| CONTAINERTRAC, INC. Patent applications |
| Patent application number | Title | Published |
|---|
| 20120089320 | METHOD OF AUTOMATIC POSITIONING FOR LOADING AND UNLOADING OF CONTAINER SHIPS IN CONTAINER TERMINALS - A method is provided for automatically locating a container in a stowage location of a container ship for loading and unloading of the container ship in container terminals. The method includes the following steps: obtaining the position information of the container ship from container ship positioning units, obtaining the position information of the container from container positioning units when the container is in its stowage location, and determining the stowage location of the container in the container ship by first computing a relative position of the container in the container ship based on both the position information of the container ship and the position information of the container and then correlating the relative position with a stowage plan of the container ship. | 04-12-2012 |
| 20110055172 | AUTOMATIC ERROR CORRECTION FOR INVENTORY TRACKING AND MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS USED AT A SHIPPING CONTAINER YARD - A method automatically detects and corrects errors in a container inventory database associated with a container inventory tracking system of a container storage facility. A processor in the inventory tracking system performs a method to detect errors; this method of error detection obtains a first data record, identifies an event (e.g., pickup or drop-off of a container, or movement of handing equipment) associated with the first record, provides a list of error types based on the identified event, and determines whether a data error has occurred through a checking process. To correct the errors, this method further sets search criteria based on the error detection results, queries the inventory tracking database using the set criteria, determines error candidates based on the query results, evaluates the error candidates to identify a match or matches among the error candidates, and corrects the error(s) by modifying the error detection results together with the identified match or matches. | 03-03-2011 |
| 20110010005 | SYSTEM FOR ASSOCIATING INVENTORY WITH HANDLING EQUIPMENT IN SHIPPING CONTAINER YARD INVENTORY TRANSACTIONS - A system is provided to associate containers with handling equipment (HE) in a container storage facility. In the system an operation detector, such as a twistlock sensor that indicates when a container is picked up or dropped off, is installed on a first HE which is a piece of container handling equipment (CHE) that can lift the container. An event detector, such as a vibration sensor or distance measuring radar, is further installed on a second HE that is a tractor with an attached chassis for receiving and transporting a container. The event detector indicates when a container-operation-related event, such as a container pick up or drop off, occurred on the tractor chassis. The two detectors (operation and event) are used by a processor to associate the container with either the CHE or the tractor. The operation and event detectors can further be used in conjunction with position sensors such as a GPS sensor to accurately determine the position of the tractor and the CHE in a container yard. When the position sensors degrade in performance, an additional motion detector such as a speed sensor can be used to determine the tractor's distance from the CHE to locate an appropriate tractor involved in the operation. | 01-13-2011 |
| 20100332125 | AUTOMATIC CORRECTION OF PAST POSITION ERRORS FOR LOCATION AND INVENTORY TRACKING - A method is provided for calibrating past position estimates from a positioning system that provides real-time position estimates of a mobile object. The method first stores the real-time position estimates, which as time goes by become past position estimates and naturally form a first past trajectory depicting the past movement of the mobile object. Subsequently, a calibrated past trajectory is determined, which includes calibrated past position estimates that correspond to the same time instances as the past positions in the first past trajectory. When real-time positions have low qualities, this method calibrates them at a later time by using (higher-quality) real-time positions both before and after them. Errors in the past positions are then corrected based on the calibrated past trajectory. When used with event detectors that indicate inventory transactions, this method can correct position errors associated with inventory events so as to improve the performance of inventory tracking. | 12-30-2010 |
