Locking system for shipping container including bolt seal and electronic device with arms for receiving bolt seal

• US 8,207,848 B2
• Filed: 05/18/2009
• Issued: 06/26/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/16/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Berger, Thomas R., Denny, Joseph E.
• Primary Examiner(s): MULLEN, THOMAS J
• Application Number:
  US12/468,045
• Publication Number:
  US 20100013635A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,135 Days
• Field of Search: 340/542, 340/571, 340/693.5, 340/693.9, 70/91, 701/01, 292/327
• US Class Current: 340/542
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/08 by opening, e.g. of door, of window, of drawer, of shutter, of curtain, of blind
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/126 for a housing, e.g. a box, a safe, or a room
• CPC Class Codes: G09F 3/0317 having bolt like sealing means means for preventing relative axial movement of a pin, spigot, shaft or the like and a member surrounding it F16B21/00
• CPC Class Codes: G09F 3/0329 having electronic sealing means
• CPC Class Codes: G09F 3/0376 using a special technique to detect tampering, e.g. by ultrasonic or optical means
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 70/5199 Swinging door
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 70/5212 Sliding dead bolt

Abstract

An electronic locking device secures a shipping container and includes a housing, two arms, a sensing circuit, and electronics. The pair of arms extend from the housing and couple to the hasp. The arms transition between locked and unlocked configurations relative to the hasp, with one or both of the arms pivoting relative to the other. A bolt seal locks the arms in the locked configuration. The sensing circuit, which includes sensing contacts, is in a “closed” state or “open” state depending on whether the arms are in the locked or unlocked configuration. The electronics record and report the state of the sensing circuit, thereby indicating whether the arms are locked or unlocked.

Claims

1. An electronic locking device for securing a shipping container, comprising:

(a) a housing including an electronics compartment;

(b) a pair of arms, extending from the housing and adapted to couple to a hasp on a shipping container, wherein at least one of the arms is configured to pivot, relative to the other of the arms, such that the arms transition between a locked configuration and an unlocked configuration;

(c) a sensing circuit that is in a “

closed”

state when the pair of arms are in the locked configuration and is in an “

open”

state when the pair of arms is in the unlocked configuration; and

(d) electronics housed in the electronics compartment that detect whether the sensing circuit is in the “

closed”

state or the “

open”

state;

(e) wherein the output of the electronics represents an indication of whether the arms are in the locked configuration or the unlocked configuration.

2. The electronic locking device of claim 1, wherein the housing further includes a support carriage and a barrier to prevent access to the electronics compartment from the support carriage.

3. The electronic locking device of claim 1, wherein the electronics record the state of the sensing circuit.

4. The electronic locking device of claim 1, wherein the electronics record the state of the sensing circuit in a computer-readable medium that is contained in the electronics compartment.

5. The electronic locking device of claim 1, wherein the electronics report the state of the sensing circuit.

6. The electronic locking device of claim 1, wherein the electronics report the state of the sensing circuit through wireless communications.

7. The electronic locking device of claim 1, wherein the arms are configured to concurrently receive a bolt therethrough when in the locked configuration.

8. The electronic locking device of claim 1, wherein a bolt of a bolt seal extends through a respective opening in each of the arms and retains the arms in the locked configuration.

9. The electronic locking device of claim 1, wherein the arms are configured to be maintained in the locked configuration by a bolt seal.

10. The electronic locking device of claim 1, wherein the sensing circuit includes sensing contacts located in or on the pair of arms.

11. The electronics locking device of claim 10, wherein a sensing contact on one of the arms comes into contact with, or sufficiently close to, a sensing contact on the other arm when the arms are in the locked configuration.

12. The electronic locking device of claim 1, wherein:

(a) a first arm pivots around a point within the support carriage;

(b) the second arm is fixed in place;

(c) the sensing circuit includes sensing contacts that extend from portions of the arms interior to the housing;

(d) a bolt is attached to and projects from one of the arms and is located exterior to the housing; and

(e) a bolt receptacle is attached to and projects from the other of the arms exterior to the housing, and is configured to receive therein the projecting bolt when the arms are in the locked configuration.

13. The electronic device of claim 12, wherein each of the arms has an opening configured to concurrently receive therethrough a bolt of a bolt seal.

14. The electronic locking device of claim 1, wherein

(a) the arms pivot about pivot axes within the housing;

(b) the sensing circuit includes sensing contacts that extend from portions of the arms interior to the housing;

(c) a bolt is attached to and projects from one of the arms and is located exterior to the housing; and

(d) a bolt receptacle is attached to and projects from the other of the arms exterior to the housing.

15. The electronic device of claim 14, wherein each of the arms has an opening configured to concurrently receive therethrough a bolt of a bolt seal.

16. The electronic locking device of claim 14, wherein the bolt seal openings are located further from the housing along the arms than the location of the bolt and bolt receptacle.

17. The electronic locking device of claim 14, wherein the bolt and bolt receptacle are located further from the housing along the arms than the location of the bolt seal openings.

18. The electronic locking device of claim 14, wherein both arms pivot about respective pivot axes within the housing, and wherein the pivot axes are located between sensing contacts of the sensing circuit and the bolt and bolt receptacle.

19. The electronic locking device of claim 1, wherein the arms are carried by a pivot arm assembly that is removably received and retained within the housing.

20. The electronic locking device of claim 1, further comprising a spring located within the housing and configured to bias the arms toward the unlocked configuration.

21. The electronic locking device of claim 20, wherein:

(a) a bolt extends from a first arm, of the pair of arms, and is adapted to extend through the hasp;

(b) in the locked configuration, the presence of the bolt, extending through the hasp, prevents the hasp from being opened;

(c) one of the arms includes a bolt receptacle adapted to receive and retain the distal end of the bolt; and

(d) the securing of the bolt within the bolt receptacle provides a force sufficient to retain the arms in the locked configuration against the force of the spring.