TWI381087B - Electrical seal - Google Patents

Description

Electronic seal

The present invention relates to an electronic seal, and more particularly to a novel electronic seal having a sensing circuit for instant knowledge of whether the lock has been damaged.

It is known that electronic locks have been used in the transportation of containers to prevent the containers from being opened arbitrarily under unknown circumstances, or even to exchange or steal goods in the container. The RF chips and antenna devices provided on the locks can be used to achieve the locks. The use of the effect, and the use of the machine to quickly sense the information recorded by the lock, to know the information loaded in the container, such as the electronic lock described in the patent TWI292007, has described the structure and use characteristics of the electronic lock, However, in the actual use of the patented electronic lock, it is still necessary to pass the port or a specific monitoring station to sense the damage of the lock after the machine is sensed. If the container is damaged during transportation, it is difficult to find it in time. For the strain treatment, there is still a risk of being stolen.

The main object of the present invention is to provide an electronic seal that can be found in time when it is damaged, prompting the user to immediately deal with the situation, avoiding or reducing the loss of property.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a novel electronic seal that can arbitrarily change the state in which the sensing terminals are disconnected and open, to improve the detection acuity of the lock damage, and to destroy the lock without being aware of the difficulty.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an electronic seal comprising a casing, the casing is provided with a passage, and a control circuit is disposed in the casing, the control circuit The connection is provided with at least three terminals, each of which is exposed to the inner circumferential surface of the passage, and the passage is provided with a lock member. The lock member includes a rod body, and the surface of the rod body is provided with a conductive surface.

Therefore, the present invention can utilize the above device to operate the control circuit when the rod body is inserted and fixed in the passage, and when the lock member is broken and the rod body is slightly pulled out by a certain distance (or completely extracted), the conductive surface Through the terminals in sequence, the circuit state between the terminals is changed, and the control circuit senses the change of the state of the circuit, and promptly informs the user to perform processing, thereby avoiding arbitrary damage of the lock and stealing property, thereby facilitating the transportation of goods. Security.

In the following, the structural features of the present invention and the intended effects thereof will be described by way of example, and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention as claimed.

Referring to FIG. 1 , the present invention provides an electronic seal. The electronic seal is provided with a casing 10 and a lock member 20 for mounting on the container door A, and is fixed to the lock A1 of the container door. When the container door is opened, the lock bolt needs to be opened and the self-locking bolt of the invention is removed. At this time, the invention can sense that the container door is opened and connected to the warning device, and immediately inform the user that the container door is opened, wherein the lock The piece can also be used to be worn on various other openable devices to detect whether it is opened.

Referring to FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, the present invention includes a housing 10 which is formed by an upper housing 11 and a lower housing 12, and the housing 10 is fixedly provided with a body 13 which is fixed. The body 13 and the corresponding position of the casing 10 are provided with through holes, so that the block 13 is fixed in the casing 10 and a passage B is formed. Please refer to FIG. 3 and FIG. 3A. A third joint 131 is further disposed on one side of the block body 13 , and a through hole 132 is defined in each joint 131 , and the through hole communicates with B to the inner circumferential surface of the passage. A control circuit 14 and three terminals 15 are further disposed in the housing 10. Each of the terminals 15 is connected to the control circuit 14. The terminal 15 of the illustrated example includes a metal ball 151 and an elastic member 152 (or the front end of the terminal can be disposed Referring to FIG. 4, each of the terminals is fixed in each of the joints 131, so that the metal balls 151 are exposed on the inner circumference of the through hole of the block, and The elastic members 152 abut against the metal balls 151 and the joints 131 to make the respective terminals elastic. Referring to FIG. 3, a power source 70 may be additionally disposed in the housing for supplying power required for the control circuit 14 and various components.

The present invention further includes a lock member 20, the lock member includes a rod body 21 which is inserted from the upper and lower tube bodies, and when the rod body 21 is used with the container, the lock bolt can be worn on the container door. The lock bolt is not sealed by the solid seal. The surface of the rod body 21 is provided with a conductive surface and a plurality of insulators 211. The insulator 211 cuts the conductive surface and divides into two (or several) electrically conductive regions 212 electrically separated from each other along the length of the rod body 21. One end of the rod body 21 is formed with an enlarged head portion 22, and the other end is provided with a frame-shaped card slot 213, so that the rod body can be inserted through the passageway, and a snap member 23 is additionally fitted to the card slot. The rod body is inserted into the passage and can be locked in the passage.

