U.S. patent application number 11/949226 was filed with the patent office on 2009-01-22 for method and system for monitoring forestry products.
This patent application is currently assigned to INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH INSTITUTE. Invention is credited to Ming-Hsiung Chang, Yi-Ping Huang, Jenn-Sheng Wu.
Application Number | 20090024493 11/949226 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 40265604 |
Filed Date | 2009-01-22 |
United States Patent
Application |
20090024493 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Huang; Yi-Ping ; et
al. |
January 22, 2009 |
METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR MONITORING FORESTRY PRODUCTS
Abstract
A method and system for monitoring forestry products are
provided in the present invention, wherein at least one active
communicating device is disposed on a forestry product, and reading
and transmitting devices are also disposed in specific locations
for building a monitoring and management mechanism to protect the
forestry products from stealing. By means the method and system of
the present invention, it is capable of providing real-time
monitoring information and collecting evidence of illegal actions
immediately so that the management staff can control the situation
and status of the forestry products, which is useful for improving
the efficiency of forestry management. Meanwhile, the present
invention may also help to find those lawless persons who steal and
fell illegally the forestry resources so as to ensure the safety of
working environment for forest managing staff and sustainable
management of forest and natural resources.
Inventors: |
Huang; Yi-Ping; (Taoyuan
County, TW) ; Wu; Jenn-Sheng; (Hsinchu City, TW)
; Chang; Ming-Hsiung; (Hsinchu City, TW) |
Correspondence
Address: |
WPAT, PC
7225 BEVERLY ST.
ANNANDALE
VA
22003
US
|
Assignee: |
INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH
INSTITUTE
Hsin-Chu
TW
|
Family ID: |
40265604 |
Appl. No.: |
11/949226 |
Filed: |
December 3, 2007 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
705/28 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06Q 10/087 20130101;
G06Q 50/28 20130101; G06Q 10/08 20130101; G06Q 50/02 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
705/28 |
International
Class: |
G06Q 10/00 20060101
G06Q010/00 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Jul 18, 2007 |
TW |
096126249 |
Claims
1. A method for monitoring forest products, comprising the steps
of: arranging at least an active communication device at a forest
product; making an evaluation to determine the status of the forest
product basing on signals emitted from the active communication
device; and performing a management process while the status of the
forest product is evaluated to be abnormal.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the active communication device
is an active radio frequency identification (RFID) tag.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the active communication device
further comprises: at least a sensor, for detecting status of the
forest product and thus generating a sensing signal accordingly,
and an active radio frequency identification (RFID) tag coupled to
the at least one sensor for enabling the same to receive the
sensing signal so as to issue a signal corresponding thereto.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the management process comprises
the steps of: issuing a RF signal to a management staff; directing
the management staff to verify and confirm the position where an
abnormality is originated basing on the received RF signal; and
directing the management staff to perform an intercept process.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the management process comprises
the steps of: issuing a RF signal to a control center; directing
the control center to verify and confirm the position where an
abnormality is originated basing on the received RF signal so as to
monitor the position of the forest product; and directing the
control center to inform management staffs to perform an intercept
process.
6. A method for monitoring forest products, comprising the steps
of: arranging at least an active communication device at a forest
product; enabling data registered in the at least one active
communication device to be accessible while the at least one active
communication device located proximate to at least a specific
location; and performing a data recording process while signal
emitted from the at least one active communication device is
accessed at the at least one specific location.
7. The method of claim 6, wherein the active communication device
is an active radio frequency identification (RFID) tag.
8. The method of claim 6, wherein the active communication device
further comprises: at least a sensor, for detecting status of the
forest product and thus generating a sensing signal accordingly,
and an active radio frequency identification (RFID) tag coupled to
the at least one sensor for enabling the same to receive the
sensing signal so as to issue a signal corresponding thereto.
9. The method of claim 6, wherein the data recording process
further comprises the steps of: capturing an image; and
transmitting the captured image along with data accessed from the
active communication device to a control center where they are
stored.
10. The method of claim 9, wherein the data recording process
further comprises the steps of: directing the control center to
verify and confirm the position of the forest product basing on the
signal received by the control center; and directing the control
center to inform management staffs to perform an intercept
process.
11. The method of claim 6, wherein the data recording process
further comprises the steps of: capturing an image; performing an
identification process upon the captured image to obtain an
identification data; and transmitting the captured image and the
identification data along with data accessed from the active
communication device to a control center where they are stored.
12. The method of claim 11, wherein the data recording process
further comprises the steps of: directing the control center to
verify and confirm the position of the forest product basing on the
signal received by the control center; and directing the control
center to inform management staffs to perform an intercept
process.
13. A system for monitoring forest products, comprising: at least
an active communication device, being arranged at a forest product
for detecting and registering data relating to the status of the
forest product and thus emitting a signal in associate with the
detected status of the forest product; and at least an access
device, each being disposed at a specific location; wherein each of
the at least one access device is able to access the signal emitted
from the at least one active communication device while the at
least one active communication device is within a detection range
of the referring access device and thus is enabled to issue a data
signal accordingly.
14. The system of claim 13, wherein the active communication device
is an active radio frequency identification (RFID) tag.
15. The system of claim 13, wherein the active communication device
further comprises: at least a sensor, for detecting status of the
forest product and thus generating a sensing signal accordingly,
and an active radio frequency identification (RFID) tag coupled to
the at least one sensor for enabling the same to receive the
sensing signal so as to issue a signal corresponding thereto.
16. The system of claim 13, further comprising: a portable
communication apparatus, for receiving the data signal.
17. The system of claim 13, further comprising: an electronic
calculation unit, for receiving the data signal while connecting to
a storage database.
18. The system of claim 13, wherein the access device further
comprises: a control unit, for receiving a control signal emitted
from the access device; and an imaging unit, coupled to the control
unit for receiving signals from the control unit so as to captured
at least an image accordingly.
19. The system of claim 13, wherein the control unit further
comprises: an image analyzing unit, for receiving the at least one
captured image so as to perform an analysis/identification process
thereon; and a telecommunication unit, capable of communicating
with a portable communication apparatus.
20. A system for monitoring forest products, comprising: at least
an active communication device, being arranged at a forest product,
further comprising: at least a sensor, for detecting status of the
forest product and thus generating a sensing signal accordingly;
and an active radio frequency identification (RFID) tag, coupled to
the at least one sensor for enabling the same to register data
relating to the status of the forest product and to receive the
sensing signal so as to issue a signal corresponding thereto; at
least an access device, each being disposed at a specific location
for accessing the signal emitted from the at least one active
communication device while the at least one active communication
device is within a detection range of the referring access device
and thus being enabled to issue a data signal accordingly; and at
least a portable communication apparatus, for receiving the data
signal.
21. The system of claim 20, further comprising: an electronic
calculation unit, for receiving the data signal while connecting to
a storage database.
22. The system of claim 20, wherein the access device further
comprises: a control unit, for receiving a control signal emitted
from the access device; and an imaging unit, coupled to the control
unit for receiving signals from the control unit so as to captured
at least an image accordingly.
23. The system of claim 22, wherein the control unit further
comprises: an image analyzing unit, for receiving the at least one
captured image so as to perform an analysis/identification process
thereon; and a telecommunication unit, capable of communicating
with a portable communication apparatus.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The present invention relates to a method and system for
monitoring forest products, and more particularly, to a forest
monitoring method and system for protecting forest resources form
being unlawfully exhausted by lawless persons.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] Comparing with worldwide average of 30 percent, Taiwan's
current forest coverage is 58.8 percent that Taiwan is a country
with rich forest resources. Forest is considered to be the most
massive, complicated, versatile, functional and beneficial
ecosystem on Earth that a healthy forest can be the most important
stable factor for any biosphere in water catchment area protection,
soil erosion protection, environmental filtration/beautification,
regional climate control and natural disaster reduction, and so
on.
[0003] In the forests growing in the Taiwan's mountain areas, there
are many indigenous tree species of high economic value, such as
juniper, fir and teak. As most of the forests in Taiwan is owned
and managed by the government and as those precious trees are
spreading within Taiwan's vast mountain reserve, forest management
performed only by personnel of Taiwan Forest Bureau can be a very
difficult task and thus illegal logging are often heard.
