SYSTEM FOR ASSOCIATING INVENTORY WITH HANDLING EQUIPMENT IN SHIPPING CONTAINER YARD INVENTORY TRANSACTIONS

• US 20110010005A1
• Filed: 07/09/2009
• Published: 01/13/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/09/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mi-Jack Products Incorporated (Lanco International, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: ContainerTrac, Inc. (Lanco International, Inc.)
• Inventors: Bu, Fanping, Huang, Jihua, Warf, Gregory Keith, Tan, Han-Shue, Chuang, Ke-Ren
• Granted Patent: US 8,949,046 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/214
• CPC Class Codes: B66C 13/46 Position indicators for suspended loads or for crane elements
• 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

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.

Claims

1. 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 to detect container-operation-related events occurring to the handling equipment based on the vibrations.

2. The event detection apparatus of claim 1, wherein the container-operation-related events comprise:

pick up of the container from the chassis attached to the handling equipment and drop off of the container onto the chassis of the handling equipment.

3. The event detection apparatus of claim 1, wherein the container-operation-related events comprise at least one of the following eight types of events:

(1) drop off of the container in a middle of the chassis attached to the handling equipment, (2) drop off of the container at a front of the chassis, (3) drop off of the container at a rear of the chassis, (4) pick up of the container in the middle of the chassis, (5) pick up of the container at the front of the chassis, (6) pick up of the container at the rear of the chassis, (7) engagement of the chassis with the handling equipment, and (8) disengagement of the chassis from the handling equipment.

4. The event detection apparatus in claim 1, wherein the vibration detector comprises at least one of the following:

a sound detector that detects sounds caused by the impact of a container with the chassis during the container-operation-related event;

an accelerometer that detects a vertical motion of the handling equipment;

a height sensor that detects a vertical motion of the handling equipment by measuring a height from the height sensor to the ground;

an angular motion sensor that detects a pitch motion of the handling equipment; and

an inertial measurement unit (IMU) that comprises at least one of an accelerometer and an angular motion sensor.

5. The event detection apparatus in claim 1, wherein the processor determines whether a container-operation related event has occurred as well as an event type by analyzing the vibrations using techniques comprising at least one of pattern recognition, model matching, information-based algorithm, cognitive-based algorithm, and rule based logics.

6. The event detection apparatus in claim 1, wherein the vibration detector comprises an angular motion sensor that allows determination of a pitch angle of the handling equipment and the processor further incorporates a change in the pitch angle of the handling equipment before and after vibrations occur to detect container-operation-related events.

7. The event detection apparatus in claim 1, further comprising a speed detector to provide information pertaining to whether the handling equipment is at near zero speed including zero speed,

wherein the speed detector comprises at least one of the following:

a sensor for providing a speed of the handling equipment, a sensor for providing an acceleration of the handling equipment, and a sensor for providing a gear position of a transmission of the handling equipment; and

wherein the processor detects the container-operation-related events when the speed detector indicates the handling equipment is at near zero speed including zero speed.

8. The event detection apparatus in claim 1,

further comprising a container-presence detector to provide a status indicating a presence of the container on the chassis,

wherein the processor further incorporates the status from the container-presence detector in detecting container-operation-related events and in determining an event type for each of the container-operation-related events.

9. 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 container-position detector to detect a presence of the container on the chassis attached to the handling equipment and to provide a status of presence as well as a distance between the container and the handling equipment; and

a processor to receive the status of presence and the distance and to detect container-operation-related events occurring to the handling equipment based on changes in the status of presence as well as the distances before and after the changes.

10. The event detection apparatus of claim 9, wherein the container-operation-related events comprise:

pick up of the container from the chassis attached to the handling equipment and drop off of the container onto the chassis of the handling equipment.

11. An inventory association system for associating containers with handling equipment for handling containers in a container storage facility, 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 receiving and 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 associating each container in each of the container operations with a single unit of the handling equipment among the 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.

12. The inventory association system in claim 11, wherein:

each of the operation detectors comprises a plurality of sensor switches for providing a status of engagement indicating engagement and disengagement of mechanisms that secure a container to and release a container from the respective unit of the first handling equipment; and

the processor detects an occurrence of a container operation and a time of occurrence based on changes in the status of engagement.

13. The inventory association system in claim 11, wherein:

each of the operation detectors comprises a vibration detector for measuring vibrations of the respective unit of the first handling equipment; and

the processor detects an occurrence of a container operation and time of occurrence based on patterns of said vibrations.

14. The inventory association system of claim 11, wherein:

each of the event detectors comprise a container-position detector that provides a status of presence of at least one container on a chassis attached to the respective unit of the second handling equipment as well as a distance between the container and the respective unit of the second handling equipment; and

the processor detects an occurrence of a container-operation-related event and a time of occurrence based on changes in the status of presence as well as the distances before and after the changes.

15. The inventory association system in claim 11, wherein each of the event detectors comprises a vibration detector to provide vibration measurements of the respective unit of the second handling equipment, and wherein the processor detects an occurrence of a container-operation-related event and time of occurrence based on the vibration measurements.

16. The inventory association system in claim 15, wherein:

the vibration detector comprises at least one of the following;

a sound detector that detects sounds caused by the impact of a container with the chassis during the container-operation-related event;

an accelerometer that detects a vertical motion of the handling equipment;

a height sensor that detects a vertical motion of the handling equipment by measuring a height from the height sensor to the ground;

an angular motion sensor that detects a pitch motion of the handling equipment; and

an inertial measurement unit (IMU) that comprises at least one of an accelerometer and an angular motion sensor.

