Item handling and tracking system and method therefor

• US 10,482,410 B2
• Filed: 01/25/2018
• Issued: 11/19/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/03/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SITA Information Networking Computing USA Incorporated (Société Internationale de Télécom Aeronautiques (Switzerland))
• Original Assignee: SITA Information Networking Computing USA Incorporated (Société Internationale de Télécom Aeronautiques (Switzerland))
• Inventors: Gates, Nicholas John, Limaye, Manish, Poulard, Olivier Pierre, Muhanna, Emad Eldeen, Chetrit, Daniel Edmond, Dayal, Aseem, Naicker, Pravin, Maya, Maria Patricia
• Primary Examiner(s): Cicchino, Patrick
• Application Number:
  US15/880,075
• Publication Number:
  US 20180165617A1
• Time in Patent Office: 663 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B64F 1/368 Arrangements or installations for routing, distributing or loading baggage
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0635 Risk analysis of enterprise or organisation activities
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0833 Tracking

Abstract

In an airport baggage handling system bag information, flight information and airport topology information are provided to a central processor which determines a path for the bag through the handling system. The bag is scanned at various points along the path and the scan time is compared with a predetermined arrival time for the bag at the scan point. A bag is marked at risk if it arrives at a scan point after the predetermined time and the system may suggest an alternative handling path for the bag if it is determined that the risk of the bag not making an outbound flight is too high.

Claims

1. A method of tracking passage of items from an arrival point to a departure point of an item handling system, comprising the steps of:

acquiring information about the identity of one or more items, arrival and departure parameters for each of the items of the one or more items and a topology of a location through which each of the items may pass between arrival and departure;

for a particular item of the one or more items, defining a path through the item handling system, the path including a plurality of checkpoints at which the particular item is identified and recorded;

at a plurality of the checkpoints, determining a status of the particular item based on the time of arrival of the particular item at the checkpoint compared to a target time of arrival, and assigning a status from a plurality of statuses to the particular item, the plurality including a status indicating that the particular item is at risk of not arriving at a departure point by a required time; and

where the particular item is assigned an at risk status, determining and communicating a suggested remedial action to a controller.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the one or more items comprise baggage.

3. A method according to claim 2, wherein the location is an airport and the departure point is a departure of the particular item of baggage on an outbound flight, wherein each item of baggage has a unique identifier, and wherein determining the status of the particular item comprises scanning the unique identifier at one of a plurality of scan locations and comparing a time at which the particular item is scanned to a time at which the particular item is expected to be scanned at that scanning location.

4. A method according to claim 3, wherein the unique identifier for each item of baggage comprises origin and destination airport codes.

5. A method according to claim 3, wherein the arrival and departure parameters comprise scheduled, estimated and actual flight arrival and departure times, arrival and departure gates.

6. A method according to claim 3, wherein the topology of the location comprises the topology of the airport and the step of defining the path through the item handling system comprises selecting a particular path from one of a plurality of stored possible paths through the airport baggage handling system, each path having been defined by identifying and listing process activities required to transfer the particular item of baggage from an arriving flight on a first airline at a first location at the airport to a departing flight on a second airline at a second location at the airport and assigning an average time for transit between activities for each path.

7. A method according to claim 3, wherein the at risk status assigned to the particular item of baggage is one of a plurality of risk statuses each indicating a different likelihood of the particular item of baggage failing to arrive at the departure point before the departure time.

8. A method according to claim 7, comprising, after the departure of a flight, for each item of baggage for that flight having the at risk status between the arrival and departure points, assigning a further status indicating whether or not each item of baggage having the at risk status was loaded onto the flight.

9. A method according to claim 8, wherein where the further status indicates that a certain item of baggage of each item of baggage having the at risk status was loaded onto the flight, indicating whether or not there was any intervention in the passage of the certain item of baggage through the baggage handling system.

10. A method according to claim 8, wherein the further status is recorded for subsequent analysis.

11. A method according to claim 1, wherein the suggested remedial action comprises defining an alternative path through the item handling system.

12. A method according to claim 1, wherein the suggested remedial action comprises locating the particular item.

13. A method according to claim 1, wherein the suggested remedial action comprises informing an owner of the particular item that the particular item is no longer due.

