Smart pallet-box cargo container
First Claim
1. A smart cargo container for secure, trackable, pollable and auditable, shipment and warehousing of products and materials comprising in operative combination:
- a unitary container body having two pairs of opposed, spaced, generally orthogonally oriented generally planar vertical side walls integral with a bottom, a first pair of said side walls defining a front wall and a back wall and a second pair defining a left and a right side wall;
a generally planar, openable lid including a margin having a lip for sealingly engaging the tops of said side walls, said lid is hinged to said back wall and includes tangs to engage lid latch members mounted in association with said body front wall;
said body walls, bottom and lid defining a cargo load space;
an auditable electronic lock system integrated into a front panel of an exoskeleton;
said front panel includes a pivoting cover for the body of said electronic lock and for said lid latches to prevent access thereto, said cover including a flange extending over the front lip of said lid and said electronic lock preventing said cover from being opened to reveal said lid latches until said electronic lock is opened by an authorized person at an authorized time or place;
at least one sensor disposed to provide a signal relating to an internal security condition of said cargo container; and
a pollable communications module disposed in at least one of said container walls, bottom or top, said module including a battery power supply, a microprocessor controller, an RF transceiver unit and a GPS locator unit, said controller including inputs for said sensor and said GPS unit, and including timing circuit for periodically sending data via RF signals representing a unique identifier of said cargo container, and the status and location of said cargo container.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Smart cargo container system comprising auditable, secure, sealable, stackable, trackable and pollable, universal, “pallet boxes” used: 1) auto-latchingly secured to the under-carriage transverse I-beams of over-the-road semi-trailers by means of a guiding latching system; and 2) stackable, up to three or more high, in the trailers or warehouses. Sophisticated battery-powered electronic locks, sensors and alarms are provided, as well as an RF communications and GPS locator module that radios to a base station the time, location and status of the inventive smart cargo container, and any anomalous events as they occur, including unauthorized attempts to open or break into the container, or potential damage events. In addition, both the locks and comm modules are programmable, and provide extensive, and selectably pollable and downloadable event, access and transport history and audit trails. The comm system permits remote tracking and real time status check via the Internet, LAN or WAN wireless networks.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A smart cargo container for secure, trackable, pollable and auditable, shipment and warehousing of products and materials comprising in operative combination:
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a unitary container body having two pairs of opposed, spaced, generally orthogonally oriented generally planar vertical side walls integral with a bottom, a first pair of said side walls defining a front wall and a back wall and a second pair defining a left and a right side wall; a generally planar, openable lid including a margin having a lip for sealingly engaging the tops of said side walls, said lid is hinged to said back wall and includes tangs to engage lid latch members mounted in association with said body front wall; said body walls, bottom and lid defining a cargo load space; an auditable electronic lock system integrated into a front panel of an exoskeleton; said front panel includes a pivoting cover for the body of said electronic lock and for said lid latches to prevent access thereto, said cover including a flange extending over the front lip of said lid and said electronic lock preventing said cover from being opened to reveal said lid latches until said electronic lock is opened by an authorized person at an authorized time or place; at least one sensor disposed to provide a signal relating to an internal security condition of said cargo container; and a pollable communications module disposed in at least one of said container walls, bottom or top, said module including a battery power supply, a microprocessor controller, an RF transceiver unit and a GPS locator unit, said controller including inputs for said sensor and said GPS unit, and including timing circuit for periodically sending data via RF signals representing a unique identifier of said cargo container, and the status and location of said cargo container. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. Computer-enabled Internet cargo container tracking system comprising in operative combination:
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a) a plurality of secure cargo containers, each having a body and lid defining a cargo space, said lid being hinged at one end and including tangs for engaging latches to secure said lid on said body; b) each said cargo container comprising; an auditable electronic lock system secured to a front panel; said front panel includes a pivoting cover for the body of said electronic lock and for said lid latches to prevent access thereto, said cover including a flange extending over the front of said lid and said electronic lock preventing said cover from being opened to reveal said lid latches until opened by an authorized person activating said electronic lock at an authorized time or place; a pollable communications module disposed in at least one of said container walls, bottom or top, said module including a battery power supply, a microprocessor controller, an RF transceiver unit and a GPS locator unit, said controller including inputs for at least one sensor disposed to provide a signal relating to a security condition of said cargo container and said GPS unit, and including a timer for periodically sending data via RF signals representing a unique identifier of said cargo container, for use in determining the status and location of said cargo container; c) a base station including a transceiver for receiving RF signals from said container RF transceiver, and a computer system including;
a web server for securely serving pages to clients and a CPU and memory, including operating and applications programs that receive, analyze and save, in at least one database structure, real time and time-related security status and location data from a plurality of said containers, and serve pages to clients, including pages having annotated map information of the container identification, map location and movement and event alerts. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification