CN111667607A - Locking device for logistics management, control system for locking device and method for controlling locking device - Google Patents

Locking device for logistics management, control system for locking device and method for controlling locking device Download PDF

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Publication number
CN111667607A
CN111667607A CN201910228114.4A CN201910228114A CN111667607A CN 111667607 A CN111667607 A CN 111667607A CN 201910228114 A CN201910228114 A CN 201910228114A CN 111667607 A CN111667607 A CN 111667607A
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CN
China
Prior art keywords
locking device
instruction
protocol
instructions
control system
Prior art date
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Pending
Application number
CN201910228114.4A
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Chinese (zh)
Inventor
唐志鸿
陈鸿群
陆伟棠
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Logistics and Supply Chain Multitech R&D Centre Ltd
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Logistics and Supply Chain Multitech R&D Centre Ltd
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Publication date
Priority claimed from US16/295,187 external-priority patent/US20200284066A1/en
Application filed by Logistics and Supply Chain Multitech R&D Centre Ltd filed Critical Logistics and Supply Chain Multitech R&D Centre Ltd
Publication of CN111667607A publication Critical patent/CN111667607A/en
Pending legal-status Critical Current

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    • G—PHYSICS
    • G07—CHECKING-DEVICES
    • G07C—TIME OR ATTENDANCE REGISTERS; REGISTERING OR INDICATING THE WORKING OF MACHINES; GENERATING RANDOM NUMBERS; VOTING OR LOTTERY APPARATUS; ARRANGEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS FOR CHECKING NOT PROVIDED FOR ELSEWHERE
    • G07C9/00—Individual registration on entry or exit
    • G07C9/00174—Electronically operated locks; Circuits therefor; Nonmechanical keys therefor, e.g. passive or active electrical keys or other data carriers without mechanical keys
    • G07C9/00896—Electronically operated locks; Circuits therefor; Nonmechanical keys therefor, e.g. passive or active electrical keys or other data carriers without mechanical keys specially adapted for particular uses
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G07—CHECKING-DEVICES
    • G07C—TIME OR ATTENDANCE REGISTERS; REGISTERING OR INDICATING THE WORKING OF MACHINES; GENERATING RANDOM NUMBERS; VOTING OR LOTTERY APPARATUS; ARRANGEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS FOR CHECKING NOT PROVIDED FOR ELSEWHERE
    • G07C9/00—Individual registration on entry or exit
    • G07C9/00174—Electronically operated locks; Circuits therefor; Nonmechanical keys therefor, e.g. passive or active electrical keys or other data carriers without mechanical keys
    • G07C9/00817—Electronically operated locks; Circuits therefor; Nonmechanical keys therefor, e.g. passive or active electrical keys or other data carriers without mechanical keys where the code of the lock can be programmed
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G07—CHECKING-DEVICES
    • G07C—TIME OR ATTENDANCE REGISTERS; REGISTERING OR INDICATING THE WORKING OF MACHINES; GENERATING RANDOM NUMBERS; VOTING OR LOTTERY APPARATUS; ARRANGEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS FOR CHECKING NOT PROVIDED FOR ELSEWHERE
    • G07C9/00—Individual registration on entry or exit
    • G07C9/00174—Electronically operated locks; Circuits therefor; Nonmechanical keys therefor, e.g. passive or active electrical keys or other data carriers without mechanical keys
    • G07C9/00944—Details of construction or manufacture
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W4/00—Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
    • H04W4/02—Services making use of location information
    • H04W4/029—Location-based management or tracking services
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W4/00—Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
    • H04W4/30—Services specially adapted for particular environments, situations or purposes
    • H04W4/38—Services specially adapted for particular environments, situations or purposes for collecting sensor information
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W4/00—Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
    • H04W4/30—Services specially adapted for particular environments, situations or purposes
    • H04W4/40—Services specially adapted for particular environments, situations or purposes for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]
    • H04W4/44—Services specially adapted for particular environments, situations or purposes for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P] for communication between vehicles and infrastructures, e.g. vehicle-to-cloud [V2C] or vehicle-to-home [V2H]
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G07—CHECKING-DEVICES
    • G07C—TIME OR ATTENDANCE REGISTERS; REGISTERING OR INDICATING THE WORKING OF MACHINES; GENERATING RANDOM NUMBERS; VOTING OR LOTTERY APPARATUS; ARRANGEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS FOR CHECKING NOT PROVIDED FOR ELSEWHERE
    • G07C9/00—Individual registration on entry or exit
    • G07C9/00174—Electronically operated locks; Circuits therefor; Nonmechanical keys therefor, e.g. passive or active electrical keys or other data carriers without mechanical keys
    • G07C9/00817—Electronically operated locks; Circuits therefor; Nonmechanical keys therefor, e.g. passive or active electrical keys or other data carriers without mechanical keys where the code of the lock can be programmed
    • G07C2009/00825—Electronically operated locks; Circuits therefor; Nonmechanical keys therefor, e.g. passive or active electrical keys or other data carriers without mechanical keys where the code of the lock can be programmed remotely by lines or wireless communication

Abstract

A system and method for controlling a locking device used in logistics management, comprising the steps of: receiving instructions associated with operation of a mechanical locking device; verifying the received instruction and the protocol associated with the instruction; and operating a mechanical locking device operable in at least a locked state and an unlocked state; wherein the mechanical locking means is arranged to operate in response to successful verification of an instruction associated with one of the at least two protocols.

