Low-rate wireless personal area network system for tracking containers

US7378960B1 · kind B1 · utility

Assignee

• International Business Machines Corporation · US

Inventors

• Carl Binding · Thalwil, CH
• Francois B. Dolivo · Wetzikon, CH
• Reto Hermann · Thalwil, CH
• Dirk Husemann · Adliswil, CH
• Andreas Schade · Lengede, DE

Key dates

• Filing date: Nov 13, 2007
• Grant date: May 27, 2008
• Expiry date: Nov 13, 2027

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G06Q20/203
• WIPO field: IT methods for management
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

A WPAN system for establishing communication between a control station of a cargo vessel and a plurality of containers that are loaded onto the vessel is provided that comprises a base station configured to establish and manage a pre-configured WPAN having a hybrid tree-mesh network topology and a plurality of electronic tracking devices each being provided with a WPAN-enabled radio receiver/transmitter and routing capabilities. The base station is configured to communicate with the control station through a local area network on the vessel. Each tracking device is configured to be joined to a respective container of the plurality of containers and to connect to the WPAN upon being activated. The base station is configured to intermittently perform a network scan to locate each tracking device that is connected to the WPAN and dynamically reconfigure the network topology to include each tracking device connected to the WPAN to maintain mutual communication with each connected tracking device using the routing capabilities of the tracking devices.