Mobile dimensioner apparatus to mitigate unfair charging practices in commerce

• US 10,612,958 B2
• Filed: 10/27/2017
• Issued: 04/07/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 07/07/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hand Held Products Incorporated (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hand Held Products Incorporated (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Inventors: Ackley, H. Sprague
• Primary Examiner(s): LaPage, Michael P
• Application Number:
  US15/796,072
• Publication Number:
  US 20180052027A1
• Time in Patent Office: 893 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01B 11/00 Measuring arrangements characterised by the use of optical techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G01B 11/02 for measuring length, width or thickness G01B11/08 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01F 17/00 Methods or apparatus for determining the capacity of containers or cavities, or the volume of solid bodies measuring linear dimensions to determine volume G01B
• CPC Class Codes: G01F 25/0084 for measuring volume
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/00 Programme-control systems
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 2017/00685 Measuring the dimensions of mailpieces

Abstract

A mobile volume dimensioning device, i.e. a mobile dimensioner, is described that detects excessive measuring time and/or a repetitive range of measuring motion and receives a deactivation event upon detection of this inappropriate behavior so as to prevent the systematic reporting of either the highest or lowest dimensions in an effort to mitigate unfair charging practices in commerce applications involving the shipping of goods.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

an input subsystem comprising one or more measurement sensors; and

a memory containing instructions executable by one or more processors whereby the system is operable to;

activate at least one of the one or more measurement sensors;

derive a set and a subsequent set of dimensions for an object and an associated indication of dimensional accuracy of each of the set and the subsequent set of dimensions based on information received from the at least one of the one or more measurement sensors;

determine that a number of times the dimensional accuracy for the subsequent set of dimensions is less accurate exceeds a threshold number for less accurate dimensions of the object; and

deactivate the system in accordance with receipt of a deactivation event based on the determination.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein to determine that a number of times the dimensional accuracy for the subsequent set of dimensions is less accurate the system is further operable to determine a time period for dimensioning the object to exceed a threshold time period pre-defined for deriving the set and the subsequent set of dimensions of the object by the one or more measurement sensors.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the deactivation event is received based on determining, from the deriving, a second accuracy value associated with a second dimension derived by the processing unit, to be greater than a first accuracy value associated with a first dimension derived by the processing unit, wherein the determining is based on comparison of the first accuracy value with the second accuracy value.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the deactivation event is received based on determining a number of contrary events to exceed a threshold number of contrary events.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the threshold time period is defined by one of the group consisting of:

defined by a manufacturer of a dimensioner device;

defined to comply with certification standards set by a certification organization;

defined in response to input received via an input subsystem at the system; and

defined in response to information received at the system from a server.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the system is operable to derive a set of preliminary dimensions for an object based on information received from the one or more measurement sensors.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the deactivation event is selected from the group consisting of:

a power off event for the system;

an event that turns off the ability of the system to take measurements;

an event that turns off the one or more measurement sensors of the system;

an event that restricts the ability of the system to report results;

an event that turns off one or more communication interfaces of the system;

an event that deactivates the measurement sensors and displays the first set of dimensions;

an event that deactivates the measurement sensors and places the system in a state requiring reset; and

an event that deactivates the measurement sensors and deletes the first set of dimensions.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more optical sensors is selected from a group consisting of:

a barcode sensor, a camera, and an image sensor.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more measurement sensors is selected from a group consisting of:

point-cloud projection, structured light, and stereoscopic cameras and n-scopic cameras.

10. The system of claim 1, comprising a communication interface.

11. The system of claim 1, comprising a communication interface selected from the group consisting of:

Bluetooth, Ethernet, wireless Ethernet, USB, serial, and I2C.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the system is operable to send the subsequent set of dimensions to a server.

13. A method, comprising:

activating one or more measurement sensors of a dimensioning system;

deriving a set and a subsequent set of dimensions for an object and an associated indication of dimensional accuracy of each of the set and the subsequent set of dimensions based on information received from the one or more measurement sensors;

determining that a number of times the dimensional accuracy for the subsequent set of dimensions is less accurate exceeds a threshold number for less accurate dimensions of the object; and

deactivating the dimensioning system in accordance with receipt of a deactivation event based on the determination.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein determining that the number of times the dimensional accuracy for the subsequent set of dimensions is less accurate comprises determining a time period for dimensioning the object to exceed a threshold time period pre-defined for deriving the set and the subsequent set of dimensions of the object by the one or more measurement sensors.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the deactivation event is received based on determining, from the deriving, a second accuracy value associated with a second dimension derived by the processing unit to be greater than a first accuracy value associated with a first dimension derived by the processing unit, wherein the determining is based on comparison of the first accuracy value with the second accuracy value.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the deactivation event is received based on determining a number of contrary events to exceed a threshold number of contrary events.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the threshold time period is defined by one of the group consisting of:

defined by the manufacturer of the dimensioning system, defined to comply with certification standards set by a certification organization, defined in response to input received via an input subsystem at the dimensioning system, and defined in response to information received at the dimensioning system from a server.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein the deactivation event is selected from the group consisting of:

a power off event for the dimensioning system, an event that turns off the ability of the dimensioning system to take measurements, an event that turns off the one or more measurement sensors, an event that restricts the ability of the dimensioning system to report results, an event that turns off one or more communication interfaces of the dimensioning system, an event that deactivates the measurement sensors and displays the first set of dimensions, an event that deactivates the measurement sensors and places the dimensioning system in a state requiring reset, and an event that deactivates the measurement sensors and deletes the first set of dimensions.

19. The method of claim 13, wherein a set of preliminary dimensions are derived for an object based on information received from the one or more measurement sensors.

20. A non-transitory processor readable medium having stored thereon processor executable instructions configured to cause a processor to perform operations, comprising:

activating one or more measurement sensors of a dimensioning system;

deriving a set and a subsequent set of dimensions for an object and an associated indication of dimensional accuracy of each of the set and the subsequent set of dimensions based on information received from the one or more measurement sensors;

determining that a number of times the dimensional accuracy for the subsequent set of dimensions is less accurate exceeds a threshold number for less accurate dimensions of the object; and

deactivating the dimensioning system in accordance with receipt of a deactivation event based on the determination.