Description

Locking device for logistics management, control system for locking device and method for controlling locking device
Technical Field
The present invention relates to a locking device for logistics management, a control system for a locking device and a method of controlling a locking device, particularly although not exclusively to a reusable electronic locking or sealing device for secure transportation location/tracking.
Background
In an example operation of logistics or supply chain management, goods or products may be transported from a shipping location to a receiving location and require that the transported items be securely sealed or locked prior to arrival at the receiving location, i.e., prior to shipment, after security inspection at the shipping location and during transport to ensure that the goods or containers contain only the inspected items, but not any unauthorized items.
Disclosure of Invention
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for controlling a locking device used in logistics management, comprising the steps of: receiving instructions associated with operation of a mechanical locking device; verifying the received instruction and a protocol associated with the instruction; and operating a mechanical locking device operable in at least a locked state and an unlocked state; wherein the mechanical locking means is arranged to operate in response to successful verification of an instruction associated with one of the at least two protocols.
In an embodiment of the first aspect, the instructions comprise at least sealing instructions and unsealing instructions.
In an embodiment of the first aspect, the step of manipulating the mechanical locking device comprises the step of manipulating the mechanical locking device to operate in a locked state in response to successful verification of the first sealing instruction of the first protocol.
In an embodiment of the first aspect, the step of manipulating the mechanical locking device further comprises the step of manipulating the mechanical locking device to operate in an unlocked state in response to successful verification of the first unsealing instruction of the first protocol.
In an embodiment of the first aspect, the step of verifying the received instructions and protocol comprises the step of limiting to verify the first unsealing instructions of the first protocol only after successful verification of the first sealing instructions.
In an embodiment of the first aspect, the method further comprises the step of temporarily storing a second sealing instruction of a second protocol when the mechanical locking device is operating in a locked state upon successful verification of the first sealing instruction.
In an embodiment of the first aspect, the method further comprises the step of manipulating the mechanical locking device to operate in a locked state in response to successfully verifying the second sealing instruction of the second protocol after successfully verifying the first unsealing instruction.
In an embodiment of the first aspect, the step of verifying the received instructions and the protocol further comprises the step of limiting to verify the second unsealing instructions of the second protocol only after successful verification of the second sealing instructions.
In an embodiment of the first aspect, the method further comprises the step of decoding a data packet comprising the received instruction and at least temporarily storing the received instruction.
In an embodiment of the first aspect, the data packet comprises an RFID data packet.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a control system of a locking device for logistics management, comprising: an interface arranged to receive instructions associated with operation of a mechanical locking device, wherein the individual mechanical locking devices are operable in at least a locked state and an unlocked state; and a controller arranged to validate the received instruction and a protocol associated with the instruction and to operate the mechanical locking device based on the validation of the received instruction and protocol; wherein the mechanical locking device is arranged to operate in response to successful verification of an instruction associated with one of the at least two protocols.
In an embodiment of the second aspect, the instructions comprise at least sealing instructions and unsealing instructions.
