is provided or changes to existing information relating to a purchase order are received, the company authorized user can view and edit the purchase order  710 . Of course, changes to the purchase order maybe saved.  
         [0050]     Sometimes, when a call comes in relating to a particular purchase order, it becomes necessary to search for that purchase order. This is accomplished using the functionality illustrated at item  720 . Finally, the operations menu selection can be exited using item  730 .  
         [0051]      FIG. 8  is a diagram illustrating functionality accessible through the reports  240  selection of the main menu shown in  FIG. 2 . In this example, there are five types of reports available to a user. The first type of report relates to Department of Transportation reports. The second relates to operational reports  810 . The third relates to operational check in and check out  820 . Other reports include the operational appointment verses check out report  830  and the KPI report  840 . As noted above, each of these reports maybe customized to the needs of a particular customer or user. The particular form of the type of report selected by each of these options, depends upon the log in privileges and information that are associated with the user requesting the report, based upon his log in status. Examples of DOT report  800  and OPS report  810  and KPI report  840  are shown in  FIGS. 9, 11  and  15 , respectively. The operations check in verses check out report  820  and the operations appointment verses check out report  830  provide information useful to determining quality of service and reliability for the customer.  
         [0052]      FIG. 9  is an illustration of an exemplary DOT report shown in  FIG. 8 . The report, in this version, reports summary information about the location of the distribution center LocID, the carrier, the vendor or shipper, the date and time, the purchase order number, the number of cases, the weight, the initial number of pallets, the number of pallets broken down and the load type. In addition, information about the vendor invoice, contract carrier, revenue from restacking, cash or checks received, back haul revenue, repack revenue and receipt numbers can be included.  
         [0053]      FIG. 10  is an illustration of an operational report selection window activated by selection of the OPS report functionality shown in  FIG. 8 . The OPS report selection window shown in  FIG. 10 , enables a person to selectively acquire information about a company, location and to filter that information according to certain criteria. In addition, one can specify the date range in which the report should be run.  
         [0054]      FIG. 11  shows an exemplary OPS report generated from information entered in the OPS report selection window of  FIG. 10 . The report has a format similar to that shown in  FIG. 9  but is changed by the selection criteria entered in the OPS report selection window of  FIG. 10 .  
         [0055]      FIG. 12  is a block diagram of the steps users of the system disclosed herein take to process unloading of a vehicle at a distribution center. When a truck arrives,  1200 , a dock worker logs in to the server using a hand held terminal such a Symbol Technologies MC9090 Terminal, illustrated hereinafter.  
         [0056]     The dock workers begin unloading the truck and record the details of the services provided in the database using the hand held terminal. See step  1220 . If damage is identified during the unloading process, the damage is photographed ( 1230 ) using the hand held terminal and stored in the database. Optionally, a dock worker can notify a customer of the damage, sending, if desired, an image of the damage, and request instructions for disposition by email ( 1240 ). Once the offload is completed, the time of completion and the completion information is stored in the database ( 1250 ) using the hand held terminal.  
         [0057]      FIG. 13  is a picture showing use of a hand held terminal to capture an image of damage identified upon unloading to goods received. The hand held terminal has an image capture device, such as a camera input, for capturing images of the condition of goods during the unload. As noted above, preferably, the hand held terminal is a Symbol Technologies MC9090. In some cases, it maybe desirable to take pictures before off loading or before loading to document the condition of the goods. In the case where images are of such a bandwith that they constitute relatively large digital objects, file transfer protocol (FTP) software may be utilized to upload or download the large digital objects to the server or to a user or customer location.  
         [0058]      FIG. 14  is an exemplary view of purchase order information after job completion. Note that in this figure, there are general comments which, in this case, reads “boxes crushed see attached photo.” As one can see to the right of the general comments box in  FIG. 14 , there is a photo of damaged goods that is included in the completed purchase order. In addition, the signature of the person who participated in or supervised the unloading is included at the bottom.  
         [0059]      FIG. 15  is an exemplary layout of a key performance indicators (KPI) report. Again this is a location based report where information regarding activities at that location are aggregated and reported to measure the operational productivity and efficiency of that work location.  
         [0060]      FIG. 16  is a diagram of a purchase order search screen. The search screen allows a user to identify information in the database that matches either exactly or partially the information provided by the user. For example, if a name of a carrier were entered, and one desired to report a purchase orders from that carrier, one could type in the carriers name, check partial purchase order match, and search for all purchase orders having that carriers name.  
         [0061]      FIG. 17  is a diagram showing a hand held terminal and an exemplary configuration of the architecture of that hand held terminal. In addition, the hand held terminal is shown linked optionally to either a local network  1722  connected to a host  1724  with an appropriate database  1725 ′ or alternatively, through an Internet service provider  1726  to a server  1730  over an Internet link  1728 . Note that the Internet service provider or the Internet itself may contain a wireless base station or network of stations (e.g. cell towers) to which mobile users such as truck  1740  can connect in order to access information in the database of the server.  
         [0062]     At least portions of the invention are intended to be implemented on or over a network such as the Internet. An example of such a network is described in  FIG. 17 .  