17. The inventory association system in claim 11, wherein the processor associates containers with handling equipment by:

detecting a given one of the container operations and a time of occurrence based on the information from one of the operation detectors on the first handling equipment;

detecting a given one of the container-operation-related events and a time of occurrence based on the information from one of the event detector on the second handling equipment;

determining whether the given container-operation-event matches the given container operation by comparing the time of occurrence for the given event with the time of occurrence for the given operation; and

if the given container-operation-event matches the given container operation, associating a container involved in the given container operation with one of the respective units of the first and second handling equipment based on at least one of the two types;

the type of the given operation and the type of the given event.

18. The inventory association system in claim 17, wherein the processor further

determines an operation type for the given container operation and an event type for the given container-operation-related event;

and

compares the event type for the given event with the operation type for the given operation in determining whether the given container-operation-event matches the given container operation.

19. The inventory association system in claim 11, wherein the processor comprises:

first distributed processors, each provided on one unit of the first handling equipment for detecting a container operation and a time of occurrence based on the information from the operation detector on the respective unit of the first handling equipment,

second distributed processors, each provided on one unit of the second handling equipment for detecting a container-operation-related event and a time of occurrence based on the information from the event detector on the respective unit of the second handling equipment; and

a central processor for associating containers with individual units of the first and the second handling equipment based on the detections from the first and the second distributed processors.

20. The inventory association system in claim 11, wherein:

the container-operation-related events include a plurality of types comprising;

(1) drop off of the container in a middle of the chassis attached to the handling equipment, (2) drop off of the container at a front of the chassis, (3) drop off of the container at a rear of the chassis, (4) pick up of the container in the middle of the chassis, (5) pick up of the container at the front of the chassis, (6) pick up of the container at the rear of the chassis, (7) engagement of the chassis with the handling equipment, and (8) disengagement of the chassis from the handling equipment; and

upon detecting a given one of the container-operation-related events, the processor further determines the type of the given container-operation-related event based on information from the respective event detector.

21. The inventory association system in claim 11, further comprising:

a first positioning unit installed on each unit of the first handling equipment for providing first positions of the respective unit of the first handing equipment; and

a second positioning unit installed on each unit of the second handling equipment for providing second positions of the respective unit of the second handing equipment;

wherein the communication link further links the first and the second positioning units to the processor and the processor incorporates the first and the second positions in the association.

22. 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 associating containers with 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.

23. The inventory association system in claim 22, wherein:

each of the operation detectors comprises a plurality of sensor switches for providing a status of engagement indicating engagement and disengagement of mechanisms that secure a container to and release a container from the respective unit of the first handling equipment.

24. The inventory association system in claim 22, wherein the processor associates containers with handling equipments by:

detecting a given one of the container operations as well as a respective operation type and a time of occurrence based on the information from one of the operation detectors, and determining a location of operation based on the first positions of the respective unit of the first handling equipment;

determining whether a unit of the second handling equipment is involved in the given container operation based on a plurality of the following;

the location of operation, the operation type, the motion of the respective unit of second handling equipment before and at the time of occurrence, and the respective second positions; and

if the unit of the second handling equipment is determined to be involved in the given container operation, associating a container involved in the given container operation with one of the respective units of the first and second handling equipments based on the type of the given container operation.

25. The inventory association system in claim 24, wherein the processor, in determining whether the unit of the second handling equipment is involved in the container operation, further identifies a last trustworthy position among the respective second positions collected before and at the time of occurrence based on confidence levels of the respective second positions, calculates a distance-to-last-trustworthy-position based on the motion information collected between a time corresponding to the last trustworthy position and the time of occurrence, and compares the distance-to-last-trustworthy-position with the distance between the last trustworthy position and the location of operation to determine how close the unit of the second handling equipment was to the location of operation at the time of occurrence.

26. The inventory association system in claim 22, wherein:

the processor communicates the detection of a given one of the container operations as well as a respective operation type and a time of occurrence to the second mobile units;

each of the second mobile units further comprises a processor unit for determining a likelihood that the respective second handling equipment is involved in the given container operation, and each of the second mobile units communicates the likelihood to the processor; and

the processor associates containers with handling equipments based on the likelihood communicated from the second mobile units.

27. The inventory association system in claim 22, wherein:

each of the first mobile units further comprises a first processor unit configured to detect a given one of the container operations as well as a respective operation type and a time of occurrence based on the information from the respective operation detectors, and determine a location of operation based on the first positions of the respective unit of the first handling equipment;

the first mobile unit communicates the detection of the given container operation as well as its operation type and time of occurrence to the second mobile units;

each of the second mobile units further comprises a second processor unit configured to determine a likelihood that the respective unit of the second handling equipment is involved in the given container operation; and

the processor associates containers with handling equipment based on the likelihood communicated from the second mobile units.

28. The inventory association system in claim 22, wherein:

each of the second mobile units further comprises an event detector to provide information indicating an occurrence of a given one of container-operation-related events occurring to the respective unit of the second handing equipment, wherein the container-operation-related event includes at least two types;

a container pick up from the chassis and a container drop off onto the chassis; and

the processor further detects the given container-operation-related event as well as a respective event type and a time of occurrence for associating containers with handling equipment.

29. The inventory association system in claim 22, wherein the processor further incorporates a profile of the container storage facility in associating containers with handling equipment.

30. A method for determining a location of a container operation with respect to a chassis, comprising:

detecting a given one of container operations and identifying a respective unit of first handling equipment that conducts the given container operation, wherein the first handling equipment can lift and transport a container and the container operations include at least two types;

a container pickup operation and a container drop off operation;

determining a unit of second handling equipment that is involved in the container operation, wherein each unit of the second handling equipment has an attached chassis for transporting the container; and

determining the location of the container on the chassis based on a status of presence provided by a container-presence detector installed on the respective unit of the second handling equipment,

whereby the location of the given container operation with respect to the chassis is determined as the location of the container on the chassis.