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WO2002035505A2 - Procede et systeme de transmission d'etiquettes clients a un groupe de plusieurs fournisseurs - Google Patents

Procede et systeme de transmission d'etiquettes clients a un groupe de plusieurs fournisseurs Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2002035505A2
WO2002035505A2 PCT/US2001/046719 US0146719W WO0235505A2 WO 2002035505 A2 WO2002035505 A2 WO 2002035505A2 US 0146719 W US0146719 W US 0146719W WO 0235505 A2 WO0235505 A2 WO 0235505A2
Authority
WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
customer
recited
supplier
printing
variable
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Ceased
Application number
PCT/US2001/046719
Other languages
English (en)
Other versions
WO2002035505A3 (fr
Inventor
Lawrence Sawyer
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
ACSIS Inc
Original Assignee
ACSIS Inc
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by ACSIS Inc filed Critical ACSIS Inc
Priority to AU2002225944A priority Critical patent/AU2002225944A1/en
Publication of WO2002035505A2 publication Critical patent/WO2002035505A2/fr
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Publication of WO2002035505A3 publication Critical patent/WO2002035505A3/fr
Ceased legal-status Critical Current

Links

Classifications

    • G—PHYSICS
    • G09—EDUCATION; CRYPTOGRAPHY; DISPLAY; ADVERTISING; SEALS
    • G09F—DISPLAYING; ADVERTISING; SIGNS; LABELS OR NAME-PLATES; SEALS
    • G09F3/00—Labels, tag tickets, or similar identification or indication means; Seals; Postage or like stamps
    • G09F3/02—Forms or constructions
    • G09F3/0288—Labels or tickets consisting of more than one part, e.g. with address of sender or other reference on separate section to main label; Multi-copy labels
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING OR CALCULATING; COUNTING
    • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
    • G06F40/00—Handling natural language data
    • G06F40/10—Text processing
    • G06F40/103—Formatting, i.e. changing of presentation of documents

