FR2857128A1 - Identifying origin and/or nature of material, comprises inserting assembly of electronic identification tags containing data in form which can be read at distance by reader - Google Patents

Abstract

An assembly of electronic identification tags containing data representing the origin and/or nature of the material are inserted into the material in a homogenous way. These tags can be read at a distance using a reader provided for this purpose. The electronic tags are introduced and spread over the material in liquid, viscous or gaseous form. The tags are of RFID type, are of dimensions comparable to a grain of sand, and are preferably biodegradable. The tags are introduced during transfer of the material into and/or out of a container. The introduction is preceded by a preliminary stage of marking the data representing the origin and/or nature of the material onto the tags. This is done using a portable terminal and involves reading and/or recording a unique identifier for a batch of electronic tags to associate a unique signature to the material to be identified; constructing a request for marking containing the data representing the origin and/or nature of the material; identifying and/or authenticating for a secure access and transmission of the request to a remote marking server, and recording the marking data in the remote server. This process can also include secure access of the service to a body responsible for the material to identify and/or authenticate the data, and transmission of an electronic acknowledgement of the recording by the marking service. The marking stage puts into operation a structured marking request which is constructed dynamically . This request includes at least some of the following information: a definition of the type of request; a unique signature of the tag; a identifier of the body(ies) responsible for the material being monitored; an identifier of the contents; an identifier of the means of attaching to the material; an inspection date; an inspection place; a unique identifier for the operator who made the inspection, and an identifier for the international authority in charge of the control. The identification process includes a stage of detecting and locating the tags in the material. This stage allows any pollution of the material containing the tags to be detected before it is placed in its container. An independent claim is made for a device to identify the origin and/or nature of a material using the above process.

Description

Method and device for identifying origin and / or nature

  of a material by identification and / or marking, by means of electronic chips inserted in said material.

  FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE The field of the invention is that of the control and / or monitoring and / or recycling of materials, and in particular of environmentally sensitive materials. Sensitive material is understood to mean substances presenting a risk to the environment, provided that their conditions: - of production; and / or exploitation; and / or use; and / or transport; and / or storage; - and / or physical and / or chemical evolution; become abnormal.

  More specifically, the invention relates to the possibility of being able to inform, formally, and directly at the level of a volume (often important) of material, information concerning the identity of its owner and / or responsible, with a view to indisputable identification and / or subsequent authentication of this one, as soon as an abnormal situation of the pollution type is detected.

  More generally, the invention allows the monitoring of materials, for example in the context of industrial processes, delivery systems or distribution. The invention thus makes it possible, for example, to implement operations of traceability, anti-fraud or counterfeiting, quality or origin verification, etc. 2. The prior art It is now difficult to determine the source of harmful and / or toxic and / or dangerous materials released voluntarily or accidentally into the environment, both at sea (degassing / sinking of an oil tanker), in the rivers (toxic products rejected by industries of all kinds), only in the air, or even in the soil where they can be spread or buried.

  Indeed, there is currently no technical solution to determine quickly and with certainty the identity of the entity that owns and / or is responsible for a volume of material causing pollution, particularly when the report of pollution occurs later on the date of occurrence of the latter.

  On the contrary, it is clear that the absence of such solutions incites some entities may scrupulous to polluting and illegal actions of the degassing type at sea, for example. However, such actions are currently only pursued when they are caught in flagrante delicto, thus limiting the power of control and deterrence of the official bodies in charge of the verbalization.

  The same type of problem may arise in many situations where it is desirable to know or control the quality or origin of a product.

  3. OBJECTIVES OF THE INVENTION The invention aims in particular to overcome these major drawbacks of the prior art.

  More specifically, an object of the invention is to provide a method and device that is highly deterrent by allowing, in a certain and irrefutable way, the identification and / or authentication of the entity that owns and / or is responsible for a loading of material causing pollution, even later on its date of occurrence.

  Thus, an object of the invention is to provide a method and a device for marking a volume of sensitive material with information representative of its origin and / or nature.

  Another object of the invention is to provide a method and a device for detecting and / or locating the abnormal presence of a volume of material outside of its container, a typical situation of pollution.

  A complementary objective of the invention is to provide a method and a device allowing remote reading of information representative of the origin and / or the nature of a volume of sensitive material to be monitored, so as to formally identify its entity owning and / or responsible.

