Patent Application
20100277277
The invention is generally related to monitoring and tracking objects and items, and more particularly, to systems, devices and methods for monitoring and tracking objects in a controlled space.
Companies typically have difficulties tracking inventory items and their usage within their facilities. Many inventory items are misused, misplaced, and improperly tracked and replenished by the employees of the companies. Therefore, companies have incentives to track the items, hold employees responsible for missing items, properly account costs, and replenish the missing items based on demand. Typically items of the inventory are kept in a controlled space that is monitored. Some companies have used locking doors with keypads that allow only employees with authorized code to enter the controlled space. In addition, computers and bar code tags have been used to track the items in and out of the controlled space. However, these systems still lack tracking information, cost accounting information, security methods, and replenishments information in the process of tracking and monitoring the items stored in the controlled space and linking the responsible employee with the items being taken in and out of the controlled space.
The problem escalates when outside of a controlled environment such as a facility. Jobsite equipment theft is significant with industry loss estimates up to one billion dollars annually, according to a 2003 National Equipment Register study. Tool tracking and management systems provide one level of security, but a large percentage of theft includes tools disappearing from jobsites at the end of the workday. Some contemporary solutions to this problem include security portals designed for gate entrances and exits and activated by special electronic article surveillance (“EAS”) security tags. Similar to retail environments, in practice, the portal sounds an alarm when an EAS tagged tool passes through it, alerting jobsite security and management to a problem. Portals are designed to attach to any fence or gate system for a secure entry and exit point. However, these solutions still lack the tracking and access control that is beneficial on a jobsite with combinations of employees and contractors, as well as ease and portability of the secured area.
Therefore there is a need in the art for a system, apparatus and method that monitors and tracks items stored in a controlled space, which is conveniently portable for jobsites.
Embodiments of the invention provide a mobile tool facility including a container, which is configured to be moved to a plurality of locations. The container includes an interior for storing a plurality of items and an end, which provides access to the interior. A portal system is positioned in and rigidly coupled with a bottom surface of the interior of the container. The portal system is spaced from the container end to allow access to the portal system. The portal system controls access into and out of the container. A radio frequency shield wall is positioned in the interior of the container and spaced from the portal system in order to allow access between the portal system and the shield wall. The shield wall is configured to reduce an amount of electromagnetic energy entering the interior of the container storing the plurality of items. An auxiliary power unit (APU) is associated with the container and provides power to both the portal system and container. The plurality of items stored in the interior of the container is in a controlled space defined by the shield wall and interior walls of the container. The items are available to be removed from the container through the portal system by an authorized individual.
In order to retrieve an item from a mobile tool facility, a user enters a controlled access area of the container storing the plurality of items. The user enters user access information to the portal system positioned in the container. In response to access being granted to a user, the user enters the interior of the container through the portal system to retrieve at least one item of the plurality of items. The user then exits the interior of the container through the portal system with the at least one item. The portal system automatically reads data from an RFID data tag associated with any of the items retrieved by the user and associates the item(s) with the user.
When a user returns an item to a mobile tool facility, the user enters the controlled access area of the container. The user enters user access information to the portal system positioned in the container. In response to access being granted to the user, the user enters the interior of the container through the portal system to return the item. At the portal system, data is automatically read from the RFID data tag associated with the item. The item is disassociated from the user by the portal system. The user then exits the interior of the container through the portal system.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with a general description of the invention given above, and the detailed description given below, serve to explain the invention.
It should be understood that the appended drawings are not necessarily to scale, presenting a somewhat simplified representation of various features illustrative of the basic principles of the invention. The specific design features of the sequence of operations as disclosed herein, including, for example, specific dimensions, orientations, locations, and shapes of various illustrated components, will be determined in part by the particular intended application and use environment. Certain features of the illustrated embodiments have been enlarged or distorted relative to others to facilitate visualization and clear understanding. In particular, thin features may be thickened, for example, for clarity or illustration.
Embodiments of the invention provide a mobile tool facility that utilizes radio frequency identification (“RFID”) with a security portal system. The security portal system provides a controlled access point to the mobile tool facility. As seen generally in
In general operation of any of the implementations in
As the employee or contractor exits, the video cameras mounted on the portal captures an image of the employee with the items. The RFID reader system identifies the RFID tags that have been affixed or embedded within each item. A software system then updates the required inventory and employee records. The items are issued to and associated with the employee or contractor and adjustments are made to inventory levels to account for transactions. Each of these components along with additional optional security features are set out in more detail below.