[0004] Except for illegal logging, with the rapid progress in
biotechnology, many scarce indigenous forest resources such as
antrodia camphorata and glossy ganoderma that are raw materials for
modern medication are also in danger of being exhausted by some
illegal means. For instance, those lawless person can cut down a
precious hundred-year-old cinnamomum kanehirai hay just for
harvesting the antrodia camphorata growing thereon. Such behavior
not only will damage the forest's ecosystem, but also will
eventually exhausting all the forest resources along with the
forest itself.
[0005] Current forest management methods adopted in Taiwan Forest
Bureau for preventing illegal logging and harvesting forest
resources rely on the management staff to work in shift, 24 hours a
day, 7 days a week, and to ambush at the site of illegal
logging/harvesting while setting up inspecting posts to intercept
the trafficking of illegal goods. However, such method not only may
consume and waste many manpower and money, but also it still can
neither provide instant protection against those illegal acts, nor
can it provides sufficient evidences to nail those lawless
persons.
[0006] There are already some techniques for improving such
disadvantages. One such technique is a forestry management system
disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,100,817. The aforesaid system involves
a forestry management process that comprises inserting at least one
passive radio frequency identification (RFID) tag, e.g. one at the
tree trump and one at the root, that has a frequency capable of
being read by a scanner into a tree, then scanning the tag. Tags
that are inserted into trees may be scanned and associated with
specific information concerning the owner, the tree, the area or
other aspects of forestry, land and environmental management. In
addition, the scanner may be hand-held, or mounted on a car, or
fixed stationed at a specific location, and it may also be linked
to a GPS system.
[0007] Another such technique is a method for tracking
silvicultural information disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,888,458,
which use at least one RFID tag, being disposed proximate to a
tree, for tracking silvicultural information during the product
cycle of the tree, such as those information can be used to promote
efficient tree cultivation, e.g. cultivation, location, hardness,
harvesting, processing, and/or properties of the tree, and
providing this information to a computer to be stored.
[0008] Although all the aforesaid prior-arts involving the
inserting of at least one RFID tag into a tree, they all are only
capable of obtaining silvicultural information of the tree in a
passive manner. That is, the information obtained by the aforesaid
techniques can only be known while being assessed and they are not
able to actively inform the management staff if there is any
abnormality for enabling the management staff to aware the
abnormality in real time.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0009] The object of the present invention is to provide a method
and system for monitoring forest products, by which not only the
status of a forest product can be sensed and registered by the use
of at least an active communication device, but also the active
communication device is enabled to actively issue signals for
informing any relating management personnel and thus enabling the
status of the forest product to be known at any time, thereby
manpower and resource for managing forest products can be
reduced.
[0010] Another object of the invention is to provide a method and
system for monitoring forest products, capable of imaging and
identifying any suspected carrier used for transporting illegal
forest products, by which not only a process of evidence collection
can be performed at any time against illegal acts with high
validity, but also the system is able to inform relating authority
of such illegal act actively.
[0011] One another object of the invention is to provide a method
and system for monitoring forest products, capable of issuing an
abnormal signal as soon as an abnormality is detected by the system
to a management staff with portable communication apparatus by the
use of a radio frequency transmission unit for informing the
management staff of such abnormality and thus enabling the
management staff to aware of the status of forest products at any
time.
[0012] In an exemplary embodiment of the invention, the method for
monitoring forest products comprises the steps of: arranging at
least an active communication device at a forest product; making an
evaluation to determine the status of the forest product basing on
signals emitted from the active communication device; and
performing a management process while the status of the forest
product is evaluated to be abnormal.
[0013] In another exemplary embodiment of the invention, the method
for monitoring forest products comprises the steps of: arranging at
least an active communication device at a forest product; enabling
data registered in the at least one active communication device to
be accessible while the at least one active communication device
located proximate to at least a specific location; and performing a
data recording process while signal emitted from the at least one
active communication device is accessed at the at least one
specific location.