In an embodiment of the second aspect, the controller is arranged to manipulate the mechanical locking device to operate in the locked state in response to successfully verifying the first sealing instruction of the first protocol.
In an embodiment of the second aspect, the controller is further arranged to manipulate the mechanical locking device to operate in the unlocked state in response to successfully verifying a first unsealing instruction of the first protocol.
In an embodiment of the second aspect, the controller is further arranged to restrict verifying the first unsealing instruction of the first protocol only after successful verification of the first sealing instruction.
In an embodiment of the second aspect, the system further comprises a register arranged to temporarily store a second sealing instruction of the second protocol when the mechanical locking device operates in the locked state when the first sealing instruction is successfully verified.
In an embodiment of the second aspect, the controller is further arranged to, after successful verification of the first unsealing instruction, manipulate the mechanical locking device to operate in the locked state in response to successful verification of the second sealing instruction of the second protocol.
In an embodiment of the second aspect, the controller is further arranged to restrict verifying the second unsealing instruction of the second protocol only after successful verification of the second sealing instruction.
In an embodiment of the second aspect, the system further comprises a decoder arranged to decode a data packet comprising the received instruction.
In an embodiment of the second aspect, the system further comprises at least one register arranged to store the received instruction for further processing.
In an embodiment of the second aspect, the at least one register is further arranged to store a lock token to indicate a current state of the mechanical locking means.
In an embodiment of the second aspect, the at least one register is further arranged to store a trace record associated with the operation of the mechanical locking means and/or the operation of the verification result.
In an embodiment of the second aspect, the interface comprises at least one of a wireless communication interface and a manual input interface.
In an embodiment of the second aspect, the wireless communication interface comprises an RFID communication interface.
In an embodiment of the second aspect, the at least two protocols comprise a plurality of security protocols, each security protocol being independently processed by the controller under a respective trace procedure.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a lock device for logistics management, comprising: a mechanical locking device arranged to seal the article when operated in a locked condition; and a control system according to the second aspect.
In an embodiment of the third aspect, the locking device further comprises tracking means arranged to track the position of the article sealed by the mechanical locking device.
Drawings
Embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
fig. 1 is a block diagram showing a locking apparatus for logistics management according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of the operation of the locking device of FIG. 1, wherein the locking device is designed to be sealed or unsealed using a plurality of tracking programs (tracking logic);
FIG. 3A is a schematic illustration of an exemplary logistics operation of a transport unit secured by the locking device of FIG. 1 between a single shipping location to a single receiving location;
FIG. 3B is a schematic view of another exemplary logistics operation of a transport unit secured by the locking device of FIG. 1 between a single shipping location to a single receiving location through a switch point between the two locations;
FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating a tracking program processed by the controller in the control system of FIG. 1;
FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating sealing operations handled by a controller in the control system of FIG. 1; and
fig. 6 is a flow chart illustrating a unsealing operation processed by a controller in the control system of fig. 1.
Detailed Description
The inventor designs the electronic sealing lock through research, experiment and experiment of the inventor, which can be used for transportation monitoring in the logistics industry. The lock may further be equipped with a tracking/locating device, such as GPS, for location tracking. In addition, the lock may also include an RFID module for seamless communication, e.g., a secret value/password for communicating sealing and unsealing operations.
Referring to fig. 1, an exemplary embodiment of a lock device 100 for logistics management is provided. The locking device 100 may include a mechanical locking device, such as a mechanical lock 102, which may be used to seal an article when operating in a locked state. When the mechanical lock 102 is unlocked, the container can be opened/unsealed, displaying or at least allowing access to the items contained in the container.
In this embodiment, the mechanical locking device 102 may be controlled by a control system. The control system includes: an interface 104 arranged to receive instructions associated with operation of the mechanical locking device 102, wherein the mechanical locking device 102 is operable in at least a locked state and an unlocked state; and a controller 106 for verifying the received command and a protocol associated with the command, and operating the mechanical locking device 102 according to the verification of the received command and the protocol; wherein the mechanical locking means 102 is arranged to operate in response to successful verification of an instruction associated with one of the at least two protocols.
Referring to fig. 1, the controller 106 is arranged to execute instructions associated with a plurality of tracking logic/tracking programs (tracking logic), where each tracking logic may be different from one another. For example, each tracking logic may be implemented to conform to the security protocols required by ports or terminals in different countries.
