SYSTEM FOR THE REAL TIME INVENTORY AND LOCALIZATION OF REFRIGERATING CONTAINERS AND RELATED METHOD

• US 20070236357A1
• Filed: 08/23/2006
• Published: 10/11/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 04/05/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Smartfreeze SRL
• Original Assignee: Smartfreeze SRL
• Inventors: Glielmo, Luigi, Cogliano, Davide Del, Santis, Corrado De
• Granted Patent: US 7,658,334 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/585
• CPC Class Codes: F25D 2700/08 Sensors using Radio Frequency Identification [RFID]
• CPC Class Codes: F25D 29/00 Arrangement or mounting of control or safety devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders

Abstract

System (10) for remotely controlling and monitoring a food refrigerator (1), and its content, of the type intended to be given in rental or in free loan from a manufacturer to a vendor of cold products, comprising a control unit (2) for checking and storing a plurality of functioning parameters of the food refrigerator (1), an RFID reader (3) intended to read data stored in a plurality of RFID tags attached to the cold products, a communication unit (4) for interconnecting an external device, the RFID reader (3) comprising means for retrieving data from said RFID tags when the cold products are still stocked inside the food refrigerator (1) and the communication unit (4) localization means for transmitting information to the external device about a geographical localization of the food refrigerator (1). System (10) according to claim 1 wherein said means produce a radio frequency signal at predetermined time intervals for activating said RFID tags. The data stored in said RFID tag comprises a unique identification number. The communication unit (4) is a GSM/GPRS unit. The external devices might be a second food refrigerator, residing in a same local area network (LAN). The external device is a remote server (5) located outside the local area network (LAN) equipped with a management information system.

Claims

1. System (10) for remotely controlling and monitoring a food refrigerator (1) of the type intended to be given in rental or in free loan from a manufacturer to a vendor of cold products, comprising:

a control unit (2) for checking and storing a plurality of functioning parameters of said food refrigerator (1),

an RFID reader (3) intended to read data, stored in a plurality of RFID tags attached to said cold products,

a communication unit (4) for interconnecting an external device,

said RFID reader (3) comprising means for retrieving said data from said RFID tags when said cold products are still stocked inside said food refrigerator (1) and said communication unit (4) comprising localization means for transmitting information to said external device on a geographical localization of said food refrigerator (1).

2. System (10) according to claim 1 wherein said means emit a radio frequency signal at predetermined time intervals for activating said RFID tags.

3. System (10) according to claim 1 wherein said communication unit (4) is a GSM/GPRS unit or similar cell-based communication system.

4. System (10) according to claim 1 wherein said external devices is a second food refrigerator.

5. System (10) according to claim 4 wherein said food refrigerator (1) and said second food refrigerator resides in a same local area network (LAN) interconnecting respective communication units (4).

6. System (10) according to claim 1 wherein said external device is a remote server (5) located outside said local area network (LAN).

7. System (10) according to claim 1 characterized by comprising a plurality of box-cases for hosting said cold products.

8. System (10) according to claim 7 wherein said box cases are mono-use boxes or plastic wrap.

9. System (10) according to claim 1 wherein said localization means retrieve localization data from a connection between said communication unit (4) and a set of transmission cells of a GSM/GPRS network.

10. Method for remote control of a food refrigerator (1) of the type intended to be given in rental or in free loan from a manufacturer to a vendor of cold products, comprising

a phase for checking, through a control unit (2), a plurality of functioning parameters of said food refrigerator (1);

a phase for reading, through an RFID reader (3), data stored inside a plurality of RFID tag attached to said cold products;

a phase for interconnecting, through a communication unit (4), an external device, obtaining information on a geographical localization of said food refrigerator (1);

said phase of reading being executed when said cold products are still stocked inside said food refrigerator (1).

11. Method according to claim 10 wherein said data are grouped in an inventory data file comprising a number of cold products sold and/or their permanence inside the food refrigerator (1) and/or their production date and or their sale date.

12. Method according to claim 11 wherein said inventory data file is transmitted at predetermined time intervals from said communication unit (4) to said remote server (5).

13. Method according to claim 10 wherein said functioning parameters are sent at predetermined time intervals from said communication unit (4) to said remote server (5).

14. Method according to claim 10 wherein said geographical localization is derived by an analysis of a connection between said communication unit (4) and real-time detectable GSM/GPRS transmission cells.

15. Method according to claim 13 wherein said remote server (5) stores a log, comprising said functioning parameters of said food refrigerator (1), relative to corresponding functioning periods.

16. Method according to claim 10 wherein a transmission of said inventory data or functioning parameters to said remote server (5) is triggered by a fault detected by said control unit (2).

17. Method according to claim 14 characterized by transmitting a de-localization message, from said communication unit (4) to said remote server (5), when a change of transmission cells of a GSM/GPRS network is detected time by said communication unit (4) after a power fault.

18. Method according to claim 10 wherein a transmission of said inventory data or functioning parameters to said remote server (5) is triggered by sending a phone call to said control unit (2).