[0014] In one exemplary embodiment of the invention, the system for
monitoring forest products comprises: at least an active
communication device, being arranged at a forest product for
detecting and registering data relating to the status of the forest
product and thus emitting a signal in associate with the detected
status of the forest product; and at least an access device, each
being disposed at a specific location; wherein each of the at least
one access device is able to access the signal emitted from the at
least one active communication device while the at least one active
communication device is within a detection range of the referring
access device and thus is enabled to issue a data signal
accordingly.
[0015] In another exemplary embodiment of the invention, the system
for monitoring forest products comprises: at least an active
communication device, each being arranged at a forest product and
is further comprised of: at least a sensor for detecting status of
the forest product and thus generating a sensing signal
accordingly, and an active radio frequency identification (RFID)
tag coupled to the at least one sensor for enabling the same to
register data relating to the status of the forest product and to
receive the sensing signal so as to issue a signal corresponding
thereto; at least an access device, each being disposed at a
specific location for accessing the signal emitted from the at
least one active communication device while the at least one active
communication device is within a detection range of the referring
access device and thus being enabled to issue a data signal
accordingly; and at least a portable communication apparatus for
receiving the data signal.
[0016] Further scope of applicability of the present application
will become more apparent from the detailed description given
hereinafter. However, it should be understood that the detailed
description and specific examples, while indicating preferred
embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration
only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and
scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the
art from this detailed description.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0017] The present invention will become more fully understood from
the detailed description given herein below and the accompanying
drawings which are given by way of illustration only, and thus are
not limitative of the present invention and wherein:
[0018] FIG. 1 is a flow chart depicting steps of a method for
monitoring forest products according to an exemplary embodiment of
the invention.
[0019] FIG. 2A to FIG. 2C are schematic diagrams showing
exemplified forest products.
[0020] FIG. 3A is a flow chart depicting steps of a management
process being performed in a method for monitoring forest products
of the invention.
[0021] FIG. 3B is a flow chart depicting steps of another
management process being performed in a method for monitoring
forest products of the invention.
[0022] FIG. 4A is a schematic diagram showing a system for
monitoring forest products according to a first exemplary
embodiment of the invention.
[0023] FIG. 4B is a schematic diagram showing a system for
monitoring forest products according to a second exemplary
embodiment of the invention.
[0024] FIG. 5A is a block diagram showing an active communication
device according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention.
[0025] FIG. 5B is a block diagram showing an access device
according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention.
[0026] FIG. 6 is a flow chart depicting steps of a method for
monitoring forest products according to another exemplary
embodiment of the invention.
[0027] FIG. 7A is a flow chart depicting steps of a data recording
process being performed in a method for monitoring forest products
of the invention.
[0028] FIG. 7B is a flow chart depicting steps of another data
recording process being performed in a method for monitoring forest
products of the invention.
[0029] FIG. 8A to FIG. 8C are schematic diagrams showing the
application of a system for monitoring forest products according to
an embodiment of the invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS
[0030] For your esteemed members of reviewing committee to further
understand and recognize the fulfilled functions and structural
characteristics of the invention, several exemplary embodiments
cooperating with detailed description are presented as the
follows.
[0031] Please refer to FIG. 1, which is a flow chart depicting
steps of a method for monitoring forest products according to an
exemplary embodiment of the invention. The flow starts from step
20. At step 20, at least an active communication device is arranged
at a forest product, and then the flow proceeds to step 21. As
shown in FIG. 2A to FIG. 2C, the referring forest product can be
tree roots, logs or timbers, and so on., in which the forest
product 90 shown in FIG. 2A is the root of a dead log, the forest
product 91 shown in FIG. 2B is a dead log that is fell down either
by natural force or by man, and the forest products 92 shown in
FIG. 2C are timbers. It is noted that, except for woods, there are
other kinds of forest products, such as medicinal herbs including
antrodia camphorata, glossy ganoderma, etc., but are not limited
thereby. Moreover, the active communication device can be inserted
into the body of the forest product, however, the method for
arranging the active communication device at the forest product is
not limited thereby.