Preferably, the controller 106 of the locking device 100 may process instructions or tracking logic of at least two protocols such that the locking device 100 may be used to transport a secure item to at least two destination points, each destination point requiring the transported item to be protected or sealed according to a different security protocol.
Referring also to FIG. 2, each tracking logic 200 may be implemented with executable instructions associated with different operations of the locking apparatus 100. Preferably, each tracking logic 200 includes at least a pair of sealing logic 202 and unsealing logic 204, such that the controller 106 can manipulate, in particular seal and unseal, the mechanical locking device 102 by processing the sealing instructions 202 and unsealing instructions 204, respectively.
In this example, the mechanical locking device 102 may be unsealed upon execution of the instructions of the unsealing logic 204 in each tracking logic. More preferably, each tracking logic is independent of the other, such that the mechanical locking device 102 may be unsealed if and only if the sealing and unsealing logics 202, 204 belonging to the same tracking logic 200 are executed.
In some exemplary operations, more than one sealing and unsealing mechanism may be required along the same transit. As an example, transportation may pass through two different jurisdictions, e.g., from one city/country to another, which may require a distinct sealing and unsealing mechanism according to regulations or laws. Different sealing and unsealing mechanisms may require changes to the security protocols in the software or the communication means used for sealing/unsealing.
In another exemplary embodiment, the shipping owner of the cargo may transfer ownership of the shipping unit to another party who may not wish to share the same sealing and unsealing mechanisms for security reasons.
The sealing and unsealing mechanisms may be different in various ways, such as, but not limited to, by changing the secret value used for sealing/unsealing; by changing the interface or communication means for sealing/unsealing, for example, RFID communication and manual input; or by changing the security protocol in the instructions executable by the controller.
In one exemplary embodiment, more than one sealing/unsealing mechanism may need to be implemented in an electronic lock in order to change the sealing/unsealing mechanisms during the same transfer.
Preferably, the electronic lock may be implemented with a plurality of sealing/unsealing mechanisms coexisting in the system. More preferably, the system should also include protection against security breaches. For example, the system may prevent a user from using an unsealing mechanism that has been locked using another sealing mechanism in a different security protocol or tracking logic to unseal the lock. It may therefore be more preferred that the system implements a sealing/unsealing mechanism that cannot be intervened by another process of another sealing/unsealing mechanism without proper authorization.
Referring to fig. 2, each party involved in the same diversion may include its own set of sealing logic 202 (SL) and unsealing logic 204 (UL). Each pair of these seal/unseal logic may be encapsulated in a set of processes or instructions that may be considered complete tracking logic 200 (TL). Inside the TL there may also be some monitoring logic 206, such as checking sensor data of the electronic lock 100 or tracking GPS signals along the transport.
Multiple tracking logics 200 may coexist in a single electronic lock 100 so that the system may switch between tracking logics 200. Therefore, the electronic lock 100 can seamlessly switch the sealing/unsealing control of the electronic lock 100 in the same logistics transit without requiring a plurality of mechanical locking devices.
Preferably, each unseal logic 204 may be used to unseal a physical lock 102, albeit with a different tracking logic 200. It may be more preferable that sealing and unsealing must be done in pairs under the same trace logic 200 as shown in fig. 2.
For example, upon receipt of a seal or unseal instruction at the interface 104, the controller 106 may then validate the received instruction and the protocol associated with the instruction following the following rules:
seal TLK(SLK) N, wherein K ═ 1.. N;
TL or lessK(ULK|SLK) N, wherein K ═ 1.. N; and
the operation is prohibited: TLK(ULM|SLK) Wherein K is not equal to M;
wherein:
TLKkth tracking logic;
SLKsealing logic belonging to the kth tracking logic; and
ULKthe unsealing logic belonging to the kth trace logic.
By providing a restriction on the instructions executable by the tracking logic 200 by the controller 106, it is ensured that the controller 106 can process or verify the unsealing instructions 204 of a particular protocol 200 only after the mechanical locking device 102 is sealed, since the sealing instructions 202 were successfully verified in the same protocol 200 in a previous operation.
