Abstract:
This invention is a method and system for recording, monitoring, and tracking the contents of refuse bales. All refuse bale information is locally and remotely accessible. This method prevents the circulation of hazardous waste and undesirable materials without effecting baling efficiency. Bale attributes are updateable allowing for long distance and highly informative tracking.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    Provisional Patent Application No. 61/179,002 
     
    
     BACKGROUND 
       [0002]    This relates to a method and system for recoding and tracking the contents of sealed refuse and bales. The contents of said sealed bales can include but is not limited to: domestic refuse, bio-refuse, refuse-derived fuel, sewage slurry, biomass, old paper, old clothes, plastics, and a mixture of these materials. Due in large part to environmental and economical concerns, the management of trash and refuse disposal has become very important. As a given population increases, the amount of trash generated also increases. This situation is complicated by the fact that the public demand for disposable goods is seemingly insatiable. Even if a given population were to remain constant in number, the amount of trash generated by that population continues to increase. This increasing waste output coupled with overuse of landfills, limited land availability, and environmental concerns have forced corporations and municipalities to explore alternative methods of transporting and disposing of waste. One popular method of waste management is the packing of waste into sealed bales. One example of such a baling apparatus can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,784,856 to Altvater (1998). 
         [0003]    The packing of waste or biomass into sealed bales prevents seepage, gas escape, decomposition, decreases overall volume, and eliminates transportation issues. Sealed bales can be transported longer distances for less money when compared with conventional methods of waste or biomass transport. Bailing and sealing technology is also advantageous to waste-to-energy or biomass-to-energy facilities because of the caloric preservation and easy independent onsite storage offered by this technology. 
         [0004]    Despite the numerous advantages of bailing and sealing technologies there are two issues that arises when this technology is put into practice. The first is that there is no way of knowing what is inside a sealed bale without tearing it open and hindering the form and functionality of said sealed bale. The increased transportability creates a need for a method of tracking said sealed bales 
         [0005]    Insofar as we are aware, no system and method for recording and tracking the contents of sealed biomass and refuse bales has ever been developed. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0006]    In response to the issues of contents identification and traceability surrounding bailing and sealing technology we have developed the first ever method of recording and tracking the contents of sealed refuse and biomass bales. The applications and advantages of this process can be understood from a study of the following description and accompanying drawings. 
     
    
     
       DRAWINGS—FIGURES 
         [0007]      FIG. 1  is a process/workflow diagram of incoming refuse/material data being captured, stored in database, assigned identification and flagged if necessary. 
           [0008]      FIG. 2  is a process/workflow diagram of bale information being accessed remotely, updated, merged and appended. 
       
    
    
