Title of Invention

A DEVICE FOR PREVENTION OF PILFERAGE

Abstract

The present invention pertains to a device for prevention of pilferage and subsequent adulteration of products, such as expensive petrol or diesel from the trucks during transportation from oil loading terminal to the retail outlet or from underground tanks at the gas station (retail outlet). Also, it prevents replenishment of the pilfered expensive quantity of fuel by cheap adulterants such as kerosene or naptha. The invented equipment is a tamper-proof device with simple operating procedure for preventing pilferage and adulteration of petrol or diesel.

Full Text

FIELD OF INVENTION '■~ > , ■— r i— I I -II 1 —I - I -III This invention relates to a device for prevention of pilferage of products from a loading terminal to a retail outlet. PRIOR ART At present, to avoid pilferage during transportation of petrol or diesel from the oil loading terminal to the retail outlet in truck tankers, ordinary pad locks with key or one time use (break-off to open type) throw-away type plastic ties or 3 dimensional locks are used to lock both inlet and outlet of a compartment of an oil truck tanker. These could be easily manipulated by many fraudulent methods. Duplicate keys can easily be made for both pad locks or for 3 dimensional locks. Duplicate plastic ties could also be easily. Manufactured and used. For underground tanks at the retail outlets, similar devices as above are used to prevent pilferage. They use pad locks on the inlet valve to the underground tank or use a plastic tie (break-off to open type). These are no fool-proof methods to prevent pilferage. However, for taking the measurement to check whether pilferage has taken place only after the act has been committed, many methods are employed. These include: a) Use of Dip Rod for reading the level; b) Electronic tank Gauging equipment; c) Off-line chemical tests for detecting whether any adulterant has been added. Details of above methods are given here under: a) Dip Rod method: The product received in a truck tanker or a wagon is decanted (unloaded) into the underground (UGT) or above ground tank. Using a graduated or calibrated dip rod (gauge stick), the liquid levels in a tank are noted at the beginning and closing hours of business and at the time new quantity is decanted into the tank and the difference is tallied with sales figures. This method suffered from many lacunae, the foremost being inadvertent errors as well as willful manipulation of dip rod for illegal gains. The recorded level can be maintained at the same level by adding adulterants by taking out the expensive product from the tank or by effecting illegal sales, b) Electronic Tank Gauges: Then came the electronic tank gauges, which measured the liquid level and computed the volume in a tank based on the geometry and the shape of the tanks stored in its electronic memory. Therefore, only detection of adulteration and pilferage are possible. But, use of such equipment for measurement of levels of petroleum products specially demands absolute safety against explosion, as electrical power is employed for operating the same and the system is very expensive. c) Off-line chemical tests for detecting adulteration: Monitoring and Law Enforcement Agencies normally take a small sample of the product sold at a retail outlet/gas station and subject it to certain offline tests for purity. If the results of analysis prove adulteration, the party involved is given punishment with the hope that further illegal activity is reduced. Therefore, this is not a simple, scientific and foolproof method for preventing or detection of adulteration. OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION; The primary object of this invention is to propose a device for prevention of pilferage of expensive products, such as petrol and diesel during transportation from oil loading terminal to the retail outlet and subsequently from the underground tank at the retail outlet. Another object of this invention is to propose a device for prevention of pilferage of expensive products, such as petrol and diesel during transportation from oil loading terminal to the retail outlet and subsequently from the underground tank at the retail outlet and also to avoid an adulteration of the product. Still another object of this invention is to propose a device for prevention of pilferage of expensive products, such as petrol and diesel during transportation from oil loading terminal to the retail outlet and subsequently from the underground tank at the retail outlet which is efficient. DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION According to this invention there is provided a device for prevention of pilferage and subsequent adulteration of products, such as petrol or diesel, comprising : a) a PC at the product loading terminal for generating a key code, b) a smart card reader at said terminal for receiving and transferring the key code to a smart card, c) a key control unit at said terminal, d) at least one lock for the transport member transporting the product from the loading terminal to the retail outlet terminal, e) a key control unit at the retail outlet for receiving the data from the smart card for