[DESCRIPTION]

[invention Title]

SYSTEM FOR TRACKING CONTAINER USING LOW ORBIT SATELLITE AND METHOD THEREOF

[Technical Field]

The present invention relates, in general, to a system and method for tracking containers using a low orbit satellite and, more particularly, to a system and method for tracking a container using a low orbit satellite, which can monitor information about the status and location of a corresponding container and information about the freight in the container, which are generated during a procedure of transporting the container provided with a Global Positioning System (GPS) antenna and a low orbit antenna, in real time, and can immediately respond to the occurrence of an abnormal phenomenon when the abnormal phenomenon occurs .

[Background Art]

For a conventional global positioning system, there is an intermediation system for providing freight transportation service using each individual freight vehicle, which is disclosed in Korean Patent Appln. No. 10-

2000-39728 and is implemented so that a freight

transportation service control system, a freight owner, and a freight vehicle equipped with a wireless terminal are connected to each other through a communication network to intermediate between the freight owner and the freight vehicle for freight transportation service. The freight transportation service control system includes a processing device, a display/input means, a communication interface, and a system database; the display/input means is required to display information processed by the processing device or to input desired data; the communication interface allows the processing device to transmit or receive data through the communication network; the system database arranges various types of information required for freight transportation service into a database, reads related data requested by the processing device, and provides the read data; the processing device includes a geographical information management unit for acquiring geographical information about each region, storing the acquired geographical information in the system database, reading required geographical information and processing the read information, a member management unit for acquiring member information, including a wireless terminal number, a vehicle number and a vehicle type, from the freight vehicle, registering a corresponding member, reading member information from the system database, and processing the read member information, a freight information processing

unit for receiving freight information, including the address of freight, from the freight owner, storing the freight information in the system database, and managing the freight information, a freight vehicle identification unit for identifying a freight vehicle connected to the control system, an empty vehicle information processing unit for acquiring empty vehicle status information from the identified freight vehicle, arranging the acquired information into a database, and managing the information stored in the database, a vehicle location tracking unit for detecting the location of the freight vehicle using the global positioning system of the terminal connected to the communication network, arranging the detected location information into a database, and managing the location information stored in the database, a candidate vehicle automatic indexing and selection unit for reading acquired information about empty freight vehicles and information about the locations of the empty vehicles, comparing the read information with the received freight information, finding candidate vehicles suitable for a corresponding freight item, displaying the found candidate vehicles on the display/input means, and executing processing to select an optimal candidate vehicle, a freight address rough map creation unit for reading geographical information about a freight address from the acquired geographical map information, indicating the location of a job site on the

geographical map and creating a rough map for the freight address, a freight information transmission unit for transmitting the freight information and the rough map information about the job site to the selected freight vehicle, and a loading information processing unit for acquiring information about the loading of freight from the freight vehicle, arranging the acquired information into a database, and updating corresponding empty vehicle information and corresponding freight information. However, the prior art is problematic in that, since a freight vehicle is provided with a global positioning system terminal, only the location of the freight vehicle is tracked, but information about the location and status of important freight itself cannot be provided.

[Disclosure]

[Technical Problem]

Accordingly, the present invention has been made keeping in mind the above problems occurring in the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a system and method, which provide information about a commodity loaded at each location, information about the location and status of a container, information about the open/closed status of the container, etc., in real time, during a procedure of transporting a container into which commodities are loaded, thus actively responding to an

abnormal phenomenon when the abnormal phenomenon occurs.

[Technical Solution]

In accordance with one aspect of the present invention to accomplish the above object, there is provided a system for tracking a container using a low orbit satellite, comprising a Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite for providing information about a location of the container, freight having a tag, attached thereto and including 900 MHz band freight status information, the freight being loaded, the container for generating the location information received from the GPS satellite, the 900 MHz band freight status information, container status information, and 400 MHz band opening/closing information generated when a locking device is cut, at least one reader for transmitting the 900 MHz band freight status information and the 400 MHz band opening/closing information, generated when the locking device is cut, to the container, a low orbit satellite for receiving the information transmitted to the container, the location information, the freight status information, and the container status information, a gateway control center for collecting various types of information received by the low orbit satellite, a management server for processing the information collected by the gateway control center so that the collected information is displayed on the Web, and a

user client for receiving the processed information.

