Traveler security and luggage control system

• US 5,866,888 A
• Filed: 03/27/1995
• Issued: 02/02/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 11/20/1990
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Symbol Technologies, Inc. (Zebra Technologies Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Symbol Technologies, Inc. (Zebra Technologies Corporation)
• Inventors: Bravman, Richard, Vingsbo, Stefan G., Toedt, D. C. III, Wang, Ynjiun P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Gross, Anita Pellman
• Assistant Examiner(s): LEE, MICHAEL GUNYOUNG
• Application Number:
  US08/411,289
• Time in Patent Office: 1,408 Days
• Field of Search: 235/379, 235/382, 235/384, 235/375, 235/462, 902/3, 902/4, 902/5
• US Class Current: 235/375
• CPC Class Codes: G07G 1/0045 with a code reader for reading of an identifying code of the article to be registered, e.g. barcode reader or radio-frequency identity [RFID] reader

Abstract

A two-dimensional bar code is used to identify a traveler'"'"'s luggage, permitting the luggage to be tracked and, if desired, to be delivered to the traveler'"'"'s ultimate destination (e.g., a hotel). If the traveler is traveling on an airline, a corresponding two-dimensional bar code is applied to the traveler'"'"'s boarding pass. A two-dimensional bar code reader is used to read the boarding-pass bar code of each enplaning passenger; comparison of these bar codes with luggage bar-code data permits an alarm to be raised if each item of checked luggage is not matched by an enplaned passenger. The boarding-pass bar code may take the form of an integrated passenger identification code for use by, e.g., rental car companies, hotels, and the like.

Claims

1. An encoding/decoding carrier passenger boarding control system for use in a system for secure transmission of data, the system comprising:

encoding means including

means for generating passenger ID data and luggage ID data, the passenger ID data including a number derived from at least one of passenger name and passenger social security number and the luggage ID data including the passenger ID data and a luggage description,

means for encrypting at least some of said passenger and luggage ID data using an encryption algorithm based upon an encryption key,

means for representing said encrypted data in the form of a bar code structure, said bar code structure including codewords of bar-coded information and security level information indicating a level of error correction capability, each of said codewords representing at least one information-bearing character, and

means for transferring an image of the bar code structure onto a passenger boarding pass and passenger luggage; and

decoding means including

means for scanning the bar code structure on the passenger boarding pass and the passenger luggage and converting the codewords into output signals representative of said information-bearing characters,

means for determining the level of error correction capability of the bar-coded information from the security level information,

means for determining the number of codewords that were unsuccessfully converted,

means for correcting the unsuccessfully converted codewords if the number of unsuccessfully converted codewords is less than the level of error correction capability, and

means for decrypting at least some of said information-bearing characters using a decryption algorithm based upon said encryption key.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said entering means includes a keyboard for entering said data.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said entering means includes means for scanning said data from a sheet.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said transferring means is a printer.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said decoding means further includes an output device for displaying the decrypted data in human readable form.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein said output device is a CRT display.

7. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein said output device is a liquid crystal display.

8. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein said output device is a printer.

9. An encoding apparatus for use in a traveler data management system for secure transmission of passenger and luggage ID data, the apparatus comprising:

means for generating the passenger and luggage ID data, the passenger ID data comprising a number derived from at least one of passenger name and passenger social security number, and the luggage ID data including the passenger ID data and a luggage description;

means for encrypting at least some of said passenger and luggage ID data using an encryption algorithm based upon an encryption key;

means for representing said encrypted data in the form of a bar code structure, said bar code structure including a plurality of codewords of bar-coded information and security level information indicating a level of error correction capability, each of said codewords representing at least one information-bearing character;

means for transferring an image of the bar code structure onto a passenger boarding pass and passenger luggage; and

means for reading the bar code structure to determine whether all passengers and their respective luggage have boarded or departed a transportation carrier.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein said entering means includes a keyboard for entering said data.

11. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein said entering means includes means for scanning said data from a sheet.

12. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein said transferring means is a printer.

13. A method of encoding and decoding carrier passenger and luggage ID data for secure transmission, comprising the steps of:

generating said passenger and luggage ID data into an encoding station the passenger ID data including a number derived from at least one of passenger name and passenger social security number and the luggage ID data including the passenger ID data and a luggage description;

encrypting at least some of said passenger and luggage ID data using an encryption algorithm based upon an encryption key;

representing said encrypted data in the form of a bar code structure, said bar code structure including codewords of bar-coded information and security level information indicating a level of error correction capability, each of said codewords representing at least one information-bearing character;

transferring an image of the bar code structure onto a passenger boarding pass and passenger luggage;

scanning the bar code structure in a separate decoding station and converting the codewords into output signals representative of said information-bearing characters;

determining the level of error correction capability of the bar-coded information from the security level information;

determining the number of codewords that were unsuccessfully converted;

correcting the unsuccessfully converted codewords if the number of unsuccessfully converted codewords is less than the level of error correction capability; and

decrypting at least some of said information-bearing characters using a decryption algorithm based upon said encryption key.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein said entering step includes the substep of entering said data on a keyboard.

15. The method of claim 13 wherein said entering step includes the substep of scanning said data from a sheet.

16. The method of claim 13 wherein said transferring step includes the substep of printing the image onto the passenger boarding pass and the passenger luggage.

17. The method of claim 13 further comprising the step of displaying the decrypted data in human readable form.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein said displaying step includes the substep of displaying the decrypted data on a CRT display.

19. The method of claim 17 wherein said displaying step includes the substep of displaying the decrypted data on a liquid crystal display.

20. The method of claim 17 wherein said displaying step includes the substep of displaying the decrypted data on a printer.