Claims:1. A portable safety apparatus (200) for securing a movable object (108) and its associated items comprising:
a housing (202);
an embedded system board (206) fixed in the housing (202), wherein the embedded system board (206) comprising:
one or more communication modules, wherein the one or more communication modules is a first communication module (206-1) and a second communication module (206-2), and wherein the one or more communication modules communicate information related to each item contained in the movable object (108);
an embedded controller module (206-4) comprising associated embedded firmware component, the embedded controller module (206-4) being communicatively connected to the one or more communication modules; and
a locking/unlocking unit (204) operating a locking mechanism based on one of a first command, a second command, and a third command received by the embedded controller module (206-4) from the one or more communication modules; and
a power supply module (210) connected to the embedded system board (206).
2. The portable safety apparatus (200) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first communication module (206-1) includes a first set of associated embedded firmware components and the second communication module (206-2) includes a second set of associated embedded firmware components.
3. The portable safety apparatus (200) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the embedded system board (206) further comprises a third communication module (206-3) to receive an input from a user of the apparatus (200), wherein the third communication module (206-3) is independent of the first and second communication module (206-1, 206-2) and is communicatively connected to the embedded controller module (206-4).
4. The portable safety apparatus (200) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first communication module (206-1) and its first set of associated embedded firmware components communicates an identification information of each of the items associated with the movable object (108) to an external controller (102).
5. The portable safety apparatus (200) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the second communication module (206-2) and its second set of associated embedded firmware components are configured to receive and transmit the identification information related to each of the items, from and to the external controller (102).
6. The portable safety apparatus (200) as claimed in claim 4, wherein the first set of associated embedded firmware components includes an RFID reader chipset (207-1).
7. The portable safety apparatus (200) as claimed in claim 5, wherein the second set of associated embedded firmware component includes a Bluetooth chipset (207-2).
8. The portable safety apparatus (200) as claimed in claim 3, wherein the third communication module (206-3) includes a third set of associated embedded firmware components, and wherein the third set of associated embedded firmware components is finger print scanner chipsets (207-3).
9. The portable safety apparatus (200) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the embedded controller module (206-4) comprises a memory unit for storing information and status of each of the items of the movable object (108).
10. The portable safety apparatus (200) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the housing (202) further comprises an alert status lamp provided in the apparatus (200) to locally indicate that at least one of the items is not in communication with the apparatus (200).
11. The portable safety apparatus (200) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the embedded system board (206) further comprises a position detection module and its associated embedded firmware component, wherein the position detection module is one of a GPS module and a GSM module.
12. The portable safety apparatus (200) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first communication module (206-1) is one of an RFID module (Radio Frequency Identification Module) and an NFC module (Near Field Communication Module).
13. The portable safety apparatus (200) as claimed in claim 12, wherein the RFID modules may include an RFID antenna (208) to transmit and receive information related to one or more items in the movable object (108), wherein the RFID module further includes an integrated circuit for collecting and processing the information relating to the one or more items.
14. The portable safety apparatus (200) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first communication module is to read a unique identifier of each item associated with the movable object (108), wherein the unique identifier is an RFID tag.
15. The portable safety apparatus (200) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the second communication module (206-2) and its second set of associated embedded firmware components includes a wireless MCU (Master Control Unit) operable with a wireless communication protocol selected from Bluetooth Smart, Zigbee, 6LoWPAN, Zigbee RF4CE, and their like.
16. The portable safety apparatus (200) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first command is received from the first communication module (206-1) through a first communication protocol (201-1), wherein the second command is received from the second communication module (206-2) through a second communication protocol (201-2), and wherein the third command is received from the third communication module (206-3) through a third communication protocol (201-3).
17. The portable safety apparatus (200) as claimed in claim 16, wherein the third command overrides the first command and the second command.
18. The portable safety apparatus (200) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the embedded system board (206) optionally comprises a fourth communication module as a Wi-Fi module and its associated embedded firmware component.
19. The portable safety apparatus (200) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the embedded controller module (206-4) and its set of associated embedded firmware component are ultra low power microcontrollers or microprocessors.
20. The portable safety apparatus (200) as claimed in claim 9, wherein the memory unit further stores a status of the locking/unlocking unit (204).
21. The portable safety apparatus (200) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first command is based on a dedicated identifier identified by the first communication module (206-1), wherein the dedicated identifier is an RFID Master Key.