Preferably, the reader may be installed in such a way that a plurality of readers is installed along transport routes . Preferably, the user client may transmit specific query content, required to search for a specific container, to the low orbit satellite.

Preferably, the container may comprise a GPS active antenna for receiving location information, the locking device for generating a 400 MHz band signal when the locking device is cut, a container controller for controlling status information about the container itself, an information collection terminal for collecting the location information, the status information and the 400 MHz band opening/closing information of the locking device in real time, a container provided with a low orbit antenna for transmitting or receiving the collected information, and a user client for receiving the processed information.

Preferably, the information collection terminal may further collect 900 MHz band freight status information, attached to the freight, in real time.

Preferably, the management server may comprise an input/output interface unit for receiving the information collected by the information collection terminal, that is, the opening/closing information of the locking device, the container status information, 400 MHz band tag information

and 900 MHz band tag information read by the reader, and the location information received by the GPS active antenna, through the low orbit satellite, a data processing unit for processing each piece of information, received through the input/output interface, in a format suitable for the user client, arranging processed data into a database, and classifying the processed data, a database unit for storing the data processed by the data processing unit, configuring characteristics of the freight in a form of data, and storing the data, and an interface and map application for extracting data from the database, and indicating the extracted data on a map.

Preferably, the interface unit may comprise a container search unit for searching for a corresponding container, a container list display unit for arranging each found container, a container location display unit for displaying the found container on the map, and a container information display unit for displaying information about the found container. In accordance with another aspect of the present invention to accomplish the above object, there is provided a method of tracking a container using a low orbit satellite, comprising the steps of at least one reader reading a 400 MHz band tag of a locking device provided in the container, and a 900 MHz band tag attached to freight, an information collection terminal, provided in the

container, collecting information about the read 400 MHz and 900 MHz band tags, and status information and location information about the container, a low orbit antenna, provided in the container, transmitting various types of collected information to a low orbit satellite, the low orbit satellite and a gateway control center transmitting the various types of information to a management server to process the information so that the information is used by a user, the management server processing the various types of transmitted information, and a user client receiving the processed information from the management server with respect to container information, queried by the user client.

Preferably, the reader may be implemented so that a plurality of readers is installed along transport routes to read the 400 MHz band tag and the 900 MHz band tag attached to freight, and to transmit the read tags to the container.

Preferably, the user client may transmit query content, required to search for a specific container, to the low orbit satellite.

Preferably, the low orbit satellite may search for a specific container corresponding to the search query of the user client using location information.

Preferably, the tag reading step may be performed so that the reader reads the tags in conjunction with the 400 MHz band tag and the 900 MHz band tag attached to the

freight .

[Advantageous Effects]

As described above, the present invention is advantageous, from the standpoint of a container, in that it can immediately respond to an abnormal phenomenon occurring inside a container, and an abnormal phenomenon occurring during the transportation of the container, and is advantageous, from the standpoint of freight, in that it can immediately detect the location of freight when the freight is stolen, thus improving client satisfaction.

[Description of Drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the construction of a system for tracking a container using a low orbit satellite according to the present invention; FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the construction of a container in the container tracking system using a low orbit satellite of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the construction of a management server in the container tracking system using a low orbit satellite of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a user interface unit in the management server of FIG. 3; and

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a method of tracking a container using a low orbit satellite according to the

present invention.

[Best Mode]

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the attached drawings .

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the construction of a system for tracking a container using a low orbit satellite according to the present invention. The system includes freight 10 loaded into a container, a container 20 to be tracked by a user, a reader 30, a Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite 40, a low orbit satellite 50, a gateway control center 60, a management server 70 and a user client 80. As shown in the drawing, the system monitors, in real time, all abnormal phenomena occurring at the container 20 during the transportation of the container 20 from a first open-air yard to a second open-air yard.

In detail, the freight 10 is loaded into the container to which a 900 MHz band tag, including freight status information, is attached. During a procedure of transporting the freight loaded into the container, to which the 900 MHz band tag is attached, from the first open-air yard to the second open-air yard using a transport means, information about the status of the freight 10 is transmitted to the reader in real time using the 900 MHz band tag.

