Method and Apparatus for Detecting Movement of a Shipping Container Latch
First Claim
1. A method for detecting movement of a shipping container latch, comprising the steps of:
- attaching a magnet to a movable portion of said shipping container latch;
installing a sensing unit on a stationary portion of said container latch and proximate to a path traversed by said magnet for detecting changes in a magnetic field profile caused by movement of said movable portion of said container latch; and
processing data representing said changes in said magnetic field profile to determine whether said movement of said container latch is authorized or incidental or a tampering incident.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system, method, and apparatus for monitoring and detecting movement of components of a shipping container latch. A latch monitor may embody an electromagnetic sensing unit and a nearby magnet or light emitter for measuring and characterizing the profile of a nearby electromagnetic field. The field profile is monitored to detect a change in the profile, log the change, and report any abnormal disturbance to the electromagnetic field, indicating a breach of the integrity of a latching mechanism on a shipping container. An alert of a breach event may be sent via a communication network to an authority for response. The invention can distinguish authorized, incidental, and tampering events, and also store and upload an electronic manifest for a shipping container.
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Citations
14 Claims
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1. A method for detecting movement of a shipping container latch, comprising the steps of:
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attaching a magnet to a movable portion of said shipping container latch; installing a sensing unit on a stationary portion of said container latch and proximate to a path traversed by said magnet for detecting changes in a magnetic field profile caused by movement of said movable portion of said container latch; and processing data representing said changes in said magnetic field profile to determine whether said movement of said container latch is authorized or incidental or a tampering incident. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A sensing apparatus for detecting movement of a shipping container latch, comprising:
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a magnet disposed within the body of a movable portion of the shipping container latch; a housing; a plurality of magnetic field sensors disposed in a uniform, predetermined configuration and supported by said housing proximate said magnet, each said sensor providing an output signal proportional to a magnetic field intensity produced by said magnet at the location of each said sensor; a processor including a memory operating under the control of an executable program residing in said memory for receiving and analyzing the output signal from each sensor to obtain a magnetic field profile produced by the magnet; and a transmitter for sending a data message generated by said processor, said data message containing information describing the magnetic field profile and whether it compares identically with a signature profile stored in the memory.
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Specification