Monitoring transport of materials in containers

Abstract

A railcar asset management system proactively issues an alert or task when a pre-determined event occurs. The system may receive information regarding the location and status of a railcar from sensors on the railcar that may include a telematics sensing unit. A database in the railway telematics system stores the data regarding the railcar location and status information. The system determines whether an event has occurred and issues the proactive alerts and/or task. The system may communicate the proactive alert via e-mail, paging, PDAs or by cell phone and may provide interactive preconfigured web pages.

1 . (canceled) 
     
     
         2 . A method of monitoring transport of materials in containers, the method comprising:
 receiving, from a sensor unit, data associated with a container;   based on the received data associated with the container, determining, by at least one computer processor, that the container is located at a customer site;   based on determining that the container is located at the customer site, detecting a time at which the customer unloads material from the container;   determining a price for the material at the detected time at which the customer unloads material from the container;   determining an amount of material unloaded from the container by the customer proximate the detected time; and   processing, by at least one computer processor, a transaction with the customer based on (i) the determined price for the material at the detected time at which the customer unloads material from the container, and (ii) the determined amount of material unloaded from the container by the customer proximate the detected time.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising:
 reviewing a business rule for a sale condition for the customer; and   generating a bill detailing the transaction for the customer in accordance with the business rule.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising:
 determining, based on the received data associated with the container, a location, load, status and identity of the container;   associating the identity of the container with one of a customer, a customer service representative, a bill of lading, a product and a facility, a business instruction and a proactive alert;   retrieving historical data of the location, load and time for a plurality of containers; and   displaying the retrieved data for at least two of a plurality of aggregations consisting of:
 an individual container, a historical location and time report or a historical load and time report; 
 a plurality of containers associated with a plant, an indication of the real-time location of each container inbound to the plant, at the plant and outbound from the plant; 
 a plurality of containers associated with a customer, an indication of the load of material in transit and categorized by the location and the estimated delivery time to the customer, the containers at the customer, the containers outbound from the customer, and the containers scheduled to load and loading; 
 a plurality of containers associated with a sales representative, an indication of the load of materials in transit, containers at customer locations, containers waiting for loading categorized by an estimated shipment time, loading time and estimated delivery time; 
 a plurality of containers associated with a bill of lading, an indication of the location, load, destination and an estimated time of arrival at the destination; and 
   a plurality of containers associated with a product, an indication of the location, load, destination and estimated time of arrival at the destination.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 2  further comprising:
 comparing received data with a set of stored business rules containing metric conditions for comparison with the data; 
 determining whether a metric condition is satisfied by the data for a container, and if so automatically displaying select data associated with the container in accordance with the business rule and an indication that the condition is satisfied. 
 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , further comprising issuing a proactive alert when the metric condition is satisfied. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising:
 evaluating the data to determine a heel amount of product remaining in the container;   determining that the heel amount of product remaining in the container violates a threshold condition; and   issuing a proactive alert based on determining that the heel amount of product remaining in the container violates the threshold condition.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising evaluating the data to determine whether the container has been contaminated by the customer, wherein evaluating the data to determine whether the container has been contaminated by the customer comprises determining that a weight of the container has increased while the customer unloads material from the container. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein generating a bill to the customer comprises issuing an alert to prepare and send a bill to the customer based on the price for the material at the detected time at which the customer unloads material from the container. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein generating a bill to the customer comprises implementing a control to automatically prepare and send a bill to the customer based on the price for the material at the detected time at which the customer unloads material from the container. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprising:
 determining that a previously issued alert was not resolved or acknowledged;   determining another responsible party to be notified; and   issuing an alert to the another responsible party.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising:
 detecting a repetitive pattern or a trend in the data related to environmental conditions near the containers, delays in unloading material from containers, or heel amounts of product remaining in containers; and   issuing a proactive alert related to the repetitive pattern or the trend.   
     
