Patent Issued for Tamper Evident Cargo Container Seal Bolt Lock (USPTO 10,689,882)

2020 JUL 06 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- From Alexandria, Virginia, NewsRx journalists report that a patent by the inventors Mullis, Joe (Oceanside, CA); Kruest, James Robert (San Diego, CA), filed on November 28, 2018, was published online on July 6, 2020.

The patent’s assignee for patent number 10,689,882 is Neology Inc. (San Diego, California, United States).

News editors obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Various embodiments concern the field of bolt locks for shipping containers. More particularly, various embodiments are directed to intelligent bolt locks which, if tampered with, can report the day and time that they have been tampered with.

“Bolt locks are frequently placed on shipping containers to prevent access to the container’s contents by unauthorized parties. A bolt lock can be locked, but it cannot be unlocked--that is to say, when the container finally reaches its intended destination, the bolt has to be split open with bolt cutters in order to access the contents of the container. In this sense, a bolt lock is a one-time use device.

“Typically, bolt locks include a metal bolt which is inserted through the hasps of cargo container doors. One end of the bolt includes a head which is substantially large enough to prevent the bolt from sliding out of the hasps in one direction. The other end of the bolt is designed to be inserted into a receiving member. Once the bolt is inserted into the receiving member (which is large enough to prevent the bolt from being slid of the hasps in the other direction), the bolt is then locked into place.

“On many occasions, a thief armed with bolt cutters will intercept the shipping container, cut the bolt, and steal the items stored within it. Sometimes, the thief will remove the broken bolt and replace it with a new bolt to make it seem as if no tampering had occurred. A discrepancy between what items were shipped and what items actually arrived will later be discovered in the manifest when the container arrives at its intended destination and its contents are inspected.

“In these situations, disputes frequently arise regarding which party or parties are legally responsible for covering the cost of the missing items (e.g., the seller, shipper, purchaser, and/or various insurers). In many instances, the legally responsible party will be predicated upon which party had possession of the container when the theft actually occurred. For example, if the theft occurred after the container was locked, but before the container was provided to the shipper, the missing items are typically the seller’s responsibility. If the theft occurred during transit, the missing items can be the shipper’s responsibility or its insurer (unless explicitly disclaimed in the contract). If the theft occurred after the shipper delivered the container to the purchaser’s storage facility, the missing items are no longer the seller or shipper’s responsibility, but rather, it is the purchaser’s loss.

“However, since the shipping container is usually opened at the end of the delivery chain (i.e., when it finally is in the hands of the purchaser), the theft may have occurred at any time prior to that. By that time, the container has already traveled through multiple locations and has been handled by multiple parties. Usually, visual inspection of the container and/or lock provides no clear evidence as to when or where the theft occurred. With no real way of determining when or where the theft occurred, parties (or their insurers) often find themselves in messy legal disputes, especially if the price of the stolen merchandise is high.”

As a supplement to the background information on this patent, NewsRx correspondents also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “Systems and methods for a tamper-evident cargo container seal bolt lock are disclosed herein. The device can include a receiving member, a conductive bolt member adapted to be snap-locked into the receiving member, and a plastic encapsulant which tethers the bolt member to the receiving member. The encapsulant can contain an electrically conductive medium, such as a wire, which runs from the receiving member to the second end the bolt. A sensory circuit disposed within the receiving member can be configured to sense whether the circuit has been interrupted (e.g., if the bolt has been cut). In the event of an interruption, the circuit can record the present time and/or date in memory. An RFID transponder disposed within the encapsulant or the receiving member can then transmit the recorded date/time to an RFID interrogator if a dispute subsequently arises as to when the lock had been broken.

“In a first exemplary aspect, a bolt lock device is disclosed. In one embodiment, the bolt lock device comprises: a bolt member; a receiving member adapted to receive a first end of the bolt member; an encapsulant connected to the receiving member and to the bolt member, the encapsulant comprising a conductive medium, wherein when the first end of the bolt member has been received in the receiving member, an electrically conductive pathway is formed from the conductive medium, through at least a portion of the bolt member and at least a portion of the receiving member; and a sensory circuit comprising memory, wherein the sensory circuit is adapted to transmit electrical current through the electrically conductive pathway so as to detect whether the circuit has been interrupted, the sensory circuit being further adapted to record the current date and time in the memory in the event of a detected interruption.

“In a second exemplary aspect, a method for electronically detecting whether a bolt lock has been tampered with is disclosed. In one embodiment, the method comprises: receiving a first end of a bolt member in a receiving member, the receiving member being connected to the bolt member via an encapsulant comprising a conductive medium, wherein when the first end of the bolt member has been received in the receiving member, an electrically conductive pathway is formed from the conductive medium, through at least a portion of the bolt member and at least a portion of the receiving member; transmitting an electrical current through the electrically conductive pathway; detecting whether the sensory circuit has been interrupted; and in the event of a detected interruption, recording the current date and time in memory.

