Pallet
First Claim
1. A positioning, monitoring and reporting system for a pooled material handling apparatus comprising:
- a reusable pallet for storing and shipping unit loads; and
a battery operated device for communicative coupling with first and second wireless networks, said first network being a local area network (LAN) and said second network being a national cellular network,said battery operated device including a local area network communications module having a first antenna that communicates with other communications devices in the local area network on a first frequency to thereby acquire first data concerning a time, place and condition of the pallet and its unit load, andsaid battery operated device including a digital cellular communications module having a second antenna that communicates within the national cellular network on a second frequency to thereby acquire second data concerning a time, place and condition of the pallet and its unit load, the second frequency being different from the first frequency.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A material handling apparatus including pallets developed to operate in radio frequency rich environments. Pallets are provided having at least one large compartment capable of enclosing at least one electronic device or a package populated with a plurality of devices. The devices include RFID pallet tags that communicate with RFID item tags and RFID beacon tags positioned within distributed RFID networks. The devices include sensors to monitor pallet conditions to which a pallet management system is responsive. The devices include wireless transceivers for communicating indicative information through LAN, WLAN and Cellular communications networks. An antenna array operating on different radio frequency signals is provided. The apparatus includes a power resource in order to facilitate long term autonomous operation.
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Citations
24 Claims
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1. A positioning, monitoring and reporting system for a pooled material handling apparatus comprising:
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a reusable pallet for storing and shipping unit loads; and a battery operated device for communicative coupling with first and second wireless networks, said first network being a local area network (LAN) and said second network being a national cellular network, said battery operated device including a local area network communications module having a first antenna that communicates with other communications devices in the local area network on a first frequency to thereby acquire first data concerning a time, place and condition of the pallet and its unit load, and said battery operated device including a digital cellular communications module having a second antenna that communicates within the national cellular network on a second frequency to thereby acquire second data concerning a time, place and condition of the pallet and its unit load, the second frequency being different from the first frequency. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A reusable transport pallet including:
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a battery powered device for tracking, monitoring and reporting a time, place and condition data for the pallet, said device including an IEEE 802.n wireless component having a first antenna for communicating with other IEEE 802.n wireless devices in a local area network on a first frequency to thereby acquire first data concerning a time, place and condition for the pallet, and a digital cellular communications module having a second antenna for communicating within a national cellular network on a second frequency to thereby report the first data and acquire second data concerning a time, place and condition for the pallet, the second frequency being different from the first frequency. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A reusable transport pallet including:
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a battery powered electronic tracking device having first and second communications means, the first means including a IEEE 802.n component for establishing wireless communications at a first frequency with other IEEE 802.n devices in a local area network (LAN), the local area network providing first time, place and condition information indicative of the pallet'"'"'s immediate environment, and the second means including a cell phone component for establishing communication at a second frequency with a national digital cellular network for communicating time, place and condition information obtained from the first means and for providing second time, place and condition information indicative of the pallet'"'"'s nationwide status, the second frequency being different than the first frequency. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A material handling pallet comprising:
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a battery powered device including at least one of a cellular modem and an IEEE 802.n wireless component for communicative coupling with one or more communications networks, said cellular modem and said IEEE 802.n wireless component including a microprocessor having controllable means for consuming battery power from a battery resource in order to perform pre-programmed positioning, monitoring and reporting instructions, and said controllable means preselected by one of a customer using the pallet or a pallet pooling operator managing the pallet. - View Dependent Claims (24)
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Specification