Patent ID: 8665083

Claim:
A hierarchical network system architecture of multiple levels and distributed processing elements for a container monitoring system having a plurality of containers transported by one or more carriers, wherein the system comprises: at least one monitored container which includes sensors for monitoring at least two aspects of the physical status of the monitored container; a sensor level processing element comprising one or more sensors, wherein the sensor level processing element is further configured to produce and transmit sensor level data; a container level processing element, wherein the container level processing element receives and analyzes data provided by at least two sensors located within a single container; and further wherein the container level processing element is further configured to produce and transmit at least a first set of container level data and a second set of container level data, wherein the second set of container level data includes data regarding at least one aspect of the physical status of the container not included in the first set of container level data; wherein the container level processing element is configured to aggregate container level data from multiple sensors.