Electronic security seal
First Claim
1. An electronic security seal comprising:
- a housing having a cavity;
a cable locking device in the cavity;
a cable having a hollow core and a first sealed free end and a second end, the second end being secured fixedly secured in the cavity, the first free end for selective insertion into engagement with the received locking device to lock the free end in the cavity;
an electrical conductor in the cable hollow core, the conductor having a given resistance R, the conductor forming a loop within the cable and extending adjacent to the cable sealed first end, the loop terminating in a second free end with the conductor forming a pair of conductors extending beyond the cable at the cable second end and electrically connected to a first circuit;
the first circuit located in the housing cavity including a signal generating circuit for generating a first signal manifesting a first cable locked state indicating that the cable free end is locked, the first circuit being responsive to a sensed tamper condition of the conductor for generating a second signal manifesting the sensed tampered condition of the locked cable; and
a resistance measuring circuit for periodically measuring the resistance value of said electrical conductor loop, the first circuit being responsive to the measuring circuit for generating the second signal when the resistance value of the conductor loop differs from a predetermined reference value to provide a detected tamper condition;
the first circuit including a power source having an output voltaae that decreases in value during a time period, the first circuit being arranged to correlate the predetermined reference resistance value of the conductor to at least one of a measured ambient temperature value and a measured decreasing power source output voltage value.
11 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A battery operated cable security seal for cargo containers and the like includes a housing with a transparent cover for visual inspection of illuminated internal green or red LEDs, the red LED representing a tampered state of a stranded metal locking cable, which has a length sufficient to secure the keeper bars and hasp of a cargo container door. The cable has an internal conductor whose conductivity, e.g., resistance, manifests a tampered condition when severed and also if reattached, e.g., by a solder or spliced joint and so on. The electrical continuity of the conductor is monitored by a circuit in one embodiment for a severed state, i.e., tampering, and whose resistance is monitored in a second embodiment correlated optionally to either or both ambient temperature and a battery output voltage. The seal housing has two compartments one being hermetically sealed and contains the circuitry and the other containing a cable locking device for receiving and locking the cable to the seal. The circuit includes an RFID tag which may be part of a mesh network configuration with other tags.
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Citations
38 Claims
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1. An electronic security seal comprising:
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a housing having a cavity; a cable locking device in the cavity; a cable having a hollow core and a first sealed free end and a second end, the second end being secured fixedly secured in the cavity, the first free end for selective insertion into engagement with the received locking device to lock the free end in the cavity; an electrical conductor in the cable hollow core, the conductor having a given resistance R, the conductor forming a loop within the cable and extending adjacent to the cable sealed first end, the loop terminating in a second free end with the conductor forming a pair of conductors extending beyond the cable at the cable second end and electrically connected to a first circuit; the first circuit located in the housing cavity including a signal generating circuit for generating a first signal manifesting a first cable locked state indicating that the cable free end is locked, the first circuit being responsive to a sensed tamper condition of the conductor for generating a second signal manifesting the sensed tampered condition of the locked cable; and a resistance measuring circuit for periodically measuring the resistance value of said electrical conductor loop, the first circuit being responsive to the measuring circuit for generating the second signal when the resistance value of the conductor loop differs from a predetermined reference value to provide a detected tamper condition; the first circuit including a power source having an output voltaae that decreases in value during a time period, the first circuit being arranged to correlate the predetermined reference resistance value of the conductor to at least one of a measured ambient temperature value and a measured decreasing power source output voltage value. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. An electronic securing seal for securing a cargo container door comprising:
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a housing having a cavity; a cable locking device in the cavity; a cable having a hollow core and a first sealed free end and a second end, the second end being secured fixedly secured in the cavity, the first free end for selective insertion into engagement with the received locking device to lock the free end in the cavity,; and an electrical conductor in the cable hollow core, the conductor having a given resistance R and electrically connected to a first circuit; the first circuit located in the housing cavity including a signal generating circuit for generating a first signal manifesting a first cable locked state indicating that the cable free end is locked, the first circuit being responsive to a sensed tamper condition of the conductor for generating a second signal manifesting the sensed tampered condition of the locked cable; wherein the first circuit includes a cower source having an output voltage that decreases in value during a time period, the first circuit being arranged to correlate the given reference resistance value R of the conductor to at least one of a measured ambient temperature value and a measured decreasing power source output voltage value. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34)
