CARGO SENSING

• US 20130342653A1
• Filed: 06/20/2013
• Published: 12/26/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/20/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: McCloskey, Scott, Davalos, Pedro, Lloyd, Ryan A.
• Granted Patent: US 10,158,842 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/46
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/04 Systems determining the presence of a target
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/204 using stereoscopic image cameras stereoscopic photography G03B35/00

Abstract

Cargo presence detection systems and methods are described herein. One cargo presence detection system includes one or more sensors positioned in an interior space of a container, and arranged to provide spatial data about at least a portion of the interior space of the container and a detection component that receives the spatial data from the one or more sensors and identifies if one or more cargo items are present in the interior space of the container based on analysis of the spatial data.

Claims

1. A cargo presence detection system, comprising:

one or more sensors positioned in an interior space of a container, and arranged to provide spatial data about at least a portion of the interior space of the container; and

a detection component that receives the spatial data from the one or more sensors and identifies if one or more cargo items are present in the interior space of the container based on analysis of the spatial data.

2. The cargo presence detection system of claim 1, wherein the system includes a communication component to communicate at least one of:

the spatial data, an identification determination based on the analysis of the spatial data, an empty/non-empty determination based on the analysis of the spatial data.

3. The cargo presence detection system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more sensors is an active infra-red or near infra-red three dimensional sensor.

4. The cargo presence detection system of claim 1, wherein the spatial data provided by the one or more sensors includes at least one of:

depth information and three dimensional points.

5. The cargo presence detection system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more sensors is movable within the interior of the container.

6. The cargo presence detection system of claim 5, wherein the movement of the at least one sensor is at least one of:

pivot and tilt movement.

7. The cargo presence detection system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more sensors is a time-of-flight imaging sensor.

8. A cargo presence detection system, comprising:

one or more vision based sensors positioned in an interior space of a container, and arranged to provide spatial data about at least a portion of the interior space of the container; and

a detection component that receives the spatial data from the one or more sensors and identifies if one or more cargo items are present in the interior space of the container based on analysis of the spatial data.

9. The cargo presence detection system of claim 8, wherein at least one of the one or more vision based sensors has a zoom functionality.

10. The cargo presence detection system of claim 8, wherein at least one of the one or more vision based sensors projects structured light within the interior space of the container.

11. The cargo presence detection system of claim 8, wherein at least one of the one or more vision based sensors is a passive stereo vision imaging sensor.

12. The cargo presence detection system of claim 8, wherein detection component receives depth information from the one or more sensors and fits the sensor depth information to planar surfaces to determine if the is any outlier depth data that does not fit the continuous planar surfaces.

13. The cargo presence detection system of claim 8, wherein detection component receives data from the one or more sensors and determines if any objects identified from the data exceed a pre-specified volume or size threshold.

14. A cargo presence detection system, comprising:

one or more sensors in an interior space of a container to provide spatial data about at least a portion of the interior space of the container, wherein the one or more sensors collect data regarding a first area of the interior space of the container and then move to collect data regarding a second area of the interior space of the container; and

a detection component that receives the spatial data from the one or more sensors and identifies if one or more cargo items are present in the interior space of the container based on analysis of the spatial data.

15. The cargo presence detection system of claim 14, wherein at least one of the one or more moveable sensors articulates along an elongate rail provided along one interior surface of the container.

16. The cargo presence detection system of claim 14, wherein the one or more movable sensors include a combination of at least one pan-tilt-zoom sensor and at least one sensor that moves along a rail.

17. The cargo presence detection system of claim 14, wherein the spatial data can identify one or more dimensions of an object.

18. The cargo presence detection system of claim 14, wherein the spatial data can identify a first spatial dimension of an object and that dimension can be used to estimate one or more other dimensions of the object.

19. The cargo presence detection system of claim 14, wherein the spatial data can identify a first dimension value of an object and if the first dimension is larger than a threshold value, that dimension value can be used to estimate one or more other dimensions of the object.

20. The cargo presence detection system of claim 14, wherein the spatial data is presented to a user to verify a presence of an object with the interior space of the container.