Apparatus for tamper proof security mechanism and tamper evident indicator
AssigneeGlobalTrak, LLC
InventorRichard C. Meyers
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system, apparatus, and method for a high degree of container security using tamper evident indicator is provided. According to one embodiment, the tamper evident indicator may be a visible alarm, an audible alarm, or their combinations. Further, the tamper evident indicator may be incorporated into a smart container monitoring system. More specifically, the tamper evident indicator may be linked to a mesh network, thus a primary container in a set of linked containers may alert inspectors to other containers that have been tampered.
Claims9
A cargo container security apparatus for securing a first cargo container, the apparatus comprising:
- a tamper-evident indicator;
- a digitally programmed locking device;
- a wireless transceiver element, wherein the wireless transceiver element is configured to send and receive wireless signals to and from at least a second cargo container;
- and
- a microcontroller, wherein the microcontroller is capable of determining the occurrence of an alarm event related to the first cargo container and generating a first alarm via a tamper-evident indicator;
- wherein the microcontroller is further configured to receive an alert message indicating that an alarm event related to the second cargo container has occurred;
- wherein the microcontroller is further configured to provide an alarm based on the alert message received from the second cargo container;
- and further wherein the microcontroller is configured to indicate which cargo container triggered the alarm.
A method for managing a tamper-proof cargo container and indicating a suspected event that compromises container security, the method comprising:
- programming a digital locking device on a first container;
- detecting an unauthorized access to the first container;
- and
- generating an alarm via a tamper-evident indicator on the first container, wherein the first container is wirelessly linked to one or more cargo containers in a given area, and further wherein a second container linked in the network transmits a message to the first container regarding an alarm event, further wherein the tamper-evident indicator indicates which container triggered the alarm event.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.