  By origin of a material means at least any type of information to identify and / or authenticate formally and / or legally the entities and / or entities owning and / or responsible for said material.

  A further object of the invention is to provide a device and a method which are non-falsifiable.

  Another object of the invention is to provide a method and device that can adapt to any type of material nature to monitor.

  A final objective of the invention is to provide a method and a device which are of reasonable cost in terms of implementation and use.

  4. Main features of the invention These objectives, as well as others which will appear later, are achieved by means of a method of identifying the origin and / or the nature of a material.

  Such a method advantageously comprises a step of insertion in the material, in a substantially homogeneous manner, of a set of identical electronic chips containing information representative of the origin and / or the nature of the material, this information being able to be read remotely using a reading device provided for this purpose.

  This notion of homogeneity associated with the insertion phase of electronic chips is of paramount importance, since it is this which makes it possible to guarantee that the information representative of the origin and / or the nature of a given volume sensitive material will be easily accessible for reading, even in a small proportion of the volume of material to be monitored.

  The homogeneity of the distribution of the electronic chips within a volume of material is in particular ensured by the insertion means of the electronic chips which make it possible to statistically guarantee the presence of a mean number of electronic chips per unit of volume of the material to be monitored.

  It is indeed an essential objective of the invention to be able to quickly trace back to the origin of a pollution, even when it appears of reduced extent, as in the case of a degassing or tank cleaning voluntarily performed by a tanker, and for which it is impossible today to prove the origin, outside a situation of flagrante delicto.

  Several solutions can be envisaged for homogeneously inserting the electronic chips in the material to be monitored, which belong to the group comprising: system of nozzles or compressed air valves; bi-dimensional or three-dimensional hollow tube system comprising holes of predetermined diameter to pass electronic chips, said tubes allowing compressed air to circulate at a predetermined pressure, so as to project said chips in depth and uniformly in the material; articulated arm system that can be inserted into the material to insert the electronic chips; robot comprising control and displacement means 15 adapted to the nature of the material inside which it must move to insert the electronic chips.

  Advantageously, the electronic chips are introduced and distributed in the liquid phase material, viscous and / or gaseous. It is indeed appropriate that the insertion means according to the invention can adapt indifferently to the nature of any type of material to monitor.

  Preferably, the electronic chips used in the context of the present invention are RFID radio frequency chips (for Radio Frequency Identification in English), the latter having a size substantially equivalent to that of a grain of sand.

  Other advantageous aspects of the process according to the invention are developed hereinafter.

  The invention also advantageously relates to a device for identifying the origin and / or the nature of a material. Such a device advantageously comprises means of insertion in the material, in a substantially homogeneous manner, of a set of identical electronic chips containing information representative of the origin and / or the nature of this material, this information being able to be read at distance using a suitable reading device.

  Preferably, the device according to the invention further comprises means for introducing and distributing electronic chips in the material in liquid, viscous and / or gaseous phase. This must indeed be able to easily adapt to the nature and / or the chemical state of the material to be monitored and / or controlled.

  Preferably, the electronic chips used by the device according to the invention are radio frequency RFID chips.

  Advantageously, the means for inserting the electronic chips into the material are activated during a filling phase of the material in a container and / or during a phase of evacuation of the material from its container.

  Also advantageously, the insertion means of the device according to the invention further comprise means for detecting an abnormal evolution of the conditions of production; and / or exploitation; - and / or of use; - and / or transport; - and / or storage; and / or evolution of said material.

  Preferably, the means for inserting the electronic chips into the material are activated as soon as an abnormal evolution of the aforementioned conditions is detected by the detection means.

  Preferably, the means for inserting the electronic chips in the material are activated or deactivated by a person and / or an authorized entity having at least one access authorization, controlled by access control means, to prohibit or authorize access to the device. evacuation of said material from its container.

  The insertion means of the electronic chips in the material are advantageously deactivated by the person and / or the sworn entity, so as to allow unloading or evacuation of the material from its contents, without prior insertion of the electronic chips.

  Also advantageously, the access control means of the device according to the invention belong to the group comprising: - at least one smart card and a corresponding reader; a biometric sensor, of the type comprising a fingerprint sensor and / or voice and / or ocular.

