Passive container tracking device, system, and method

• US 7,746,228 B2
• Filed: 06/12/2006
• Issued: 06/29/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/12/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TMSfirst, LLC
• Original Assignee: Gray Peaks, Inc.
• Inventors: Sensenig, Tim R., Asher, Bernard, Bertiger, Bary
• Primary Examiner(s): Bugg; George A
• Application Number:
  US11/452,068
• Publication Number:
  US 20070285240A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,478 Days
• Field of Search: 3405721-5729, 340/5.64, 340/5.92, 340/10.1, 340/825.49, 340/539.1, 340/531, 235/375, 235/385, 235/492, 700/215, 700221-222, 700224-227, 700/229, 705/22, 705/28
• US Class Current: 340/572.1
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/2462 Asset location systems combined with EAS inventory, tracking, logistic G06Q10/00; entrance control systems G07C9/00

Abstract

A passive identification system for shipping containers. The shipping containers contain passive identification devices that are interrogated by separate on-board location trackers (OBLT) located in places where shipping containers are expected to pass in proximity to during the shipping and transport process. The OBLTs contain an active transmitter and GPS device. After the OBLT interrogates the passive identification device on a shipping container, the OBLT generates a geo-word comprised of the container identification, the GPS location of the OBLT, and a time stamp, and transmits the geo-word to a receiving station for tracking and/or security purposes. The receiving station has manifest information regarding the shipping containers stored in memory. In this manner, the receiving station can compare the geo-word to the expected shipping locations and expected times for the shipping container to determine if the shipping container is lost, misplaced, or off-schedule.

Claims

1. A receiving station for tracking a shipping container, comprising:

a control system coupled to a database;

a communication interface coupled to the control system, wherein the control system is adapted to receive shipping container tracking messages over a communication network via the communication interface;

wherein the control system is adapted to;

receive an itinerary for a shipping container having an identification indicia;

store the itinerary of shipping containers in the database associated with the shipping container'"'"'s identification indicia;

receive shipping container tracking messages comprising identification indicia of shipping containers over the communication network;

store the shipping container tracking messages in the database according to their respective identification indicia;

search through the database to determine when a shipping container tracking message was last received over the communication network for each of the shipping containers according to their identification indicia; and

determine if a shipping container is lost based on whether the shipping container tracking message for a shipping container was received according to the stored itinerary for the shipping container.

2. The receiving station of claim 1, wherein the communication network is network comprised from the group consisting of a satellite communication network, a PSTN network, a data packet switched network, a cellular network, and a WIFI network.

3. The receiving station of claim 1, wherein the shipping container tracking message further comprises a time stamp when the identification indicia was received.

4. The receiving station of claim 3, wherein the control system is adapted to determine if a shipping container is lost based on whether the shipping container tracking message for a shipping container was received according to the stored itinerary for the shipping container based on whether the time stamp in the stored shipping container tracking message for the shipping container is within an acceptable limit of the itinerary for the shipping container.

5. The receiving station of claim 1, wherein the control system is further adapted to generate a flag if the control system determines that a shipping container is lost.

6. The receiving station of claim 5, wherein the flag is either an operator flag or a flag stored in the database associated with the lost shipping container, or both.

7. The receiving station of claim 1, wherein the control system initiates a trace of a lost shipping container if the shipping container is lost.

8. The receiving station of claim 7, wherein the control system is further adapted to store a trace status of the lost shipping container in the database associated with the identification indicia of the lost shipping container.

9. The receiving station of claim 8, wherein the control system is further adapted to remove the trace status of the lost shipping container in the database in response to receipt of a subsequent shipping container tracking message for the lost shipping container or in response to receipt of an operator instruction.

10. The receiving station of claim 1, wherein the shipping container tracking message comprises a GPS location of a shipping container.

11. The receiving station of claim 10, wherein the control system stores the GPS location in the database associated with the identification indicia of the shipping container.

12. The receiving station of claim 10, wherein the control system is further adapted to determine if a shipping container is off-schedule or misrouted by comparing the itinerary for the shipping container to the GPS location of the shipping container and determining if the GPS location is within an expected location.

13. The receiving station of claim 12, wherein the control system is further adapted to determine if the GPS location of the shipping container is within an expected location based on a time stamp contained in the shipping container tracking message.

14. The receiving station of claim 12, wherein the control system is further adapted to generate a flag if the control system determines that a shipping container is off-schedule or misrouted.

15. The receiving station of claim 14, wherein the flag is either an operator flag or a flag stored in the database associated with the off-schedule or misrouted shipping container, or both.

16. The receiving station of claim 1, wherein the control system communicates the shipping container tracking message to an operator or another system when received.

17. The receiving station of claim 1, wherein the control system is adapted to determine if the identification indicia contained in the received shipping container tracking message is present in the database.

18. The receiving station of claim 17, wherein the control system generates an error if the identification indicia contained in the received shipping container tracking message is not present in the database.

19. The receiving station of claim 1, wherein the control system receives the shipping container tracking message from an on-board location tracker over the communication network.

