US 5828322

Patent Overview: US 5,828,322 A

Title: System for controlling delivery and return of printed matter

Patent number: US 5,828,322 A
Application number: US 08/644,662
Inventor: Hans Joachim Eberhard
Assignee: Individual (original and current assignee)
Priority date: 1995-05-06
Filing date: 1996-04-24
Publication/grant date: 1998-10-27
Status: Expired – Lifetime; anticipated expiration 2016-04-24
Classification: G07C 5/008 — registering or indicating the working of vehicles, communicating information to a remotely located station

Purpose: To improve distribution of books, periodicals, and similar printed matter from publisher to wholesaler to retailer, and the opposite flow of returns, addressing problems such as late deliveries, drivers getting lost or skipping stops, and orders being mixed up or misdelivered.

Plain-language scope (per the excerpt): At each target location, a transmitter emits a unique identifying code. At the source, individual orders are packed into containers, each with its own transmitter emitting a unique code. As containers are loaded onto a truck, their codes are recorded in a portable device along with target locations. The device continuously determines the truck's position and guides the truck along its route (e.g., optical or audible instructions, potentially using GPS with correction by detecting target transmitters). At each stop, it reads the location transmitter and indicates which containers to unload, reading container codes on unloading and alarming on errors. Transmitters may be battery-free transponders; containers may be flexible, durable triangular bags with closures bearing the transmitters, held on a rack that can be rolled into a truck. The device may exchange data with a host computer, record read times (useful for returns), and hold codes of previously left containers. The excerpt also lists container desiderata (lightweight, e.g., under 250 g empty; weatherproof; washable; theft-discouraging; inexpensive) and mentions packing stations, racks with roller tracks, displays, order-assembling lines, and branches.

Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/US5828322/en

What the excerpt does not establish: The full claims; the complete description (text is marked excerpted); the exact contents of figures; and any specific dimensions, materials, or embodiment details beyond those quoted above.