# US 11,526,947 B2 · Computer-based systems employing a network of sensors to support the storage and/or transport of various goods and methods of use thereof to manage losses from quality shortfall

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- Number: US 11,526,947 B2
- Document ID: US11526947B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 16/809,760
- Filed: 2020-03-05
- Published: 2020-06-25
- Granted: 2022-12-13
- Earliest claimed: 2017-10-13
- Assignees: Munich Re
- Applicants: Munich Re
- Inventors: Richard B. Jones; Stefan C. Froehlich; Ronald Kargl; Richard Walter Bridges; Christoph Kalinski; Veenet Muthraja
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11526947B2

## CPC

- G06Q 40/08: Insurance
- G01N 33/02: Food
- G06Q 10/083: Shipping
- H04W 4/026: {using orientation information, e.g. compass}
- H04W 4/38: for collecting sensor information
- G06Q 10/0843: {using forecasting or optimisation}
- G06Q: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- G01N: INVESTIGATING OR ANALYSING MATERIALS BY DETERMINING THEIR CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES (measuring or testing apparatus or processes other than immunoassay, involving enzymes or microorganisms C12M, C12Q)
- H04W: WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS (broadcast communication H04H; communication systems using wireless links for non-selective communication, e.g. wireless extensions H04M1/72)

## Abstract

In some embodiments, the present disclosure provides a network of multi-functional sensors; where, based on a quality insurance, each multi-functional sensor is positioned in, on, or in a vicinity of: a transported cargo and/or a cargo container, containing the transported cargo; where each multi-functional sensor is configured to measure particular transport-related condition, particular cargo-related condition, or both, to form cargo transport sensor data and wirelessly transmit it to a server that is configured to dynamically predict, based on the cargo transport sensor data, a predicted quality loss of the transported cargo, determine a current loss value of the transported cargo and cause one or more remedial actions that include instantaneously instructing to pay a payout amount to an owner of the transported cargo to compensate for the current loss value and/or transmitting a remedial instruction with an adjustment to the operation of one or more of a cargo transport, the cargo container, and a cargo storage.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A system comprising:
a network of multi-functional sensors associated with a cargo during a transport of the cargo;
wherein the network of multi-functional sensors is associated with the cargo based at least in part on at least one quality metric that is utilized in determining a pre-determined quality score, indicative of an original condition of the cargo prior to the transport;
wherein at least one multi-functional sensor of the network of multi-functional sensors is configured to measure, in real-time, at least one transport-related condition, at least one cargo-related condition, or both, to form cargo transport sensor data;
wherein the at least one multi-functional sensor of the network of multi-functional sensors comprises a control board and a communication module, the communication module is configured to:
receive, via one or more communication modes, at least one remedial instruction and
communicate, via the one or more communication modes, at least one real-time adjustment to at least one other device;
wherein the at least one real-time adjustment instructs at least one operational change in the at least one other device to cause at least one change to at least one operational parameter of one of a cargo container, the transport of the cargo, or the cargo, to maintain, based at least in part on at least one remedial action, the cargo at or above the pre-determined quality score indicative of the original condition of the cargo;
at least one server device having cargo quality administration software stored on a non-transient computer readable medium;
wherein the at least one server device is remotely located from the network of multi-functional sensors;
wherein, upon execution of the cargo quality administration software, the at least one server device is configured to:
i) receive the cargo transport sensor data from the network of multi-functional sensors;
ii) automatically and dynamically predict a current quality score of the cargo during the transport from the pre-determined quality score of the cargo, based at least in part on the cargo transport sensor data and at least one of:
a) at least one item attribute of at least one item in the cargo, or
b) at least one item characteristic category of the at least one item in the cargo; and
iii) automatically and dynamically determine the at least one remedial action chosen from a plurality of remedial actions, pre-defined within cargo quality administration software, based at least in part on the current quality score of the cargo, the pre-determined quality score of the cargo, and a curve defining a relationship between the current quality score of the cargo and a percent remaining monetary value of the cargo;
wherein the plurality of remedial actions comprises:
a) compensating, in real-time, for a reduction in an initial monetary value of the cargo, and
b) generating, in real-time, and communicating, to the at least one multi-functional sensor, via the one or more communication modes, the at least one remedial instruction that instructs the at least one multi-functional sensor to instruct the at least one operational change in the at least one other device to cause at least one change to at least one operational parameter of one of a cargo container, the transport of the cargo, or the cargo, to maintain the cargo at or above the pre-determined quality score of the cargo based at least in part on the at least one remedial action;
wherein the at least one remedial action of compensating, in real-time, for the reduction in the initial monetary value of the cargo comprises:
instantaneously instructing, during the transport of the cargo, to pay, without physical inspection of the cargo, a payout amount based at least in part on:
1) The pre-determined quality score of the cargo,
2) the current quality score of the cargo, and
3) the curve.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one condition is one of:
temperature, humidity, vibration, shock, sound, light, presence of air contaminant, pH, location, presence of at least one odor, presence of at least one gas, physical integrity of at least one item of the cargo, or any combination thereof.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more communication modes comprise: NFC, RFID, NBIOT, ZigBee, B3G, 4G, 5G, GSM, GPRS, WiFi, WiMax, CDMA, satellite, or any combination thereof.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one real-time adjustment is an instruction to replace one or more of: a current cargo transport, a current cargo container, or a current cargo storage, with one or more of: a new cargo transport, a new cargo container, or a new cargo storage, respectively.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more operational parameters of the at least one cargo transport comprise a speed of the at least one cargo transport and wherein the at least one operational change is a change in the speed of the at least one cargo transport.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more operational parameters of the at least one cargo transport comprise a geographic direction of the at least one cargo transport and wherein the at least one operational change is a change in the geographic direction of the at least one cargo transport.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one server and the network of multi-functional sensors are associated with distinct entities.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one server is further configured to calculate an insurance premium to be paid by an owner so that the owner is entitled to receive the payout amount.

