ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 11 -- United States Patent no. 12,547,979, issued on Feb. 10, was assigned to DISH Wireless LLC (Littleton, Colo.).

"Tracking inventory and alert system" was invented by James Ramirez (Littleton, Colo.), Harold Stearns (Erie, Colo.), Laurel Dumonteil (Centennial, Colo.) and Christopher George (Lees Summit, Mo.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A computer-implemented method for supply chain management is provided. In one example, the method includes: validating a supply chain event involving an inventory item based on a pre-established rule; determining presence or absence of a supply chain issue regarding the inventory item based on the validation; determining an issue type...