Electronic seal, methods and security system
AssigneeTRIpseal Limited
InventorsMichael John Leck, John Edward Mason
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An electronic seal (2) is disclosed which comprises a housing (4,104) and a closure member co-operable with the housing to form a seal. The closure member may for example take the form of an elongate member (6, 106) connectable at both of its ends to the housing. The closure comprises an outer portion (8, 108) surrounding a core (10, 10A, 110). A sensor assembly (14, 16, 135, 136) is provided for sensing integrity of the core. Hence tampering with the seal can be detected. The core may be formed as a fiber optic cable (10, 10A with an integrity sensor comprising an optical source 14 and an optical detector 16.
Claims25
An electronic seal comprising:
- a closure member comprising an outer portion surrounding at least one core, and
- a housing co-operable with the closure member to form a connection to close the seal;
- means for sensing the integrity of the core and for providing data output;
- a microprocessor for receiving and processing said data output, and
- an infra-red beacon, controllable by the microprocessor, for transmitting the processed data output to a remote reading device, wherein the microprocessor activates the means for sensing the integrity of the core at pre-determined intervals and records any change of state in the seal as an event in a memory and causes the infra-red beacon to broadcast a synchronization signal to initiate communication with the remote reading device.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.