Patent Grant
8576077
The present invention relates to a system for protecting at least one item to be secured, for example at least one piece of luggage, the system comprising
The present invention further relates to a method as described in the preamble of claim 6.
Ensuring security of belongings can be a chore for travelers, who need to be constantly observant that they have not left any luggage behind or have suffered a theft. Bags may be left in a luggage area on a bus or on a train, such that they are close by but nevertheless out of sight and may slip the mind.
Conventional luggage labels are adequate for the limited purpose of identifying to whom a piece of luggage belongs. However, conventional luggage labels do nothing to prevent loss, either through forgetfulness or through theft. For this reason, a solution for keeping track of belongings is required.
An additional problem is that often there is more than one carrier or luggage owner traveling together. It is often difficult to know who is currently responsible for keeping track of a particular item of luggage as it is not always clear whether one of the other members of the group are looking after the particular item(s) of luggage.
Moreover, the age profile of the western population is moving upwards, due to increasing life expectancy, and there is currently a trend for early retirement. Older people can therefore look forward to a long retirement. Unfortunately, many elderly people are prone to conditions such as dementia, which often affects the memory. Loss of personal items is a perennial problem for the affected individuals.
At the other end of the age scale, young children are thought to be ever more vulnerable to abduction and the risks of wandering unsupervised near busy roads. In this situation, a solution for monitoring children to ensure that they do not wander too far from their carriers is required.
It has been suggested that children can have a G[lobal]P[ositioning]S[ystem] device attached to their person as an aid to locating them, should they disappear. However, it would be much better to ensure that they do not go missing in the first place. Moreover, GPS devices as mentioned above are very expensive. GPS devices are also very power hungry and require frequent charging.
In prior art document U.S. Pat. No. 5,402,104 a protection transponder for monitoring tags periodically, to see when they disappear is disclosed. However, this protection transponder lacks of working out, when the carriers or supervisors, in particular all of several monitor devices, are out of range.
Moreover, exemplary systems matching the above description are disclosed
however, these prior art documents do not cater for more than one reader with joint responsibility for the valuable items.
Finally, exemplary systems matching the above description are disclosed
Starting from the disadvantages and shortcomings as described above and taking the prior art as discussed into account, an object of the present invention is to further develop a system of the kind as described in the technical field and a method of the kind as described in the technical field in such way that the monitor device can be carried with him by at least one user and that at the same time it can be discovered whether the item remains nearby the respective monitor device.
The object of the present invention is achieved by a system comprising the features of claim 1 as well as by a method comprising the features of claim 6. Advantageous embodiments and expedient improvements of the present invention are disclosed in the respective dependent claims.
The present invention is based on the principle
for protecting the item.
The transponder device can be applied to luggage, jewelry, etc., and can be a good way to ensure that a child does not wander off.
According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the transponder device is attached to each item, in particular to each document, person, piece of luggage, etc., within a group of items to be supervised.
Moreover, according to a preferred embodiment each supervisor uses the monitor device, in particular a short range R[adio]F[requency] monitor device, which, in particular periodically, contacts each transponder device to discover whether the item remains nearby. Each item is advantageously deemed to be safe provided that it is close by for example at least one of the supervisors in the group.
According to a particularly advantageous embodiment of the present invention the transponder device keeps track of the number of monitoring devices which have contacted the transponder device recently and transmits this number in at least one response, in particular in at least one reply.
For reducing transmission intensity, advantageously the transponder device is designed to transmit the response only to monitor devices being assigned to the respective transponder device. The transmitted response allows the monitoring device to tell how many other monitor devices are currently within adequate range to supervise the item assigned to the transponder device. Thus, favorably the monitor device knows how many other monitor devices are also supervising the, in particular tagged, item.
Moreover, according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, each monitor device comprises at least one feedback device or feedback means for giving at least one, in particular visual and/or acoustical and/or haptic and/or tactile, feedback, such feedback device or feedback means being exemplarily implemented by at least one alarm unit for triggering at least one, in particular visual and/or acoustical and/or haptic and/or tactile, alarm signal
do(es) not receive any response from the transponder device within a certain time interval.
When a supervisor moves out of the range, the transponder device will receive no further signals from that monitor device, and a lower number of monitors will be reported.