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to printing shipping labels, more particularly, to supplying labeling instructions and formats necessary to print shipping labels to a plurality of suppliers.
  • BACKGROUND Supply chain management is the oversight of materials and information as they move in a process among the participating organizations of a supply chain, i.e., manufacturer, customer, supplier, consumer, etc. Coordinating and integrating material and information flow among the participating organizations is a critical element of supply chain management.
  • customers In ordering goods and supplies from suppliers, customers typically prepare purchase orders that specify the type and quantity of material to be purchased. Additional information items, such as ship-to address, can be included in the customer's purchase order.
  • the suppliers in fulfilling the terms of the purchase order prepare labels that are used to address the packages containing the goods or supplies for shipment. These shipping labels can also include information concerning the contents of the package.
  • the customer upon receiving the shipped package, must then correlate the received package with the original purchase order to insure proper fulfillment of the terms of the purchase order.
  • the form and content of the label received from each supplier can be markedly different. The customer is thus burdened to expend significant time and resources in correlating the original purchase order with packages received from different suppliers.
  • the customer can impose that the suppliers provide a shipping label in a specific format, which provides customer related information on the shipping label.
  • this solution merely shifts the burden of conformity onto the supplier.
  • the supplier must necessarily comply with a host of different formats, one for each different customer, in order to satisfy customers' labeling requirements or lose these same valuable customers.
  • additional information items that are added to the shipping label must be incorporated into the suppliers' label printing process.
  • the suppliers are additionally burdened to comply with customer changed labeling requirements.
  • a method and system are presented that enables a plurality of customers to provide printing instructions to a plurality of suppliers that enable each supplier to print shipping labels used for shipping materials and goods from the supplier in a format that is consistent, and in compliance, with the customer's requirements.
  • the customer when a supplier undertakes to fulfill an order placed by a customer, the customer provides instructions to the supplier for printing a label on the supplier's printers.
  • the instructions which are customized for the supplier's printers direct the printer to produce a label indicium compliant with the customer's labeling requirements.
  • the supplier is not burdened with maintaining a host of different customer formats or of preloading printers with customer specific label material.
  • Figure 1 illustrates an exemplary network configuration
  • Figure 2 illustrates an exemplary shipping label
  • FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary network configuration in accordance with the principles of the invention
  • FIG. 4 illustrates a flow chart of an exemplary processing in accordance with the principles of the invention.
  • FIG. 5 illustrates a shipping label provided in accordance with the principles of the invention. It is to be understood that these drawings are solely for purposes of illustrating the concepts of the invention and are not intended as a definition of the limits of the invention. It will be appreciated that the same reference numerals, possibly supplemented with reference characters where appropriate, have been used throughout to identify corresponding parts.
  • Figure 1 illustrates an exemplary network of customers and suppliers, wherein each customer can purchase goods from selective suppliers and each supplier can provide goods to selective customers or to other suppliers.
  • customers 110, 1 15 and 120 are in communication with suppliers 125, 130 and 135 over a communication network 100, e.g., a telephone network, or the Internet.
  • a communication network 100 e.g., a telephone network, or the Internet.
  • customers can purchase goods from a plurality of suppliers.
  • customer 110 may order one type of goods or supplies from supplier 125 and a second type of goods and supplies from both supplier 130 and supplier 135.
  • Supplier 135, for example may supply an amount of a second type of good that supplier 130 cannot supply.
  • Figure 2 depicts an exemplary customer required shipping label format.
  • label 200 includes fixed regions, such as horizontal line 215 and vertical line 217 and variable information items such as the supplier address 210 and the' customer shipping address 220. Additionally, information items under the control of the supplier can be included on label 200. For example, an indication of package number and the number of packages in shipment 230, number of pieces in package 250, the date of shipment 290, the postage 310 and the package weight 300, may be included on shipping label 200. These items aid the supplier and customer in tracking the shipment. Further/still, customer supplied information items, such as, purchase order number 240, customer serial number 260 and customer designation 270, etc. can be included on label 200.
  • customer supplied information items such as, purchase order number 240, customer serial number 260 and customer designation 270, etc. can be included on label 200.
  • the customer required shipping label thus provides the customer with sufficient information to correlate the packages of a received shipment with a purchase order.
  • the correlation of the received packages with a purchase order allows a customer to monitor and track shipment, even when the packages are received at remotely located receiving site.
  • the inclusion of customer related information items on shipping label 200 requires the supplier to record and maintain information items that are related to the customer's business operation and not the supplier's business operation.
  • FIG. 3 illustrates a network configuration in accordance with the principles of the invention.
  • customer 110 is in communication with a host processing system 320, such as a computer system that includes a data base storage system. Included in host system 320 are processing systems that enable customer 110 the capability to create and store information items for the purchase of goods or supplies. The information items may be stored under a customer related category, such as purchase order number.
  • the purchase order information rather than being relayed directly to supplier 125, is routed to second hosting system 340 for storage. The routing is accomplished through a web adapter 330, which posts to one hosting system 340, designated as a web server .
  • the information items and the purchase order number may then be relayed from hosting system 340 to supplier 125 to notify supplier 125 of new orders.
  • second hosting system 340 is comparable to a web server system that enables a plurality of users to access the data stored thereon.
  • the purchase order information items hosted on web server 340 may be accessible by selected suppliers for viewing new or open purchase orders.
  • Supplier 125 for example using the Internet, can periodically view stored purchase orders in order to bid on new or fill open purchase orders.
  • web server 340 can inform selected suppliers when new purchase orders have been posted by sending an indication, such as an electronic-mail message, to customer selected suppliers.
  • supplier 125 can then select at least one open purchase order from a list of purchase orders or, in the alternative, select at least one line item from a purchase order.
  • Web server 340 having knowledge of the supplier's printers, then provides printer specific instructions to browser 345 used by supplier 125. Browser 345, using the printer specific instructions is then capable of printing the shipping label, form, style and content, in a manner that is compliant with the customer's requirements.
  • Figure 4 illustrates an exemplary processing 400 preformed at web server 340 in processing a request from supplier 125.
  • a search is made, at block 405, for those customers registered with supplier 125 and which supplier 125 is approved to bid on or fill open purchase orders.
  • Supplier 125 may select a customer and view a list of purchase orders associated with the selected customer, at block 410.
  • Supplier 125 may then request, at block 415, that web server 340 display open purchase order header information.
  • Supplier 125 selects one purchase order, at block 420, and receives, at block 425, detailed information associated with the selected purchase order.
  • supplier 125 can, at block 435, select individual line items within the purchase order information. After selected purchase order(s) or purchase order lines items have been confirmed, web server 340 then determines whether packing, or shipping information, is associated with the selected items. If packing or shipping information is available, then supplier 125 printer information is made available to web server 340. For example, supplier 125 may be directed to provide the location and type of printer to be used in printing the customer compliant labels, or the location and type of printer information may be stored on web server 340. Furtherstill, supplier 125 may change a previously stored printer location and type to reflect new or different printer hardware available at the facility of supplier 125.
  • a software package is also downloaded. The software package, being resident on the supplier's computing system, merges, at block 470, the print instructions and variable data items and places the resultant merged document in the selected supplier's printer queue.
  • the supplier's system uses the print instructions to correctly print the fixed portions of the label, i.e., indicium, and the variable portions that contain variable content data without using the printer's own driver program software.
  • the selected printer is then directed to print, at block 475, the label indicium and the variable label content, which was downloaded, at block 465. If the determination of printer is positive, then the label content (variable data) that is associated with the selected purchase order or line item is then downloaded to the supplier's computing system, at block 465.
  • the supplier's computer system using the previously loaded software program, then merges the label content data with the previously loaded indicium, at block 470. The merged data is then directed to the selected printer, which prints the label indicium (fixed regions) and the variable information item label content without using the printer's own software driver programs.
  • Figure 5 illustrates an exemplary shipping label 500 printed in accordance with the principles of the invention.
  • shipping label information content i.e., variable data, such as, customer part number 510, shipping address 520, purchase order number 550, special identification 560, customer part name 570 are downloaded from web server 340 when supplier 125 selects an associated purchase order.
  • web server 340 provides the printer instructions to print the fixed portions (i.e., regions) of the customer label. For example, instructions concerning printing the thickness, length and starting location of vertical lines, such as line 610 and horizontal line, such as horizontal line 615, are, or were previously, downloaded from web server 340 to the designated printer.
  • Table 1 illustrates the printing instructions necessary to create label 500 on a
  • Table 2 illustrates the printing instructions necessary to create label 500 on a Intermac 3400B printer.
  • the printing instructions vary with different printers, hence, when a supplier adds or changes a printer, new printing instructions are needed for the proper printing of a customer's shipping label.