Referring now to
Embodiments of the controlled access point 28 utilize a portal system 40 for controlling access to the mobile tool facility. Details of the portal system may be seen in
A portal system that may be used for the controlled access point 28 may be a CribMaster Accu-Port™ produced by WinWare, Inc. of Marietta, Ga. and described in U.S. application Ser. No. 11/969,350, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. This portal system is designed to track and monitor items in a controlled space. As best seen in
The portal system 40 is coupled to a locking door 48, typically between the portal system 40 and the controlled space. The locking door 48 assists in preventing an unauthorized employee or a contractor from entering and exiting the controlled space. The portal system 40 forms a portal area 50 that the employees and contractors may enter to interact with the portal system 40 to unlock the locking door 48. The portal area 50 is typically between the left section 42 and right section 46 of the portal system 40. The portal area 50 is an area where the portal system 40 generally receives data from the employee or contractor, either wirelessly via a radio frequency identification card or key fob, or mechanically via a graphical user interface 52.
The portal system 40 includes an electromagnetic lock 54 that may be fixedly coupled to the back of the left section 42 of the portal system 40 to engage the locking door 48 such that the lock 54 may lock or unlock the locking door 48. One of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that the electromagnetic lock 54 may be fixedly coupled anywhere on the portal system 40 so long that the electromagnetic lock 54 engages the locking door 48.
In some embodiments, the portal system 40 may include one or more presence sensing mats 56a, 56b that are placed at or near the portal area 50. One presence sensing mat 56a may be fixedly coupled to the floor between the left section 42 and right section 46 of the portal system 40. A second presence sensing mat 56b may be fixedly coupled to the floor behind the locking door 48 and in the controlled space. The presence sensing mats 56a, 56b may assist in determining whether an employee or contractor and inventory are entering or exiting the controlled space. For example, when an employee or contractor enters the controlled space, the presence sensing mat 56a on the floor between sections 42, 46 detects the user entering the portal area 50. When the employee or contractor is verified by the portal system 40 that the employee or contractor is authorized to enter, the presence sensing mat 56b located behind the locking door 48 and in the controlled space verifies that the employee or contractor has entered the controlled space. When the employee or contractor exits the controlled space, the presence sensing mat 56a located between the sections 42, 46 of the portal system 40 detects the user exiting the controlled space and verifies that the user has exited the portal area 50 of the portal system 40 and out of the controlled space. One of ordinary skill in the art will realize that the presence sensing mats are just one of a number of solutions to detecting the presence of an employee or contractor in the portal area 50 or controlled space.
The left section 42 of the portal system houses a computing device 58, RF antenna 60a, and the user graphical interface 52. The computing device 58 is located inside the left section 42 of the portal system 40. The antenna 60a and user interface 52 are fixedly coupled on the right of the section 42. The right section 46 of the portal system 40 includes antenna 60b that is fixedly coupled on the left of the section 46 and an unlock button 62 that is fixedly coupled on the back of the section and used to unlock the locking door 48 when the employee or contractor wishes to leave the controlled area.
The top section 44 of the portal system may also include an antenna 60c that is fixedly coupled to the bottom of the top section 44. The antennas 60a-c, presence sensing mats 56a-b, and the user interface 52 are positioned in the portal area 50 so that the employee or contractor can interact with these components as the employee or contractor enters the portal system. The portal area 50 is the area that the antennas 60a-c and presence sensing mat 56a may detect the employee or contractor and radio frequency tags associated with each of the inventory items, typically between the left section 42 and right section 46 of the portal system 40.
Computing device 58, as seen in
Computing device 58 also typically receives a number of inputs and outputs for communicating information externally. For interface with a user or operator, computing device 58 typically includes one or more user interface devices 52, such as input devices (e.g., a keyboard, a mouse, a trackball, a joystick, a touchpad, a keypad, a stylus, and/or a microphone, among others). Interface devices 52 may also include a display or other output device (e.g., a CRT monitor, an LCD display panel, and/or a speaker, among others). Additional inputs and outputs for the portal system 40 may also include RFID readers 60 using RF antennas 60a-c, presence sensing mats 56a-b, the unlock button 62, and the electromagnetic lock 54. Computing device 58 may also communicate on a wireless network 70 through a network interface 72.
Computing device 58 operates under the control of an operating system 74, and executes or otherwise relies upon various computer software applications, components, programs, objects, modules, data structures, etc. (e.g. portal software 76). Under control of the operating system 74 and portal software 76 the processor 64 allow/deny access to the controlled space by engaging or disengaging the electro-magnetic lock 54, detect the presence of an employee or contractor on a presence sensing mat 56a-b, read RF data from either an RFID Identification card or key fob or data from RFID tags on inventory items with the RFID readers 60, or interact with the graphical user interface 52.