         [0063]      FIG. 17  is a block diagram that illustrates a computer system  1700  such as a hand held terminal upon which can be used to carry out the invention. Computer system  1700  includes a bus  102  or other communication mechanism for communicating information, and a processor  1704  coupled with bus  1702  for processing information. Computer system  1700  also includes a main memory  1706 , such as a random access memory (RAM) or other dynamic storage device, coupled to bus  1702  for storing information and instructions to be executed by processor  1704 . Main memory  1706  also may be used for storing temporary variables or other intermediate information during execution of instructions to be executed by processor  1704 . Computer system  1700  further includes a read only memory (ROM)  1708  or other static storage device coupled to bus  1702  for storing static information and instructions for processor  1704 . A storage device  1710 , such as a magnetic disk or optical disk, is provided and coupled to bus  1702  for storing information and instructions.  
         [0064]     Computer system  1700  may be coupled via bus  1702  to a display  1712 , such as a cathode ray tube (CRT), for displaying information to a computer user. An input device  1714 , including alphanumeric and other keys, is coupled to bus  1702  for communicating information and command selections to processor  1704 . Another type of user input device is cursor control  1716 , such as a mouse, a trackball, or cursor direction keys for communicating direction information and command selections to processor  1704  and for controlling cursor movement on display  1712 . This input device typically has two degrees of freedom in two axes, a first axis (e.g., x) and a second axis (e.g., y), that allows the device to specify positions in a plane.  
         [0065]     Computer system  1700  operates in response to processor  1704  executing one or more sequences of one or more instructions contained in main memory  1706 . Such instructions may be read into main memory  1706  from another computer-readable medium, such as storage device  1710 . Execution of the sequences of instructions contained in main memory  1706  causes processor  1704  to perform the process steps described herein. In alternative embodiments, hard-wired circuitry may be used in place of or in combination with software instructions to implement the invention. Thus, embodiments of the invention are not limited to any specific combination of hardware circuitry and software.  
         [0066]     The term “computer-readable medium” as used herein refers to any medium that participates in providing instructions to processor  1704  for execution. Such a medium may take many forms, including but not limited to, non-volatile media, volatile media, and transmission media. Non-volatile media includes, for example, optical or magnetic disks, such as storage device  1710 . Volatile media includes dynamic memory, such as main memory  1706 . Transmission media includes coaxial cables, copper wire and fiber optics, including the wires that comprise bus  1702 . Transmission media can also take the form of acoustic or light waves, such as those generated during radio-wave and infra-red data communications.  
         [0067]     Common forms of computer-readable media include, for example, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, or any other magnetic medium, a CD-ROM, any other optical medium, punchcards, papertape, any other physical medium with patterns of holes, a RAM, a PROM, and EPROM, a FLASH-EPROM, any other memory chip or cartridge, a carrier wave as described hereinafter, or any other medium from which a computer can read.  
         [0068]     Various forms of computer readable media may be involved in carrying one or more sequences of one or more instructions to processor  1704  for execution. For example, the instructions may initially be carried on a magnetic disk of a remote computer. The remote computer can load the instructions into its dynamic memory and send the instructions over a telephone line using a modem. A modem local to computer system  1700  can receive the data on the telephone line and use an infra-red transmitter to convert the data to an infra-red signal. An infra-red detector can receive the data carried in the infra-red signal and appropriate circuitry can place the data on bus  1702 . Bus  1702  carries the data to main memory  1706 , from which processor  1704  retrieves and executes the instructions. The instructions received by main memory  1706  may optionally be stored on storage device  1710  either before or after execution by processor  1704 .  
         [0069]     Computer system  1700  also includes a communication interface  1718  coupled to bus  1702 . Communication interface  1718  provides a two-way data communication coupling to a network link  1720  that is connected to a local network  1722 . For example, communication interface  1718  may be an integrated services digital network (ISDN) card or a modem to provide a data communication connection to a corresponding type of telephone line. As another example, communication interface  1718  may be a local area network (LAN) card to provide a data communication connection to a compatible LAN. Wireless links may also be implemented. In any such implementation, communication interface  1718  sends and receives electrical, electromagnetic or optical signals that carry digital data streams representing various types of information.  
         [0070]     Network link  1720  typically provides data communication through one or more networks to other data devices. For example, network link  1720  may provide a connection through local network  1722  to a host computer  1724  or to data equipment operated by an Internet Service Provider (ISP)  1726 . ISP  1726  in turn provides data communication services through the world wide packet data communication network now commonly referred to as the “Internet”  1728 . Local network  1722  and Internet  1728  both use electrical, electromagnetic or optical signals that carry digital data streams. The signals through the various networks and the signals on network link  1720  and through communication interface  1718 , which carry the digital data to and from computer system  1700 , are exemplary forms of carrier waves transporting the information.  
         [0071]     Computer system  1700  can send messages and receive data, including program code, through the network(s), network link  1720  and communication interface  1718 . In the Internet example, a server  1730  might transmit a requested code for an application program through Internet  1728 , ISP  1726 , local network  1722  and communication interface  1718 . The received code may be executed by processor  1704  as it is received, and/or stored in storage device  1710 , or other non-volatile storage for later execution. In this manner, computer system  1700  may obtain application code in the form of a carrier wave.  
         [0072]     While various embodiments of the present invention have been illustrated herein in detail, it should be apparent that modifications and adaptations to those embodiments may occur to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the present invention as set forth in the following claims.