Systems and methods for tracking products transported in shipping containers
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Solution Overview
Problem
There is a need for a cost-effective and efficient solution to track and monitor the loading and unloading of tightly-controlled products in shipping containers, particularly in pharmacies where insufficient surveillance cameras are available to record these events, posing challenges in ensuring accountability and security.
Innovation Solution
A system that includes a shipping container with a wireless beacon, a switch to detect when the container is opened or closed, and a network gateway to store video footage from cameras, which broadcasts a unique identifier and adjusts transmission rates to capture and transmit relevant video segments to a remote server when the container is accessed.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If surveillance cameras are installed to monitor loading and unloading of totes, then security and accountability are improved, but infrastructure cost and device complexity increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
A wireless beacon attached to the shipping container serves as an intermediary device that triggers video recording only when the container is accessed. The beacon communicates with the video recording system to activate recording at the time of loading/unloading events, eliminating the need for continuous surveillance cameras while maintaining security accountability.
Solution Approach 2:
The system pre-positions a wireless beacon on the shipping container and cameras in the storage area beforehand. When the container is opened or closed, the beacon automatically triggers the cameras to record the event. This preliminary setup avoids the need for extensive continuous surveillance infrastructure while ensuring security coverage at critical moments.
2Reliability
If continuous video recording is implemented to track product movements, then accountability is improved, but energy consumption and data storage requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of continuous recording, the system uses periodic action by triggering video recording only at specific intervals - namely when the wireless beacon detects that the shipping container is being opened or closed. This event-driven approach maintains accountability for product movements while dramatically reducing energy consumption and data storage requirements compared to continuous recording.
3Area of stationary object
If multiple surveillance cameras are deployed to cover all loading/unloading areas, then monitoring coverage is improved, but cost and device complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The wireless beacon acts as an intelligent intermediary that selectively activates camera recording based on container access events. This eliminates the need to deploy multiple cameras to continuously monitor all areas, as the beacon-triggers-only-when-needed approach provides equivalent accountability with minimal infrastructure.
Solution Approach 2:
The shipping container itself serves the monitoring function through the attached wireless beacon that automatically detects when it is opened or closed and triggers the appropriate recording. This self-service approach eliminates the need for external surveillance infrastructure to actively monitor and detect loading/unloading events.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods for tracking shipment of products are disclosed herein. One or more cameras may be used capture video of an area where the products are loaded into and/or unloaded from shipping containers. Wireless beacons may be attached to the shipping containers. A network gateway may receive the wireless signals from the wireless beacon and the video from at least one camera. The wireless beacon may change a transmittal rate of the wireless signal from a first transmittal rate to a second transmittal rate in response to the cover on the shipping container being opened or closed. The network gateway may provide, to a remote server, a selected amount of the received video from its memory along with a unique identifier for the wireless beacon in response to the network gateway receiving the wireless signal at the second transmittal rate.