Referring back to fig. 1, the control system further includes an interface 104 for receiving instructions associated with the operation of the mechanical locking device 102. Preferably, a wireless communication interface, such as RFID 104A, may be used to facilitate providing input instructions (such as seal and unseal instructions) to controller 106 for processing. The instructions may be embedded in an RFID data packet that may be wirelessly transmitted to an RFID receiver in the locking device 100.
The data packets may be encoded to enhance the security of the transmitted information and may be decoded using a decoder or instructions executable by the controller 106 for decoding the data packets. The RFID interface 104A may require minimal human intervention to seal and unseal the locking device. Alternatively, a manual input interface 104B may be included instead of or as an additional means for inputting instructions for operating the locking device 100, as required by some countries or recipients.
Optionally, the control system also includes at least one memory device or register 108 for temporarily storing data that may be accessed or retrieved by the controller. For example, the register 108 may store received instructions that are decoded by a decoder when they have been received from the interface 104 before being processed or verified.
In a preferred embodiment, the locking device 100 may be an electronic lock system, comprising a software controller 106 or processor arranged to interact with or process the tracking logic 200, the physical lock 102 and the received seal/unseal instructions. The received RFID packet may be decoded and stored into at least two registers 108, one for storing the seal instruction and the other for storing the unseal instruction. Additional registers for storing different instructions may also be used in some alternative embodiments. The device 100 may also be provided with an input interface 104 for receiving instructions for manipulating the physical lock 102.
Referring to fig. 3A, an example operation of the locking device 100 for logistics management is shown. In this example, there may be only one seal/unseal mechanism in the system, as the transfer involves only a single delivery location 302 to a single receiving location 304.
At shipping location 302, electronic lock 102 attached to transport vehicle 110 may be sealed by submitting secret value 112 into electronic lock system 100 through an interface, such as RFID 104A.
Preferably, tracking means may be included to track the location of the item 110 secured by the mechanical locking device 102. During transport to the receiving location 304, the status of the same electronic lock 102 in transit may be closely monitored, for example, the GPS location of the vehicle 110 or any sensor data obtained from the electronic lock 102. These sensor data are sent to the remote monitoring server 114 to assess the health of the electronic lock 102 and the route of the vehicle 110.
At the receiving location 302, the electronic lock 102 attached to the vehicle 110 may be unsealed by submitting the same secret value 112 to the electronic lock system 100. The results of the transportation monitoring may be referenced to determine whether the electronic lock 102 has been tampered with.
Referring to fig. 3B, another example of logistics operation is shown, where there is an additional switching point 306 between the initial delivery point 302 and the final receiving point 304. At the switch point 306, the system needs to change the seal/unseal mechanism in order to switch the tracking logic or security protocol from one to another, since the requirements of the switch point 306 and the receiving point 304 may not be the same.
Preferably, at the switch point 306, the controller 106 may first enable the lock 102 and stop the previous tracking logic a and seal the lock 102 using the upcoming tracking logic B. The sealing and unsealing operations are preferably in the following order:
1. passing tracking logic A (SL) at the point of deliveryA) Sealing is carried out
2. Passing tracking logic A (UL) at the switch pointA) Unsealing is carried out
3. At the switching point via trace logic B (SL)B) Sealing is carried out
4. Passing tracking logic B (UL) at the receiving pointB) Unsealing is carried out
Since lock 102 is sealed by tracing logic A, SLBOr ULBCannot seal or unseal it and the electronic lock 102 must wait for the ULALock 102 is enabled and control is released via tracking logic a.
However, the above sequence may not always occur in some example operations. For example, if the system 100 receives a seal and unseal instruction through the RFID reader 104A, where the time/location of receipt of the seal and unseal instructions may be very close, it will be difficult to ensure the correct sequence.
For example, in ULAPre-receive and process SLBAs indicated by the dashed arrows in fig. 3B. In this case, it may cause deadlock (deadlock) or erroneous operation because the system is processing SLBOccupied or stuck but unable to process subsequent ULA。
It may also happen that there is another type of tracking logic C attempting to seal the lock 102 at the same time as tracking logic B, which causes the tracking logic to contend with completing the lock seal. This may result in a wrong tracking logic sequence or even a conflict (i.e., allowing both tracking logics to seal the lock).
Preferably, the controller 106 in the electronic lock can process the seal and unseal instructions separately and ensure mutual exclusion of the plurality of tracking logics.
