Methodandsystemforarmingacontainersecurity…….

1、Method and system for arming a container securitydevice without use of electronic readerBACKGROUND1. Technical FieldThe present invention relates to a method of and system for remotely arming acontainer security device without the use of an electronic reader device, whilenot compromising the securit

2、y of the system.2. History of the Related ArtThe vast majority of goods shipped throughout the world are shipped via whatare referred to as intermodal freight containers. As used herein, the term“containers”includes any container (whether with wheels attached or not) thatis not transparent to radio

3、frequency signals, including, but not limited to,intermodal freight containers.The most common intermodal freight containers are known as InternationalStandards Organization (ISO) dry intermodal containers, meaning they meetcertain specific dimensional, mechanical and other standards issued by the I

4、SOto facilitate global trade by encouraging development and use of compatiblestandardized containers, handling equipment, ocean-going vessels, railroadequipment and over-the-road equipment throughout the world for all modes ofsurface transportation of goods. There are currently more than 12 million

5、suchcontainers in active circulation around the world as well as many morespecialized containers such as refrigerated containers that carry perishablecommodities. The United States alone receives approximately six million loadedcontainers per year, or approximately 20,000 per day, representing nearl

6、y half ofthe total value of all goods received each year.Since approximately 90% of all goods shipped internationally are moved incontainers, container transport has become the backbone of the world economy.The sheer volume of containers transported worldwide renders individualphysical inspection im

7、practicable, and only approximately 3% to 4% ofcontainers entering the United States are actually physically inspected. Risk ofintroduction of a terrorist biological, radiological or explosive device via a freightcontainer is high, and the consequences to the international economy of such anevent co

8、uld be catastrophic, given the importance of containers in worldcommerce.Even if sufficient resources were devoted in an effort to conduct physicalinspections of all containers, such an undertaking would result in seriouseconomic consequences. The time delay alone could, for example, cause theshut d

9、own of factories and undesirable and expensive delays in shipments ofgoods to customers.Current container designs fail to provide adequate mechanisms for establishingand monitoring the security of the containers or their contents. A typicalcontainer includes one or more door hasp mechanisms that all

10、ow for theinsertion of a plastic or metal indicative“seal”or bolt barrier conventional“seal”to securethe doors of the container. The door hasp mechanisms that are conventionallyused are very easy to defeat, for example, by drilling an attachment bolt of thehasp out of a door to which the hasp is att

11、ached. The conventional sealsthemselves currently in use are also quite simple to defeat by use of a commoncutting tool and replacement with a rather easily duplicated seal.A more advanced solution proposed in recent time is known as an“electronicseal”(“e- seal”) The e -seals are equivalent to tradi

12、tional door seals and areapplied to the containers via the same, albeit weak, door hasp mechanism as anaccessory to the container, but include an electronic device such as a radio orradio reflective device that can transmit the e-seals serial number and a signal ifthe e-seal is cut or broken after i

13、t is installed. However, the eseal is not able tocommunicate with the interior or contents of the container and does not transmitinformation related to the interior or contents of the container to another device.The container security device must be armed in order to be able to monitor theintegrity

14、of the container doors while the container is in transit. However, one ofthe challenges in implementing a global in-transit security system for freightcontains is to adequately distribute the global reader infrastructure so as to beable to arm the container security device on demand anywhere in the

15、world, i.e.,to download to a given container security device an encrypted arming key thathas been issued by an authorized arming server. There are hundreds ofthousands of shippers of cargo containers in over 130 countries thatwould potentially need to use some type of reader device in order to perfo

16、rmsuch arming transactions.This need for reader devices poses a problem when the shipper does not shipregularly and/or does not have an account with the carrier, as it becomesproblematic to distribute readers. Furthermore, it is not unusual that someshippers have their location in remote places (e.g

17、., in-land China, Africa or LatinAmerica), where there is limited or no wired not wireless public networkcoverage nor Internet capability, or where such IT capabilities are too expensive.In such cases, which are not expected to be unusual or uncommon in terms ofthe number of locations but rather pre

18、-dominant, it may be very difficult todistribute the readers and thus implement a global intransit container securitysystem.It would therefore be advantageous to provide a method and of and system forremotely arming a container security device without use of a reader device whilestill maintaining a

19、very high security and authentication process.SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThese and other drawbacks are overcome by embodiments of the presentinvention, which provides a method of and system for efficiently and reliablymonitoring a container and its contents as well as tracking containers to maintainthe

20、 security thereof. More particularly, one aspect of the invention includes asystem for monitoring the condition of a container. A container security devicesecures at least one door of the container. The container security device isprogrammably armed to implement the securing. The container security

21、deviceis adapted to sense at least one condition of the container, transmit informationrelative to the at least one sensed condition to a location outside the container,and interpret the at least one sensed condition. A remote arming plug is coupledto the container security device. The remote arming

22、 plug has a unique identifier,or an arming key, or other data related to the arming key, to be communicated tothe container security device to initiate an arming sequence of the containersecurity device. the remote arming plug may be used as part of a mechanicalseal.In another aspect, the present in

23、vention relates to a method for monitoring thecondition of a container. At least one door of the container is secured with acontainer security device. The container security device is adapted to sense atleast one condition of thecontainer, transmit information relative to the at least one sensed con

24、dition to a locationoutside the container, and interpret the at least one sensed condition. In response to amovement of a remote arming plug, an arming sequence of the container security device isinitiated. The remote arming plug has a unique identifier to be communicated to the containersecurity de

25、vice to initiate an arming sequence of the container security device.In another aspect, the present invention relates to a system for monitoring the condition of acontainer having a container security device for securing at least one door of the container. Auser server stores a list of authorized us

26、ers and issues a remote arming plug ID for a remotearming plug coupled to the container security device. In response to a movement of a remotearming plug, an arming sequence of the container security device is initiated. The remotearming plug is coupled to the container security device. The remote a

27、rming plug has a uniqueidentifier to be communicated to the container security device to initiate an arming sequenceof the container security device.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGSA more complete understanding of exemplary embodiments of the present invention can beachieved by reference to the followi

28、ng Detailed Description of Exemplary Embodiments of theInvention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying Drawings, wherein:FIG. 1A is a diagram illustrating a container according to an embodiment of the invention;FIG. 1B illustrates a flow of an exemplary supply chain;FIG. 1C illustrates a s

29、ystem for pre-loading keys into the container security device accordingto an embodiment of the invention;FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the container security device;FIGS. 3A-F illustrate various views of a container security device and a remote arming plugaccording to an embodiment of the invention;F

30、IG. 4 illustrates the remote arming process of a container security device according to anembodiment of the invention; andFIG. 5 illustrates the remote arming system including the shipper in communication with theauthentication server and a user server.DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARYEMBODIMENTS OF

31、 THE PRESENTINVENTIONIt has been found that a container security device of the type set forth, shown, and describedbelow, may be positioned in and secured to a container for effective monitoring of the integrityand condition thereof and its contents. The container security device has to be armed wit

32、h aunique electronic arming key for authentication purposes. The container security device canbe armed using a reader device, in which case the arming key is retrieved and downloadedfrom an authentication server which issues the arming key.Alternatively, according to embodiments of the present inven

33、tion, a remote arming plug isinitially coupled to the container security device. The arming key is generated in the containersecurity device itself once the remote arming plug has been disconnected and the containersdoors have been closed. Accordingly, the container security device can be armed with

34、 aunique arming key without use of a reader device. However, after the remote arming key hasbeen generated, the remote arming key must subsequently be authenticated. As asubsequent entity in the shipping chain that has a reader interrogates the container securitydevice, the arming key in the contain

35、er security device is authenticated by the authenticationserver.The container security device secures at least one door of the container. The containersecurity device may be similar to the one disclosed in pending U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/667,282, filed on Sep. 17, 2003, the disclosure of

36、which is incorporated by referenceherein. The container security device is armed with a unique, encrypted arming key, whichensures the security of the system. The container security device is adapted to sense at leastone condition of the container, transmit information relative to the at least one s

37、ensedcondition to a location outside the container, interpret the at least one sensed condition. Thecornerpiece of embodiments of the present invention consists of a so-called remote remotearming plug. The remote arming plug has a unique identifier such as a unique pin combination,a serial number, e

38、tc. The remotearming plug communicates this unique identifier to the container security device via anysuitable manner such as, e.g., infra-red, a wireless connection, or a physical connection. Theconnector could be a RS-232 connector (D-SUB) which could connect to the data port on theback of the con

39、tainer security device, but it could be any other type of connector and connectto other part(s) of the container security device. The remote arming plug may have a uniqueserial number physically marked (numbers written or bar codes) on it, as well as programmed(once) in its electronic memory.FIG. 1A

40、 is a diagram illustrating a container100 according to anembodiment of the invention. The container100 is stuffed withvarious materials to be transported by a shipper. The container100has doors 105 that are opened when the shipper initially stuffs the container 100. A containersecurity device110 sec

41、ures thecontainers 100 doors 105 after they have closed and until the container security device110 is properly disarmed such as when, e.g.,the container 100 reaches its final destination and its doors105need to be opened to remove the containers100 contents. Thecontainer security device110 will acti

42、vate an alarm when thecontainers 100 doors 105 are opened without being properly disarmed.The container security device 110 ensures that the container 100 has not been breached afterthe container100 has been secured. Theprocess for arming the container security device 12 is described below with resp

43、ect to FIGS.3A-F.FIG. 1B illustrates a flow120 of an exemplary supply chain frompoints (A) to (I). Referring first to point (A), the container100 isfilled with cargo by the shipper or the like. At point (B), the loaded container 100 is shipped toa port of embarkation via highway or rail transportati

44、on. At point (C), the container100 isgated inat the port of loading such as a marine shipping yard.At point (D), the container100 is loaded on a ship operated by acarrier. At point (E), the container100 is shipped by the carrier toa port of discharge. At point (F), the container100 is dischargedfrom

45、 the ship. Following discharge at point (F), the container100 isloaded onto a truck and gated out of the port of discharge at point (G). At point (H), thecontainer100 is shipped via land to a desiredlocation in a similar fashion to point (B). At point (I), upon arrival at the desired location, theco

46、ntainer100 is unloaded by aconsignee.As will be apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art, there are many times within thepoints of the flow120 at which security ofthe container 100 could be compromised without visual or other conventional detection. Inaddition, the condition of the content

47、s of the container 100 could be completely unknown toany of the parties involved in the flow120 until point (H) when the contents of thecontainer 100 are unloaded.As discussed above, the container security device110 is armed duringshipping for security purposes. The container security device110 mayb

48、e armed without use of an electronic reader. Accordingly, a shipper who does not have anyreaders can arm the container security device 110. Instead, the container security device canbe armed through use of a remote arming plug having a unique serial number, provided (a)the container security device

49、has been pre-loaded with at least one registered key, and theunique identifier of the arming plug is associated with one of the at least one arming key; (b)the unique identifier is read from the remote arming plug and is used in the container securitydevice to calculate a unique arming key; or (c) t

50、he container security device acquires anarming key from the remote arming plug.FIG. 1C illustrates a system for pre-loading keys into the container security device 110according to an embodiment of the invention. The system includes a authentication server140. The authenticationserver 140 generates k

51、eys and may transmit the keys to a factory145,where container security devices110 are manufactured. Accordingly,the new keys may be stored directly onto the newly manufactured container security devices110 before the container security devices110 are used in the field. A container security device110

52、 that isalready in use may also be re-filled with additional keys in the field. For example, theauthentication server 140 may transmit additional keys to a computer150, such as aportable laptop. Thecomputer 150 may transmit the keys to a portable electronic device in communication with thecontainer

53、security device110 being re-filled,such as phone 155 or personal digital assistance (“PDA”) 160. Eachkey may be a unique number, and a different key may be used each time the containersecurity device110 is armed and a container100 havingthe container security device 110 ships.FIG. 2 is a block diagr

54、am of the container security device110. Thecontainer security device110 includes an antenna 200, an RF/basebandunit 205, a microprocessor (MCU) 210, a memory 215, and a door sensor 220. The containersecurity device110 further includes an interface229 for attachment of additional sensors to monitor v

55、arious internal conditions of thecontainer such as, for example, temperature, vibration, radioactivity, gas detection, andmotion. A remote armingplug may be coupled to the interface 229 to arm the container security device110, asdescribed but not limited below with respectto FIGS. 3A-F.The container

56、 security device110 may also include an optional powersource 230 (e.g., battery); however, other power arrangements thatare detachable or remotely located may also be utilized by the container security device110. When the power source 230 includes abattery (as shown herein), inclusion of the power s

57、ource 230 in the110 may help to prolong battery life by230 to smaller temperature fluctuations230 being inside the container100. The230 within the container100 is advantageous in thatthe ability to tamper with or damage the powersource 230 is decreased. The container security device110 may alsooptio

58、nally include a connector for interfacing directly with an electronic reader. For example, aconnector may be located on an outer wall of the container100 for access by the reader.Althoughnot required to arm the container security device110, the reader mayconnect via a cable or other direct interface

59、 to download information from the containersecurity device 110.The microprocessor 210 (equipped with an internal memory) discerns door 105 events fromthe door sensor230, including, for example,container-disarming requests, and container-security checks. The discerned door events alsoinclude security

60、 breaches that may compromise the contents of the container100, suchas opening of adoor 105 after the container100 has been secured. The door eventsmay be time-stamped and stored in the memory215 for transmission tothe reader. The door events may be transmitted immediately, periodically, or in respo