Hazardous waste transport management system
First Claim
1. A system for managing vehicular transport of hazardous waste, such system comprisinga central data handler for maintaining records of hazardous waste materials being shipped in a plurality of waste shipment vehicles in a regiona plurality of vehicle RF transponders, each vehicle RF transponder being located on a waste shipment vehicle and including memory means for storing data, processing means for receiving and handling data, and RF transceiver means for bidirectionally communicating messages related to the data,a plurality of sensors on said vehicle for sensing conditions of hazardous waste material in a waste shipment which may change as said vehicle moves, said sensors sensing at least one of an environmental condition, reaction condition, leakage/emission condition and maintenance of intact hazardous waste load condition while the vehicle is in motion, and providing sensed data indicative of sensed condition to the RF transponder of such vehicle, anda plurality of base transponders distributed throughout the region, each base transponder including means for transmitting messages to and from the central data handler and further including RF base transceiver means for bidirectionally receiving and transmitting messages to and from each vehicle RF transponder within its range, wherein each vehicle transponder is programmed to transmit said sensed data to a base transponder, and the base transponder relays received messages to the central data handler for tracking waste shipments and condition of hazardous waste material included in each shipment as the waste shipment vehicle travels through the region near base transponder locations.
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0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A hazardous waste shipment system provides monitoring and control to verify the location and condition of each shipment. Two-way base stations receive status and identification signals from vehicle-mounted transponders as the shipments pass by, and the base stations relay the information to a central data bank. The vehicle mounted transponders may receive data from sensors that monitor the load, and may actuate alarms or a message display for operator intervention. The three-tier system also provides notifications, and safety instructions in the event of a mishap, with the base stations relaying instructions or route changes to the vehicle mounted transponders.
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Citations
18 Claims
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1. A system for managing vehicular transport of hazardous waste, such system comprising
a central data handler for maintaining records of hazardous waste materials being shipped in a plurality of waste shipment vehicles in a region a plurality of vehicle RF transponders, each vehicle RF transponder being located on a waste shipment vehicle and including memory means for storing data, processing means for receiving and handling data, and RF transceiver means for bidirectionally communicating messages related to the data, a plurality of sensors on said vehicle for sensing conditions of hazardous waste material in a waste shipment which may change as said vehicle moves, said sensors sensing at least one of an environmental condition, reaction condition, leakage/emission condition and maintenance of intact hazardous waste load condition while the vehicle is in motion, and providing sensed data indicative of sensed condition to the RF transponder of such vehicle, and a plurality of base transponders distributed throughout the region, each base transponder including means for transmitting messages to and from the central data handler and further including RF base transceiver means for bidirectionally receiving and transmitting messages to and from each vehicle RF transponder within its range, wherein each vehicle transponder is programmed to transmit said sensed data to a base transponder, and the base transponder relays received messages to the central data handler for tracking waste shipments and condition of hazardous waste material included in each shipment as the waste shipment vehicle travels through the region near base transponder locations.
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12. A mobile vehicle transponder system for management of a shipment of hazardous waste, such vehicle transponder system including
a plurality of sensors on said vehicle for sensing conditions of hazardous waste material in a waste shipment which may change as said vehicle moves, said sensors sensing at least one of an environmental condition, reaction condition, leakage/emission condition and maintenance of intact hazardous waste load condition while the vehicle is in motion, and providing sensed data indicative of sensed condition to the RF transponder of such vehicle and a vehicle-mounted unit for receiving said sensed data and having a radio frequency transceiver for receiving and sending digitally encoded messages identifying a shipment of hazardous waste, memory means for storage of data, processing means for effecting lag data/message conversion for messages received or transmitted via the transceiver, and a display for displaying data to a vehicle operator, said processing means controlling said memory and said transceiver to transmit said data from the vehicle on which the transponder is mounted as said vehicle nears each of a plurality of fixed stations, thereby providing current status information relating to the shipment of hazardous waste and to receive data for displaying on the display.
Specification