     
         13 . A system comprising:
 at least one sensor unit;   at least one processor; and   at least one computer-readable storage medium encoded with executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform operations comprising:
 receiving, from the at least one sensor unit, data associated with a container; 
 based on the received data associated with the container, determining, by at least one computer processor, that the container is located at a customer site; 
 based on determining that the container is located at the customer site, detecting a time at which the customer unloads material from the container; 
 determining a price for the material at the detected time at which the customer unloads material from the container; 
 determining an amount of material unloaded from the container by the customer and at the detected time; and 
 processing, by at least one computer processor, a payment transaction for the customer unloading material at the detected time based on (i) the determined price for the material at the detected time at which the customer unloads material from the container, and (ii) the determined amount of material unloaded from the container by the customer and at the detected time. 
   
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 reviewing a business rule for a sale condition for the customer; and   generating a bill detailing the transaction for the customer in accordance with the business rule.   
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 determining, based on the received data associated with the container, a location, load, status and identity of the container;   associating the identity of the container with one of a customer, a customer service representative, a bill of lading, a product and a facility, a business instruction and a proactive alert;   retrieving historical data of the location, load and time for a plurality of containers; and   displaying the retrieved data for at least two of a plurality of aggregations consisting of:
 an individual container, a historical location and time report or a historical load and time report; 
 a plurality of containers associated with a plant, an indication of the real-time location of each container inbound to the plant, at the plant and outbound from the plant; 
 a plurality of containers associated with a customer, an indication of the load of material in transit and categorized by the location and the estimated delivery time to the customer, the containers at the customer, the containers outbound from the customer, and the containers scheduled to load and loading; 
 a plurality of containers associated with a sales representative, an indication of the load of materials in transit, containers at customer locations, containers waiting for loading categorized by an estimated shipment time, loading time and estimated delivery time; 
 a plurality of containers associated with a bill of lading, an indication of the location, load, destination and an estimated time of arrival at the destination; and 
 a plurality of containers associated with a product, an indication of the location, load, destination and estimated time of arrival at the destination. 
   
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 comparing received data with a set of stored business rules containing metric conditions for comparison with the data;   determining whether a metric condition is satisfied by the data for a container, and if so automatically displaying select data associated with the container in accordance with the business rule and an indication that the condition is satisfied.   
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the operations further comprise issuing a proactive alert when the metric condition is satisfied. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 evaluating the data to determine a heel amount of product remaining in the container;   determining that the heel amount of product remaining in the container violates a threshold condition; and   issuing a proactive alert based on determining that the heel amount of product remaining in the container violates the threshold condition.   
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the operations further comprise evaluating the data to determine whether the container has been contaminated by the customer, wherein evaluating the data to determine whether the container has been contaminated by the customer comprises determining that a weight of the container has increased while the customer unloads material from the container. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein generating a bill to the customer comprises issuing an alert to prepare and send a bill to the customer based on the price for the material at the detected time at which the customer unloads material from the container. 
     
     
         21 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein generating a bill to the customer comprises implementing a control to automatically prepare and send a bill to the customer based on the price for the material at the detected time at which the customer unloads material from the container. 
     
     
         22 . The system of  claim 20 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 determining that a previously issued alert was not resolved or acknowledged;   determining another responsible party to be notified; and   issuing an alert to the another responsible party.   
     
     
         23 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 detecting a repetitive pattern or a trend in the data related to environmental conditions near the containers, delays in unloading material from containers, or heel amounts of product remaining in containers; and   issuing a proactive alert related to the repetitive pattern or the trend.   
     
     
         24 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein a location of the at least one sensor unit represents a geographical boundary, and determining that the container is located at a customer site comprises determining that the container has passed the geographical boundary represented by the at least one sensor unit. 
     
     
         25 . A computer storage medium encoded with a computer program, the program comprising instructions that when executed by one or more computers cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising:
 receiving, from a sensor unit, data associated with a container;   based on the received data associated with the container, determining, by at least one computer processor, that the container is located at a customer site;   based on determining that the container is located at the customer site, detecting a time at which the customer unloads material from the container;   determining a price for the material at the detected time at which the customer unloads material from the container;   determining an amount of material unloaded from the container by the customer proximate the detected time; and   processing, by at least one computer processor, a transaction with the customer based on (i) the determined price for the material at the detected time at which the customer unloads material from the container, and (ii) the determined amount of material unloaded from the container by the customer proximate the detected time.