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Anti-theft method for detecting the unauthorized opening of containers and baggage
| Details |
Inventors: Tuttle, John R.;
Assignee: Micron Communications, Inc. (Boise, ID)
Primary Examiner: Swann; Glen
Assistant Examiner:
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Paul; David J., Stern; Robert J.
A simple trip-wire or magnetic circuit associated with a shipping container provides continuity, which is detected electrically. Simply, if continuity is disabled by a forced entry of the container, electrical detection means, such as a radio-frequency-identification (RFID) tag, will alert the owner or monitoring station. The trip-wire concept would require the replacing of a broken trip wire (resulting from forced entry), while the magnetic circuit concept can be reused repetitively. In a second embodiment a magnetic circuit and the detection device (RFID tag) are embedded into the shipping article during manufacturing. The preferred detection device, an RFID tag, could also be a battery backed transceiver type on which a replaceable or rechargeable battery could be mounted on the inside of the shipping container during manufacturing. The RFID tag would communicate with an interrogator unit, which could be connected to a host computer. The interrogator and/or the host computer and/or other alarm devices would then monitor the shipping container's status (opened or closed). |
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DETAILED DESCRIPTION The present invention introduces a method for protecting against the unauthorized opening of shipping containers which is disclosed in the several embodiments following.
A first embodiment comprises a simple trip-wire or magnetic circuit that provides continuity, which is detected electrically.
Simply, if continuity is disabled by a forced entry of the container, electrical detection means, such as a radio-frequency-identification (RFID) transceiver tag (or simply RFID tag), will alert the owner or monitoring station.
The trip-wire concept would require the replacing of a broken trip wire (resulting from forced entry), while the magnetic circuit concept can be reused repetitively.
A second embodiment comprises the magnetic circuit approach of the first embodiment by having the magnetic circuit and the detection device embedded into the shipping article during manufacturing.
The preferred detection device, and RFID tag, could also be a battery backed transceiver type on which a replaceable or rechargeable battery could be mounted on the inside of the shipping container during manufacturing.
The RFID tag would communicate with an interrogator unit, which could be connected to a host computer.
The interrogator and/or the host computer would then monitor the shipping container's status (opened or closed) .
The RPID tag could also have an output that changes state upon alarm, so that another device could be connected to indicate the alarm via sound, flashing lights or other means.
Implementation of the present invention will become readily understandable to one skilled in the art in the detailed descriptions that follow.
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Communications 
