ITRM20130331A1 - TRANSPORT SYSTEM OF CONTAINERS OF HUMAN OR FOOD-BASED BIOLOGICAL MATERIAL EQUIPPED WITH A MEMORIZATION DETECTION DEVICE AND NOTICE OF BREAKDOWN - Google Patents

Description

DESCRIPTION

STATE OF THE ART

The transport of biological samples is currently carried out using so-called "tertiary" containers which have the purpose of transporting and protecting the containers placed inside, so-called "secondary" inside which, in turn, are placed the so-called "primary" containers that contain biological samples.

Currently there are numerous examples of systems for the safe transport of biological samples, both as regards the type of containers:

Method and Device for Collection and Transport of a Biological Sample US20060088692 20060925

Intelligent tracking transport case CN2011139855 20110217 Biologica] sample Storage device WO 2012072495 Al

Hierarchical Sample Storage System US201213684653 20121126

That of the transport verification procedures

TRANSPORT MONITORING METHOD AND MONITOR THEREFOR JP20040075197 20040316

METHOD FOR CONTROLLINO THE TRANSPORT OF SAFE BAGS US201213355985 20120123

With solutions also applied in the non-health sector:

TRANSPORT CONTAINER COMPRISING AN ELECTRONIC TRANSPORT SECURITY MECHANISM FOR CASH AND VALUABLES W02002EP06092 20020604

However, the existing patents and solutions are limited to controlling the path or opening of the tertiary container and do not contemplate the problem of verifying and reporting through an evaluation process of the attempted break-in and data transmission not only for the break-in, but also for any attempted break-in of the container in order to alter its contents, for example by replacing the primary containers or by manipulating the biological samples themselves by means of physical stresses of various kinds.

OPERATION DESCRIPTION:

The invention object of the present patent is a solution to the problem of detecting the level of attempted break-in of the tertiary container, of the secondary container and of the primary containers in order to inform the recipient of the transport after delivery or, if desired, during transport to the act of the break-in, by means of digital data transmission techniques.

The invention is based on a transportable tertiary container (1) with door with electromechanical release (2)) with command activated by the RFID transceiver of the container (24). The tertiary container (1) is internally equipped with a microcontroller (5) powered by a local power supply system with rechargeable accumulators (6) and connected to:

- a trim sensor (7) integrated with the tertiary container (1),

- a calibrated thermal sensor (8) integrated with the tertiary container (1),

- a magnetic sensor (9) integrated with the tertiary container (1),

a pressure sensor (10) integrated with the container

a triaxial acceleration sensor (11) integrated with the tertiary container (1),

- a door opening sensor (12) with electromechanical release (2) integrated with the tertiary container (1),

- a GPS tracking unit (13) integrated with the tertiary container (1)

- an RFID transceiver of the container (24) integrated with the tertiary container (1)

- a cellular telephone or WiFi transceiver module (14) integrated with the tertiary container (1).

The invention relates to the use of all the sensors mentioned or even just a part of them.

The verification of the break-in is based on an analysis software (15) installed and operating inside the microprocessor (5) which carries out continuous acquisition and analysis of data from multiple sensors (7,8,940,11,12) placed inside of the tertiary container (1) and acquired by the microcomputer (5).

The opening of the door with electromechanical release (2) of the tertiary container (1) both in the loading and unloading phase of the primary containers of biological samples is activated by an electric command activated by the RFID transceiver of the tertiary container (24).

The tertiary container (1) can be interfaced, using the same mechanical slide interface (3), with the sample loading station (16) and with the sample unloading station (19).

The loading station (16) of the primary containers of human, animal or food biological samples in the tertiary container (1), is equipped with the RFID transceiver of the loading station (17) capable of autonomously sending the door opening command with release electromechanical (2) of the tertiary container (1) and to write the data relating to the primary containers of the human or animal biological samples loaded in the internal memory of the microcontroller (5) of the tertiary container (1). As the RFID transceiver of the loading station (17) of the primary containers of human, animal or food biological samples writes the data of the internal memory of the microcontroller (5) of the tertiary container (1), this information can be read for verification by the 'operator of the loading station (16) thanks to the display (41) of the microcontroller of the loading station (40).

The unloading station (19) of the primary containers of human, animal or food biological samples from the tertiary container (1), is equipped with the RFID transceiver of the unloading station (20) capable of autonomously sending the door opening command with release electromechanical (2) of the tertiary container (1) and to read the data relating to the samples loaded from the internal memory of the microcontroller (5). Once the RFID transceiver of the unloading station (20) has read all the data of the internal memory of the microcontroller (5), this information can be read for verification by the operator of the unloading station (19), through the display (31 ) of the unloading station microcontroller (30).