In general, the routines executed to implement the embodiments of the invention, whether implemented as part of an operating system or a specific application, component, program, object, module or sequence of instructions will be referred to herein as “computer program code”, or simply “program code”. The computer program code typically comprises one or more instructions that are resident at various times in various memory and storage devices in a computer, and that, when read and executed by one or more processors in a computer, causes that computer to perform the steps necessary to execute steps or elements embodying the various aspects of the invention. Moreover, while the invention has and hereinafter will be described in the context of fully functioning computers and computer systems, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the various embodiments of the invention are capable of being distributed as a program product in a variety of forms, and that the invention applies equally regardless of the particular type of computer readable media used to actually carry out the distribution. Examples of computer readable media include but are not limited to physical, recordable type media such as volatile and non-volatile memory devices, floppy and other removable disks, hard disk drives, optical disks (e.g., CD-ROM's, DVD's, etc.), among others, and transmission type media such as digital and analog communication links.
In addition, various program code described hereinafter may be identified based upon the application or software component within which it is implemented in specific embodiments of the invention. However, it should be appreciated that any particular program nomenclature that follows is merely for convenience, and thus the invention should not be limited to use solely in any specific application identified and/or implied by such nomenclature. Furthermore, given the typically endless number of manners in which computer programs may be organized into routines, procedures, methods, modules, objects, and the like, as well as the various manners in which program functionality may be allocated among various software layers that are resident within a typical computer (e.g., operating systems, libraries, APIs, applications, applets, etc.), it should be appreciated that the invention is not limited to the specific organization and allocation of program functionality described herein.
Those skilled in the art will recognize that the exemplary environment illustrated in
Inventory stored in the mobile tool facility 20 is tracked and assigned to users with authorized access via data stored on an RFID data tag. These data tags are incorporated into or onto the inventory items such as illustrated in
To avoid inadvertent reads from the data tags 80 by the portal system 40, a shield may be constructed between the portal system 40 and the storage area for the items as illustrated in
Shielding may be accomplished using any number of methods known to one of ordinary skill in the art. For example, a Faraday cage or Faraday shield may be used. A Faraday cage is an enclosure formed by conducting material, or by a mesh of such material. Such an enclosure blocks out external static electrical fields. To a large degree, Faraday cages also shield the interior from external electromagnetic radiation if the conductor is thick enough and any holes are significantly smaller than the radiation's wavelength. For example, certain computer forensic test procedures of electronic components or systems that require an environment devoid of electromagnetic interference may be conducted within a so-called screen room. These screen rooms are essentially labs or work areas that are completely enclosed by one or more layers of fine metal mesh or perforated sheet metal. The metal layers are connected to earth ground to dissipate any electric currents generated from the external electromagnetic fields, and thus block a large amount of the electromagnetic interference.
Depending on the construction of the trailer 20 or container 30, the trailer 20 or container 30 may form the bulk of the Faraday cage requiring the addition of only a single shield wall 88. In other embodiments for other constructions, only the single shield wall 88, rather than an entire Faraday cage may be sufficient as illustrated in
Access through the shield wall 88 is through door 98. In some embodiments, the door 98 has an electromagnetic locking mechanism 100 and a pneumatic self closure (not shown). The electromagnetic locking mechanism 100 may be wired to a relay system in the RF Portal System 40. The relay system may control the locking system on both the portal door 48 and the shield door 98. The relay system may disengage one door 48, 98 at a time to reduce RFID reader errors and to assist in controlling traffic patterns in and out of the mobile tool facility.
Once inside the storage area, and as illustrated in an exemplary embodiment in
As added security, in some embodiments, dome cameras 112 and box cameras 114 may be implemented so entry into and out of the mobile tool facility as well as activities within the mobile tool facility may be monitored. The dome cameras 112 may be mounted on the portal system 40 and the mobile tool facility ceiling to provide surveillance throughout the facility. Dome cameras 112 may include a rugged, dust proof dome encasing and protecting the camera from the environment. The box camera 114 may be mounted on an interior back wall 116 of the mobile tool facility. The box camera 114 may capture authorized user activity as they travel down the aisle and remove items from the shelving 102, bins 104 or drawers 106. The box camera 114 may include a durable metal casing in order to protect the camera from the environment.
