Low-rate wireless personal area network system for tracking containers

• US 7,378,960 B1
• Filed: 11/13/2007
• Issued: 05/27/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/13/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Globalfoundries US Incorporated (GlobalFoundries, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Husemann, Dirk, Schade, Andreas, Hermann, Reto J., Dolivo, Francois B., Binding, Carl
• Primary Examiner(s): Crosland; Donnie L
• Application Number:
  US11/939,093
• Time in Patent Office: 196 Days
• Field of Search: 340/539.13
• US Class Current: 340/539.13
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/203 Inventory monitoring

Abstract

A WPAN system for establishing communication between a control station of a cargo vessel and a plurality of containers that are loaded onto the vessel is provided that comprises a base station configured to establish and manage a pre-configured WPAN having a hybrid tree-mesh network topology and a plurality of electronic tracking devices each being provided with a WPAN-enabled radio receiver/transmitter and routing capabilities. The base station is configured to communicate with the control station through a local area network on the vessel. Each tracking device is configured to be joined to a respective container of the plurality of containers and to connect to the WPAN upon being activated. The base station is configured to intermittently perform a network scan to locate each tracking device that is connected to the WPAN and dynamically reconfigure the network topology to include each tracking device connected to the WPAN to maintain mutual communication with each connected tracking device using the routing capabilities of the tracking devices.

Claims

1. A low-rate wireless personal area network (WPAN) system for establishing communication between a control station of a cargo vessel and a plurality of containers that are loaded onto the vessel, the WPAN system comprising:

a base station configured to establish and manage a pre-configured WPAN having a hybrid tree-mesh network topology, the base station being configured to communicate with the control station through a local area network on the vessel; and

a plurality of electronic tracking devices each being provided with a WPAN-enabled radio receiver/transmitter and routing capabilities, each tracking device being configured to be joined to a respective container of the plurality of containers and to connect to the WPAN upon being activated,

wherein the base station is configured to intermittently perform a network scan to locate each tracking device that is connected to the WPAN and dynamically reconfigure the network topology to include each tracking device that is connected to the WPAN such that the base station maintains mutual communication with each tracking device that is connected to the WPAN using the routing capabilities of the tracking devices.

2. The WPAN system of claim 1, wherein each tracking device is configured to collect GPS-recorded position data, environmental parameter data, and sensory reading data, and to communicate the collected data to the base station when connected to the WPAN.

3. The WPAN system of claim 1, wherein the radio receiver/transmitter of each tracking device is configured to be activated by an external event that is related to being loaded onto the cargo vessel.

4. The WPAN system of claim 1, wherein each tracking device is configured to provide an indication upon failing to connect to the WPAN after being activated.

5. The WPAN system of claim 1, wherein the base station is configured to broadcast a request to enter a low-power mode to the WPAN, wherein the tracking devices connected to the WPAN are configured to route the request to each other in a depth-first traversal of the network topology, and wherein each tracking device is configured to communicate an acknowledgment of the request to the base station and enter the low-power mode when the depth-first traversal backtracks from that tracking device.