International Business Machines Corporation

Jean-Francois Mermet

Bernard Y Pucci

Pierre Secondo

Detecting whether an article has been loaded or unloaded for example from a ship by tracking the movements of a transducer such as an RFID tag attached to the article in space, and comparing the tracked movements with a trajectory envelope characterizing the movements associated with a load or unload action, and in the case where the movements of the article are found to comply with the trajectory envelope, registering the article as present in the predetermined volume.

Method and system for the tracking of articles

A system of tracking transcontinental shipping containers, which is optimized to conserve the power consumption of tracking devices attached to the containers, is disclosed. The system uses short-range transceiving devices to form a mesh network that includes the tracking devices and a processing device coupled to the shipping vessel, thereby enabling the tracking devices to communicate and update their status without using a long-range or satellite communications adaptors.

System and method for optimizing power consumption of container tracking devices through mesh networks

An identifier device, which may be part of a tracking or similar transponder device, which can be removably coupled to an article to be identified or tracked. Data representing the identity of the article is encoded in the form of a pattern, and can be read by the identifier device when correctly engaged to the article, by sampling the pattern so as to extract the data encoded therein for transmission. The pattern may be a relief pattern, for example in the form of bumps and pits such as a Braille pattern, or magnetic domains, or the like.

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Tourrettes-sur-Loup, France

Jean-Francois Mermet