Method and apparatus for improving baggage screening examination
First Claim
1. A method for inspecting a series of articles containing discrete objects to select for further examination certain discernable objects within an article in the series comprising steps of:
- (a) conveying a series of articles containing discrete objects into and through an inspection zone;
(b) irradiating each of the articles in said series of articles containing discrete objects with incident electromagnetic radiation while in said inspection zone;
(c) measuring the electromagnetic radiation emanating from each of said irradiated articles in said series of articles containing discrete objects;
(d) processing said measured electromagnetic radiation to produce one or more electronic images of each of said irradiated articles in said series of articles containing discrete objects and presenting said electronic images for visual display;
(e) interactively selecting, from said visual display, discrete objects discernable within the image of an irradiated article in said series of articles containing discrete objects; and
(f) displaying said image on an additional visual display for presenting an electronic image of discrete objects.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus are disclosed for screening articles such as baggage, utilizing a computerized touch sensitive screen or other computerized pointing device for operator identification and electronic marking of objects within the article to be further examined. Baggage is eletromagnetically (i.e., x-ray) scanned while traveling on a conveyer and an electronic image is taken of each article and stored in a computer. An operator positioned at a computerized touch sensitive screen views electronic images of the articles to be screened as they are conveyed past a sensor array which transmits sequences of images of the series either directly or through a computer to the touch sensitive display screen. The operator manually “touches” objects within the articles displayed on the screen to be identified on coupled interactive screens thereby registering the objects selected within the computer. The computer then provides sequential information identifying actions to be taken and information and data to be recorded. The system continually scans articles as they pass the scanning station and proceed for further processing, which ultimately may include being added to a vehicle as baggage or freight. The present system utilizes a plurality of visual display devices, each with an examiner, which are likely located remotely of the screening operation. Each examination continues independently of the scanning such that there is no interruption in the flow of articles should an examiner detect an object of interest and worthy of further examination, either by screen or by physical examination.
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Citations
86 Claims
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1. A method for inspecting a series of articles containing discrete objects to select for further examination certain discernable objects within an article in the series comprising steps of:
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(a) conveying a series of articles containing discrete objects into and through an inspection zone;
(b) irradiating each of the articles in said series of articles containing discrete objects with incident electromagnetic radiation while in said inspection zone;
(c) measuring the electromagnetic radiation emanating from each of said irradiated articles in said series of articles containing discrete objects;
(d) processing said measured electromagnetic radiation to produce one or more electronic images of each of said irradiated articles in said series of articles containing discrete objects and presenting said electronic images for visual display;
(e) interactively selecting, from said visual display, discrete objects discernable within the image of an irradiated article in said series of articles containing discrete objects; and
(f) displaying said image on an additional visual display for presenting an electronic image of discrete objects. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A method for inspecting each of a series of articles to select for further examination articles within the series comprising steps of:
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(a) conveying each of a series of articles into and through an electromagnetic scanning zone;
(b) electromagnetically scanning said series of articles as each are conveyed through said scanning zone;
(c) producing a first electronic image of a first article within said series of articles from said electromagnetic scanning;
(d) presenting said first electronic image for visual display (e) visually inspecting said displayed first electronic image;
(f) electromagnetically scanning a second article within said series of articles conveying through said scanning zone and storing within computer memory electronic data of a second electronic image corresponding to said second article during a time interval overlapping with performing said visual inspection step (e);
(g) presenting said second electronic image for visual display (h) visually inspecting said displayed second electronic image; and
(i) selecting for further examination at least one article from said series of articles. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. A method for inspecting each of a series of articles to select for further examination articles within the series comprising steps of:
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(a) conveying each of a series of articles into and through an electromagnetic scanning zone;
(b) electromagnetically scanning said series of articles as they are conveyed through said scanning zone;
(c) producing an electronic image of each articles within said series of articles by said electromagnetic scanning;
(d) presenting for separate visual display each of at least two of said article electronic images for concurrent visual examination; and
(e) visually examining said displayed electronic images and selecting for further examination at least one of said articles from said series of articles. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 59, 60, 61)
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57. A method for inspecting each of a series of articles to select for further examination articles within the series comprising steps of:
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(a) conveying each of a series of articles into and through an electromagnetic scanning zone;
(b) electromagnetically scanning said series of articles as each are conveyed through said scanning zone so that at least two successive scans of articles passing through said scanning zone are performed without stopping the flow of articles between scans;
(c) producing a series of electronic images of articles within said series of articles from said electromagnetic scanning;
(d) presenting said electronic images for visual display;
(e) visually inspecting said displayed electronic images; and
(f) selecting for further examination at least one article from said series of articles. - View Dependent Claims (58, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77)
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78. Apparatus for inspecting each of a series of articles to select for further examination articles within the series comprising:
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(a) a conveyor system for conveying said series of articles into and through an electromagnetic scanning zone;
(b) an electromagnetic scanner for taking electromagnetic measurements of each of said series of articles as they are conveyed through said scanning zone;
(c) a computer system for producing a series of electronic images of articles within said series of articles from said electromagnetic measurements;
(d) a data processing system for selectively routing said electronic images among various visual displays (e) at least two visual displays for visually presenting at least two different of said electronic images, one image on each display, so that the durations of the visual presentations overlap in time; and
(f) means for selecting for further examination at least one of said articles from said series of articles during visual inspection of said images displayed in step (e). - View Dependent Claims (79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86)
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Specification