The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 15, 2002
Filed:
Jun. 04, 1999
Anthony Franke Stuart, Deer Isle, ME (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
A system, method, and program for controlling a manufacturing process is described. A highest priority work item having a ready status for a processing step is retrieved from one or more relational database tables. The processing step is performed by either a processing device or by a work flow management system having one or more work managers. Upon completion of the processing step, the status of the work item in the one or more relational database tables is updated to a completed status of the processing step. The completed status of the processing step represents a ready status for a new processing step. For one embodiment of the present invention, the manufacturing process is a production printing and mailing operation that performs a plurality of processing steps on a mail piece. As the mail piece is processed, it is transformed from a print file to printed media in an envelope ready for mailing.