Upon receipt of the seal and unseal instructions, the system may store the seal and unseal instructions separately in two different registers 108, rather than placing them in a single processing queue, before validating any received instructions.
The controller 106 may periodically fetch instructions from the two seal and unseal registers 108. This periodicity can be achieved by task multiplexing or multithreading.
In task-multiplexing, the controller may run the logic flow for sealing at time T and the logic flow for unsealing at time T + N on one single processor. Alternatively, in multi-threading, the controller may run the logic flow for sealing and unsealing in parallel on two different logical processors.
The controller 106 may store a global lock token (global lock token), for example, in another register. The lock token is issued only to active/validating trace logic and is released only when the validating trace logic stops. The global lock token ensures that the sealing and unsealing logic completes under the same trace logic. The seal or unseal logic from other tracking logic cannot intervene with the currently active logic because there is no lock token.
The controller periodically looks for seal and unseal instructions in the registers 108, preferably by task multiplexing or multithreading. Upon receiving the sealing instruction 202, the controller may locate the corresponding tracking logic in the inactive region 200A and enter it into the active/active state 200B for operation. Among all of the trace logic 200 managed by the controller 106, there may be multiple trace logic 200 that are inactive, while only one trace logic 200 is active at a time.
To ensure mutual exclusion between the tracking logics, i.e., to operate only one active tracking logic 200 at a time, the controller 106 may schedule and maintain a single lock token throughout the system 100. Only the activity tracking logic 200 can obtain the lock token. Any program sequence that does not have a lock token is prohibited from executing in system 100. If there is activity tracking logic 200 that cannot obtain the lock token, it may wait for a certain time limit until the lock token is released.
By running the activity tracking logic, the controller 106 communicates with the physical lock 102 to seal or unseal the lock based on the verification of the seal or unseal instruction received from the interface 104.
Referring to FIG. 4, an example operational flow of the trace logic upon entering an operational or active state is shown. When the tracking logic 200 is executed, it will first proceed to step 24 to continue looking for sealed instructions received by the electronic lock, for example, by accessing the register 108 storing instructions received from the input interface 104.
Once the sealing instruction 202 is received, it then goes to step 25 to obtain the lock token and continue to use the authentication protocol of the sealing instruction 202. The controller 106 then validates the received instructions and associated protocol.
In step 26, the controller 106 may manipulate the mechanical locking device 102 to operate in a locked state in response to successful verification of the seal instructions 202 of the particular protocol managed by the control system. Only if the lock token is available and the authentication is successful, it may proceed to step 27 to send a seal request to the controller 106 that will seal the physical lock 102 accordingly. Neither of them fails to prevent itself from entering further steps within the tracking logic.
Once the physical lock 102 is sealed, the status and position of the electronic lock 102 will be closely monitored in step 28 by some monitoring logic 206. At the same time, the tracking logic 200 will continue to query the controller 106 in step 29 whether there are any unseal instructions 204 received.
If there is a decap instruction 204 received from the controller 106, it will proceed to step 30 for authentication. If the unseal instruction 204 is authenticated in step 31, then the tracking logic 200 will send a unseal request to the controller 106 to unseal the physical lock 102 in step 32, and also release the lock token to the controller in step 33.
Referring to fig. 5, an operational flow of the sealing operation 200-I is shown. In step 34, the controller continues to look for any new seal instructions 202 received from the interface 104 via RFID at the seal instruction register 108. If there are new seal instructions 202, the controller 106 first determines which tracking logic 200 belongs to the seal instructions 202 and causes the tracking logic 200 to be enabled for execution in step 35.
The controller 106 will then check the lock allocation register 42 in step 36 to see if there are any free lock tokens. The lock allocation register is used to store whether the lock token is already occupied and, if so, to which tracking logic it is allocated and occupied.
And then proceeds to step 37. If there is a free or unoccupied lock token, it will first update the lock allocation register 42, where the tracking logic 200 is processed in step 38. Otherwise, it will exit the logical flow and wait for the next execution of the logical flow.
After updating the lock allocation register 42, the controller 106 will cause the trace logic to perform authentication of the seal instruction 202 and wait for a seal request from the trace logic 200 for a period of time in step 39.
