US 11,883,853 B2
Integrated on-demand placarding
Robert Charles Moran, Crofton, MD (US); and Marlon Guy Wells, Fort Washington, MD (US)
Assigned to United States Postal Service, Washington, DC (US)
Filed by United States Postal Service, Washington, DC (US)
Filed on Mar. 3, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/178,344.
Application 18/178,344 is a continuation of application No. 17/031,541, filed on Sep. 24, 2020, granted, now 11,602,774.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/905,617, filed on Sep. 25, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2023/0201882 A1, Jun. 29, 2023
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. B07C 3/14 (2006.01); B07C 3/18 (2006.01); B07C 3/20 (2006.01)
CPC B07C 3/14 (2013.01) [B07C 3/18 (2013.01); B07C 3/20 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of tracking items in a distribution network, the method comprising:
generating a first placard, wherein the first placard comprises a radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag;
associating, in a processor, the first placard and a first item container;
storing, in a memory, the association of the first placard and the first item container;
determining, in a processor, that the first item container has received items planned to be sorted into the first item container at a bin;
generating, in response to determining that the first item container has received the items, a second placard comprising another RFID tag;
generating a close event for the first placard;
storing, in the memory, the close event for the first placard;
associating, in a processor, the second placard and a second item container; and
storing, in the memory, the association of the second placard and the second item container.