[0032] At step 21, an evaluation is made for determining the status
of the forest product basing on signals emitted from the active
communication device, and then the flow proceeds to step 22. It is
noted that the active communication device used in this invention
not only can register information relating to the properties of the
forest product such as age, size, hardness, etc., but also it can
detect environmental status surrounding the forest product and
status variation caused by external forces, such as vibration,
velocity/acceleration, temperature, moisture, and so on. Moreover,
as the active communication device is designed to issue signals in
an active manner, it will emit an abnormal signal. Therefore, when
the evaluation performed in step 21 determines that there is an
abnormality, the step 22 is initiated to perform a management
process.
[0033] Please refer to FIG. 3A, which is a flow chart depicting
steps of a management process being performed in a method for
monitoring forest products of the invention. In the management
process shown in FIG. 3A, the flow starts at step 220a. At step
220a, when an abnormality is detected, a RF signal is send to a
management staff carrying a portable communication apparatus so
that the RF signal is received and analyzed by the portable
communication apparatus so as to issue an alarming signal to aware
the management staff, and then the flow proceeds to step 221a. At
step 221a, the management staff will verify and confirm the
position where an abnormality is originated basing on the received
RF signal, and then the flow proceeds to step 222a. At step 222a,
an intercept process is performed. It is noted the intercept
process can be perform the management staff if the manage staff is
a police officer with law-enforcing ability, otherwise, if the
management staff is a Forest Bureau officer, such Forest Bureau
officer can use the portable communication apparatus to inform
relating law-enforcing personnel to perform the intercept process
for arresting lawless persons harvesting/trafficking illegal forest
products.
[0034] Please refer to FIG. 3B, which is a flow chart depicting
steps of another management process being performed in a method for
monitoring forest products of the invention. In the management
process shown in FIG. 3B, the flow starts at step 220b. At step
220b, when an abnormality is detected, a RF signal is send to a
control center, and then the flow proceeds to step 221b. In this
exemplary embodiment, the control center is used for personnel
dispatch and management that it has at least an electronic
calculation unit while each electronic calculation unit can be a
workstation or server computer, capable of being used as central
computer. In addition, the control center is further linked with a
storage database for storing the received RF signals along with the
results analyzed and obtained from those RF signals. At step 221b,
the control center will verify and confirm the position where an
abnormality is originated basing on the received RF signal so as to
monitor the position of the forest product, and then the flow
proceeds to step 222b. At step 222b, when an abnormality is
detected by the control center, the control center will inform
management staff to perform an intercept process. It is noted the
intercept process is performed in a manner similar to those
described in FIG. 3A and thus is not described further herein.
[0035] Please refer to FIG. 4, which is a schematic diagram showing
a system for monitoring forest products according to a second
exemplary embodiment of the invention. In this exemplary
embodiment, the system 3 comprises at least an active communication
device 30 and at least an access device 31. The at least one active
communication device 30 is fitted on a forest product and is used
for detecting and registering data relating to the status of the
forest product and thus emitting a signal in associate with the
detected status of the forest product. It is noted that the active
communication device 30 can be an active radio frequency
identification (RFID) tag or a device shown in FIG. 5A.
[0036] In FIG. 5A, the active communication device 30 is composed
of an active radio frequency identification (RFID) tag 300 and at
least a sensor 301 for detecting status of the forest product and
thus generating a sensing signal accordingly. Each sensor can be a
vibration sensor, a moisture sensor, a temperature sensor or an
acceleration/velocity sensor, and so on, but is not limited
thereby. In addition, the RFID tag 300 can be integrated with the
at least one sensor 301 as a module.
[0037] In addition, each of the at least one access device 31 in
FIG. 4A is disposed respectively at a specific location for
enabling the same to access the signal emitted from the at least
one active communication device 30 while the at least one active
communication device 30 is within a detection range of the
referring access device and thus to issue a data signal
accordingly. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 4A, only one access
device 31 is shown, however, the amount of the access device 31 is
not limited thereby, but is dependent upon actual requirement. It
is noted that the access device 31 can transmit signal either in a
wired manner or in a wireless manner that are known to those
skilled in the art and thus are not described further herein.