### Claim 9 (depends on 8)

The system of claim 8, wherein a calculation of the insurance premium is based at least in part on at least one of: 1) historical quality data associated with one or more past cargo transportations of other cargo of a type of the cargo, or 2) one or more expert opinion associated with at least one of i) the pre-determined quality score of the type of the cargo or ii) an operation of one or more of: the transport of the cargo, the cargo container, or the cargo.

### Claim 10 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one server having cargo quality shortfall administration software comprises at least one machine learning algorithm configured to dynamically predict the current quality score of the cargo.

### Claim 11 (depends on 10)

The system of claim 10, wherein the at least one machine learning algorithm is a neural network.

### Claim 12

A method comprising:
receiving, by at least one server, cargo transport sensor data of cargo from a network of multi-functional sensors during a transport of the cargo;
wherein the at least one server is remotely located from the network of multi-functional sensors;
wherein the network of multi-functional sensors is associated with the cargo based at least in part on at least one quality metric that is utilized in determining a pre-determined quality score indicative of an original condition of the cargo prior to the transport;
wherein at least one multi-functional sensor of the network of multi-functional sensors is configured to measure, in real-time, at least one transport-related condition, at least one cargo-related condition, or both, to form cargo transport sensor data;
wherein the at least one multi-functional sensor of the network of multi-functional sensors comprises a control board and a communication module, the communication module is configured to:
receive, via one or more communication modes, at least one remedial instruction and
communicate, via the one or more communication modes, at least one real-time adjustment to at least one other device;
wherein the at least one real-time adjustment instructs at least one operational change in the at least one other device to cause at least one change to at least one operational parameter of one of a cargo container, the transport of the cargo, or the cargo, to maintain, based at least in part on at least one remedial action, the cargo at or above the pre-determined quality score indicative of the original condition of the cargo;
automatically and dynamically predicting, by the at least one server, a current quality score of the cargo during the transport from the pre-determined quality score of the cargo, based at least in part on the cargo transport sensor data and at least one of:
a) at least one item attribute of at least one item in the cargo, or
b) at least one item characteristic category of the at least one item in the cargo; and automatically and dynamically determining, by the at least one server device, the at least one remedial action chosen from a plurality of remedial actions, pre-defined within cargo quality administration software, based at least in part on the current quality score of the cargo, the pre-determined quality score of the cargo, and a curve defining a relationship between the current quality score of the cargo and a percent remaining monetary value of the cargo;
wherein the plurality of remedial actions comprises:
a) compensating, in real-time, for a reduction in an initial monetary value of the cargo, and
b) generating, in real-time, and communicating, to the at least one multi-functional sensor, via the one or more communication modes, the at least one remedial instruction that instructs the at least one multi-functional sensor to instruct the at least one operational change in the at least one other device to cause at least one change to at least one operational parameter of one of a cargo container, the transport of the cargo, or the cargo, to maintain the cargo at or above the pre-determined quality score of the cargo based at least in part on the at least one remedial action;
wherein the at least one remedial action of compensating, in real-time, for the reduction in the initial monetary value of the cargo comprises:
instantaneously instructing, during the transport of the cargo, to pay, without physical inspection of the cargo, a payout amount based at least in part on:
1) The pre-determined quality score of the cargo,
2) the current quality score of the cargo, and
3) the curve.

### Claim 13 (depends on 12)

The method of claim 12, wherein the at least one condition is one of:
temperature, humidity, vibration, shock, sound, light, presence of air contaminant, pH, location, presence of at least one odor, presence of at least one gas, physical integrity of at least one item of the cargo, or any combination thereof.

### Claim 14 (depends on 12)

The method of claim 12, wherein the one or more communication modes comprise: NFC, RFID, NBIOT, ZigBee, B3G, 4G, 5G, GSM, GPRS, WiFi, WiMax, CDMA, satellite, or any combination thereof.

### Claim 15 (depends on 12)

The method of claim 12, wherein the at least one real-time adjustment is an instruction to replace one or more of: a current cargo transport, a current cargo container, or a current cargo storage, with one or more of: a new cargo transport, a new cargo container, or a new cargo storage, respectively.

### Claim 16 (depends on 12)

The method of claim 12, wherein the one or more operational parameters of the at least one cargo transport comprise a speed of the at least one cargo transport and wherein the at least one operational change is a change in the speed of the at least one cargo transport.

### Claim 17 (depends on 12)

The method of claim 12, wherein the one or more operational parameters of the at least one cargo transport comprise a geographic direction of the at least one cargo transport and wherein the at least one operational change is a change in the geographic direction of the at least one cargo transport.

### Claim 18 (depends on 12)

The method of claim 12, wherein the at least one server and the network of multi-functional sensors are associated with distinct entities.

### Claim 19 (depends on 12)

The method of claim 12, wherein the at least one server is further configured to calculate an insurance premium to be paid by an owner so that the owner is entitled to receive the payout amount.

### Claim 20 (depends on 19)

The method of claim 19, wherein a calculation of the insurance premium is based at least in part on at least one of: 1) historical quality data associated with one or more past cargo transportations of other cargo of a type of the cargo, or 2) one or more expert opinion associated with at least one of i) the pre-determined quality score of the type of the cargo or ii) an operation of one or more of: the transport of the cargo, the cargo container, or the cargo.

### Claim 21 (depends on 12)

The method of claim 12, wherein the at least one server having cargo quality shortfall administration software comprises at least one machine learning algorithm configured to dynamically predict the current quality score of the cargo.

### Claim 22 (depends on 21)

The method of claim 21, wherein the at least one machine learning algorithm is a neural network.