The container 20 includes a GPS active antenna 21 for receiving location information, a container controller 22 for controlling the internal status information about the container 20, a locking device 23 for generating a 400 MHz band signal when it is cut, an information collection terminal 24 for collecting the location information, the status information and the 400 MHz band signal in real time, and a low orbit antenna 25 for transmitting or receiving the collected information. As shown in FIG. 2, the components provided in the container 20 are described in detail below, together with the freight 10 and the reader 30.

The GPS active antenna 21 provided in the container 20 receives information about locations along a transport route from the first open-air yard at which the freight 10 is loaded into the container 20 to the second open-air yard at which the freight 10 is unloaded, from the GPS satellite 40, and transmits the received location information to the information collection terminal 24. The container controller 22 provided in the container 20 typically collects status information, such as the damage status, temperature status and humidity status of the inside of the container 20, and the open/closed status of the door of the container, and transmits the collected information to the information collection terminal 24 even though such information may vary according to the type of

freight 10 loaded into the container 20.

The locking device 23 provided in the container 20 is mounted on the external portion of the container 20 and operated to close the door of the container 20 from outside the container so as to prevent the opening of the container door. A 400 MHz band tag is provided in the locking device 23, and 400 MHz band signal information is generated when the locking device 23 is cut. The reader 30 senses the 400 MHz band tag and transmits the sensed tag information to the information collection terminal 24. This is required to immediately detect the opening of the container door when the container door is opened without authorization.

The information collection terminal 24 provided in the container 20 collects information about the location of the GPS active antenna 21, which is received from the GPS satellite 40, information about the damage status, the temperature status and the humidity status of the inside of the container 20, and information about the open/closed status of the door of the container 20, which are collected by the container controller 22, and information about all abnormal phenomena detected by the reader 30 that acquires the opening/closing information of the locking device 23 based on the 400 MHz band signal information generated when the locking device 23 is cut, or the tag information based on the 900 MHz band signal information recorded on the tag attached to the freight, and transmits the collected

information to the lattice-type low orbit antenna 25.

The lattice-type low orbit antenna 25 provided in the container 20 is horizontally installed on the top of the container 20, and transmits the information collected by the information collection terminal 24, that is, the location information received from the GPS antenna 21, the status information about the container received from the container controller 22, and the 400 MHz and 900 MHz band tag information received from the reader 30, to the low orbit satellite 50. However, if containers 20 may be stacked one on top of another, communication interference may occur between horizontally installed lattice-type low orbit antennas. Accordingly, a lattice-type low orbit antenna of the same kind as each horizontally installed lattice-type low orbit antenna is vertically installed on the front of each container, and is used as an auxiliary antenna when communication interference occurs. The two lattice-type low orbit antennas are connected to the information collection terminal 24 through cables. The reader 30 recognizes the 900 MHz band tag attached to the freight, and also recognizes the 400 MHz band tag provided in the locking device 23 installed on the container door. If the container passes through the first open-air yard at which the reader 30 is installed after the freight to which the 900 MHz band tag is attached has been loaded at the first open-air yard and the locking device

has been installed on the container door using the 400 MHz band tag, the reader reads the open/closed status of the locking device and the freight tag information, and determines whether an abnormal phenomenon is occurring. Further, the reader 30 is installed on a transport means for moving from the first open-air yard to another place through a waterway, a land route or an air route, and is also installed at the second open-air yard at which the freight 10 is unloaded. That is, the reader 30 is installed in several transport means and in several regions by which and through which the container 20 is transported, and is operated to collect information related to the container and transmit the collected information to the information collection terminal 24 provided in the container 20. During the procedure of transferring the container 20 using the transport means, the GPS satellite 40 transmits the longitudinal and latitudinal coordinates of the location of the container 20 to the GPS active antenna 21 provided on the container 20 so that the user client 80 can detect the location of the container 20.