  The device according to the invention also preferably comprises means for marking the information representative of the origin and / or the nature of the material to be monitored.

  The marking means of the device according to the invention advantageously incorporate cryptographic-type security means to make information representative of the origin and / or nature of the material integrated in the electronic chips tamper-proof.

  The device according to the invention also preferably comprises connection means and / or secure access to a communication network, so as to transmit the marking request to a marking and / or registration service.

  Preferably, the electronic chips of the device according to the invention comprise means of adhesion and / or fixing shapes and / or characteristics adapted to the nature of the materials to be monitored. These chips must indeed be reliably set on or in the material to be monitored and regardless of the nature or physical and / or chemical state of the latter.

  Preferably, the electronic chips used in the device according to the invention are biodegradable after a predetermined duration. This is to avoid any risk of additional pollution by electronic components, even of very small size (of a size substantially equal to that of a grain of sand), but present in sufficient quantity in the volume of material to be monitored to justify such consideration when all or part of this volume of material is found accidentally or fraudulently in the environment.

  To preserve the benefit of the invention through the traceability of information representative of the origin and / or the associated nature of a volume of pollution source material of the environment (terrestrial or maritime, for example), it is However, it is necessary that the life of the chips inserted in the material to be monitored should be at least equal to that of the material itself.

  The device according to the invention further advantageously comprises means for detecting and / or geographical location of the chips amalgamated with the material to be monitored and / or controlled.

  Preferably, this device also comprises means for transmitting a request to at least one of the localized electronic chips, and means for receiving and / or interpreting a response to said request received from at least one electronic chips.

  The invention also preferably relates to a boat intended for the transport of materials stored in a container and comprising an identification device such as that described above.

  The invention also preferably relates to a vehicle for transporting materials stored in a container and comprising an identification device, such as that described above.

  Finally, the device according to the invention, as described above, advantageously applies to the determination of the origin and / or the nature of a material causing pollution, which has been accidentally and / or fraudulently released into a protected natural environment.

  5. List of Figures Other features and advantages of the invention will appear more clearly on reading the following description of a preferred embodiment, given as a simple illustrative and nonlimiting example, and the accompanying drawings, among which: - Figure 1, commented above in the description, is a flowchart illustrating the construction of a marking request and its transmission for backup and / or archiving with an official marking service; - Figure 2 illustrates the control system implemented by the invention to allow evacuation of material from its container with or without prior insertion of electronic chips; Fig. 3 is a flowchart detailing the operating principle of the control system of Fig. 2; FIG. 4, also commented on above in the description, presents various means of adhesion and / or possible fixing of the electronic chips on and / or in the material to be monitored; FIG. 5 illustrates two examples of possible insertion of electronic chips, of the RFID type for example, into the material forming the structure of a bottle, a can, a container (FIG. material of a tank or other containers (fig.5.b) serving as a container and / or a transport structure for a dangerous or harmful substance.

  6. PRESENTATION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION Radio Frequency (RF) technology is used in many applications such as television, radio, cell phone, radar, and automatic identification systems. The term RFID (for Radio Frequency Identification) refers to the use of a radio frequency to automatically identify an object.

  As an illustrative example, the applications of RFID relate for example: the perception of automatic toll, the regulation of shopping in supermarkets (more cashiers); the tracking and tracking of railways, vehicles of all kinds; - logistics of all kinds; access control; - the identification of animals, trees; etc. The waves used in this technology are classified by their frequencies expressed in kilohertz (kHz), megahertz (mHz), or gigahertz (gHz). Very low frequencies (VLF for Very Low Frequency) have a wavelength between 10 and 30 kHz. Very high frequencies (EHF, for Extremely High Frequency, in English) have a wavelength between 30 and 300 GHz.

  But preferentially, RFID chips use radio frequencies between 50 kHz and 2.5 gHz.

  RFID chip technology is particularly flexible in use and particularly well suited for automatic processing, while combining the following advantages: possible use in read-only mode or in read / write mode; does not require any contact or any particular field of vision to function; - brings a high level of data integrity; offers a high level of security.

  In more detail, a chip-based system, of the RFID type, is composed of at least the following elements: a transponder, commonly called a tag, which contains the data of the element to be identified; an antenna used to transmit a signal between the reader and the chips comprising the transponder; a radio frequency (RF) transmitter that generates a radio signal; a reader capable of receiving the signal transmitted by the chips; software dedicated to data processing.

