Tracking removal or processing of debris material

• US 20080041948A1
• Filed: 08/17/2007
• Published: 02/21/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/18/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Haulpass LLC
• Original Assignee: Haulpass LLC
• Inventors: Stankunas, Darius J., Mayers, Scott A.
• Granted Patent: US 7,878,392 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/385
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management

Abstract

A method of performing debris clean-up following a disaster event can include creating an electronic load ticket for a pre-registered debris transporter to transport a load of debris from a site of debris origin to a site where the load of debris is to be emptied from the transporter; following transport of the load of debris to the second site, reading, from the electronic information storage device and to a portable computing device, the information uniquely identifying the debris transporter and the electronic load ticket; and upon verification that no alteration has been made to the transporter, receiving at the portable computing device information describing the load of debris that has been transported. In some implementations, the electronic load ticket includes information identifying the geographic location of debris origin, and is electronically stored on a portable electronic information storage device that contains information uniquely identifying the debris transporter.

Claims

1. A method of performing debris clean-up following a disaster event, the method comprising:

creating an electronic load ticket for a pre-registered debris transporter to transport a load of debris from a site of debris origin to a second site where the load of debris is to be emptied from the transporter, the electronic load ticket including information identifying the geographic location of debris origin, and being electronically stored on a portable electronic information storage device that contains information uniquely identifying the debris transporter;

following transport of the load of debris to the second site, reading, from the electronic information storage device and to a portable computing device, the information uniquely identifying the debris transporter and the electronic load ticket; and

upon verification that no alteration has been made to the transporter, receiving at the portable computing device information describing the load of debris that has been transported.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising registering the debris transporter, and in connection therewith storing information about the transporter in electronic memory.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the information about the transporter includes load carrying capacity information for the transporter.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the verification that no alteration has been made to the transporter is performed using the information stored in electronic memory during the step of registering the debris transporter.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the information stored in electronic memory during the step of registering the debris transporter is made accessible to the portable computing device at the site where the load of debris is to be emptied from the transporter with out the use of a telecommunications network.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the information stored in electronic memory during the step of registering the debris transporter is physically transported to the site where the load of debris is to be emptied from the transporter.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic load ticket further including information uniquely identifying the monitoring person responsible for monitoring at the site of debris origin.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising receiving at the portable computing device the information uniquely identifying the monitoring person responsible for monitoring at the site of debris origin.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising loading into a central database the information received at the portable computing device describing the load of debris that has been transported and the associated electronic load ticket.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising using the information loaded into the central database to determine monetary compensation for debris transport services using the transporter.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the information identifying the site of debris origin comprises geographic location information obtained from a device containing global positioning system information.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the geographic location information comprises latitude and longitude information.

13. A computer-implemented method of tracking a clean-up operation, the method comprising:

receiving, by a portable electronic storage medium, registration information corresponding to a material transporter vehicle with which the portable storage medium is associated;

receiving, by the portable electronic storage medium and at a site of material origin, electronic load ticket information characterizing material that is to be loaded into the material transporter vehicle and conveyed to a site of material disposition and storing the electronic load ticket information in the portable electronic storage medium; and

receiving, by the portable electronic storage medium and from an electronic device at the site of material disposition, a request for the electronic load ticket information, and providing the stored electronic load ticket information to the electronic device in response to receiving the request.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein the portable electronic storage medium is selected from the group consisting of a smart card and a radio frequency identification (RFID) device.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, further comprising deleting the electronic load ticket information from the portable electronic storage medium after the electronic load ticket information has been provided to the electronic device.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein the electronic load ticket information comprises location information that identifies a geographic location of the site of material origin and classification information that specifies a type of the material.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 16, further comprising receiving, by the electronic portable storage medium, from the electronic device, an indication that the classification information accurately characterizes the material that was conveyed to the site of material disposition by the material transporter vehicle and quantity information that specifies an amount of the conveyed material in the material transporter vehicle.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, further comprising encrypting the received electronic load ticket information, wherein storing the electronic load ticket information comprises storing the encrypted electronic load ticket information.

19. A computer-implemented method of tracking transportation of material from a plurality of material origination sites to one or more material disposal sites, the method comprising:

in a computing device at a disposal site, retrieving from a portable electronic storage medium uniquely associated with a registered material transporter vehicle, an electronic load ticket corresponding to material that has been transported in the registered transporter vehicle from a site of material origination to the disposal site, the electronic load ticket including information identifying a geographic location corresponding to the site of material origination;

receiving from a user of the computing device input specifying a quantity of the material transported in the registered transporter vehicle and a classification of the material; and

providing the electronic load ticket and the received input to a centralized tracking system.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 19, further comprising providing a signal to the portable electronic storage medium to cause the electronic load ticket to be deleted from the portable electronic storage medium.