Landscapes

  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Theoretical Computer Science (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Audiology, Speech & Language Pathology (AREA)
  • Computational Linguistics (AREA)
  • General Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
  • Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
  • General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Artificial Intelligence (AREA)
  • Accessory Devices And Overall Control Thereof (AREA)
  • Management, Administration, Business Operations System, And Electronic Commerce (AREA)
  • Labeling Devices (AREA)

Abstract

L'invention concerne un procédé de production d'étiquettes d'expédition standardisés pour un client, consistant à fournir des instructions d'impression à un groupe de plusieurs fournisseurs. Selon l'invention, un client passe une commande à un emplacement distant accessible par ses fournisseurs. L'emplacement distant contient également une étiquette d'expédition spécifiée par le client devant être utilisée par ses fournisseurs de produits. L'étiquette d'expédition est transmise à chaque fournisseur sous forme d'instructions d'impression spécifiques à son type de dispositif d'impression. Les instructions d'impression permettent au dispositif d'impression du fournisseur d'imprimer les empreintes fixes et les données variables sur l'étiquette d'expédition sans accéder aux programmes du logiciel du gestionnaire d'impression. Les articles d'informations variables sont également téléchargés depuis l'emplacement distant et intégrés dans l'étiquette d'expédition imprimée.
PCT/US2001/046719 2000-10-24 2001-10-22 Procede et systeme de transmission d'etiquettes clients a un groupe de plusieurs fournisseurs Ceased WO2002035505A2 (fr)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
AU2002225944A AU2002225944A1 (en) 2000-10-24 2001-10-22 Method and system to generate customer supplied labels to a plurality of suppliers

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US69499500A 2000-10-24 2000-10-24
US09/694,995 2000-10-24

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
WO2002035505A2 true WO2002035505A2 (fr) 2002-05-02
WO2002035505A3 WO2002035505A3 (fr) 2004-03-18

Family

ID=24791137

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
PCT/US2001/046719 Ceased WO2002035505A2 (fr) 2000-10-24 2001-10-22 Procede et systeme de transmission d'etiquettes clients a un groupe de plusieurs fournisseurs

Country Status (2)

Country Link
AU (1) AU2002225944A1 (fr)
WO (1) WO2002035505A2 (fr)

Cited By (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB2384599A (en) * 2002-01-23 2003-07-30 Fastabs Ltd Producing a product label
EP1445667A1 (fr) * 2003-01-07 2004-08-11 Canon Europa N.V. Systéme et procedé de l'impression d'une etiquette retour pour un composant dans un réseau.
CN112558891A (zh) * 2020-12-10 2021-03-26 深圳一道创新技术有限公司 基于web与云应用的标签打印系统及方法

Family Cites Families (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4939674A (en) * 1988-04-22 1990-07-03 Engineered Data Products, Inc. Label generation apparatus
US5319562A (en) * 1991-08-22 1994-06-07 Whitehouse Harry T System and method for purchase and application of postage using personal computer
US5721813A (en) * 1996-02-05 1998-02-24 Electronic Data Systems Corporation Method and system for arranging text for label printing
US6490567B1 (en) * 1997-01-15 2002-12-03 At&T Corp. System and method for distributed content electronic commerce

Cited By (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB2384599A (en) * 2002-01-23 2003-07-30 Fastabs Ltd Producing a product label
EP1445667A1 (fr) * 2003-01-07 2004-08-11 Canon Europa N.V. Systéme et procedé de l'impression d'une etiquette retour pour un composant dans un réseau.
US7208020B2 (en) 2003-01-07 2007-04-24 Canon Europa N.V. System and method for printing within a network labels to be used for the return of components
CN112558891A (zh) * 2020-12-10 2021-03-26 深圳一道创新技术有限公司 基于web与云应用的标签打印系统及方法

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
WO2002035505A3 (fr) 2004-03-18
AU2002225944A1 (en) 2002-05-06

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