In step 40, if the authentication of the seal instruction 202 fails, no seal request is issued to the controller 106, so it will stop the logic flow. Otherwise, it will seal the lock in step 41.
After step 40, the controller 106 is restricted to verifying the first unsealing instruction 204 of the first protocol only after successfully verifying the first sealing instruction, i.e. the locking system 100 is in a state where the controller 106 may prohibit processing of any incoming instructions other than the first unsealing instruction of the first protocol, or it may be unlocked only by entering the first unsealing instruction.
Preferably, any unprocessed seal or unseal instructions may be at least temporarily stored in the register 108 for further processing. For the sealing process, the stored instructions may be further processed or verified after a successful unsealing operation. For the unsealing process, processing will only occur when the physical lock is currently sealed or locked.
Referring to FIG. 6, an example operational flow of unsealing operation 200-II is shown. In step 43, the controller 106 continues to look for any new unseal instructions 204 received from the interface 104 in the seal instruction register via RFID. If there is a new decap instruction, it will pass it to the activity tracking logic 200 for authentication in step 44 and wait for a decap request for a period of time in step 45.
If the verification or authentication is successful, the controller 106 will receive a unseal request from the tracking logic 200 in step 46 and further proceed to step 47 to release the lock token and update the lock allocation register 42. Otherwise, the controller 106 will exit the flow logic and wait for the next execution of this logic flow.
Upon receiving the unseal request from activity tracking logic 200, controller 106 will unseal the physical lock accordingly in step 48. Operation of the controller 106 then now returns to step 24 or 34 as discussed, where the mechanical lock 102 may be resealed by providing a sealing instruction of any security protocol managed by the controller 106. For example, after unsealing the mechanical locking device 102 using a first unsealing instruction of a first protocol and successfully verifying the first unsealing instruction, the controller 106 may process the next sealing instruction previously stored in the register while the controller 106 is still locked using the first security protocol.
In response to successful verification of the second seal instruction of the second protocol, the controller 106 may manipulate the mechanical locking device 102 to operate in a locked state, and the controller 106 is restricted to verifying only the second unseal instruction of the second protocol after successfully verifying the second seal instruction, i.e., disabling any operations associated with instructions other than the second unseal instruction of the second protocol.
These embodiments may be advantageous in that a single locking device may be used to facilitate logistics management of the subject, which may involve multiple stopovers, each stopover having different safety requirements for the sealing/unsealing mechanism. Advantageously, the controller can process seal/unseal instructions belonging to different security protocols or tracking logic, thus eliminating the need to use multiple sealing tools and/or re-inspect previously protected items in a multi-station transit, thereby reducing turnaround time caused by handoff of different stopovers.
It should also be understood that any suitable computing system architecture may be used where the method and system of the present invention are implemented in whole or in part by a computing system. This would include stand-alone computers, network computers and dedicated hardware devices. Where the terms "computing system" and "computing device" are used, these terms are intended to encompass any suitable arrangement of computer hardware capable of carrying out the described functions.
It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that numerous variations and/or modifications may be made to the invention as shown in the specific embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as broadly described. The present embodiments are, therefore, to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive.
Unless otherwise indicated, any reference to prior art contained herein is not to be taken as an admission that the information is common general knowledge.

Claims (27)

1. A method for controlling a locking device for logistics management, comprising the steps of:
receiving instructions associated with operation of a mechanical locking device;
verifying the received instruction and a protocol associated with the instruction; and
operating a mechanical locking device operable in at least a locked state and an unlocked state;
wherein the mechanical locking device is arranged to operate in response to successful verification of an instruction associated with one of the at least two protocols.
2. The method for controlling a locking device according to claim 1, wherein the instructions comprise at least sealing instructions and unsealing instructions.
3. The method for controlling a lockout device of claim 2, wherein the step of manipulating the mechanical lockout device comprises the step of manipulating the mechanical lockout device to operate in the lockout condition in response to successful verification of a first seal command of a first protocol.
4. A method for controlling a locking device according to claim 3, wherein the step of manipulating the mechanical locking device further comprises the step of manipulating the mechanical locking device to operate in the unlocked state in response to successful verification of a first unsealing instruction of a first protocol.
5. A method for controlling a locking device according to claim 3, wherein the step of verifying the received instructions and protocol comprises the step of restricting the verification of only the first unsealing instructions of the first protocol after successful verification of the first sealing instructions.