14. A system for tracking passage of items from an arrival point to a departure point in an item handling system, comprising:

an item processor for acquiring and processing information about the identity of one or more items;

an arrival and departure processor for acquiring and processing information about the arrival and departure parameters for a particular item of the one or more items;

a rules engine operating on a topology of a location through which the particular item may pass between arrival and departure to define a path through the location for the particular item;

a store for storing item identity data provided from the item processor, arrival and departure parameters provided from the rules engine, and location topology information;

a user application for communicating data relating to arrival and departure parameters and one or more items to a system user; and

a plurality of checkpoints arranged along a plurality of paths, each checkpoint including a scanner for scanning items to provide item identity and time of arrival information to the rules engine to determine a status of the particular item based on the time of arrival of the particular item at the checkpoint compared to a target time of arrival, the particular item being assigned one of a plurality of statuses by the rules engine, the plurality of statuses including a status indicating whether the particular item is at risk of not arriving at the departure point by a required time;

wherein when the particular item is assigned an at risk status, the rules engine is configured to determine and communicate a suggested remedial action to the user.

15. A system according to claim 14, comprising a status agent communicating with the store and the rules engine for receiving item identity information updates and arrival and departure parameter updates from the rules engine and communicating those updates to the store.

16. A system according to claim 14, wherein the one or more items comprise baggage.

17. A system according to claim 16, wherein the location is an airport and the departure point is a departure of the particular item of baggage on an outbound flight, wherein each item of baggage has a unique identifier, and wherein the scanner at each checkpoint scans the one or more items of baggage to retrieve the unique identifier at one of a plurality of scan locations and communicate the identity to the rules engine together with a time of the scan, and the rules engine compares the time at which the particular item is scanned to a time at which the particular item is expected to be scanned at that scanning location.

18. A system according to claim 17, wherein the topology of the location comprises the topology of the airport and the rules engine determines a path through the handling system from the plurality of paths stored in the store, the path comprising a series of process activities required to transfer the particular item of baggage from an arriving flight on a first airline at a first location at the airport to a departing flight on a second airline at a second location at the airport and assigning and an average time for transit between activities for each path.

19. A system according to claim 17, wherein the at risk status assigned to the particular item of baggage by the rules engine is one of a plurality of risk statuses each indicating a different likelihood of the particular item of baggage failing to arrive at the departure point before the departure time.

20. A system according to claim 14, wherein the rules engine is configured to assign a recovered status to a bag when a subsequent checkpoint indicates that the bag is no longer at risk.

21. A system according to claim 20, wherein the rules engine is configured to assign, after the departure of a flight, for each item of baggage for that flight having an at risk status assigned between the arrival and departure points, a further status indicating whether or not the particular item was loaded onto the flight.

22. A system according to claim 21, wherein, the rules engine is configured, where the further status indicates that the particular item was loaded onto the flight, to indicate whether or not there was any intervention in the passage of the particular item through the baggage handling system.

23. A system according to claim 21, comprising a further store for storing the further status for subsequent analysis.

24. A system according to claim 14, wherein the suggested remedial action comprises an alternative path through the item handling system.

25. A system according to claim 14, wherein the suggested remedial action comprises locating the particular item.

26. A system according to claim 14, wherein the suggested remedial action comprises communicating to the owner of the particular item that the particular item is no longer due.

27. A method of tracking passage of items from an arrival point to a departure point in a hub and spoke item handling system, comprising the steps of:

defining a set of configuration data comprising a set of paths an item may take from the arrival point to the departure point, a set of processes the item must undergo in each path, each process comprising at least one step and an item scan to determine an identity of the item and a time at which it is scanned, and a set of transits for each path, each transit comprising a start and an end scan point, an average time between the start and end scan points and a position of the transit in the path;

acquiring event information relating to the item, the event information relating to the identity of the item, item scans, and its arrival and departure;

in response to event information, determining at a processor whether an item is at risk of failing to arrive at the departure point by a predetermined time and for any item determined to be at risk; and

if an item is determined to be at risk, determining a remedial action for the item.