If the number of determined nearby monitor devices falls below the predetermined threshold according to a preferred embodiment the transponder device knows that there is now for example only one supervisor in the area, and the response, in particular the return message, also indicates this fact to the remaining monitor device. If the sole monitor device then stops receiving return signals, this monitor device advantageously sounds at least one alarm.
Thus, the present invention for example provides a means to sound an alarm as soon as the item, in particular a child, leaves a protected area. Therewith the present invention offers a practical solution for monitoring for example children to ensure that they do not wander too far from their carriers.
Moreover, the present invention addresses the issue of having more than one monitoring device jointly responsible for the items being monitored. In this context, an advantageous embodiment of the present invention works out when all of several monitor devices are out of range. In contrast thereto, conventional systems cover only monitoring by one monitor device at a time or only each specific location.
By determining the number of monitor devices
the present invention provides a solution for monitoring the locations of a number of items, in particular persons or things, by another number of carriers, for example to solve the quandary where several travelers are jointly responsible for supervising their collection of luggage or several carriers are jointly responsible for supervising a number of children.
According to a favorable embodiment the transponder device comprises at least one processing unit, which
Moreover according to an advantageous embodiment the transponder device comprises at least one timer unit for decrementing the counted number of requests for the respective monitor device in case a certain time interval expires.
Optionally the transponder device is designed for determining the recent number of monitor devices by summing up all monitor devices for which the counted number of requests is at least one.
Alternatively thereto, the transponder device can be designed for determining the recent number of monitor devices by summing up all monitor devices for which the counted number of requests is at least equal to at least one predetermined threshold.
The transponder device may comprises at least one alarm unit for triggering at least one, in particular visual and/or acoustical and/or haptic and/or tactile, alarm signal in case the transponder device does not receive any request from the monitor device within a certain time interval.
In combination thereto or independently thereof the transponder device can be designed for broadcasting and/or for multicasting at least one alarm message to at least one of the monitor devices and/or to at least one further monitor device being not assigned to the transponder device.
In this context said monitor device is arranged within the range, in particular within the receiving and/or transmitting range, of the transponder device and said alarm message is designed for indicating the monitor device to trigger at least one, in particular visual and/or acoustical and/or haptic and/or tactile, warning signal.
The term “multicast(ing)” (used as an addition or as an alternative to the term “broadcast(ing)”) carries the sense of transmitting to a specific group of receivers, in particular of named receivers. In practice, the choice of transmission mode employed can depend on the capabilities of the underlying technology, which might govern the use of broadcast, of multicast or of a series of individual unicasts. Consequently, within the teaching of the present invention, the term “serial(ly) unicast(ing)” and/or “individual(ly) unicast(ing)” may also be used as an addition or as an alternative to the term “broadcast(ing)” and/or to the term “multicast(ing)”.
As described above, this invention uses the transponder device for the purpose of keeping track of the item, in particular of belongings. According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the transponder device is self adhesive, cheap and disposable.
Moreover, according to a preferred embodiment the transponder device comprises at least one energy source, in particular at least one battery, with the battery life being relatively long; when the battery finally expires, the transponder device may be discarded and substituted by a new one.
Sticky transponder devices can be provided on at least one small reel for individual application to for example plastic shopping bags as items are purchased in shops.
The monitor device will advantageously be larger than the transponder device attached to the valuable item, but will still be small and light enough to be carried easily in a pocket or worn around the wrist.
The present invention leads to the advantage that the system, in particular the transponder device, can be delivered in a small, cheap, disposable package that does not rely on expensive GPS technology.
Moreover, the present invention leads to the advantage, that an activation transponder is not required and that the present invention is not specific to any particular location.
According to an advantageous embodiment, the monitor device monitors the valuable item throughout the whole journey not just at key times.
In general, the present invention can be applied, in any situation where there are valuable items to be monitored, especially where responsibility for looking after the item is shared by more than one person or other entity. It might be used by travellers or by families with young children, as described above.
The present invention might also be used by craftsmen, such as plumbers, who need to be sure that all their tools are accounted for, either by their own efforts or their plumber's mate. There may be interesting industrial applications of this invention.
Moreover, the present invention might be used by older people to prevent them from losing personal items.