  For information purposes, electronic chips are programmed with data that identify the object or material on which or in which they will be placed. Such chips exist in read-only or read-write, or write-unique read-multiple and can each exist in active or passive version. Note that the content of read-write chips can be changed without limiting the number of times.

  In general so-called active chips use batteries to power the radio transceiver they integrate. These chips generally contain a larger number of components than passive chips. So-called active chips are usually bigger and more expensive than their so-called passive counterparts. The life of an active chip is indeed directly dependent on the life of its battery.

  The so-called passive chips may or may not be equipped with batteries, depending on the use for which they are intended. The passive chips re-emit the signal sent to them by the reader by grafting the information they contain. This is done simply by means of a modulation of the returned signal. A passive chip does not use a battery to increase the power of the transmitted signal. The battery is generally used, either to store the information or to feed the electronic components that allow the chip to modulate the transmitted signal.

  Several chips can coexist in the same environment without disturbance, property particularly interesting in the context of the present invention which relates to the control and / or monitoring of sensitive materials, potentially harmful to the environment.

  In addition, the RFID technology advantageously makes it possible, by means of a suitable reader, to be able to easily identify a large number of RFID electronic chips per second, and thus to be able to compare the information representative of their nature and / or their origin received. of each of them, when necessary, so as to be able to certify the identity of the owner of the material at the origin of a pollution having been located.

  Preferably, the insertion phase of the electronic chips in the material, of the process according to the invention, is carried out during a transfer phase of the material into and / or out of a container.

  These different possible approaches offer different possibilities, both technically in terms of security level and monitoring of the volume of material to be monitored, and in financial terms.

  Indeed, the systematic and homogeneous insertion of the electronic chips during the filling of the material to be monitored in a container (tanks of a tanker and or storage tanks ...) makes it possible to ensure the marking of the loading of material in reliably inserting information representative of its nature and / or origins. There is therefore systematic association between the loading of material and its entity owner and / or responsible that one seeks to deter any action (voluntary and involuntary) that can lead to a pollution situation. For example, an oil tanker will now have a strong incentive to stop any degassing or tank cleaning at sea, otherwise it will be denounced by the material it carries, information about it now being contained in the latter. . In addition, the owner of the same vessel will also be encouraged to carry out the necessary repairs on a regular basis to avoid any risk of sinking and pollution caused by it. It will indeed cost much less than having to pay all the bills that can now be sent to him, the matter at the origin of pollution found anywhere in the world now allowing its formal identification, proof of its responsibility.

  In the example of an oil tanker for which oil loading is to be monitored, the uniform insertion of electronic chips into the oil cargo can be effected by means of a petroleum pumping system that has been modified, so that to allow the automatic insertion of RFID chips in the oil, or when the pumping has not been authorized (for example by a controller), and / or in the case where the pumping is done out of the places provided for this purpose (satellite positioning control).

  However, it is necessary to ensure that such an automated insertion system chips has a sufficient energy autonomy and / or very low power consumption to avoid fraud, simply by external power supply: the chips are injected evenly or in small packets, if possible in the center of the oil flow, using for example compressed air, mixing them with a chemically neutral liquid, etc .; chips can be introduced in small groups in the oil flow by putting them inside a capsule whose envelope will dissolve later in contact with oil.

  The systematic insertion of electronic chips during the filling of the material in a container is a guarantee of security, but remains a more expensive solution than in the case of the second solution envisaged, based on the insertion of the chips only when the stored material and / or transported is removed from its container at a time when this should not happen.

  Still taking the example of an oil tanker carrying a cargo of oil, it is possible to imagine that the insertion of chips is carried out during the passage of oil through the wall of the double-hull of the ship, in a sinking context. , for example. It can also occur during the passage of oil inside the tank cleaning valves, in the case of an illegal degassing, or, when the oil flows into the evacuation valves of the tanker, during unplanned unloading.

  This approach is less expensive, compared to that mentioned above, since it requires a pool of electronic chips that will be used only when needed, and no longer systematically, each loading and / or unloading material in a container.

