Systems and methods for securely monitoring a shipping container for an environmental anomaly

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11601502-B2
Application number	US-202117496863-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 8, 2021
Priority date	Sep 22, 2018
Publication date	Mar 7, 2023
Grant date	Mar 7, 2023

Abstract

Systems and methods are described for securely monitoring a shipping container for an environmental anomaly using elements of a wireless node network of sensor-based ID nodes disposed within the container and a command node associated with the container. The method has the command node identifying which of the ID nodes are confirmed as trusted sensors based upon a security credential specific to each of the ID nodes; monitoring only the confirmed ID nodes for sensor data broadcast those ID nodes; detecting the anomaly based upon the sensor data from at least one of the confirmed ID nodes; automatically generating an alert notification related to the detected environmental anomaly for the shipping container; and transmitting the alert notification to the external transceiver to initiate a mediation response related to the detected environmental anomaly.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for securely monitoring a shipping container for an environmental anomaly using elements of a wireless node network having at least a plurality of sensor-based ID nodes disposed within the shipping container and a command node associated with the shipping container, wherein the command node being operative to securely communicate with each of the sensor-based ID nodes and an external transceiver associated with a transit vehicle having at least temporary custody of the shipping container, the method comprising:
identifying, by the command node, which of the sensor-based ID nodes is one of a plurality of trusted sensors disposed within the shipping container based upon a security credential specific to a respective one of the sensor-based ID nodes, the identified ones of the sensor-based ID nodes being confirmed sensor-based ID nodes, wherein at least one of the confirmed sensor-based ID nodes includes a chemical sensor;
monitoring, by the command node, only the confirmed ones of the sensor-based ID nodes for sensor data broadcast from each of the confirmed sensor-based ID nodes;
detecting, by the command node, the environmental anomaly for the shipping container based upon the sensor data monitored from at least one of the confirmed sensor-based ID nodes;
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 external transceiver to initiate a mediation response related to the detected environmental anomaly.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the security credential specific to the respective one of the sensor-based ID nodes is cached on the command node.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising the step of downloading, by the command node, the security credential specific to the respective one of the sensor-based ID nodes and storing the security credential specific to the respective one of the sensor-based ID nodes as the cached security credential on the command node.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of identifying which of the sensor-based ID nodes is one of the trusted sensors further comprises at least:
obtaining, by the command node, the security credential specific to a particular one of the sensor-based ID nodes to determine whether a particular one of the sensor-based ID nodes is one of the trusted sensors; and
establishing, by the command node, an active association between the command node and the particular one of the sensor-based ID nodes when the security credential specific to the particular one of the sensor-based ID nodes indicates the particular one of the sensor-based ID nodes is one of the trusted sensors, wherein the established active association confirming that the particular one of the sensor-based ID nodes is one of the trusted sensors reflecting that the particular one of the sensor-based ID nodes is one of the confirmed sensor-based ID nodes.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the step of obtaining the security credential comprises accessing a memory on the command node for a cached copy of the security credential specific to the particular one of the sensor-based ID nodes.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the step of obtaining the security credential comprises requesting, by the command node, the security credential specific to the particular one of the sensor-based ID nodes.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the step of requesting the security credential comprises transmitting a request, by the command node, to the external transceiver for the security credential specific to the particular one of the sensor-based ID nodes.

8. The method of claim 4 , wherein the active association between the command node and the particular one of the sensor-based ID nodes reflects a permissive secure connection between the command node and the particular one of the sensor-based ID nodes over which the particular one of the sensor-based ID nodes securely broadcasts its sensor data.

9. The method of claim 4 , wherein the active association between the command node and the particular one of the sensor-based ID nodes reflects an authorized logical pairing of the command node and the particular one of the sensor-based ID nodes, the active association being represented by association data generated by the command node and maintained on the command node.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of identifying which of the sensor-based ID nodes is one of the trusted sensors further comprises generating, by the command node, association data reflecting an authorized logical pairing of the command node and a particular one of the sensor-based ID nodes when the security credential specific to the particular one of the sensor-based ID nodes permits the logical pairing of the command node and the particular one of the sensor-based ID nodes.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of identifying which of the sensor-based ID nodes is one of the trusted sensors further comprises:
accessing, by the command node, a primary list of sensors maintained on the command node;
comparing, by the command node, the primary list of sensors against each of the sensor-based ID nodes to identify a subset of the sensor-based ID nodes confirmed to be on the primary list of sensors; and
identifying, by the command node, which of the subset of the sensor-based ID nodes is one of the trusted sensors based upon the security credential specific to a respective one of the subset of the sensor-based ID nodes, the identified ones from the subset of the sensor-based ID nodes being the confirmed sensor-based ID nodes.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising receiving, by the command node, the primary list of sensors from the external transceiver.

13. The method of claim 11 further comprising validating, by the command node, the sensor data broadcast from each of the confirmed sensor-based ID nodes upon receiving the sensor data broadcast from each of the confirmed sensor-based ID nodes; and
wherein the detecting step further comprises detecting, by the command node, the environmental anomaly for the shipping container based only upon the sensor data validated by the command node.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the step of validating further comprises:
transmitting, by the command node, a validation request to a respective one of the confirmed sensor-based ID nodes; and
receiving, by the command node, a validation confirmation from the respective one of the confirmed sensor-based ID nodes in response to the validation request, the validation confirmation indicating that the respective one of the confirmed sensor-based ID nodes receiving the validation request previously broadcast at least part of the sensor data.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein the step of validating further comprises:
transmitting, by the command node, a validation request to each of the confirmed sensor-based ID nodes; and
receiving, by the command node, a validation confirmation from each of the confirmed sensor-based ID nodes in response to the validation request, the validation confirmation indicating that each of the confirmed sensor-based ID nodes receiving the validation request previously broadcast at least part of the sensor data.

16. The method of claim 13 , wherein the step of validating further comprises determining, by the command node, which of the sensor data received by the command node during monitoring is valid by assessing a validation record within each of the received sensor data broadcast from each of

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