During the procedure of transferring the container 20 using the transport means 90, the low orbit satellite 50 receives all of the information generated in the container 20 through the low orbit antenna 50. The received information is transmitted to the management server 70 through a gateway earth station and the gateway control

center 60. The low orbit satellite 50 for performing the above operation has an orbit of about 825 km, a frequency band of about 150 MHz, and a data transfer rate of about 2400 to 4800 bps, and is provided with a hardware means using a non-directional antenna.

Meanwhile, the low orbit satellite 50 searches for a corresponding container 20 using location information, based on the information about the container 20 queried by the user client 80, and receives information related to a found container 20.

The gateway control center 60 collects various types of information, transmitted to a plurality of low orbit satellites 50, and transmits the collected information to allow the management server 70 to process the information. If the management server 70 receives the various types of information from each low orbit satellite 50 through the gateway control center 60, the management server 70 processes the received information to allow the user client 80 to utilize the received information. The management server 70 to be utilized by the user client 80 in this way includes an input/output interface unit 71, a data processing unit 72, a database unit 73, a user interface unit 74 and a map application 75. As shown in FIG. 3, the structural relationships between the components of the management server 70 are described in detail.

The input/output interface unit 71 provided in the

management server 70 receives information collected by the information collection terminal 24 during the entire procedure of transporting the container 20 using a transport means, that is, the opening/closing information of the locking device, the status information about the container, the 400 MHz band tag information and the 900 MHz band tag information read by the reader 30, and the location information received by the GPS active antenna, from the gateway control center 60 through the low orbit satellite 50. Further, the input/output interface unit 71 transmits query information required for the user client 80 to search for a specific container.

The data processing unit 72 provided in the management server 70 processes data to allow the various types of information about the container 20, received from the input/output interface unit 71, to be suitably provided to the user client 80, arranges the processed data into a database, and then classifies the processed data. That is, in order for the user client 80 to be provided with the information about the container 20 on the Web, the data processing unit 72 of the present invention analyzes the longitude and latitude of the location information received from the GPS antenna 21 through the low orbit antennas 50, processes the analyzed longitude and latitude as data to be indicated on a map, and stores the processed data in the database unit 73. Further, the data processing unit 72

analyzes the damage status, temperature status and humidity status of the container 20, and the open/closed status of the door of the container 20, which have been received from the container controller 22, processes the status information as data to be displayed on the user interface unit 74, and stores the processed data in the database unit 73. Further, the data processing unit 72 processes an abnormal phenomenon related to the opening/closing information of the locking device 23 and the tag information of the freight 10, which have been received from the reader 30, as data to be displayed on the user interface unit 74, and stores the processed data in the database unit 73.

In addition to the above operation, the data processing unit 72 configures the characteristics of freight, such as the type of freight, the number of freight items, history items about a freight owner, and a delivery destination, which are contained in the 900 MHz band tag information, in the form of data, and stores the data in the database unit 73.

The database unit 73 may include a container database, a sender database, a recipient database, a transportation record database, and a geographical information database, which are required for the convenience of a user, such as search or editing operations, in addition to the database 73, in which the

various types of information received from the data processing unit 72 are arranged. The database unit 73 inputs required information in advance and stores the required information in respective databases. The container database stores information about the number, the origin and the destination of each container because a plurality of user clients 80 can inquire about a plurality of containers 20. The sender database can be constructed in conjunction with the container database because there is a plurality of containers, the owners of which are different from each other, at the origin of the containers. The recipient database can be constructed using the same method as the above method.

As shown in FIG. 4, the user interface 74 and the map application 75, provided in the management server 70, display information about the container 20 on a screen to allow the user client 80 to search for a specific container 20 and identify information about the container 20 on the Web. In detail, if the user client 80 inputs query content required to search for a specific container 20 in conjunction with the database unit 73 and the map application 75, corresponding data is extracted from the database unit 73 and displayed on the screen. As shown in FIG. 4, a container search unit 74-1 is used to input a keyword desired by the user and search for a corresponding container 20. In a container list display unit 74-2, a list