As already discussed above, there are several options to embody as well as to improve the teaching of the present invention in an advantageous manner. To this aim, reference is made to the claims respectively dependent on claim 1 and on claim 6; further improvements, features and advantages of the present invention are explained below in more detail with reference to two preferred embodiments by way of example and to the accompanying drawings where
The same reference numerals are used for corresponding parts in
The system 100 depicted in
Each monitor devices 10, 20 is based on short range radio frequency communication and comprises a transmitting unit 18, 28 for transmitting periodically, at least one request 40, 42, namely a ping message, to the electronic tag 50.
The tag in turn is designed for transmitting at least one response 60, 62, namely a return message, to the monitor devices 10, 20 having pinged 40, 42 the electronic tag 50.
As an example embodiment,
This tag 50 responds with the “return” message 60, 62, which carries a parameter, N, representing the number of monitors it has recently been in contact with. The parameter N is determined by a processing unit 52 of the tag 50.
For determining if the respective monitor device 10, 20 receives the return message 60, 62 from the electronic tag 50 within a certain time interval each monitor device 10, 20 comprises a timer unit 14, 24 being designed
Moreover, the timer unit is designed for triggering the transmission of the request 40, 42 once every ten seconds.
For triggering at least one, in particular visual and/or acoustical and/or haptic and/or tactile, warning signal 16s in case the determined number N of monitor devices 10, 20 falls below a predetermined threshold, in particular falls to one, each monitor device 10, 20 comprises at least one feedback device or feedback means, in particular at least one warning unit 16, 26.
However, the remaining monitor device 10 is now the only one within range, so it bleeps 16s to indicate that its owner is now solely responsible for looking after the item.
Later, this monitor device 10 also goes out of range. When no return messages 60 have been received for a period of time, the monitor realizes that the item is missing. The monitor device 10 already knows that no other monitor devices are within range, so it sounds a siren 12s to raise the alarm. For triggering the visual and/or acoustical and/or haptic and/or tactile alarm signal 12s the monitor device 10 comprises an alarm unit 12.
At the same time, the tag 50 on the missing item knows that it is no longer receiving pings 40, 42 from any of its designated monitor devices 10, 20, optionally it too can raise the alarm 16s. However, this need not require a alarm unit 56 on the tag 50 itself. Instead, it broadcasts or multicasts an “alarm” message 64 to any monitor devices 10, 20, 30 within range, whether they are normally responsible for this item or not.
There may well be others in the area for example a further monitor device 30 being not assigned to the tag 50 that can assist in returning the missing item to its owner. In this example, after having received the broadcasted or multicasted alarm message 64 the further monitor device 30 transmits an alarm signal 32s.
The electronic tag 50 on the valuable item contains a list of the valid monitor devices 10, 20 to which it is programmed to respond (reference numerals 60, 62), and it will ignore any pings from unknown monitor devices such as monitor device 30.
The electronic tag 50 also keeps track of which monitor devices have been heard from recently using the algorithm illustrated in
A timer unit 54 periodically reviews the list of ping counts P and assesses the number of monitor devices currently within range. Each ping count P is decremented by one, which will have the effect of gradually reducing the ping count for monitor devices that have not been heard from recently.
By counting the number of monitor devices in the list that have a ping count (value) greater than a threshold, say three, it is possible to derive a reliable indication of the number of supervisors within range. This value, i.e. the number of supervisors is returned as the N parameter in the message 60, 62 sent in response to each ping 40, 42.
If the number of active monitors 10, 20 falls to zero, an alarm 12s, 32s is raised by broadcasting and/or by multicasting the special alarm message 64 to any monitor devices 10, 20, 30 within range.
The procedure for the electronic tag 50 attached to a valuable item as depicted in
Thereupon, the electronic tag 50 reviews (reference numeral ii in
In case the ping message was transmitted by a non-valid monitor device, for example by the further monitor device 30, the procedure stops, pending receipt of the next message or timer event.
Otherwise, i.e. if the ping message was transmitted by a valid monitor device, for example by the monitor device 10, the electronic tag 50 increments (reference numeral iii in
Thereupon, the electronic tag 50 transmits (reference numeral iv in
The electronic tag 50 initiates the determination of the number N of monitor devices recently monitoring the electronic tag 50 every time, a certain time interval expired (step timer expiry with reference numeral a in
First, the ping count P is decremented for each monitor device comprised in the list (reference numeral b in
Thereupon the number N is set (reference numeral c in
In case the determined number N of monitor devices recently monitoring the electronic tag 50 is zero, the electronic tag 50 broadcasts and/or multicasts the alarm message 64 (reference number d in
Otherwise, i.e. in case the determined number N of monitor devices recently monitoring the electronic tag 50 is not zero, the procedure is stopped.
