Methods, systems, and enhanced shipping container apparatus assembly for monitoring for an environmental anomaly using a selectively assigned group of ID nodes in a wireless node network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11075994-B2
Application number	US-201916508709-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 11, 2019
Priority date	Sep 22, 2018
Publication date	Jul 27, 2021
Grant date	Jul 27, 2021

Abstract

Systems, apparatus, and methods detect and respond to environmental anomalies in a shipping container on a transit vehicle having an external transceiver. Systems generally have wireless ID nodes at different locations within the container and a command node mounted to the container. The command node is programmatically adapted to selectively assign a subset of the ID nodes as dedicated monitor beacons deployed within the container, identify an unresponsive group from the assigned subset of the ID nodes monitored to be in an unanticipated state of ceased broadcasting based upon the monitoring step. The command node detects the environmental anomaly when a size of the unresponsive group in the assigned subset of ID nodes exceeds a threshold setting maintained by the command node, automatically generates an alert notification related to the detected environmental anomaly, and initiates a mediation response for the anomaly by transmitting the alert notification to the vehicle's transceiver.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for monitoring a shipping container for an environmental anomaly and responding to the environmental anomaly selectively using elements of a wireless node network having at least a plurality of ID nodes disposed at different locations within the shipping container and a command node mounted to the shipping container, wherein the command node being operative to communicate with each of the ID nodes and an external transceiver associated with a transit vehicle, the method comprising:
selectively assigning, by the command node, a subset of the ID nodes to function as dedicated monitor beacons deployed within the shipping container;
monitoring, by the command node, the assigned subset of the ID nodes for an unanticipated state of ceased broadcasting from any of the assigned subset of the ID nodes;
identifying, by the command node, an unresponsive group from the assigned subset of the ID nodes to be in the unanticipated state of ceased broadcasting based upon the monitoring step;
detecting, by the command node, the environmental anomaly when a size of the unresponsive group of the assigned subset of the ID nodes exceeds a threshold setting maintained by the command node;
automatically generating, by the command node, an alert notification related to the detected environmental anomaly for the shipping container; and
transmitting, by the command node, the alert notification to the transceiver to initiate a mediation response related to the detected environmental anomaly.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of selectively assigning the subset of the ID nodes further comprises:
accessing, by the command node, a predetermined ID node list in memory of the command node; and
selectively assigning, by the command node, members of the subset of the ID nodes based upon which of the ID nodes are indicated in the accessed predetermined ID node list.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of selectively assigning the subset of the ID nodes further comprises:
accessing, by the command node, a predetermined ID node list in memory of the command node;
accessing, by the command node, context data maintained by the command node on location information related to each of the ID nodes identified in the predetermined ID node list; and
selectively assigning, by the command node, members of the subset of the ID nodes based upon which of the ID nodes are indicated in the accessed predetermined ID node list and the location information related to each of the ID nodes in the subset of the ID nodes.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of selectively assigning the subset of the ID nodes further comprises:
accessing, by the command node, a predetermined ID node list in memory of the command node; and
initially assigning, by the command node, a first set of members of the subset of the ID nodes based upon which of the ID nodes are indicated in the accessed predetermined ID node list;
detecting, by the command node, a broadcast signal from one or more additional ones of the ID nodes not included in the predetermined ID node list; and
selectively adding, by the command node, at least one additional ID node as an additional member of the subset of the ID nodes from the additional ones of the ID nodes not included in the predetermined ID node list.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of selectively assigning the subset of the ID nodes further comprises:
detecting, by the command node, a broadcast signal from one or more of the ID nodes; and
selectively assigning, by the command node, members of the subset of the ID nodes from the those of the ID nodes detected as broadcasting.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of selectively assigning the subset of the ID nodes further comprises:
detecting, by the command node, one or more broadcast signals respectively from one or more of the ID nodes;
accessing, by the command node, a communication profile maintained by the command node on an anticipated broadcasting state for each of the one or more of the ID nodes associated with the detected broadcast signals; and
selectively assigning, by the command node, members of the subset of the ID nodes from those of the one or more of the ID nodes associated with the detected broadcast signals that are in the anticipated broadcasting state according to their respective communication profile.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the shipping container maintains a plurality of packages respectively associated with each of the subset of the ID nodes, and wherein the step of selectively assigning the subset of the ID nodes further comprises:
accessing, by the command node, shipping information on what type of item is being shipped in each of the packages associated with each of the ID nodes; and
selectively assigning, by the command node, members of the subset of the ID nodes based upon the type of item being shipped in each of the packages associated with each of the ID nodes in the subset of the ID nodes.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the step of selectively assigning the members of the subset of the ID nodes further comprises:
identifying which of the ID nodes are associated with packages containing incendiary material based upon the shipping information; and
assigning the identified ID nodes associated with incendiary material as the members of the subset of the ID nodes to function as the dedicated monitor beacons.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the step of selectively assigning the members of the subset of the ID nodes further comprises:
identifying which of the ID nodes are associated with packages containing incendiary material based upon the shipping information; and
assigning a predetermined number of the identified ID nodes associated with incendiary material as the members of the subset of the ID nodes to function as the dedicated monitor beacons.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the shipping container maintains a plurality of packages respectively associated with each of the subset of the ID nodes, and wherein the step of selectively assigning the subset of the ID nodes further comprises:
accessing, by the command node, context data maintained by the command node on location information related to each the packages as maintained within the shipping container; and
selectively assigning, by the command node, the members of the subset of the ID nodes based upon the location information related to each of the ID nodes in the subset of the ID nodes.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the selectively assigning step comprises:
identifying which of the ID nodes are located in designated regions within the shipping container based upon the location information; and
assigning a respective one of the ID nodes in each of the designated regions within the shipping container as the members of the subset of ID nodes to function as the dedicated monitor beacons.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the identifying step further comprises identifying which of the ID nodes are located in each of the designated regions within the shipping container based upon a loading scheme for the packages maintained within the shipping container, the loading scheme being part of the location information in the context data.

13. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of receiving, by the command node, an instruction message that identifies the subset of the ID nodes to function as the dedicated monitor beacons.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the instruction message received by the command node is generated by a higher level element in the wireless node network.

Assignees

• Fedex Corp Services Inc

Inventors

• Skaaksrud Ole-Petter

Classifications

• H02J7/80

  including monitoring or indicating arrangements · CPC title

• H02J7/44

  between battery management systems and power sources · CPC title

• H04L41/04

  Network management architectures or arrangements · CPC title

• H04Q2209/823

  where the data is sent when the measured values exceed a threshold, e.g. sending an alarm · CPC title

• H04Q2209/40

  using a wireless architecture · CPC title