Moreover, the specific location chosen for disposing the access
device 31 can be any covert location proximate to the forest
product, or positions located on the trafficking path of lawless
persons, or in inspection posts. In an exemplary access device 31
shown in FIG. 5B, it is composed of a RFID reader 310, a RF
transmission unit 311 and a control unit 312. The RFID reader 310
is used for scanning and reading signals emitted from the active
communication device. The control unit 312 is used for evaluating
the signal received by the RFID reader 310 for determining whether
there is an abnormality; if so, the control unit 312 will direct
the RF transmission unit 311 to issue a signal for informing a
management staff 33 with a portable communication apparatus 32, or
a patrol car 34 with communication device, as shown in FIG. 4A. It
is noted that the portable communication apparatus 32 can be a PDA,
a cellular phone, or a notebook computer and the like, and the RF
transmission unit 311 can be a GSM unit or a GPRS unit, but is not
limited thereby.
[0038] In normal circumstance, the forest products 91, 92 as those
shown in FIG. 4A are motionless so that the active communication
devices 30 fitted thereon will issue signals to be determined as
normal. However, if they are steal by lawless persons and thus
moved, the sensors configured in the active communication devices
30 will detected the vibration or acceleration caused by the moving
of the forest products 91, 92 and thus induce the active
communication devices 30 to issue signals corresponding to the
motions. As soon as such signals are scanned by the access device
31, it will transmit the received signal to the portable
communication apparatus 32 used by a management staff 33, and
thereby, the management staff will perform a corresponding
management process as those described in FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B, such
as informing police with law-enforcing ability to intercept the
lawless persons.
[0039] In addition, if the active communication device 30 is only
an active RFID tag and is not configured with sensors, such active
RFID tag can be defined to issue signals in a periodic manner so
that an access device 31 receiving the signal can compare this
signal with those previous signals, and if a mismatch is detected,
the access device 31 will also issue a signal to alert the
management staff 33. Please refer to FIG. 4B, which is a schematic
diagram showing a system for monitoring forest products according
to a second exemplary embodiment of the invention. In this
exemplary embodiment, a control center 36 is added in the system,
which has at least an electronic calculation unit 360 capable of
being used as central computer for receiving and analyzing signals
from the access device 31. In addition, the electronic calculation
unit 360 is further linked with a storage database for data
storage. The system shown in FIG. 4B is adopted for applying the
forest minitoring method of FIG. 3B. It is noted that the
management staff of FIG. 4A and the control center of FIG. 4B can
exist in one forest minitoring system simultaneously, which is not
to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the
invention.
[0040] Please refer to FIG. 6, which is a flow chart depicting
steps of a method for monitoring forest products according to
another exemplary embodiment of the invention. The flow starts at
step 40. At step 40, at least an active communication device is
arranged at a forest product in a manner that is similar to those
described in the step 20 of FIG. 1 and thus is not described
further herein, and then the flow proceeds to step 41. At step 41,
data registered in the at least one active communication device are
enabled to be accessible while the at least one active
communication device located proximate to at least a specific
location, and then the flow proceeds to step 42. The characteristic
of this embodiment is that: the specific location chosen for
disposing the access device 31 can be any covert location proximate
to the forest product, or positions located on the trafficking path
of lawless persons, or in inspection posts. At step 42, a data
recording process is performed while signal emitted from the at
least one active communication device is accessed at the at least
one specific location.
[0041] Please refer to FIG. 7A, which is a flow chart depicting
steps of a data recording process being performed in a method for
monitoring forest products of the invention. The data recording
process of FIG. 7A starts at step 420a. At step 420a, when there is
a signal detected in the step 42 of FIG. 6, an image capturing
process is performed, in that the captured image includes license
plate image and images of lawless persons, etc., and then the flow
proceeds to step 421a. At step 421a, the captured image and the
data accessed from the active communication device are transmitted
to a control center where they are stored. In addition, referring
to FIG. 7B, which is a flow chart depicting steps of another data
recording process being performed in a method for monitoring forest
products of the invention. The data recording process of FIG. 7B
starts at step 420a, in which the image capturing is performed
similar to that described in the step 420a, and thus is not
described further herein.