With the above device, the present invention can be used to fix and sense the movement of the lock member. Referring to FIG. 4, when the lock member is installed in the passage, each of the metal balls 151 is exposed in the passage and is held against the rod 21 by the elastic force provided by the elastic member 152, wherein the insulator 211 is separated. Between the two terminals, the two terminals are in a broken shape, and the conductive region 212 is electrically connected between one of the terminals and the other terminal, so that two of the terminals are The path has two terminals that are open and have a specific circuit state.

Referring to FIG. 5, when the lock member is pulled out and starts to leave the passage, the conductive portion 212 and the insulator 211 will move through the respective terminals in sequence with the rod body, so that each two adjacent terminals are sequentially passaged and broken. When the lock member is moved into the channel or is extracted, the circuit state between the terminals is changed, and the control circuit connected to the terminal further senses the change of the circuit state and sends a prompt signal.

The terminal of the invention is set to three and is obviously separated from the use condition of the two terminals, in order to explain the design difference between the two terminals and the three terminals, especially supplemented by the auxiliary description of FIG. 6, as shown in FIG. Providing the two terminals for wearing and exposing, in order to make the circuit have the ability of active sensing, after the locking device is installed, the two terminals need to be turned on, thereby sensing that the rod body is provided in the channel, the locking member may be from the head 22 or One side of the snap member 23 is damaged, and the other conductive rod C is pushed against the lock member for replacement. When the lock member is damaged, the circuit state does not change between the two terminals, and the use function of the warning is lost; In view of this, the present invention sets the number of terminals to three, or refer to FIG. 7, and sets the number of terminals to three or more to prevent the above-described damage but not perceived.

Please refer to FIG. 8 , in order to enable the control circuit to sense the circuit change between the terminals, a control circuit is disposed on a circuit board 200 , and a memory unit 30 , a processing unit 40 , and a signal unit are electrically connected to the control circuit . The 50 and one clock unit 60 mounts the circuit board in the housing; the control circuit is coupled to a power source 70 to obtain a desired operating voltage source. The memory unit 30 stores at least one operation information, the processing unit 40 reads the operation information of the memory unit 30, and the control signal unit 50 outputs signals to the terminals, so that each terminal has various high and low potentials, and The signal unit 50 senses whether there is current flow in each terminal, and reads the circuit state of the terminals; the clock unit 60 provides a time information, so that the processing unit 40 can change the signal output by the signal unit 50 to the terminals according to time. Therefore, the present invention can reset the potential state between the terminals at any time during each use, or change it with time, preventing the fixed operation mode from being cracked and losing the use function, thereby strengthening the electronic seal of the present invention. The lock of the sign was damaged by external force and could not be detected.

At the same time, the control circuit can be connected to a damage sensor 80 for sensing the outer casing and notifying the processing unit 40 to react when the casing is damaged. Even the circuit board 200 is mounted with a radio frequency chip. The voltage source required for the wafer is derived from the power source 70 on the circuit board, thereby forming an active electronic seal to facilitate the reading of the contents of the container and the rapid reading by means of RFID transmission.

Referring to FIG. 8 , when the lock component 20 of the electronic seal of the present invention is damaged by an external force, after the control circuit receives the circuit state change between the three or more terminals, a prompt signal can be generated, which can be connected according to the user setting. And transmitted to a warning device 90, the warning device can be actually set as a light device such as a light bulb, a light-emitting diode, or a sound device such as a speaker or a buzzer, or a combination of a light device and a sound device, and emits an acousto-optic effect. The warning signal immediately informs the user that the container has been opened.

In addition, the control circuit can be additionally electrically connected to a damage sensor 80. When the housing is damaged, the damage sensor 80 can send a signal to the control circuit and send a warning signal through the foregoing warning device to remind the user. (eg truck driving).

Furthermore, the instant signal of the electronic seal of the present invention is damaged by external force, and the time information of the destruction is finally transmitted to a host unit 110 (may be It is a PC, NB or PDA...etc.) for the user to know the instant status of the electronic seal. The signal transmission between the host unit 110 and the control circuit and the electronic seal is transmitted through the two-way wireless signal device 100 with the RFID transmission function for the user (such as a truck driving) to change using the host unit 110 (such as a portable PDA). The working mode of the control circuit (for example, the circuit state change setting between three or more terminals), or the lock state information signal of the electronic seal is received from the control circuit to know whether the container is opened or not.