  Preferably, it is necessary that the step of inserting the electronic chips inside the volume of material is preceded by at least one preliminary step of marking the information representative of the origin and / or the nature of the the matter inside the chips. It is indeed to memorize inside the chips, all the information representative of the origin and / or the nature of the considered matter, so that this information can be read or accessed later, directly from all or part of the volume of material inside which the chips containing this information have been inserted.

  Advantageously, as illustrated in FIG. 1, when the marking step is implemented by means of a portable terminal 10, it comprises at least the following steps: reading and / or recording of a unique identifier for the same batch chips 11, so as to associate a single signature 30 to the material to be identified; construction of a marking request 12 containing the information representative 13 of the origin and / or nature of the material, taken in the example of a tanker in charge of transporting a certain volume of oil; identification and / or authentication for a secure access 14 and a transmission of a marking request to a remote fraud marking and / or recording service 15, via a communication network 16 (GSM, GPRS, UMTS, Internet, for example) after checking an access control; - Registration of marking information representative of the origin and / or nature of the material in an official database of the service of marking and / or registration of remote fraud.

  Advantageously and in a second possible embodiment of the invention, when the marking step is implemented by means of an on-line service delivering the information representative of the origin and / or the nature of the material, and it comprises at least the following additional steps: secure access to said online identification and / or authentication service of an entity responsible for said material; transmission of an electronic acknowledgment of said registration by said marking service.

  Preferably, the tagging step implements a dynamically constructed structured tagging request. This request aims to introduce in each chip to be inserted inside the material to be monitored and / or monitored, all information representative of its nature and / or its origin, so as to identify later if necessary, its owner and / or manager.

  Preferably, the structured marking request comprises at least the information belonging to the group comprising: a request type definition header; a unique identification signature of the chip; an identifier of the entity (s) responsible for the subject matter to be monitored; - an identifier of the container; an identifier of the place of attachment of the container; a date of completion of a control; a place of realization of the control; a unique identifier of the operator who performed the check; an identifier of the international instance in charge of the control.

  Once the marking step has been performed, all the electronic chips, which may be of the RFID type, contain all the aforementioned information identically. In this way, all the chips inserted into the material to be monitored and / or controlled will make it possible to identify with certainty the nature and / or the origin of the material, in particular when all or part of the latter will be detected as being at the origin of any pollution, even limited, of the environment.

  Also advantageously, the identification method according to the invention comprises a step of detection and geographical location of the chips present in the material.

  Indeed, the electronic chips used are preferably of the RFID type.

  They are thus capable of transmitting radio frequency signals that can be picked up by a vehicle and / or an aircraft and / or a boat that can be chartered by an authorized control body and equipped with remote reading means (a few tens or hundreds of meters) information representative of the nature and / or origin of the material detected in the environment.

  Similarly, it is possible to envisage that the detection means can use or simply be coupled to a GPS-based satellite geo-location system (for Global Positioning System in English) to optimize the detection time and thus limit the duration separating the beginning (voluntary or accidental) of a pollution.

  Advantageously, this detection and / or localization step makes it possible to detect any pollution by said material containing the electronic chips, when the latter is no longer located inside its container.

  More specifically, this step of detection and / or geographical location of the material, in the environment and outside of its container, preferably comprises at least the following steps: remote reading of said information representative of the origin and / or the nature of said material contained in at least one of said chips amalgamated with said material, with the aid of a reading device provided for this purpose; sending a request to at least one of said localized chips; receiving and / or interpreting a response to said request from at least one of said chips.

  In addition, it is important to specify that the means for adhering and / or fixing the electronic chips on or in the material advantageously belong to the group comprising at least one of the following means, as also illustrated in FIG. 4: an envelope 41 comprising fibers and / or son of predetermined flexibility depending on the nature of the material considered; an envelope 42 comprising cavities on the surface so as to favor the amalgamation of the chips with the material to be monitored; at least one internal cavity 43 for enclosing a sample of the material to be monitored; an envelope 44 with an absorbent wall, of the spongy or porous or capillary type, a shell 45 with a reactive wall as soon as it is in direct contact with the material to be monitored, leading to a possible modification of its chemical composition and / or its form, according to the nature of the matter to be watched; A soluble capsule capsule for releasing a predetermined number of microchips into said material; a reactive envelope whose shape and / or nature are modified in contact with the material to be monitored.