opening the lock on said transport member and at the retail outlet, if any. In the invented product, there is no physical key that is used to open the lock. The lock looks like a pad lock but without any key hole. It can only be opened or closed using a very specific key control unit, which works with a specific code generated every time separately covering a transaction between the oil loading terminal and the retail outlet. Lock can only be destroyed but not opened. The hardware lock which is installed on the truck or at the UGT does not have any battery or power source. It is operated through the key control unit making it very safe even for zone-0 (hazardous area) applications. The present invention not only prevents unauthorized opening but also collects data of tempering, if an attempt is made and details are stored in the memory, which facility is absent in the presently used devices. A lock is allocated from the lick library and a key code for the lock is generated automatically by the PC for every compartment of a truck without human intervention at the oil loading terminal based on the details in the invoice prepared by the terminal covering a transaction, such as date, time, invoice number, type of fuel, quantity, truck number, compartment number (if part load is delivered), name of the retail outlet, etc., thereby eliminating any possibility of manipulation. For the UGT also, similar lock is used and key code for opening the lock for that transaction is generated by the PC at the oil loading terminal with a specific time and date validity. The generated key code by the PC is automatically transferred to a smartcard through a smartcard reader. The smartcard reader is used on the key control unit to open or close the lock on the truck. At the oil company terminal, the truck tanker is locked prior to departure for delivery to a retail outlet. The key control unit will register date and time of locking each compartment. The non-contact smartcard is sent to the retail outlet with the truck driver. On arrival at the retail outlet, the smartcard is inserted into the specific key control unit of the retail outlet to transfer the data that is contained on the smartcard onto the key control unit. If the code on the smartcard is accepted by the key control unit, then the key control unit is placed on the lock and the lock is opened if the data matches in all respects. It will allow opening of the lock for a specific period of time to facilitate unloading of fuel from a compartment. The date and time of opening of the lock is again registered on the smartcard. After unloading of the fuel, the locks are to be closed. Date and time of closure is written onto the smartcard and this data is transferred to the PC via the smartcard when the truck returns to the oil loading terminal. Any illegal opening and closing or any unauthorized operating procedure is recorded. Please see operating sequence for details. DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION WITH REFERENCE TO ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS Fig. 1 shows the schematic layout of the device of the present invention. A typical device is made up of the following: 1. Software for installation on PC at the oil company loading terminal 2. Smartcard reader at the oil company loading terminal 3. Micro controller based Key control unit for use at the oil company loading terminal 4. Micro controller based Key control unit at the retail outlet. 5. Hardware lock for use on the compartments of trucks and on UGTs 6. Smart Card to transport the data from the PC to the key control unit and vice versa 7. Float Charger for key control unit operating from 230 V, 50 Hz, A.C. mains. The lock 1 looks like an ordinary padlock but it is operated by a unique electronic key generated every time separately covering a transaction of a retail outlet to which the product is supplied by an oil company terminal. The hardware lock 2 which is installed on the truck or at the UGT does not have any battery or power source. It is operated through the key control unit 3 making it very safe even for Zone-0 (hazardous area) applications. The invented device not only prevents unauthorized opening but also collects data of tampering, if an attempt is made and details are stored in the memory. Operating sequence; The supplied software is installed on the PC of the oil company terminal. It is required for the terminal to enter data of all retail outlets serviced by the terminal and create a database containing information such as UGT No. at retail outlet, Lock No. allocated to the UGT at the retail outlet, and the list of locks (library of locks) that would be used by the terminal for locking the compartments of trucks, etc. as a part of sales routine, the oil company terminal will prepare an invoice covering a transaction with a retail outlet, by feeding the details such as date, time, invoice number, type of fuel, quantity, truck number, compartment number (if part load is delivered), etc. Based on the information fed, looking at the freely available Lock Number held in the library of locks 4, the PC will allocate automatically a set of lock numbers, as required to cover a transaction. If the truck has 3 compartments, it