Tracking removal or processing of debris material

• US 7,878,392 B2
• Filed: 08/17/2007
• Issued: 02/01/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/18/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Haulpass LLC
• Original Assignee: Haulpass LLC
• Inventors: Stankunas, Darius J., Mayers, Scott A.
• Primary Examiner(s): LE, THIEN MINH
• Application Number:
  US11/893,774
• Publication Number:
  US 20080041948A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,264 Days
• Field of Search: 235/384, 235/385, 235/493, 340/539.13, 340/539.18, 340/568.1, 340/572.1
• US Class Current: 235/375
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management

Abstract

A method of performing debris clean-up following a disaster event can include creating an electronic load ticket for a pre-registered debris transporter to transport a load of debris from a site of debris origin to a site where the load of debris is to be emptied from the transporter; following transport of the load of debris to the second site, reading, from the electronic information storage device and to a portable computing device, the information uniquely identifying the debris transporter and the electronic load ticket; and upon verification that no alteration has been made to the transporter, receiving at the portable computing device information describing the load of debris that has been transported. In some implementations, the electronic load ticket includes information identifying the geographic location of debris origin, and is electronically stored on a portable electronic information storage device that contains information uniquely identifying the debris transporter.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of performing debris clean-up following a disaster event, the method comprising:

pre-registering a debris transporter and storing a registration identifier that uniquely identifies the debris transporter in a portable electronic information storage device;

creating an electronic load ticket for the pre-registered debris transporter to transport a load of debris from a site of debris origin to a second site where the load of debris is to be emptied from the transporter, the electronic load ticket including information identifying the geographic location of debris origin, and being electronically stored on the portable electronic information storage device that contains the registration identifier that uniquely identifies the pre-registered debris transporter;

following the arrival at the second site of a debris transporter carrying a load of debris and the portable electronic information storage device, reading, from the electronic information storage device and to a portable computing device, the stored registration identifier and the electronic load ticket; and

upon verifying that the transporter that has arrived at the second site is the pre-registered debris transporter corresponding to the registration identifier read by the portable computing device, receiving at the portable computing device information describing the load of debris that has been transported.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the registration identifier includes information indicating a load carrying capacity of the debris transporter.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the transporter that arrived at the second site is verified as the pre-registered debris transporter using, at least, the registration identifier.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the registration identifier stored in the portable electronic information storage device during the step of pre-registering the debris transporter is made accessible to the portable computing device at the second site where the load of debris is to be emptied from the transporter with out the use of a telecommunications network.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the registration identifier stored in the portable electronic information storage device during the step of pre-registering the debris transporter is physically transported to the second site where the load of debris is to be emptied from the transporter using the portable electronic information storage device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic load ticket further including information uniquely identifying a monitoring person responsible for monitoring at the site of debris origin.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising receiving at the portable computing device the information uniquely identifying the monitoring person responsible for monitoring at the site of debris origin.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising loading into a central database the information received at the portable computing device describing the load of debris that has been transported and the associated electronic load ticket.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising using the information loaded into the central database to determine monetary compensation for debris transport services using the transporter.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the information identifying the site of debris origin comprises geographic location information obtained from a device containing global positioning system information.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the geographic location information comprises latitude and longitude information.

12. A computer-implemented method of tracking a clean-up operation, the method comprising:

receiving, by a portable electronic storage medium, a registration identifier that uniquely identifies a material transporter vehicle with which the portable storage medium is associated;

receiving, by the portable electronic storage medium and at a site of material origin, electronic load ticket information characterizing material that is to be loaded into the material transporter vehicle and conveyed to a site of material disposal and storing the electronic load ticket information in the portable electronic storage medium; and

upon arrival of the material transporter vehicle and the portable storage medium at the site of material disposal, receiving, by the portable electronic storage medium and from an electronic device at the site of material disposal, a request for the registration identifier and the electronic load ticket information, and providing the stored registration identifier and the stored electronic load ticket information to the electronic device in response to receiving the request, wherein the material transporter vehicle is verified as having transported the material from the site of material origin to the site of material disposal based on the registration identifier provided by the portable electronic storage medium, and wherein material transported to the site of material disposal by the material transporter vehicle is verified as the material loaded into the material transporter vehicle at the site of material origin based on the electronic load ticket provided by the portable electronic storage medium.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein the portable electronic storage medium is selected from the group consisting of a smart card and a radio frequency identification (RFID) device.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, further comprising deleting the electronic load ticket information from the portable electronic storage medium after the electronic load ticket information has been provided to the electronic device.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein the electronic load ticket information comprises location information that identifies a geographic location of the site of material origin and classification information that specifies a type of the material.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, further comprising receiving, by the electronic portable storage medium, from the electronic device, an indication that the classification information accurately characterizes the material that was conveyed to the site of material disposal by the material transporter vehicle and quantity information that specifies an amount of the conveyed material in the material transporter vehicle.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, further comprising encrypting the received electronic load ticket information, wherein storing the electronic load ticket information comprises storing the encrypted electronic load ticket information.

18. A computer-implemented method of tracking transportation of material from a plurality of material origination sites to one or more material disposal sites, the method comprising:

in a computing device at a disposal site, retrieving from a portable electronic storage medium uniquely associated with a registered material transporter vehicle, (i) a registration identifier that uniquely identifies the material transporter vehicle, and (ii) an electronic load ticket corresponding to material that has been transported in the registered transporter vehicle from a site of material origination to the disposal site, the electronic load ticket including information identifying a geographic location corresponding to the site of material origination;

receiving from a user of the computing device input specifying a quantity of the material transported in the registered transporter vehicle and a classification of the material; and

providing the registration identifier, the electronic load ticket and the received input to a centralized tracking system, wherein the centralized tracking system is configured to use, at least, the registration identifier to verify that a material transporter vehicle loaded with the material at the site of material origin is the material transporter vehicle that arrived at the disposal site, and wherein the centralized tracking system is configured to use, at least, the electronic load ticket and the received input to verify the material transported from the site of material origin to the disposal site by the material transporter vehicle.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 18, further comprising providing a signal to the portable electronic storage medium to cause the electronic load ticket to be deleted from the portable electronic storage medium.