The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 27, 2008
Filed:
Nov. 13, 2007
Carl Binding, Rueschlikon, CH;
Francois B. Dolivo, Waedenswil, CH;
Reto J. Hermann, Buttikon, CH;
Dirk Husemann, Einsiedeln, CH;
Andreas Schade, Langnau am Albis, CH;
Carl Binding, Rueschlikon, CH;
Francois B. Dolivo, Waedenswil, CH;
Reto J. Hermann, Buttikon, CH;
Dirk Husemann, Einsiedeln, CH;
Andreas Schade, Langnau am Albis, CH;
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
A WPAN system for establishing communication between a control station of a cargo vessel and a plurality of containers that are loaded onto the vessel is provided that comprises a base station configured to establish and manage a pre-configured WPAN having a hybrid tree-mesh network topology and a plurality of electronic tracking devices each being provided with a WPAN-enabled radio receiver/transmitter and routing capabilities. The base station is configured to communicate with the control station through a local area network on the vessel. Each tracking device is configured to be joined to a respective container of the plurality of containers and to connect to the WPAN upon being activated. The base station is configured to intermittently perform a network scan to locate each tracking device that is connected to the WPAN and dynamically reconfigure the network topology to include each tracking device connected to the WPAN to maintain mutual communication with each connected tracking device using the routing capabilities of the tracking devices.