6. The method for controlling a lockout device of claim 5 further comprising the step of temporarily storing a second seal command of a second protocol after successful verification of the first seal command and while the mechanical lockout device is operating in a lockout condition.
7. The method for controlling a locking device of claim 6, further comprising the step of manipulating the mechanical locking device to operate in a locked state in response to successfully verifying the second sealing instruction of the second protocol after successfully verifying the first unsealing instruction.
8. The method for controlling a locking device according to claim 7, wherein the step of validating the received instructions and the protocol further comprises the step of restricting validation of only second unsealing instructions of the second protocol after successful validation of the second sealing instructions.
9. A method for controlling a locking device according to claim 1, further comprising the step of decoding a data packet comprising the received instruction and at least temporarily storing the received instruction.
10. The method for controlling a locking device of claim 9, wherein the data packet comprises an RFID data packet.
11. A control system for a locking device for logistics management, comprising:
an interface arranged to receive instructions associated with operation of a mechanical locking device, wherein the mechanical locking device is operable in at least a locked state and an unlocked state; and
a controller arranged to validate the received instruction and a protocol associated with the instruction and to operate the mechanical locking device based on the validation of the received instruction and protocol;
wherein the mechanical locking device is arranged to operate in response to successful verification of an instruction associated with one of the at least two protocols.
12. The control system for a locking device of claim 11, wherein the instructions comprise at least sealing instructions and unsealing instructions.
13. A control system for a locking device according to claim 12, wherein the controller is arranged to manipulate the mechanical locking device to operate in the locked state in response to a first sealing instruction successfully verifying the first protocol.
14. A control system for a locking device according to claim 13, wherein the controller is further arranged to manipulate the mechanical locking device to operate in the unlocked state in response to a first unsealing instruction successfully verifying the first protocol.
15. A control system for a lock device according to claim 13, wherein the controller is further arranged to restrict verification of only a first unsealing instruction of the first protocol after successful verification of the first sealing instruction.
16. The control system for a lock-out device of claim 15, further comprising: a register arranged to temporarily store a second sealing instruction of a second protocol after successful verification of the first sealing instruction and when the mechanical locking device is operating in a locked state.
17. A control system for a locking device according to claim 16, wherein the controller is further arranged to, after successful verification of the first unsealing instruction, operate the mechanical locking device to operate in the locked state in response to successful verification of the second sealing instruction of the second protocol.
18. A control system for a lock device according to claim 17, wherein the controller is further arranged to restrict verification of only a second unsealing instruction of the second protocol after successful verification of the second sealing instruction.
19. A control system for a locking device according to claim 11, further comprising a decoder arranged to decode data packets comprising the received instructions.
20. A control system for a lock device according to claim 11, further comprising at least one register arranged to store the received instruction for further processing.
21. A control system for a locking device according to claim 20 wherein the at least one register is further arranged to store a lock token to mark the current state of the mechanical locking device.
22. A control system for a locking device according to claim 20, wherein the at least one register is further arranged to maintain a track record associated with the operation of the mechanical locking device and/or the operation of the verification result.
23. The control system for a locking device of claim 11, wherein the interface comprises at least one of a wireless communication interface and a manual input interface.
24. The control system for a locking device of claim 23, wherein the wireless communication interface comprises an RFID communication interface.
25. The control system for a locking device according to claim 11, wherein the at least two protocols include a plurality of security protocols, each security protocol being independently processed by the controller under a respective tracking procedure.
26. A locking device for logistics management, comprising:
a mechanical locking device arranged to seal the article when operated in a locked condition; and
a control system according to any one of claims 11 to 25.
27. A locking arrangement according to claim 26, further comprising tracking means arranged to track the position of the article sealed by the mechanical locking arrangement.
CN201910228114.4A 2019-03-07 2019-03-25 Locking device for logistics management, control system for locking device and method for controlling locking device Pending CN111667607A (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (4)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US16/295,187 US20200284066A1 (en) 2019-03-07 2019-03-07 Locking device for use in logistic management, a control system for the locking device and a method for controlling the locking device
HK19120630.9 2019-03-07
HK19120630 2019-03-07
US16/295,187 2019-03-07

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