of results found in the container search unit 74-1 is arranged. In a container location display unit 74-3, the location of the container 20, corresponding to the search results, is displayed on a map operated by the map application 75. Further, in the container location display unit 74-3, the longitude and latitude of a transported container are displayed. In a container information display unit 74-4, various types of information collected by the information collection terminal 24 provided in the container 20 are displayed.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a method of tracking a container using a low orbit satellite according to the present invention. The container tracking method using a low orbit satellite performs the following steps. The container tracking method includes the step SlO of the reader reading a 400 MHz band tag of the locking device provided in the container, and a 900 MHz band tag attached to freight, the step S20 of the information collection terminal, provided in the container, collecting information about the 400 MHz and 900 MHz band tags and the status information and location information about the container, the step S30 of the low orbit antenna, provided in the container, transmitting the various types of collected information to the low orbit satellite, the step S40 of the low orbit satellite and the gateway control center transmitting the various types of information to the

management server to process the various types of information so that the information is used by the user, the step S50 of the management server processing the various types of information, and the step S60 of the user client receiving the processed information from the management server with respect to container information queried by the user client.

The step SlO of the reader reading the 400 MHz band tag of the locking device, provided in the container, and the 900 MHz band tag, attached to the freight, is performed to conduct communication so that a plurality of readers 30, respectively installed along all routes through which the container 20 is transported, determines whether the locking device having the 400 MHz band tag information has been cut, and whether an abnormal phenomenon has occurred with respect to the freight 10 having the 900 MHz band tag information, in conjunction with the 400 MHz band tag information of the locking device and the 900 MHz band tag information attached to the freight. The tag information determined in this way is transmitted to the information collection terminal 24.

The step S20 of the information collection terminal provided in the container collecting the read 400 MHz and 900 MHz band tag information and the status information and location information about the container is performed so that, in order to collect all of the information about the

container 20 and provide the collected information to the user client 80, the information collection terminal 24 collects the location information of the GPS active antenna 21, and information about the damage status, temperature status and humidity status of the container and the open/closed status of the container door, which have been received from the container controller 22, while collecting the 400 MHz and 900 MHz band tag information that was primarily read at step SlO, and then transmits the collected information to the low orbit satellite 50.

The step S30 of the low orbit antenna provided in the container transmitting the various types of collected information to the low orbit satellite is performed so that the container information, collected by respective information collection terminals 24 provided in a plurality of containers, is transmitted to the user client 80 through the low orbit satellite 50 to allow the collected container information to be suitably used by the user client 80, and, in addition, query content required for the user client 80 to search for a specific container 20, is transmitted to the low orbit antenna 25, provided in the container, through the low orbit satellite 50.

The step S40 of the low orbit satellite and the gateway control center transmitting the various types of information to the management server to process the information for the use of the information by the user is

performed so that the various types of information, transmitted to the gateway control center 60, are transmitted to the management server 70 to process the information in order to allow the information to be displayed on the user client 80.

The step S50 of the management server processing the various types of information is performed so that, in order to process the various types of information, transmitted at step S40, to allow the user client 80 to use the information, of the various types of information transmitted to the gateway control center 60, the longitude and latitude of location information are analyzed, and are processed as data to be indicated on the map in conjunction with the map application 75, the damage status, temperature status and humidity status of the container 20, and the open/closed status of the container door are processed as data to be displayed on the user interface unit 74, and information about the opening/closing of the locking device and information about abnormal phenomenon occurring with respect to freight, detected by the reader 30, are processed as data to be displayed on the user interface unit 74. In particular, the characteristics of the freight, such as the type of freight, the number of freight items, freight owner history items, and the delivery destination of the freight, which are included in the 900 MHz band tag attached to the freight, are configured in the form of data

and are stored in the database unit 73.

The step S60 of the user client receiving the processed information from the management server with respect to the queried container information is performed so that, if the processed data is stored at step S50, and the user client 80 queries the management server 70 about a desired container 20, the management server 70 searches for data related to query content. If there is no information about the queried container 20, steps SlO to S50 are performed to obtain container information, display the container information on the monitor of the user client, and identify the obtained information.

As described above, preferred embodiments have been disclosed. The specific terms used in the embodiments are only used for illustrative purposes, but are not used to limit the meaning of components or the scope of the present invention disclosed in the accompanying claims . Therefore, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications and other equivalent embodiments are possible from the embodiments of the present invention. Accordingly, the technical scope of the present invention will be defined by the technical spirit of the accompanying claims .