US 8,949,046 B2 · System for associating inventory with handling equipment in shipping container yard inventory transactions

Abstract

A system is provided to associate containers with handling equipment (HE) in a container storage facility. In the system an operation detector, such as a twistlock sensor that indicates when a container is picked up or dropped off, is installed on a first HE which is a piece of container handling equipment (CHE) that can lift the container. An event detector, such as a vibration sensor or distance measuring radar, is further installed on a second HE that is a tractor with an attached chassis for receiving and transporting a container. The event detector indicates when a container-operation-related event, such as a container pick up or drop off, occurred on the tractor chassis. The two detectors (operation and event) are used by a processor to associate the container with either the CHE or the tractor. The operation and event detectors can further be used in conjunction with position sensors such as a GPS sensor to accurately determine the position of the tractor and the CHE in a container yard. When the position sensors degrade in performance, an additional motion detector such as a speed sensor can be used to determine the tractor's distance from the CHE to locate an appropriate tractor involved in the operation.

Claims30

Dependent claims

An event detection apparatus adapted for use with a handling equipment that can have a chassis attached to it for receiving and transporting a container, comprising:

a vibration detector to measure vibrations of the handling equipment;
and
a processor, connected to the vibration detector to receive measurements from the vibration detector, to detect vibrations by examining characteristics of the measurements from the vibration detector, to determine whether the handing equipment is at near-zero speed including zero speed, and to determine container-operation-related events occurring to the handling equipment by analyzing patterns of the vibrations detected when the handing equipment is determined to be at near-zero speed.

An inventory association system for associating containers with handling equipment for handling containers in a container storage facility with a plurality of container handling equipment, comprising

an operation detector, each installed on a unit of first handling equipment, each first handling equipment unit configured to lift and transport a container, each operation detector providing information indicating an occurrence of container operations conducted by a respective unit of the first handling equipment, wherein the container operations comprise:
a container pickup operation and a container drop off operation;
an event detector, each installed on a unit of second handling equipment, each second handling equipment unit having a chassis attached to it for transporting a container, each event detector providing information indicating an occurrence of container-operation-related events occurring to a respective unit of the second handing equipment, wherein the container-operation-related events comprise:
pick up of a container from the chassis and drop off of a container onto the chassis;
a processor for matching a container operation conducted by a respective unit of the first handling equipment with a container-operation-related event occurring with a respective unit of the second handling equipment and associating the container in each of the container operations with a single unit of the handling equipment among the respective two units of first and second handling equipment based on the information from the operation detectors and the event detectors;
and
a communication link between the operation detectors and the processor as well as between the event detectors and the processor.

4 more elements

An inventory association system for associating containers with handling equipment in a container storage facility, comprising:

a first mobile unit, each installed on a unit of first handling equipment that can lift and transport a container, comprising
a first positioning unit to provide first positions of a respective unit of the first handing equipment, and
an operation detector to provide information indicating an occurrence of a container operation conducted by the respective unit of the first handling equipment, wherein the container operation includes at least two types:
a container pickup operation and a container drop off operation;
a second mobile unit, each installed on a unit of second handling equipment that has an attached chassis for receiving and transporting a container, comprising
a second positioning unit to provide second positions of a respective unit of the second handing equipment,
a motion detector to provide information pertaining to motion of the respective unit of the second handling equipment in the container storage facility;
a processor for detecting the occurrence of a container operation conducted by a unit of the first handling equipment, identifying a unit of the second handling equipment that is involved in the detected container operation and associating the containers in the said container operation with one of the two respective units of handling equipments based on the first positions, the information from the operation detectors, the second positions, and the information from the motion detectors;
and
a communication link between the first mobile units and the processor as well as between the second mobile units and the processor configured to transmit information from the first and the second mobile units to the processor.

7 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

System for associating inventory with handling equipment in shipping container yard inventory transactions

Life of this patent

System for associating inventory with handling equipment in shipping container yard inventory transactions

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims30