Secure container display unit

Abstract

A display unit 28 comprises an electronic paper display screen for indicating container access events and processing circuitry to receive access event signals from one or more container access sensors

Description

The present invention relates to a display unit for a secure container and to a corresponding system and container incorporating the display unit. Secure containers are used to carry and protect important items such as confidential documents, jewellery, cash, laptops, tablet devices, etc.. Secure containers typically comprise walls which define an interior for storing the items and a lockable cover, which prevents access to the interior when closed and which allows access to the interior when opened. The cover may also protect the contents of the container from the external environment when closed, for example so as to provide fire and water resistance. Secure containers typically comprise a locking mechanism that allows the cover to be locked shut, thereby safeguarding the contents from unauthorised access. The locking mechanism may, for example, be operated using an access code or key held only by authorised persons. Secure containers may be vulnerable to forced entry, whereby the container is damaged in some way to allow access. The contents of the container can then be stolen, tampered with or exchanged. Often it is evident when such a forced entry has been made. However, it can also be possible to achieve unauthorised access to a container without obvious forced entry, e.g. by stealing the access code or key for the locking mechanism. In this case, it is not necessarily evident that the secure container has been compromised. It is therefore desired to provide improvements relating to security for secure containers. According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a display unit for a secure container, the display unit comprising: an electronic paper display screen for indicating one or more container access events thereon; and processing circuitry configured to receive access event signals from one or more container access sensors and, based on the access event signals, update the appearance of the display screen to provide an indication that one or more container access events has occurred. As will be appreciated, the present invention can enhance the security of a secure container. In particular, the electronic paper display screen can allow authorised persons to review container access events for suspicious activity. Furthermore, the electronic paper display screen can have extremely low power consumption. In embodiments, the display screen may be configured to maintain its appearance in the absence of electrical power and / or may be configured to change its appearance only when electrical power (and an appropriate electrical control signal) is applied thereto. This can allow the display screen to maintain its record of access events thereon even if power is cut to the display unit. The display screen may, for example, comprise an electrophoretic display screen. In embodiments, the display unit may be battery powered. It will be appreciated that the use of an electronic paper display screen can allow the battery to last for an extremely long period of time. The battery may be located within the secure container (e.g. within the display unit). This can mean that there is no need to provide power cables into the secure container (e.g. into the display unit), thereby further enhancing the integrity of the secure container. Accordingly, the display unit may be powered from within the secure container (e.g. powered internally) and / or may not be mains or generator powered. ln embodiments, the one or more container access events may comprise one or more container opening / closing events (i.e. in which the secure container has been opened and / or closed). This allows authorised persons to review container opening / closing events (which do not necessarily involve unlocking or locking the secure container) for suspicious activity. Alternatively or additionally, the one or more container access events may comprise one or more container lock / unlock events (i.e. in which the secure container has been locked and / or unlocked). Again, this allows authorised persons to review container lock events (which do not necessarily involve opening or closing the secure container) for suspicious activity. In embodiments, an indication that a container access event has occurred may include a sequence number for that container access event. This can allow authorised persons to review the order in which container access events occurred to facilitate the identification of suspicious activity. An indication that a container access event has occurred may also or instead include a time elapsed between that container access event and a previous or subsequent container access event. This can allow authorised persons to review the relative time at which container access events occurred to facilitate the identification of suspicious activity. Furthermore, this can avoid the need to provide accurate absolute time values for container access events. An indication that a container access event has occurred may also include a duration of that container access event. This can allow authorised persons to review the duration of container access events to facilitate the identification of suspicious activity. Again, this can also avoid the need to provide accurate absolute time values for container access events. The electronic paper display screen may be configured to indicate a set of one or more (e.g. plural) container access events. The set of one or more (e.g. plural) container access events may be a set of more (or most) recent one or more container access events. This can allow recent activity to be monitored. However, as will be discussed below, the display unit may be controllable to allow a different set of one or more (e.g. plural) container access events to be indicated. The different set of one or more (e.g. plural) container access events may be a set of less recent one or more container access events. This can allow historical activity to be reviewed. In embodiments, the display unit may comprise a tamper detector for detecting that a tampering event has occurred. The processing circuitry may be configured to receive a tamper signal from the tamper detector and, based on the tamper signal, update the appearance of the display screen to provide an indication that a tampering event has occurred. As discussed above, the display screen may be configured to maintain its appearance in the absence of electrical power, and thus the indication of the tampering event may persist even in the absence of electrical power. Furthermore, the processing circuitry may be configured not to remove the indication that the tampering event has occurred once that indication has been provided. Thus, an indication that a tampering event has occurred may be a substantially permanent indication, i.e. which cannot be removed without destroying the display unit. This can allow a substantially permanent record of tampering to be provided such that an unauthorised person cannot easily erase the record of their unauthorised activity. ln embodiments, the tamper detector may comprise a circuit board having one or more electrical conductors thereon. A tampering event may be detected by detecting one or more abnormalities and / or disturbances (e.g. break, short and / or impedance (resistance / inductance) change) in the one or more electrical conductors. The one or more electrical conductors may comprise at least two electrical conductors. The at least two electrical conductors may be stacked on top of one another. The one or more electrical conductors may be serpentine and / or tortuous. The one or more electrical conductors may substantially cover the circuit board. The circuit board may be flexible and / or frangible. These embodiments can each help to increase the chance that an abnormality and / or disturbance occurs in the electrical conductors when the circuit board is disturbed. The circuit board may comprise one or more through holes. The one or more through holes may be substantially polygonal, e.g. triangular or quadrilateral. The one or more through holes may have sharp and / or nonrounded comers. These embodiments are particularly beneficial in that they can create higher stress points at the comers of the through holes, which in turn increase the chance of the circuit board tearing and the electrical conductors being disturbed. In embodiments, the display unit may comprise a housing which contains the components of the display unit, such as the display screen, processing circuitry and / or tamper detector. The display unit (e.g. the housing) may comprise (e.g. may be at least partially or completely filled with) an encapsulating material. The encapsulating material may be a resin material, such as an epoxy resin material. The components of the display unit may be at least partially or fully embedded in the encapsulating material. This can help to prevent the components of the display unit from being tampered with. For example, the electronic paper display screen may be at least partially or fully embedded in the encapsulating material. Similarly, the processing circuitry may be at least partially or fully embedded in the encapsulating material. Similarly, the tamper detector (e.g. circuit board) may be at least partially or fully embedded in the encapsulating material. This can mean that the tamper detector is disturbed when an attempt is made to remove the encapsulating material to gain access to the components of the display unit. In embodiments, the processing circuitry may comprise an externally (e.g. remotely and / or wirelessly and / or magnetically) operable input, such as a hall sensor. The processing circuitry may (e.g. only) be controllable from the exterior of the display unit) via the externally operable input. This can allow the display unit to be controlled whilst also helping to prevent the components of the display unit from being physically interfered with. The control of the display unit may include selecting different operating modes, such as a factory mode (in which the display unit is initialised for operation) and / or a deployed mode (in which the display unit indicates one or more container access events as discussed herein). The control of the display unit may also or instead include selecting different display modes, such as a more (or most) recent access event mode (in which more (or most) recent access events are indicated) and / or a less recent access event mode (in which less recent access events are indicated). According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a display unit system for a secure container, the system comprising: a display unit as described herein in any aspect or embodiment; and one or more container access sensors configured to provide the access event signals to the processing circuitry of the display unit. In embodiments, the one or more container access sensors may comprise one or more open / close sensors configured to detect container opening / closing events. The one or more container access sensors may also or instead comprise one or more lock / unlock sensors configured to detect a locking / unlocking event. The one or more container access sensors (e.g. open / close sensors and / or lock / unlock sensors) may comprise an optical sensor, a pressure sensor and / or a proximity sensor. As will be appreciated, an opening event is not always associated with a corresponding unlocking event, for example if the container has been closed but then left unlocked until the next opening. Similarly, an unlocking event is not always associated with a corresponding opening event, for example if the container has been unlocked but not then opened before the next locking. Having both an open / close sensor and a lock / unlock sensor allows both forms of access event to be monitored independently. According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a secure container comprising: an interior for storing items; a cover configured to move between a closed position that prevents access to the interior and an open position that allows access to the interior; and, within the interior, a display unit system as described herein in any aspect or embodiment, the display unit system being configured to indicate one or more container access events for the container. ln embodiments, the one or more container access sensors (e.g. open / close sensors) may monitor the open and / or closed position of the cover. The container may comprise a locking mechanism for locking the cover in a closed position to prevent access to the interior and / or for unlocking the cover to allow access to the interior. The one or more container access sensors (e.g. lock / unlock sensors) may monitor the locked and / or unlocked state of the locking mechanism. In embodiments, the secure container may have no external wiring (e.g. power cables, control cables, etc.) provided thereto. This can enhance the portability and security of the secure container. The secure container may be (e.g. manually) portable. These embodiments can allow the container (and its contents) to be easily transported. By way of example only, embodiments of the invention will now be described in detail with reference being made to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 shows a schematic perspective view of a secure container having a display unit according to an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 2 shows a schematic cross-sectional view of the display unit of Figure 1; Figure 3 shows a schematic top view of the display unit of Figure 1; and Figure 4 shows a schematic top view of a tamper sensor for the display unit of Figure 1. Figure 1 shows a manually portable secure container 10 comprising an interior 12 for storing important items. The interior 12 is defined by a base 14 and side walls 16. The container 10 further comprises a cover 18 which is movable between a closed position, in which access to the interior 12 is prevented, and the open position as shown in Figure 1. The container 10 comprises a locking mechanism having a catch 20a and corresponding slot 20b for locking the cover 18 in the closed position, thereby preventing unauthorised access to the interior 12. In this embodiment, the locking mechanism 20a, 20b is operated using a rotary combination lock 11, although other forms of locking mechanisms, such as key locks and digital locks, could be used instead. A display unit system 22 is provided within the interior 12. The display unit system 22 comprises an open / close sensor 24 which monitors the open / closed position of the cover 18. The display unit system 22 also comprises a lock sensor 26 which monitors the locked / unlocked state of the locking mechanism 20a, 20b. In this embodiment, the open / close sensor 24 and the lock sensor 26 are both optical sensors, although other forms of sensors could be used instead such as a pressure sensor or proximity sensor. The display unit system 22 also comprises a display unit 28 for indicating container access events thereon. Referring now to Figure 2, the display unit 28 comprises an electrophoretic electronic paper display screen 30. As will be appreciated, the display screen 30 will maintain its appearance in the absence of electrical power and will change its appearance only when appropriate electrical control signals are applied thereto. The display unit 28 further comprises processing circuitry 32 configured to receive access event signals from the open / close sensor 24 and lock sensor 26 via sensor wiring 34. The processing circuitry 32 is configured to update the appearance of the display screen 30 via display wiring 36 based on the access event signals received via the sensor wiring 34 so as to provide details relating to container access events. Accordingly, the container access events can include opening / closing events detected by the open / close sensor 24 and lock / unlock events detected by the lock sensor 26. Referring to Figure 3, the indication on the display screen 30 that a container access event has occurred includes a sequence number 38 for that container access event, a time elapsed 40 between that container access event and a previous container access event, and a duration 42 of that container access event. When the container 10 is open, the display screen 30 also periodically (e.g. every 2 seconds) shows an activity symbol 43 to indicate that the display unit 28 is operating correctly, but will stop doing this after a predetermined time (e.g. after 20 seconds) to save power until the next open event occurs. Referring again to Figure 2, the display unit 28 further comprises a tamper detector 44 for detecting that a tampering event has occurred. The processing circuitry 32 is configured to receive a tamper signal from the tamper detector 44 via tamper wiring 46 and, based on the tamper signal, update the appearance of the display screen 30 via the display wiring 36 to provide a permanent indication that a tampering event has occurred. The permanent indication on the display screen 30 may, for example, be a written warning and / or a symbol. Referring to Figure 4, the tamper detector 44 comprises a flexible and frangible circuit board 48 having a single serpentine and tortuous electrical conductor 50, which substantially covers the entire circuit board 48. A tampering event is signaled by an electrical abnormality, such as a break, short and / or impedance (resistance / inductance) change, in the electrical conductor 50. The circuit board 48 has plural square through holes 52, which have sharp corners 54 designed to create higher stress points, thereby making tearing and / or deformation of the circuit board 48 more likely when tampered with. In some embodiments, the tamper detector 44 may comprise a circuit board having a stack of two or more cores, with each core having an electrical conductor 50. In these embodiments, a tampering event may be indicated by a break in an electrical conductor 50 of at least one of the cores and / or by a short between the electrical conductors 50 of different cores. Referring again to Figure 2, the display unit 28 comprises a housing 56 which contains the components of the display unit 28. The housing 56 is filled (or “potted”) with an epoxy resin encapsulating material 58 to help to prevent the components being interfered with. The display unit 28 further comprises an externally operable input in the form of a hall sensor 60. An external magnet 62 can be brought into close proximity with the hall sensor 60 for a predefined amount of time so as to put the display unit 28 into different modes of operation. For example, the hall sensor 60 and external magnet 62 can be used to switch the display unit 28 from factory mode to deployed mode. The hall sensor 60 and external magnet 62 can also be used to cycle through indications of historical container access events on the display screen 30. The display unit 28 is extremely low power and thus can be powered for many years (e.g. ~5 years I ~50k operations) by a coin cell battery 64 mounted to the processing circuitry 32.

Claims

1. A secure container comprising: an interior for storing items; a cover configured to move between a closed position that prevents access to the interior and an open position that allows access to the interior; and, within the interior, a 5 display unit comprising: an electronic paper display screen for indicating one or more container access events thereon; and processing circuitry configured to receive access event signals from one or more container access sensors and, based on the access event signals, update the appearance of the display screen to provide an indication that one or more container access events has occurred.10 2. A secure container as claimed in claim 1, wherein the display screen isconfigured to maintain its appearance in the absence of electrical power.

3. A secure container as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the display screen comprises an electrophoretic display screen.

4. A secure container as claimed in claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the display unit 15 is battery powered.

5. A secure container as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the one or more container access events comprise one or more container opening / closing events.

6. A secure container as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein 20 the one or more container access events comprise one or more container lock / unlock events.

7. A secure container as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein an indication that a container access event has occurred includes a sequencenumber for that container access event.18 12258. A secure container as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein an indication that a container access event has occurred includes a time elapsed between that container access event and a previous or subsequent container access event.5 9. A secure container as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, whereinan indication that a container access event has occurred includes a duration of that container access event.

10. A secure container as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the display unit comprises a tamper detector for detecting that a tampering event 10 has occurred, the processing circuitry being configured to receive a tamper signal from the tamper detector and, based on the tamper signal, update the appearance of the display screen to provide an indication that a tampering event has occurred.

11. A secure container as claimed in claim 10, wherein the tamper detector 15 comprises a circuit board having one or more electrical conductors, and wherein a tampering event is detected by detecting one or more abnormalities and / or disturbances in the one or more electrical conductors.

12. A secure container as claimed in claim 11, wherein the one or more electrical conductors are serpentine and / or tortuous.20 13. A secure container as claimed in claim 11 or 12, wherein the one or moreelectrical conductors substantially cover the circuit board.

14. A secure container as claimed in claim 11, 12 or 13, wherein the circuit board is flexible and / or frangible.18 122515. A secure container as claimed in any one of claims 11-14, wherein the circuit board comprises one or more through holes.

16. A secure container as claimed in claim 15, wherein the one or more through holes are substantially polygonal.5 17. A secure container as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, whereinthe display unit comprises an encapsulating material.

18. A secure container as claimed in claim 17, wherein the encapsulating material comprises a resin material.

19. A secure container as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein 10 the processing circuitry comprises an externally operable input, wherein the display unit is controllable from its exterior via the externally operable input.

20. A secure container as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, the container comprising, within the interior, a display unit system comprising the display unit and one or more container access sensors configured to provide the 15 access event signals to the processing circuitry of the display unit.

21. A secure container as claimed in claim 20, wherein the one or more container access sensors comprises one or more open / close sensors configured to detect container opening / closing events.

22. A secure container as claimed in claim 20 or 21, wherein the one or more 20 container access sensors comprises one or more lock / unlock sensors configured to detect a locking / unlocking event.

23. A secure container as claimed in claim 20, 21 or 22, wherein the one or more container access sensors comprises an optical sensor, a pressure sensor and / or a proximity sensor.

24. A secure container as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the container comprises a locking mechanism for locking the cover in a closed position to prevent access to the interior and / or for unlocking the cover to allow access to the interior.5 25. A display unit for use within the interior of the secure container as claimedin any one of the preceding claims, the display unit comprising: an electronic paper display screen for indicating one or more container access events thereon; and processing circuitry configured to receive access event signals from one or more container access sensors and, based on the access event signals, update10 the appearance of the display screen to provide an indication that one or more LO container access events has occurred.CXICXIi—cos