     DRAWINGS—REFERENCE NUMERALS 
       [0009]      10  raw sensor data 
         [0010]      11  time stamp data operation 
         [0011]      12  assign unique identification number 
         [0012]      13  local database 
         [0013]      14  local server 
         [0014]      15  local work station 
         [0015]      16  local operational information 
         [0016]      17  wide area network or comparable means of networking 
         [0017]      18  remote central database 
         [0018]      19  remote workstation 
         [0019]      20  alternative search field 
         [0020]      21  retrieve bale data matching field of search 
         [0021]      22  display bale data search results 
         [0022]      23  update new operational information 
         [0023]      24  display updateable operational info 
         [0024]      25  unique identification number 
         [0025]      26  barcode reader 
         [0026]      27  refuse/material sealed bale labeled with barcode or unique identification number 
         [0027]      28  Do you wish to update operational information? 
         [0028]      29  Remote server 
         [0029]      30  merge 
         [0030]      31  loose refuse/material 
         [0031]      32  baling apparatus 
         [0032]      33  completed sealed refuse/material bale 
         [0033]      34  digital video device/devices (may be focused on refuse/material, duping location, and employ location) 
         [0034]      35  material analysis sensor/sensors (may include but is not limited to gas sensors and solvent sensors) 
         [0035]      36  baling commencement and completion indicator 
         [0036]      37  apply unique identification number to bale via barcode or comparable label 
         [0037]      38  filter data and pass or tag that data 
         [0038]      39  raw video data 
       DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0039]      FIG. 1  contains one embodiment of our method of refuse/material data capture, refuse/material monitoring, bale data storage, bale data filtering, and bale contents identification. In  FIG. 1  loose refuse/material  31  that is being fed into bailing apparatus  32  is observed by the digital video device/devices  34  and analyzed by material analysis sensor/sensors  35 . The raw data  39  and  10  generated by the devices and sensors  34  and  35  is fed into a local server  14  along with local operational information  16 . The local operational information is manually or automatically entered from a local work station  15  this information can include but is not limited to waste supplier origin, initial baling origin, operator/operators present, current date, and current time. All data and information can be transmitted through hard wire or wireless devices. All processes taking place within the local server and local workstation are carried out by specialized software. Incoming data  39 ,  10  and  16  enters the local server and is time stamped  11 . The baling commencement and completion indicator  36  informs the local server when each bale  33  begins forming and when it  33  is finally completed. Using the information from the commencement and completion indicator  36  the local server  14  merges all data that was recorded during the formation of each bale  33 . Merged data  30  is assigned a unique identification number  12 . This newly identified data  30  and  12  is filtered to ensure it meets all acceptable ranges. All groups  30  and  12  that do not meet acceptable ranges are tagged  38 . Data that meets all requirements is left un-tagged. Tagged merged data indicates undesired material within bale  33 . All processes  11 ,  30 ,  12 , and  38  can be viewed live  28  within the local work station  15 . All bales  33  are labeled with a bar code or unique identification number  7  that corresponds to the unique identification number assigned in  12 . All times stamped  11 , merged  30 , identified  12 , and filtered  8  data is saved in a local database  13 . This data  11 ,  30 ,  12  and  38  is also sent via a wide area network  17  or comparable means of networking to be stored in a remote central database  18  that is contained within a remote server  29  to be accessed remotely as illustrated in  FIG. 2 . 
         [0040]      FIG. 2  contains one embodiment or bale data search, observe and update. In  FIG. 2  bales with barcodes  27  or numbered bales are scanned  26 , the unique identification number  25  observed is entered into a remote work station. The remote workstation retrieves all bale data that matches the entered identification number  26  by communication through a wide area network  17  or comparable means of networking and accessing the bale data stored in the remote central database  18  that is housed in the remote server  29 . This same search may be performed using alternative search fields  20  that include but are not limited to: waste supplier origin, initial baling origin, operator/operators present, baling date, baling time, carrier, transport time, and transport date. All search results are displayed on a computer monitor or comparable device that allows viewing of data. The search result displays all contents and environmental information about the bale(s) within the search field. Immediately following or if desirable, bale operational information may be updated by way of updatable operational fields  24 . Operational information may be inputted automatically or manually. Updateable operational information may include but is not limited to current location, carrier name, termination and utilization. Once new operational information is inputted it is uploaded to the remote server&#39;s  29  remote central database  18  via a wide area network  17  or comparable means of networking. 
       OPERATION 
       [0041]    In operation users of our system can: 
         [0042]    1) Monitor the refuse/materials  31  being packed into sealed bales  33  by observing all readings  28  on the monitor of the local work station  15 . Bales that are contaminated with hazardous materials or undesirable materials will be tagged  38  and set aside to be brought to a proper facility; baler  32  operation is not delayed by this process. 
         [0043]    2) Track and record contents of refuse/material bales  27 . All completed bales  33  are marked or bar coded. The bar code found on each bale  33  and  27  is paired with video footage  39 , material sensor/sensors data  10 , and operational information  16  relevant to each bale processed. If a bale  27  is moved its location and other operational information can be updated  24 . If a facility wants to know what is inside each bale they can retrieve that information from any remote workstation  19  by scanning the barcode on the questionable bale  27 . When the barcode on a bale  27  is scanned all the contents of that bale can be observed through video footage  39  and material sensor data  35  along with a list of all its storage locations, handling employs, processing date, processing time, and an unlimitedly customizable list of attributes. 
       CONCLUSION, RAMIFICATIONS, AND SCOPE 
       [0044]    Accordingly the reader will see that the testing and tracking of sealed refuse bales can be used to ensure public and environmental safety in that: 
         [0045]    It makes sealed refuse bale technology more valuable and viable by informing various public and private entities what precisely is in the bales without having to disassemble each bale; 
         [0046]    It provides accurate and equitable traceability for those responsible in superfund sites; 
         [0047]    It acts as a safeguard against hazardous waste materials being erroneously deposited in landfills; 
         [0048]    It provides for accurate contents of seal refuse bales for transport over a plurality of public and private roadways and railways; 
         [0049]    Although the description above contains many specificities, these should not be construed as limiting the scope of the embodiments but as merely providing illustrations of some of the presently preferred embodiments. For example, the system could also be used to test and track seal biomass bales, etc. 
         [0050]    Thus the scope of the embodiments should be determined by the appended claims and their legal equivalents, rather than by the examples given.