“Other features and advantages should become apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“What is claimed is:

“1. A lock device comprising: a bolt member having a first end and a second end; a receiving member configured to receive first end of the bolt member; an encapsulant having a first end physically connected to the receiving member and a second end physically connected to the second end of the bolt member; a sensory circuit disposed within the encapsulant and between the first and second ends of the encapsulant and configured to form a continuous electrical pathway that electrically connects the bolt member and the receiving member, wherein the sensory circuit is configured to detect an interruption of the continuous electrical pathway; a conductive medium disposed within the encapsulant that connects the receiving member to the second end of the bolt member, wherein, within the encapsulant, the sensory circuit is coupled to the conductive medium, wherein the electrically conductive pathway is formed from the conductive medium and the sensory circuit when the first end of the bolt member is received by the receiving member; and a communication circuit coupled to the sensory circuit and configured to transmit data indicative of the detected interruption.

“2. The lock device of claim 1, further comprising a memory configured to store the data indicative of the detected interruption in response to detecting the interruption.

“3. The lock device of claim 1, wherein the data comprises at least a date and a time of the interruption.

“4. The lock device of claim 1, wherein the communication circuit is configured to transmit the data indicative of the interruption in response to a query.

“5. The lock device of claim 4, wherein the sensory circuit is configured to store a unique identifier associated with the lock device, and the communication circuit is further configured to transmit the identifier in response to the query.

“6. The lock device of claim 4, wherein the sensory circuit is configured to store information with respect to at least one of a nature of a shipment or one or more contents of the shipment, and the communication circuit is further configured to transmit at least a portion of the information in response to the query.

“7. The lock device of claim 4, wherein the sensory circuit is configured to store a unique identifier associated with the lock device and periodically receive and store information related to multiple transit locations and/or multiple handling parties of a container comprising the lock device to create a log, and the communication circuit is further configured to transmit the identifier and the log in response to the query.

“8. The lock device of claim 1, wherein the communication circuit comprise transponder including a radio frequency identification (RFID) chip and an antenna, and wherein the transponder is configured to transmit the data indicative of the detected interruption over a wireless connection.

“9. The lock device of claim 1, wherein the communication circuit comprises a serial bus configured to transmit the data indicative of the detected interruption over a wired connection.

“10. The lock device of claim 1, wherein the sensory circuit is adapted to detect that the continuous pathway is shorted.

“11. The lock device of claim 1, wherein the sensory circuit is adapted to detect that the continuous pathway is open.

“12. The lock device of claim 1, wherein the continuous electrical pathway is formed in response to the receiving member receiving the bolt member.

“13. The lock device of claim 11, wherein the encapsulant is configured to tether the bolt member to the receiving member and comprises an electrically conductive medium connected to receiving member and the bolt member.

“14. A method comprising: detecting an interruption of a continuous electrical pathway electrically connected to a second end of a bolt member and a receiving member configured to receive a first end of the bolt member, the continuous electrical pathway electrically formed from a conductive medium and a sensory circuit when the first end of the bolt member is received by the receiving member, the sensory circuit disposed within an encapsulant connected to the receiving member and the second end of the bolt member and disposed between a first end of the encapsulant physically connected to the receiving member and a second end of the encapsulant physically connected to the second end of the bolt member, the conductive medium disposed within the encapsulant and connects the receiving member to the second end of the bolt member, and the sensory circuit is coupled to the conductive medium within the encapsulant; and transmitting data indicative of the interruption.

“15. The method of claim 14, storing, in a memory, the data indicative of the detected interruption in response to detecting the interruption.

“16. The method of claim 14, further comprising transmitting the data indicative of the interruption in response to a query.

“17. The method of claim 15, further comprising: storing a unique identifier associated with the sensory circuit, and transmitting the identifier in response to the query.

“18. The method of claim 15, further comprising: storing information with respect to at least one of the following: a nature of a shipment, or one or more contents of the shipment, and transmitting at least a portion of the information in response to the query.

“19. The method of claim 15, further comprising: storing a unique identifier associated with the lock device; periodically receiving and storing information related to multiple transit locations and/or multiple handling parties of a container comprising the lock device to create a log; and transmitting the identifier and the log in response to the query.”

For additional information on this patent, see: Mullis, Joe; Kruest, James Robert. Tamper Evident Cargo Container Seal Bolt Lock. U.S. Patent Number 10,689,882, filed November 28, 2018, and published online on July 6, 2020. Patent URL: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=10,689,882.PN.&OS=PN/10,689,882RS=PN/10,689,882

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