  In addition and to facilitate insertion and / or injection of the electronic chips into the material to be monitored, they may be wrapped in a first wall 461 having the property of dissolving once in contact with the material, so to be able to release a set of fibers and / or filaments 462 or a set of surface cavities 463, as mentioned above.

  More precisely, FIG. 2 illustrates the control system implemented by the invention for authorizing evacuation of material from its container with or without prior insertion of the electronic chips, and more specifically, its application to a tanker subjected to loadings and frequent discharges of oil.

  In this figure, the system 21 for controlling and automatically injecting RFID chips into an oil flow provides a permanent control to determine in advance whether an oil evacuation takes place in unauthorized conditions and / or locations. Such a system must have a sufficient energy autonomy and / or a very low power consumption, so as to avoid fraud that may consist of its deactivation simply by external power failure.

  This control system is thus coupled directly to a container 22 containing all the electronic chips, RFID for example, marked information representative of the nature of the oil loading and information representative of the identity of the owner and / or the charterer and / or the tanker in charge of this loading of oil. This container 22 can be embarked on the ship. In this case, it is also coupled to a geolocation system 23, of the GPS type for example, also favoring remote monitoring of the material loading, even under normal transport conditions.

  Optionally, the container 23 may be equipped with a control system 24 allowing the evacuation of all or part of a petroleum load, without prior injection of electronic chips. To authorize such an evacuation, this control system 24 receives a request issued by an entity and / or a sworn professional by means of an access control system 25 of the smart card type, and / or bioprint sensor. metric.

  The chips can be injected homogeneously, possibly in small packets, if possible in the center of the oil flow, using for example compressed air, mixing them with a chemically neutral liquid, etc., or introduced by small groups in the flow of oil, putting them inside a capsule whose envelope will dissolve later in contact with oil, as already described above.

  In the event of a detected anomaly, at least one oil flow detector 26 activates the opening system 28 fitted to the container 23, so as to release the electronic chips thereof and thus promote the homogeneous insertion of said chips into the container. the interior of the oil in the evacuation phase, by injecting them into the pipes and / or evacuation valves 27 provided for this purpose.

  Figure 3 shows the major steps leading the control system of Figure 2 to allow or prohibit the insertion of electronic chips during evacuation (voluntary or accidental) in the material to be monitored.

  A timer included in the control system makes it possible to check that it is always activated. If it is not activated, a preliminary step 31 of activation or reactivation is carried out. When the control system is activated, that is to say, ready to detect any evacuation of material, a second timer makes it possible to test at regular intervals if a flow of material (even weak) is evacuated. If no stream is detected (32), then return to the previous step. In the opposite case (33) a flow of material is detected either in a discharge pipe or in a particular zone of the tanker, in which case a third stage of verification of the authorization state assigned to the evacuation of material .

  Two cases may then arise: either an authorization 34 has been issued by an entity and / or sworn person, then previously controlled by the access control system 25, in which case the loading of material, for example oil, may be performing without insertion of the electronic chips (36); or, on the contrary, no authorization has been issued and / or controlled (35), which necessarily leads automatically to the insertion of the electronic chips inside the evacuating material (37).

  In a possible variant of the invention, it is possible to envisage, as illustrated in FIG. 5, the insertion of at least one RFID electronic chip at the time of manufacture of a container for dangerous and / or harmful material. , of the bottle type, glass bottle, particular container (Figure 5.a), or of the tank or container type (Figure 5.b) for large volumes of material to be stored and / or transported. In fact, it is conceivable to introduce electronic chips, of the writable or rewritable type, into the structural material of the container during its molding or melting phase, for example.

  Such a variant would thus reprogram the information contained in the chips included in the container structure, consistent with the nature and / or origin of the material contained in this container.

  The invention therefore aims to enable rapid identification of the origin and / or nature of a volume of material by means of a set of identical electronic chips, previously homogeneously inserted in the material to be monitored and / or or to control, all of said identical electronic chips containing information representative of the origin and / or the nature of said material, which can be read remotely by means of a reading device provided for this purpose. In more detail, the general concept of the invention therefore consists in providing means of control and monitoring of potentially dangerous and / or environmentally harmful materials based on the insertion of writable and / or rewritable electronic chips, of the type that can be used. RFID, in the matter, said chips containing all the information necessary to identify the entity owner and / or responsible for the loading of material. The present invention therefore represents a significant deterrent to manufacturers and / or carriers and / or operators of hazardous or environmentally harmful materials, not always scrupulous in their respect for the latter, when financial savings can be realized by certain illegal actions, for example degassing at sea to clean the tanks of an oil tanker at a low cost. Indeed, the present invention makes it possible to identify, even a posteriori, the nature and origin of any pollution, no matter how small, and therefore to identify the owner and / or responsible for the pollutant found, essential step to formalize it, especially when a flagrant offense could not be found.