20. The receiving station of claim 19, wherein the on-board location tracker comprises an interrogation reader that is adapted to interrogate an identification device on a shipping container and receive the shipping container'"'"'s identification indicia.

21. The receiving station of claim 20, wherein the on-board location tracker further comprises a GPS receiver that is adapted to determine the GPS location of the on-board location tracker, and wherein the on-board location tracker generates the shipping container tracking message comprising a geo-word comprised of the identification indicia of an interrogated shipping container and the GPS location of the on-board location tracker to provide the GPS location of the interrogated shipping container.

22. The receiving station of claim 21, wherein the on-board location tracker further includes a return communication address of the on-board location tracker in the shipping container tracking message so that the receiving station can address the on-board location tracker in a return communication.

23. The receiving station of claim 22, wherein the control system is further adapted to determine if a shipping container is off-schedule or misrouted by comparing the itinerary for the shipping container to the GPS location of the shipping container and determining if the GPS location is within an expected location and communicate a return communication back to the on-board location tracker if the shipping container is off-schedule or misrouted.

24. A method of tracking a shipping container, comprising the steps of:

receiving an itinerary for a shipping container having an identification indicia;

storing the itinerary of shipping containers in a database associated with the shipping container'"'"'s identification indicia;

receiving shipping container tracking messages comprising identification indicia of shipping containers over a communication network;

storing the shipping container tracking messages in the database according to their respective identification indicia;

searching through the database to determine when a shipping container tracking message was last received over the communication network for each of the shipping containers according to their identification indicia; and

determining if a shipping container is lost based on whether the shipping container tracking message for a shipping container was received according to the stored itinerary for the shipping container.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the step of receiving shipping container tracking messages comprises receiving shipping container tracking messages over a communication network comprised of a network from the group consisting of a satellite communication network, a PSTN network, a data packet switched network, a cellular network, and a WIFI network.

26. The method of claim 24, further comprising receiving a time stamp when the identification indicia was received as part of the shipping container tracking message.

27. The method of claim 26, further comprising determining if a shipping container is lost based on whether the shipping container tracking message for a shipping container was received according to the stored itinerary for the shipping container based on whether the time stamp in the stored shipping container tracking message for the shipping container is within an acceptable limit of the itinerary for the shipping container.

28. The method of claim 24, further comprising generating a flag if the control system determines that a shipping container is lost.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the flag is either an operator flag or a flag stored in the database associated with the lost shipping container, or both.

30. The method of claim 24, further comprising initiating a trace of a lost shipping container if the shipping container is lost.

31. The method of claim 30, further comprising storing a trace status of the lost shipping container in the database associated with the identification indicia of the lost shipping container.

32. The method of claim 31, further comprising removing the trace status of the lost shipping container in the database in response to receipt of a subsequent shipping container tracking message for the lost shipping container or in response to receipt of an operator instruction.

33. The method of claim 24, wherein the shipping container tracking message comprises a GPS location of a shipping container.

34. The method of claim 33, further comprising storing the GPS location in the database associated with an identification indicia of the shipping container.

35. The method of claim 33, further comprising determining if a shipping container is off-schedule or misrouted by comparing the itinerary for the shipping container to the GPS location of the shipping container and determining if the GPS location is within an expected location.

36. The method of claim 35, further comprising determining if the GPS location of the shipping container is within an expected location based on a time stamp contained in the shipping container tracking message.

37. The method of claim 35, further comprising generating a flag if the control system determines that a shipping container is off-schedule or misrouted.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein the flag is either an operator flag or a flag stored in the database associated with the off-schedule or misrouted shipping container, or both.

39. The method of claim 24, further comprising communicating the shipping container tracking message to an operator or another system when received.

40. The method of claim 24, further comprising determining if the identification indicia contained in the received shipping container tracking message is present in the database.

41. The method of claim 40, further comprising generating an error if the identification indicia contained in the received shipping container tracking message is not present in the database.

42. The method of claim 24, further comprising receiving the shipping container tracking message from an on-board location tracker over the communication network.

43. The method of claim 42, further comprising interrogating an identification device on a shipping container using an interrogation reader in the on-board location tracker and receiving the shipping container'"'"'s identification indicia.

44. The method of claim 43, further comprising determining the GPS location of the on-board location tracker using a GPS receiver in the on-board location tracker, and generating a shipping container tracking message comprising a geo-word comprised of the identification indicia of an interrogated shipping container and the GPS location of the on-board location tracker to provide the GPS location of the interrogated shipping container.

45. The method of claim 44, further comprising the on-board location tracker including a return communication address of the on-board location tracker in the shipping container tracking message so that the receiving station can address the on-board location tracker in a return communication.

46. The method of claim 45, further comprising determining if a shipping container is off-schedule or misrouted by comparing the itinerary for the shipping container to the GPS location of the shipping container and determining if the GPS location is within an expected location and communicate a response message back to the on-board location tracker if the shipping container is off-schedule or misrouted.