Summarizing the above embodiments, the present invention can be actively and immediately perceived, combined with the active electronic seal lock, whether it is subjected to any mobile extraction in the middle, and can immediately report the notification to the user when the container lock is opened. It has the function of active detection and can respond in time to prevent the container from being damaged and destroyed. However, it has not been discovered in time due to long-term transportation, and it has improved the ability to preserve property. It has a progressive effect and conforms to the patents stipulated by the national patent law. In order to file a patent application in accordance with the law, it is necessary to grant a patent at an early date.

A‧‧‧ container door

A1‧‧‧ lock bolt

B‧‧‧ channel

C‧‧‧conductive rod

10‧‧‧shell

11‧‧‧Upper casing

12‧‧‧ Lower case

13‧‧‧ Block

131‧‧‧Connectors

132‧‧‧Perforation

14‧‧‧Control circuit

211‧‧‧Insulator

212‧‧‧ conductive area

213‧‧‧ card slot

22‧‧‧ head

23‧‧‧Card fasteners

30‧‧‧ memory unit

40‧‧‧Processing unit

50‧‧‧Signal unit

60‧‧‧clock unit

70‧‧‧Power supply

80‧‧‧Destruction Sensor

15‧‧‧terminal

151‧‧‧metal ball

152‧‧‧Flexible parts

20‧‧‧Locks

21‧‧‧ rod body

90‧‧‧ Warning device

100‧‧‧Wireless signal device

110‧‧‧Host unit

200‧‧‧ boards

Figure 1 is a schematic view showing the use of the present invention installed in a container.

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the present invention.

Figure 3 is a perspective exploded view of the present invention.

3A is another perspective view of the block of the present invention.

4 and 5 are schematic views showing the continuous operation of the moving lock member of the present invention.

Fig. 6 is a schematic view showing the failure of the terminal by setting only two terminals.

Figure 7 is a cross-sectional view showing another embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 8 is a block diagram of the control circuit of the present invention.

B‧‧‧ channel

11‧‧‧Upper casing

12‧‧‧ Lower case

13‧‧‧ Block

14‧‧‧Control circuit

15‧‧‧terminal

151‧‧‧metal ball

152‧‧‧Flexible parts

21‧‧‧ rod body

211‧‧‧Insulator

212‧‧‧ conductive area

213‧‧‧ card slot

22‧‧‧ head

23‧‧‧Card fasteners

70‧‧‧Power supply

Claims (6)

An electronic seal comprises: a casing, the casing is provided with a passage, the casing is provided with a circuit board and a power source, and the circuit board is provided with at least one control circuit and at least three terminals, wherein the terminals are electrically connected The control circuit is exposed to the inner circumferential surface of the channel; a lock member includes a rod body, and the surface of the rod body is provided with at least one conductive surface, and the rod body is inserted into the channel and selectively buckled Fixed, the state of the circuit between the terminals is changed when the rod enters and exits the channel, and the control circuit generates a prompt signal when the circuit state between the terminals changes; wherein the lock member is further provided with at least one insulator The insulator divides the conductive surface into at least two electrically separated conductive regions, wherein the insulator is separated between two terminals, wherein one terminal and the other two terminals are electrically in contact with the conductive region, respectively, so that the equivalent terminal At the same time, an open circuit and a path are formed. The electronic seal of claim 1, wherein the control circuit on the circuit board is further electrically connected to a memory unit, a processing unit, a signal unit and a radio frequency chip, wherein the memory unit stores at least one operation information, the processing The unit reads the operation information of the memory unit, and the control signal unit outputs signals to the terminals, and reads the circuit states of the terminals from the signal unit. The electronic seal of claim 2, wherein the control circuit is further electrically connected to a clock unit, wherein the clock unit provides a time information, so that the processing unit can change the signal output by the signal unit to the terminals according to time. The electronic seal of claim 1, wherein the control circuit is electrically connected to a warning The device, when the control circuit receives the prompt signal, controls the warning device to send a warning signal. The electronic seal of claim 1, further comprising a host unit, wherein the host unit and the control circuit are each provided with a two-way wireless signal device, so that the host unit and the control circuit mutually transmit and receive signals by using the two-way wireless signal device. . The electronic seal of claim 4, wherein the alerting device is selected from the group consisting of a lighting device, a sound device, and combinations thereof.