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35. An electronic security seal comprising:
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a housing having a cavity; a cable locking device in the cavity; a cable having a hollow core and a first sealed free end and a second end, the second end being secured fixedly secured in the cavity, the first free end for selective insertion into engagement with the received locking device to lock the free end in the cavity; an electrical conductor in the cable hollow core, the conductor having a given resistance R, the conductor forming a loop within the cable and extending adjacent to the cable sealed first end, the loop terminating in a second free end with the conductor forming a pair of conductors extending beyond the cable at the cable second end and electrically connected to a first circuit; the first circuit located in the housing cavity including a signal generating circuit for generating a first signal manifesting a first cable locked state indicating that the cable free end is locked, the first circuit being responsive to a sensed tamper condition of the conductor for generating a second signal manifesting the sensed tampered condition of the locked cable; a resistance measuring circuit for periodically measuring the resistance value of said electrical conductor loop, the first circuit being responsive to the measuring circuit for generating the second signal when the resistance value of the conductor loop differs from a predetermined reference value to provide a detected tamper condition; and the first circuit including a power source having an output voltage that decreases in value dunng a time period, the first circuit being arranged to correlate the predetermined reference resistance value of the conductor to a measured decreasing power source output voltage value.
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36. An electronic security seal comprising:
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a housing having a cavity; a cable locking device in the cavity; a cable having a hollow core and a first sealed free end and a second end, the second end being secured fixedly secured in the cavity, the first free end for selective insertion into engagement with the received locking device to lock the free end in the cavity; an electrical conductor in the cable hollow core, the conductor having a given resistance R, the conductor forming a loop within the cable and extending adjacent to the cable sealed first end, the loop terminating in a second free end with the conductor forming a pair of conductors extending beyond the cable at the cable second end and electrically connected to a first circuit; the first circuit located in the housing cavity including a signal generating circuit for generating a first signal manifesting a first cable locked state indicating that the cable free end is locked, the first circuit being responsive to a sensed tamper condition of the conductor for generating a second signal manifesting the sensed tampered condition of the locked cable; a resistance measuring circuit for periodically measunng the resistance value of said electrical conductor loop, the first circuit being responsive to the measuring circuit for generating the second signal when the resistance value of the conductor loop differs from a predetermined reference value to provide a detected tamper condition; the first circuit being arranged to correlate the predetermined reference resistance value of the conductor to a measured ambient temperature value.
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37. An electronic securing seal for securing a cargo container door comprising:
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a housing having a cavity; a cable locking device in the cavity; a cable having a hollow core and a first sealed free end and a second end, the second end being secured fixedly secured in the cavity, the first free end for selective insertion into engagement with the received locking device to lock the free end in the cavity; and an electrical conductor in the cable hollow core, the conductor having a given resistance R and electrically connected to a first circuit; the first circuit located in the housing cavity including a signal generating circuit for generating a first signal manifesting a first cable locked state indicating that the cable free end is locked, the first circuit being responsive to a sensed tamper condition of the conductor manifested by a shift in the reference resistance value R from a predetermined amount for generating a second signal manifesting the sensed tampered condition of the locked cable; the first circuit including a power source having an output voltage that decreases in value during a time period, the first circuit being arranged to correlate the given resistance R value to a measured decreasing power source output voltage value.
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38. An electronic securing seal for securing a cargo container door comprising:
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a housing having a cavity; a cable locking device in the cavity; a cable having a hollow core and a first sealed free end and a second end, the second end being secured fixedly secured in the cavity, the first free end for selective insertion into engagement with the received locking device to lock the free end in the cavity, the cable having a length sufficient to secure the keeper bars and hasp of the cargo container door; and an electrical conductor in the cable hollow core, the conductor having a given resistance R and electrically connected to a first circuit;
the first circuit located in the housing cavity including a signal generating circuit for generating a first signal manifesting a first cable locked state indicating that the cable free end is locked, the first circuit being responsive to a sensed tamper condition of the conductor for generating a second signal manifesting the sensed tampered condition of the locked cable manifested by a shift in the reference resistance value R from a predetermined amount;the first circuit being arranged to correlate the reference resistance value R of the conductor to a measured ambient temperature value.
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Specification