System for monitoring a container

• US 10,585,964 B2
• Filed: 01/30/2018
• Issued: 03/10/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 02/21/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Advanced Custom Engineered Systems & Equipment Co.
• Original Assignee: Advanced Custom Engineered Systems & Equipment Co.
• Inventors: Flood, Christopher M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Jayanti K
• Assistant Examiner(s): Carter, Richard B
• Application Number:
  US15/883,980
• Publication Number:
  US 20180189412A1
• Time in Patent Office: 770 Days
• Field of Search: 348143, 705 39, 705 36 R, 100240, 422400, 340 105, 3405721
• CPC Class Codes: B30B 9/3007 Control arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: B30B 9/3042 Containers provided with, or connectable to, compactor means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9554 by using bar codes
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10297 arrangements for handling protocols designed for non-contact record carriers such as RFIDs NFCs, e.g. ISO/IEC 14443 and 18092 cryptographic protocols H04L9/00; network security protocols H04L63/00; real-time communication protocols in data switching networks H04L65/00; network protocols for data switching network services H04L67/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10316 using at least one antenna particularly designed for interrogating the wireless record carriers antennas in general H01Q1/22
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10415 the interrogation device being fixed in its position, such as an access control device for reading wireless access cards, or a wireless ATM banking machines in general G07F19/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/84 Greenhouse gas [GHG] management systems
• CPC Class Codes: Y02W 90/00 Enabling technologies or technologies with a potential or indirect contribution to greenhouse gas [GHG] emissions mitigation

Abstract

A container having a compactor and bin for waste is disclosed permitting on-premises and remote monitoring of the system and collection is disclosed. The system can also detect non-complaint materials placed therein and act thereon. Methods are further disclosed for inventorying identification tags for tracking packages, merchandise and tags disposed of.

Claims

1. A waste disposal method, for disposing of waste in the nature of trash being destroyed or put in a landfill and recyclables such as paper and cardboard, including waste packages bearing an electronic tag, comprising the steps of:

providing a waste package with an electronic tag having identifying information relating to the weight of the waste package when empty;

providing a waste container for disposing of the waste package, the waste container having a door moveable from an open condition to a closed condition and a sensor for generating a signal to indicate the door is in the open condition or the closed condition;

providing an antenna and reader for the waste container for reading the weight information on the electronic tag placed in the waste container;

collecting the weight information associated with the electronic tag in the waste container;

compacting the waste package with a waste compactor having a ram in response to the signal the door is in the closed condition; and

disposing of the waste in the waste container including the waste package by destruction, landfilling, recycling, or similar disposition consistent with the nature of the waste.

2. The method of claim 1 further including the step of communicating the collected weight information to a system capable of inventorying the collected weight information and calculating the total weight of waste packages in the waste container.

3. The method of claim 2 further including the step of removing the waste container and using the information collected relating to the total weight of the waste packages in the container for obtaining carbon credits.

4. The method of claim 2 further including the step of using the information collected relating to the total weight to schedule removal of the waste container by a hauler.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the electronic tag is a passive radio-frequency identification tag and the antenna further activates the tag.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the tag is an electronic article surveillance tag.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising a plurality of electronic tags of different types including radio frequency identification tags and electronic article surveillance tags.

8. A waste analysis method, the waste being in the nature of trash being destroyed or put in a landfill and recyclables such as paper and cardboard, of analyzing the contents of a plurality of waste containers each having a door moveable from an open condition to a closed condition and a sensor for generating a signal to indicate the door is in the open condition or the closed condition, each of the plurality of waste containers holding waste packages bearing electronic tags comprising the steps of:

providing a central station having a computer and a memory;

compiling a database in the memory including identifying information and corresponding location of each of the plurality of waste containers wherein each of the plurality of waste containers is at a location remote from the central station;

providing an antenna and reader on each of the plurality of waste containers for reading the electronic tags on the waste packages inside each of the plurality of waste containers including a product identifier;

reading the electronic tags and updating the database with the product identifier of the waste packages within each of the plurality of waste containers to establish an inventory of the waste packages within each of the plurality of waste containers;

providing a software on the computer for generating reports associated with the contents of the plurality of waste containers based on the product identifiers read from the electronic tags;

compacting the waste packages with a compactor having a ram in each of the plurality of waste containers in response to the signal the door is in the closed condition; and

disposing of the waste in the waste containers including the waste packages by destruction, landfilling, recycling, or similar disposition consistent with the nature of the waste.

9. The method of claim 8 further including the step of collecting weight information associated with the electronic tags.

10. The method of claim 9 further including the step of communicating the collected weight information to a system capable of inventorying the collected weight information and calculating the total weight of waste packages in each of the plurality of waste containers.

11. The method of claim 10 further including the step of removing each of the plurality of waste containers and using the information collected relating to the total weight of the items in each of the waste containers for obtaining carbon credits.

12. The method of claim 11 further including the step of using the information collected relating to the total weight to schedule removal or emptying of each of the plurality of waste containers by a hauler.

13. The method of claim 8 wherein the antenna further activates the electronic tags.