Optionally, to prevent false alarms, a different criterion can be used to trigger the alarm 12s, 32s; rather than using the threshold mentioned above, the alarm 12s, 32s needs not be sounded until the ping count P for each monitor 10, 20 has reached zero.
The monitor device 10, 20 keeps track of the length of time since each responding tagged item was last heard from, using a similar algorithm to that described above. Upon reception (reference numeral I in
In case the return message 60, 62 was transmitted by a non-valid electronic tag the procedure stops, in particular pending receipt of the next message or timer event.
Otherwise, i.e. in case the response 60, 62 is valuable, the monitor device 10, 20 increments (reference numeral III in
Moreover, the monitor device 10, 20 stores (reference numeral W in
The monitor also examines the parameter contained within the return message 60, 62 to see how many other monitor devices are also looking after that tagged item. The reported number of monitors, N, is also recorded for the particular valuable within the list of items.
If the number of monitors for a particular item falls to one, the monitor device, for example the monitor device 10, knows that it now has sole responsibility for looking after the tagged item. Optionally, the warning unit 16 of this sole monitor device 10 can trigger (reference numeral V in
Periodically, when a predetermined time interval expires (step timer expiry, reference numeral A in
Moreover, periodically the monitor device 10, 20 reviews the list of valid electronic tags 50, in particular the list of items. Each value of return count R is decremented (reference numeral C in
Thereupon the monitor device 10, 20 searches (reference numeral D in
If there are any items having a return count R value or zero and which are marked as being the sole responsibility of the monitor, i.e. N is one, an alarm condition is raised (step siren to audio, reference numeral E in
As an additional option, the tag 50 of the item for example of a child can also be set to raise an alarm (reference numeral E in
Inclusion of an audible or visual or haptic or tactile alarm within the item's own tag 50 might make the tag 50 too expensive to be truly disposable, but there is a better solution. To raise the alarm 12s, 32s, the tag broadcasts and/or multicasts a special “alarm” message 64 to all monitor devices 10, 20, 30 within the area.
This alarm message 64 would not only be sent to the listed supervisors but to any monitor device for example to the monitor device 30 within range. Nearby adults would thus be alerted to the plight of the lost child. It is suggested that the monitor device 30 sounds in a fashion that can be easily distinguished from the alarm signal 16s, in particular siren, described above.
Thus, if the monitor device 10, 20, 30 receives the alarm message 64 transmitted by the tag 10 (step alarm from valuable, reference numeral I.A in
As a practical consideration, the unique identifier within each electronic tag 50 may be synonymous with the “address” concept used by many communication schemes. When a message arrives from a particular unit, the source address within the message header denotes the unique identifier of the sender, in addition to its role as the return address for a response.
This source address can be also be used as the identity code for the purposes of this invention. Thus, the messages 40, 60 and 42, 62 can be identified by this way.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 05107301 | Aug 2005 | EP | regional |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/IB2006/052609 | 7/31/2006 | WO | 00 | 6/8/2010 |
| Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| WO2007/017788 | 2/15/2007 | WO | A |
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5402104 | LaRosa | Mar 1995 | A |
| 6297737 | Irvin | Oct 2001 | B1 |
| 6331817 | Goldberg | Dec 2001 | B1 |
| 6522253 | Saltus | Feb 2003 | B1 |
| 6750757 | Gabig et al. | Jun 2004 | B1 |
| 6900731 | Kreiner et al. | May 2005 | B2 |
| 7274292 | Velhal et al. | Sep 2007 | B2 |
| 20020109597 | Nelson et al. | Aug 2002 | A1 |
| 20040041707 | Hull et al. | Mar 2004 | A1 |
| 20050134459 | Glick et al. | Jun 2005 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 2377643 | Sep 2003 | CA |
| 2375424 | Nov 2002 | GB |
| 2400711 | Oct 2004 | GB |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20100253522 A1 | Oct 2010 | US |