  7. Advantages of the solution according to the invention The method and device for identifying the origin and / or the nature of a material, as proposed by the invention, have many advantages, of which a non-exhaustive list is given below: strong deterrence vis-à-vis manufacturers and / or operators and / or transporters of harmful and / or dangerous materials for the environment, all too often unscrupulous, these not hesitating to provoke in all conscience and illegal way, pollution, simply to achieve some financial profits; simple and effective implementation for a sworn organization; post-certification of the origin and the entity responsible for any pollution, with verbalization possible after the event; - removal of the constraint linked to the finding of a flagrant offense; the effectiveness of the technical solution that enables the remote detection of pollution zones and the identification of its source and / or responsible person; reasonable cost of implementing the invention, potentially offset by the return on investment that can be considered by increasing verbalization and fines issued; modularity of the solution according to the invention, both from the point of view of security, and from the point of view of access control, than from the point of view of cost price; adaptability of the solution to any type and nature of matter to be monitored.

  More generally, the advantages of the solution according to the invention can extend to the monitoring of materials, for example in the context of industrial processes, delivery systems or distribution. The invention thus advantageously also makes it possible to implement traceability, anti-fraud or counterfeiting, quality verification or origin verification operations, etc.

Claims (32)

  1. A method for identifying the origin and / or the nature of a material, characterized in that it comprises a step of insertion in said material, substantially homogeneously, of a set of identical electronic chips containing information representative of the origin and / or the nature of said material, which can be read remotely by means of a reading apparatus provided for this purpose.   2. Identification method according to claim 1, characterized in that said electronic chips are introduced and distributed in said material in the liquid phase, viscous and / or gaseous.   3. Identification method according to any one of claims 1 and 2, characterized in that said electronic chips are radio frequency RFID electronic chips.   4. Identification method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that said insertion phase of said electronic chips in said material is carried out during a transfer phase of said material in and / or out of 'a container.   5. Identification method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that said step of inserting said chips is preceded by at least one preliminary step of marking said information representative of the origin and / or the nature of said material in said chips.   6. Identification method according to claim 5, characterized in that said marking step is implemented by means of a portable terminal and comprises at least the following steps: reading and / or recording of a unique identifier of a batch of said electronic chips so as to associate a unique signature with said material to be identified; constructing a marking request containing the information representative of the origin and / or the nature of said material; identification and / or authentication for secure access and transmission of a tagging request to a remote tagging server; recording marking information representative of the origin and / or the nature of said material in said remote marking server.   7. Identification method according to any one of claims 5 and 6, characterized in that said marking step is implemented by means of an online service delivering said information representative of the origin and / or the nature of said material, and that it comprises at least the following additional steps: secure access to said online service for identification and / or authentication of an entity responsible for said material; transmission of an electronic acknowledgment of said registration by said marking service.   8. Identification method according to any one of claims 5 to 7, characterized in that said marking step implements a dynamically constructed structured marking request.   9. Identification method according to claim 8, characterized in that said structured marking request comprises at least the information belonging to the group comprising: a request type definition header; a unique identification signature of said chip; an identifier of the entity (s) responsible for said subject matter to be monitored; - an identifier of the container; an identifier of the place of attachment of said container; - a date of completion of a control; a place of realization of said control; a unique identifier of the operator having performed said check; an identifier of the international instance in charge of said control.   10. Identification method according to any one of claims 5 to 9, characterized in that it comprises a step of detection and geographical location of said chips present in said material.   11. Identification method according to claim 11, characterized in that said detecting and / or locating step makes it possible to detect any pollution by said material containing said electronic chips, when said chip is no longer located at the inside of its container.   12. Identification method according to any one of claims 10 and 11, characterized in that said step of detection and / or geographical location comprises at least the following steps of: remote reading of said information representative of the origin and / or the nature of said material contained in at least one of said chips amalgamated with said material, with the aid of a reading device provided for this purpose; sending a request to at least one of said localized chips; receiving and / or interpreting a response to said request from at least one of said chips; so as to recover said information representative of the origin and / or the nature of said material.   