requires 6 locks if individual compartment delivery (part delivery) to 3 different retail outlets is required to be made. Otherwise, 2 locks per truck are required. Pertaining to the lock number allocated, a key code is generated by the PC automatically and transferred to the smartcard reader. The Micro controller based key control unit with embedded software [a portable unit] is used to open and close the lock on the truck. At the terminal, the truck is locked prior to departure for delivery and the key control unit will register date and time of locking each compartment. The smart card along with the invoice is sent to the retail outlet with the truck driver. On arrival at the retail outlet, the truck driver would handover the smart card to the manager of the retail outlet along with the invoice. He will insert the smart card on the specific key control unit of the retail outlet to transfer the data that is contained in the smart card on to the key control unit. Once the data is transferred to the key control unit, it is placed on the lock. If the data matches in all respects, it will open the lock for a specific period of time to facilitate unloading of the fuel from a compartment into the UGT. The smartcard will facilitate opening of the UGT lock first and then will facilitate opening the lock placed on the outlet of the specified compartment of the oil tanker. The date and time of opening the locks is again registered on the smartcard. The locks are to be closed after unloading. The data of closing time is written on to the smart card. Supposing the lock was opened prematurely or it was not locked after decanting, date and time stamp is recorded and it is available for the investigating agency for initiating suitable measures. The lock, in locked position on the truck [or as separate lock] is carried back to the oil company terminal. On reaching the oil company terminal, again the terminal manager will read the smart card to transfer all the data pertaining to the transaction on to PC at oil company terminal to prepare a database of transactions. Once the smart card is read on to the PC, it will be completely cleared of all the data stored in it and is ready for re-use. Because of the powerful software, there is no limitation either on the number of Key control units or locks that can be used by a terminal, as the keys are generated as and when required and the data is transferred into the data base. The system is available with 100, 200, 300 and 500 locks/terminal. Optionally, provision could be made to open the lock for Imin. 4 times a day for taking dip rod readings using the same system. Security features: 1, The hardware lock looks like an ordinary padlock without any keyhole. Therefore, no one will attempt to make a key to open. The only way to open is to break it. 2. The lock opening information is encrypted and coded by the powerful software and decoded at the retail outlet and the terminal. Therefore, it is difficult for anybody to make a key, as there is no access to the software. Even if somebody makes a duplicate key, they may not be able to decipher any information and open the lock as it requires key control unit with specific code. In order to avoid transport operator misusing the lock once opened for transporting, additional loads of product and then finally lock the truck, date and time stamp has been incorporated in the system. Also, time limit for unloading is also programmed. If any attempt is made to violate the set conditions, it will get automatically recorded. The contents on a smart card key is unique for each transaction and the details get erased the moment it is read back into the data base. Even if it is not read back, it is not readable by any other card reader and neither it is decipherable. I CLAIM: 1. A device for prevention of pilferage and subsequent adulteration of products, such as petrol or diesel, comprising : a) a PC at the product loading terminal for generating a key code, b) a smart card reader at said terminal for receiving and transferring the key code to a smart card, c) a key control unit at said terminal, d) at least one lock for the transport member transporting the product from the loading terminal to the retail outlet terminal, e) a key control unit at the retail outlet for receiving the data from the smart card for opening the lock on said transport member and at the retail outlet, if any. 2) A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein said key control unit at the product-loading terminal is a microprocessor-controlled unit. 3) A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein said key control unit at the retail outlet is a microprocessor controlled unit 4) A device as claimed in claim 1 comprising a terminal lock library having a plurality of locks at said product-loading terminal.

Documents:

073-che-2004-abstract.pdf

073-che-2004-claims duplicate.pdf

073-che-2004-claims original.pdf

073-che-2004-correspondnece-others.pdf

073-che-2004-correspondnece-po.pdf

073-che-2004-description(complete) duplicate.pdf

073-che-2004-description(complete) original.pdf

073-che-2004-drawings.pdf

073-che-2004-form 1.pdf

073-che-2004-form 19.pdf

073-che-2004-form 26.pdf

073-che-2004-form 3.pdf