[0042] At step 421b of FIG. 7B, an identification process is
performed upon the captured image to obtain an identification data
including license plate number identification, type of the
automobile, color of the automobile, traveling direction, features
of the lawless persons, and so on, but are not limited thereby, and
then the flow proceeds to step 422b. At step 422b, the captured
image, the identification data and the data accessed from the
active communication device are transmitted to a control center
where they are stored. After the data recording process is
accomplished, the step 43 of FIG. 6 is proceeds. At step 43, a
control center is used to verify and confirm the position where an
abnormality is originated basing on the received data so as to
monitor the position of the forest product, and then the flow
proceeds to step 44. At step 44, the control center informs
management staffs to perform an intercept process, which is
performed similar to those described in FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B, and
thus are not described further herein.
[0043] Please refer to FIG. 8A to FIG. 8C, which are schematic
diagrams showing the application of a system for monitoring forest
products according to an embodiment of the invention. The forest
minitoring system 3 comprises: at least an active communication
device 31, at least an access device 31 and at least a portable
communication apparatus 32. The active communication devices 30
shown in FIG. 5 are disposed respectively on the forest products
91, 92, and each of which is composed of: at least a sensor 301 for
detecting status of the forest product and thus generating a
sensing signal accordingly, and an active radio frequency
identification (RFID) tag 300, coupled to the at least one sensor
301 for enabling the same to register data relating to the statuses
of the forest products 91, 92 and to receive the sensing signal so
as to issue a signal corresponding thereto. It is noted that the
structure and function of the active communication device 30 are
the same as that described above and thus are not described further
herein.
[0044] In addition, each of the at least one access device 37 in
FIG. 8A.about.8C is disposed respectively at a specific location
for enabling the same to access the signal emitted from the at
least one active communication device 30 while the at least one
active communication device 30 is within a detection range of the
referring access device 37 and thus to issue a data signal
accordingly. It is noted that the access device 37 can transmit
signal either in a wired manner or in a wireless manner that are
known to those skilled in the art and thus are not described
further herein. Please refer to FIG. 8B, which shows several
locations capable of being chosen for disposing the access devices.
In FIG. 8B, the specific locations 94, 95, and 96 chosen for
disposing the access devices 37 can be any covert location
proximate to the forest product, or positions located on the
trafficking path 97 of lawless persons, or in inspection posts
98.
[0045] In FIG. 8C, the access devices 37 comprises a RFID reader
373, a control unit 374, and an imaging unit 375. When a carrier 93
loaded with stolen logs by lawless person travels passing the
aforesaid specific locations 93, 94 and 95, the access device 37
will detect signal emitted from the active communication devices 30
fitted on the stolen logs that the access device 37 will then
transmitted data accessed from the active communication devices 30
to the control unit 374. In this exemplary embodiment, the control
unit 374 is a micro process unit or an electronic device with micro
processing ability such as computer, workstation or server, etc.
Thereafter, when those data are received by the control unit 374,
the control unit 374 will issue signal for directing the imaging
unit 375 to capture an image of surrounding environment and then
transmit the captured image to the control unit 374.
[0046] After the captured image is received by the control unit
374, not only the image can be stored, but also it is analyzed and
identified by an image analyzing unit 3740 configured inside the
control unit 374. It is noted that the identification result of the
image analyzing unit can also be stored. In addition, the control
unit 374 can utilize a telecommunication unit 3741, being a GSM
device or a GPRS device and the like, to communicate with a
management staff 33, a patrol car 34, or a police whoever holding a
portable communication apparatus 32, so that the lawless persons
can be intercepted and arrested. The information being sent to the
portable communication apparatus 32 includes the time when the
image was taken, the color of the carrier 93, the license plate
number of the carrier 93, the traveling direction, etc., but are
not limited thereby. Moreover, the control unit 374 is able to send
the captured image, the identification result along with the data
accessed by the access device to the control center 36 in a wired
manner or in a wireless manner. It is noted that the control center
36 has at least an electronic calculation unit that can be used for
directing the aforesaid data to be stored in a storage database.
Those data stored on the storage database can be used as evidence
for charging or ticketing those lawless persons.
[0047] The invention being thus described, it will be obvious that
the same may be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be
regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention,
and all such modifications as would be obvious to one skilled in
the art are intended to be included within the scope of the
following claims.
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