System and method for lot based processing and tracking in a container security system using wireless communications
AssigneeSystem Planning Corporation
InventorRichard C. Meyers
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system and method for tracking a plurality of shipping containers which are designated as a specific group or lot is provided. The system may use the receiver range of a short range wireless communications device to track containers among themselves, or alternatively use a global positioning device in conjunction with a long range satellite or cellular communications device to report position back to a central monitoring station which utilizes a centralized method for tracking the container lots. An alarm condition is generated if any given container gets separated from the group or lot.
Claims11
A system for monitoring and tracking a plurality of containers organized in groups or lots, wherein each container is provided with a unique container address and lot designation, said system comprising:
- a short range wireless communications device associated with each container, each short range wireless communication device including a transmitter element and a receiver element;
- a position determination element;
- and
- a control element which dynamically tracks certain groups or lots of containers using the unique container addresses and lot designations;
- wherein, for any given lot of containers, at least one container is initially programmed with a preset table comprising all of the container addresses within a given lot designation;
- further wherein, one or more containers within a specific location are queried for their container address and lot designation;
- further wherein responses to queries from the containers are collected and compared against the preset table to determine if any containers are absent;
- and reporting an alarm condition if any of the containers are determined to be absent.
A method for using a short range wireless communications device for dynamic tracking of a plurality of containers organized into a group or lot using a short range wireless communications device associated with each container, the method comprising:
- for any given lot of containers, initially programming each container with a unique container address and lot designation;
- for any given lot of containers, initially programming each container with a preset table comprising all of the container addresses within a given lot designation;
- querying each container for the container address and lot designation within the proximity of each short range receiver;
- collecting reports back from neighboring containers, the reports indicating the container address and lot number of the neighboring containers;
- comparing container addresses and lot designations against the preset table and determining if any containers are absent;
- and
- in the event of an absent container, reporting an alarm condition back to a central monitoring station.
A method for using a position determination device for dynamic tracking a plurality of containers organized into a group or lot using a short range wireless communications device associated with each container, the method comprising:
- for any given lot of containers, initially programming each container with a unique container address and lot designation;
- initially storing a unique table comprising all of the container addresses within a given lot designation in a database in a central monitoring station;
- for each container, transmitting the container address, lot designation, and container location back to a central monitoring station using a long range communications device;
- at the central monitoring station, comparing the location, container address, and lot designations for each container against the preset table;
- determining if any containers are physically located at a distance greater than a predetermined value from all other containers in the lot;
- and
- in the event that one or more of the containers are located at a distance greater than a predetermined value from all other containers, reporting an alarm condition.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.