Patent ID: 7684994

Claim:
A computer system for providing enhanced visibility of shipped items shipped via a carrier, said computer system comprising: one or more event-based tracking systems comprising at least one or more of a barcode scanner or a radio frequency identification (RFID) reader, the event-based tracking systems configured to obtain information about shipped items; a global tracking/data repository comprising a mainframe-computer or a server, the global tracking/data repository configured to receive said information from said event-based tracking systems; a visibility engine configured to provide at least a portion of said information to at least a shipper or a recipient of one or more shipped items over a network; a package routing module configured to determine: a preferred delivery route and an alternate delivery route for the transport of the shipped items from the shipper to the recipient via the carrier; and an expected delivery date for each shipped item, wherein: the routes are determined by the package routing module prior to the transport of the shipped items and each route is comprised of one or more intermediate locations, and; a non-occurrence exceptions module, wherein: the non-occurrence exceptions module is configured to monitor the routes of each shipped item in transport by the carrier and assign a status to each shipped item based on an event occurring at said one or more intermediate locations; said non-occurrence exceptions module configured to communicate said status to the visibility engine to provide enhanced visibility of the shipped items; and the non-occurrence exceptions module is configured for, in response to determining that the item was not scanned by a first scanning device at an intermediate location that is identified in said preferred delivery route determining whether at least one of said shipping items was scanned at an intermediate location that is identified in said alternate delivery route.