13. Device for identifying the origin and / or the nature of a material, characterized in that it comprises means for insertion into said material, in a substantially homogeneous manner, of a set of identical electronic chips. containing information representative of the origin and / or the nature of said material, which can be read remotely by means of a reading apparatus provided for this purpose.   14. Identification device according to claim 13, characterized in that it comprises means for introducing and distributing said electronic chips in said material in the liquid phase, viscous and / or gaseous.   15. Identification device according to any one of claims 13 and 14, characterized in that said electronic chips are radio frequency electronic RFID chips.   16. Identification device according to any one of claims 13 to 15, characterized in that said insertion means of said electronic chips in said material are activated during a filling phase of said material in a container and / or during a phase of evacuation of said material from its container.   17. Identification device according to any one of claims 13 to 16, characterized in that said insertion means comprise means for detecting an abnormal evolution of the conditions of production; and / or exploitation; and / or use; - and / or transport; - and / or storage; and / or evolution of said material.   18. Identification device according to any one of claims 13 to 17, characterized in that said insertion means of said electronic chips in said material are activated as soon as an abnormal change in said conditions is detected by said detection means.   19. Identification device according to any one of claims 13 to 18, characterized in that said insertion means of said electronic chips in said material are activated or deactivated by a person and / or an authorized entity having at least one authorization access controlled by means of access control, to prohibit or authorize the evacuation of said material from its container.   20. An identification device according to claim 19, characterized in that said means for inserting said electronic chips in said material are deactivated by said person and / or entity sworn to authorize unloading or evacuation of said material from its contents, without prior insertion of said electronic chips.   21. The identification device as claimed in claim 19, wherein said access control means belong to the group comprising: at least one smart card and a corresponding reader; a bio-metric sensor, of the type comprising a fingerprint and / or voice and / or ocular sensor.   22. Identification device according to any one of claims 13 to 21, characterized in that it comprises means for marking said information representative of the origin and / or the nature of said material.   23. Identification device according to claim 22, characterized in that said marking means include cryptographic type of security means for making said information representative of the origin and / or the nature of said material embedded in said chips tamper-proof. e.   24. Identification device according to any one of claims 13 to 23, characterized in that it further comprises connection means and / or secure access to a communication network, so as to transmit said request for marking to a marking and / or registration service.   25. Identification device according to any one of claims 13 to 24, characterized in that said electronic chips comprise adhesion means and / or fixing shapes and / or characteristics adapted to the nature of said materials to monitor .   26. Identification device according to claim 25, characterized in that said adhesion and / or attachment means belong to the group comprising at least one of the following means: an envelope comprising fibers and / or son of predetermined flexibility according to the nature of said material under consideration; an envelope comprising cavities on the surface so as to favor the amalgamation of said chips with said material to be monitored; an internal cavity for enclosing a sample of said material to be monitored; an envelope with an absorbent wall of the spongy or porous or capillary type; a soluble capsule capsule for releasing a set of electronic chips in a predetermined number, in said material; a reactive envelope whose shape and / or nature are modified in contact with said material to be monitored.   27. Identification device according to any one of claims 13 to 26, characterized in that said electronic chips are biodegradable after a pre-determined duration.   28. Identification device according to any one of claims 13 to 27, characterized in that it comprises means for detecting and / or geographical location of said chips amalgamated with said material.   29. Identification device according to any one of claims 13 to 28, characterized in that it comprises means for transmitting a request to at least one of said localized chips and receiving means and / or interpreting a response to said request received from at least one of said chips.   30. Craft intended for the transport of materials stored in a container, characterized in that it comprises an identification device according to any one of claims 13 to 29.   31. Vehicle intended for the transport of materials stored in a container, characterized in that it comprises an identification device according to any one of claims 13 to 29.   32. Application of the device according to any of claims 13 to 29 to the determination of the origin and / or nature of a pollution-causing material, which has been accidentally rejected and / or fraudulently in a protected natural environment.