Communications: electrical – Continuously variable indicating – With meter reading
Patent
1994-11-03
1997-06-03
Holloway, III, Edwin C.
Communications: electrical
Continuously variable indicating
With meter reading
34082554, 34082531, 340572, 340541, H04Q 900
Patent
active
056359179
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to bags, in particular to bags for the secure transportation of goods and, more particularly to bags wherein a visible and/or other indication is provided if any attempt is made to gain access to the contents of the bag. Various bags of this type are known, of which those described in our patent No. GB 2 149 381, our European patent application No. 0 396 428 and our British patent application No. 9008276.9 are examples.
Such bags are used by, for example, banking establishments for transmitting specified sums of money from one department to another or between the establishment and its customers. The system operated by the establishment is ordinarily such that the establishment can readily ascertain if the bag is stolen in transit. This system often involves marking each bag with an individual identification number, for example by printing. The number corresponding to each bag is recorded in a "log book". However, this system is both time consuming and also subject to errors in transcription and subsequent reading of the number recorded in the log book and on the bag.
These problems have been alleviated to some extent by encoding the identification number as a bar-code which is printed onto the bag and which can be read into a computer which can print the number, for the purposes of the "log book". However, the bar code is subject to degradation by scratching, scuffing, stretching or marking of the bag in use and may become unreadable. Also, it is usually necessary to manipulate each bag to ensure that it is arranged in the correct orientation for the bar code to be read, and this is still time-consuming.
The present invention seeks to provide a bag, in particular a security bag, wherein the identification number is provided in a manner which is substantially not subject to degradation in use, which can be read rapidly, with consistent accuracy and preferably irrespective of the orientation of the bag.
Accordingly, one aspect of the present invention provides a bag including a device, such as a memory device, encodable with information, which information is susceptible to remote reading using non-visual means.
According to a second aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of processing security bags which method includes the steps of: the information from the encodable device.
Thus, such information may include an identification number.
It is preferred that information can be read from the device, irrespective of the orientation of the bag.
In an embodiment, reading means are provided to be susceptible to remote reading and these are connected to the device via conducting means.
In a variation of this embodiment, the conducting means is arranged to break when an attempt is made to gain access to the bag. This may be achieved by having the means pass across a seal of the bag. The means may be weaker than the means used for sealing.
In a particularly preferred embodiment, the encodable device is an electronically readable tag. Thus, the tag may be read by a suitable remote decoder which can, for example, interrogate the tag by means of electromagnetic radiation and which can identify the tag by means of its encoded identification number. The decoder would supply all the signals necessary for accessing the tag and allow the information obtained to be read by a user. Any bag including such a tag can therefore be identified without the need for the bag to be handled.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the encodable device is further susceptible to remote encoding of information. Thus, details of the contents of the bag may be remotely encoded into the device.
The electronically readable tag of the present invention desirably comprises an electromagnetic or inductive coil in combination with a microchip which includes a suitable form of memory, preferably non-volatile, and, if necessary, memory addressing means. Suitable tags include those sold under the trade name MICROTAG by UKID Systems Ltd, Riverside Industrial Park, catterall, Preston, Lancashire. The
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Holloway III Edwin C.
Trigon Cambridge Limited
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