The dome 112 and box 114 cameras may be configured to produce high resolution color pictures. The cameras may be set up such that the cameras 112,114 can pan, tilt, and/or zoom. The cameras 112, 114 may follow a predetermined motion pattern, or in other embodiments the cameras may be digitally remote controlled over a wired or wireless network. In addition to capturing and storing still images, the cameras may also capture streaming pictures to generate movie type files such as MPEG. Some of the cameras 112, 114 may work in conjunction with a motion sensor such that the camera only records images when motion is detected.
In some embodiments, an audible alarm may be activated when a tamper switch mounted on the portal door 48 remains disengaged for a period of time exceeding the time interval threshold set for the door to be open. Once activated, an electronic notification may be sent to the authorities as defined by a system administrator. Additionally or alternatively, in some embodiments, an e-mail alert may be sent and a log entry made when an alarm is sounded. Administrators or owners of the mobile tool facility may then be able to access the camera system using a web-based remote access over the internet using a web browser. Due to the mobile nature of the mobile tool facility, network connections may likely be wireless connections utilizing wireless network 70. In some embodiments, the mobile tool facility may be able to support a wired connection for network access.
The mobile tool facility may be powered using a standard APU mounted on the trailer 20 or container 30 embodiments. The APU should provide sufficient power to accommodate the power needs of the portal system 40, related computer and networking equipment, lighting, and electromagnetic locking devices. Additionally the APU should be able to supply power to an HVAC system 118 which controls the climate of the storage area in the mobile tool facility. Ducts 120 facilitate moving the heated or cooled air around the storage space. An APU suitable for use with an embodiment of the mobile tool facility 20, is a standard trailer mounted 60 kW generator, model G21 manufactured by Aggreko North America L.L.C. of Houston, Tex.
After the mobile tool facility has been delivered to the job location and is under power, the employees and contractors may use the facility to retrieve tools and other items. Flowchart 150 in
As the authorized employee or authorized contractor enters, an audible command is triggered to notify the employee or contractor to close the door. If the door is left disengaged or propped open (“Yes” branch of decision block 168), an audible alarm will be activated (block 170) and an electronic notification will be sent to management informing them of the door status (block 162). The door security system assists in preventing unauthorized entry into the mobile tool facility, which may ultimately yield an increase in inventory accuracy and a reduced opportunity of theft. After a time delay, the shield door is unlocked (block 172). The timing may be set such that only one of the portal door and shield door may be open at a time in order to reduce the possibility of data from the RFID tags on the items in the bins or on the shelves from being read and errantly being associated with the employee or contractor. Video cameras mounted through the interior of the mobile tool facility monitor the employee's or contractor's activity. Once the employee or contractor has acquired the necessary items (block 174), he or she exits the mobile security portal (block 176) with the items. As the employee exits, the video cameras mounted on the portal may optionally capture an image of the employee with the items. The RFID reader system identifies the RFID tags that have been affixed or embedded within each item (block 178). The software system then updates the required inventory and employee records (block 180). The items are issued to the employee and adjustments are made to inventory levels to account for transactions.
Some items retrieved from the mobile tool facility may be disposable items and not necessarily assigned to the employee or contractor. The software system may simply update inventory levels when these items are removed. However, some of the items, such as the tools in
As the employee or contractor enters, an audible command is triggered to notify the employee or contractor to close the door. If the door is left disengaged or propped open (“Yes” branch of decision block 220), an audible alarm will be activated (block 222) and an electronic notification will be sent to management informing them of the door status (block 212). After a time delay, the shield door is unlocked (block 224). Again, the timing may be set such that only one of the portal door and shield door may be open at a time in order to reduce the possibility of data from the RFID tags on the items in the bins or on the shelves from being read and errantly being associated with the employee or contractor. Video cameras mounted through the interior of the mobile tool facility monitor the employee's or contractor's activity. Once the employee or contractor has returned the items (block 226), he or she returns to the mobile security portal (block 228). As the employee or contracto exits, the video cameras mounted on the portal may optionally capture an image of the employee or contractor. If the employee or contractor has acquired new items prior to exiting (block 230), these times are logged similar to the process set forth above in flowchart 150 in
While the present invention has been illustrated by a description of one or more embodiments thereof and while these embodiments have been described in considerable detail, they are not intended to restrict or in any way limit the scope of the appended claims to such detail. Additional advantages and modifications will readily appear to those skilled in the art. The invention in its broader aspects is therefore not limited to the specific details, representative apparatus and method, and illustrative examples shown and described. Accordingly, departures may be made from such details without departing from the scope of the general inventive concept.