22. The portable safety apparatus (200) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the locking/unlocking unit (204) comprises a motor lock (308), wherein the motor lock (308) is activated by the embedded controller module (206-4) by communicating a trigger signal (201-4) to perform a lock or an unlock operation, wherein the trigger signal (201-4) is initiated based on one of the first communication module (206-1), the second communication module (206-2), and the third communication module (206-3) .
23. The portable safety apparatus (200) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the embedded controller module (206-4) communicates a status signal (201-5) in response to the trigger signal (201-4) to activate a local status lamp, wherein the local status lamp is indicative of one of a lock operation or an unlock operation
24. The portable safety apparatus (200) as claimed in claim 22, wherein the motor lock (308) comprises a micro switch, wherein an on/off status of the micro switch is communicated as a status signal (201-5) to the embedded controller module (206-4) in response to the trigger signal (201-4).
25. The portable safety apparatus (200) as claimed in claim 16, wherein the second and third communication protocols (201-2, 201-3) are Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter (UART), and wherein the first communication protocol (201-1) is a Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) Bus.
26. The portable safety apparatus (200) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the embedded controller module (206-4) further comprises dedicated pins for connecting to a motor of the locking/unlocking unit (204) to lock and unlock the movable object (108) containing the one or more items to be secured, wherein the dedicated pins are exited for a predetermined period ranging from about 800 to about 1200 milliseconds.
27. The portable safety apparatus (200) as claimed in claim 14, wherein the unique identifier comprises one of a passive tag and an active tag or both.
28. A system (100) for securing a movable object (108) and its associated items, wherein the movable object (108) comprises:
a plurality of associated items, wherein each of the items includes a unique identifier;
an apparatus (200) to receive and transmit identification and status information from each of the items associated with the movable object (108); wherein the apparatus is configured to lock and unlock the movable object (108) based on one or more control commands; and
an external controller (102) comprising a processor and a dedicated application (104) to process the identification and status information and to generate the one more control commands based on the processed information from and to the movable object (108).
29. A method for securing a movable object (108) and its associated items, comprising:
establishing a connection between an external controller (102) and a portable safety apparatus (200);
detecting, by the portable safety apparatus (200), one or more items and their unique identifiers associated with the movable object (108); and
locking and unlocking the movable object (108) by a locking mechanism based on one or more control commands.
30. The method as claimed in claim 29, wherein establishing a connection between the external controller (102) and the portable safety apparatus (200), comprises:
establishing a communication link with the external controller (102) by one or more communication protocols;
sending a first identity of an embedded controller module (206-4) in the portable safety apparatus (200) to the external controller (102);
receiving a second identity of the external controller (102) from the external controller (102) by the embedded controller module (206-4); and
configuring the portable safety apparatus (200) based on an authentication of the first and second identity information.
31. The method as claimed in claim 29, wherein detecting the one or more items and their unique identifiers associated with movable objects (108), comprising:
receiving a RUN command form the external controller (102);
activating an RFID detector based on the RUN command to detect one or more items and their unique identifiers;
determining whether the unique identifier detected is a Master RFID wherein when the detected unique identifier is the Master RFID, performing one of the lock and unlock operation;
wherein when the detected unique identifier is not the Master RFID,
determining whether the unique identifier matches the configured data stored in the portable safety apparatus (200), in the affirmative then, toggling the item detected to an IDENTIFIED list if already in the MISSING listing and toggling the item detected to the MISSING list if already in the IDENTIFIED list; and
communicating the IDENTIFIED and MISSING list to the external controller (102) when a change is detected in the MISSING or IDENTIFIED list.
32. The method as claimed in claim 29, locking and unlocking the movable object (108) by a locking mechanism based on one or more control commands, comprising:
receiving one of a first command, a second command and a third command to perform one of a lock and an unlock operations;
toggling a lock/unlock register based on one of the first command, second command and third command;
wherein when the register is toggled for a lock operation,
locking the movable object (108) by driving a motor lock (308) of the locking/unlocking unit (204) in a clockwise direction; and
wherein, when the register is toggled for an unlock operation,
unlocking the movable object (108) by driving the motor lock (308) of the locking/unlocking unit (204) in an anti-clockwise direction;
communicating a current status of the lock/unlock register to the external controller (102);
33. The method as claimed in claim 32, wherein driving the motor lock (308) comprises actuating a motor lock cam (504) either in a forward or reverse direction.
34. The method as claimed in claim 32, further comprises:
activating a local status lamp based on the current status of the lock/unlock register
35. A movable object (108) for securing one or more items, the movable object (108) comprising a portable safety apparatus (200) as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 27.
, Description:As Attached