The tertiary container (1) in turn contains an interchangeable flexible secondary container (22) equipped with a window in transparent material (23) to infrared radiation with characteristics of thermal insulation and absorption of liquids suitable for transporting biological samples. The interchangeable flexible secondary container (22) can be removed or inserted into the tertiary container (1) through the door with electromechanical release (2) when the latter is open in the unloading station (19) of the primary containers of human and animal biological samples. or food, or in the loading station (16) of the primary containers of human, animal or food biological samples.

The control of the break-in attempt is achieved by analyzing in parallel the attitude, thermal, dynamic and pressure data derived from the reading of the sensors (7,8,9,10,11) in parallel using the analysis software (15) and in conjunction with the sensor opening of the container (12).

In particular, each sensor is calibrated in a specific way to determine a particular break-in or anomaly: the thermal sensor (8), in addition to measuring the temperature of the primary containers contained within the secondary container, is calibrated to recognize the introduction of hands o tools of different temperature than inside the secondary container; the attitude sensor (7) verifies the attempt to overturn the tertiary container, the magnetic sensor (9) verifies that there have been no attempts to operate metal mechanisms, the pressure sensor (10) verifies that no pressure tampering has been carried out on the samples, the triaxial acceleration sensor (11) verifies that there have been no attempts to open the tertiary container by means of strong mechanical stresses that go beyond the normal transport acceleration spectrum.

The analysis software (15) present inside the microcontroller (5) is activated in the presence of an anomalous reading of the sensors (7,8,9,10,11) and of the container opening sensor (12) connected to the microcontroller (5) and records the event recorded in an encrypted way on the internal memory of the microcontroller (5).

Once arrived in the unloading station (19), the microcontroller (5) downloads the information contained in the internal memory through the RFID transceiver system of the unloading station (20) which communicates with the RFID transceiver of the container (24): to this point any attempted break-in is notified with details on the time of the event and possibly the position.

The tertiary container (1) is made of a material with a high degree of insulation and shockproof and is designed to house any mobile cooling elements (25).

Claims (1)

CLAIMS 1) A ternary container with shatterproof and thermal insulation characteristics intended for the transport of a secondary container inside which there are primary containers of human, animal or food biological samples being the electronic system of this tertiary container able to detect, memorize and communicate through digital communication techniques any break-in and tampering with primary containers and human, animal or food biological samples transported characterized by the fact of including, in various combinations: to. A Set of Sensors b. A Microcontroller c. An analysis SW d. A GPS system And. A data transmission system via cellular link f. An electromechanical opening of the access door g. An RFID transceiver system h. A flexible secondary container 2) A tertiary container, according to claim 1), comprising a flexible secondary container to house primary containers of human, animal or food biological samples equipped with suitable thermal insulation characteristics to avoid heating beyond the limits of human, animal or food biological samples placed inside the containers, capacity to absorb liquid leaks and equipped with a transparent window to thermal radiation to allow observation inside the flexible container; 3) A tertiary container, according to claim 1), characterized in that said device is equipped with sensors positioned inside the tertiary container itself and outside the flexible secondary container consisting, in various combinations, of: to. Trim sensor b. GPS position sensor c. Pressure sensor d. Access door opening sensor And. Calibrated thermal sensor aligned with the transparent window to thermal radiation, of the flexible container 4) A tertiary container, according to claim 1), comprising a microcontroller equipped with memory and a SW for analyzing the combination of the signals coming from the sensors according to claim 3) and capable of autonomously evaluating, according to a specific algorithm, whether the tertiary container, if the secondary container, or if the primary containers of human, animal or food biological samples have been tampered with. 5) A tertiary container, according to claim 1), equipped with an autonomous GPS system capable of communicating with the microcontroller and providing the geographical position of the container when the break-in is detected. 6) A tertiary container, according to claim 1), equipped with a data transmission system via cellular telephone, which can be activated when the break-in is detected, to transmit an alarm message to a control server; 7) A tertiary container, according to claim 1), equipped with an electromechanically operated door for accessing the secondary container; 8) A tertiary container, according to claim 1), equipped with a system for receiving and transmitting data by means of an RFID technique and equipped with an RFID receiving system for opening the electromechanical access door to the secondary container and for RFID transmission of the microcontroller memory data 9) A tertiary container, according to claim 1), capable of interfacing, in the loading phase of the primary containers of human, animal or food biological samples, by means of suitable mechanical sled interfaces, with a fixed structure equipped with an RFID transceiver system, able to give the electromechanical operation command to open the access door to the flexible secondary container that contains the primary containers of human, animal or food biological samples and to transfer the information relating to the primary containers and the relative contents of samples to the memory of the microcontroller human, animal or food biological loaded; 10) A tertiary container, according to claim 1), capable of interfacing, in the phase of unloading the primary containers of human, animal or food biological samples, by means of suitable mechanical sled interfaces, with a fixed structure equipped with an RFID transceiver system in able to give the command to the electromechanical operation for opening the access door to the flexible secondary container contains the primary containers of human, animal or food biological samples and to receive from the memory of the microcontroller the information relating to the primary containers and the relative contents of containers primary loaded and any notices of break-in;