Tray for assessing the threat status of an article at a security check point
First Claim
1. Method for performing security screening at a checkpoint, including:
- a) placing a liquid product in a tray having at least two reference areas manifesting respective X-ray signatures when exposed to X-rays, the X-ray signatures being distinguishable from one another;
b) performing an X-ray inspection of the tray while the tray holds the liquid product, the X-ray inspection including deriving the X-ray signatures;
c) determining if the liquid product is a security threat based at least in part on the X-ray signatures.
5 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method for performing security screening of a liquid product at a security checkpoint is provided. The liquid product is placed in a tray having at least two reference areas manifesting respective X-ray signatures when exposed to X-rays, the X-ray signatures being distinguishable from one another. An X-ray inspection of the tray is performed while the tray holds the liquid product, the X-ray inspection including deriving the X-ray signatures. A determination is made as to whether the liquid product is a security threat at least in part based on the X-ray signatures. A tray having at least two reference areas manifesting respective X-ray signatures when exposed to X-rays is also provided.
108 Citations
52 Claims
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1. Method for performing security screening at a checkpoint, including:
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a) placing a liquid product in a tray having at least two reference areas manifesting respective X-ray signatures when exposed to X-rays, the X-ray signatures being distinguishable from one another; b) performing an X-ray inspection of the tray while the tray holds the liquid product, the X-ray inspection including deriving the X-ray signatures; c) determining if the liquid product is a security threat based at least in part on the X-ray signatures. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. Method for performing security screening at a checkpoint, including:
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a) providing an X-ray imaging system having a scanning area; b) providing a supporting device for supporting articles to be scanned in the scanning area, wherein the supporting device has at least two reference areas manifesting respective X-ray signatures when exposed to X-rays, the X-ray signatures being distinguishable from one another; c) placing an article to be scanned on the supporting device; d) introducing the article to be scanned in the scanning area while the article is supported by the supporting device; e) based at least in part on the X-ray imaging system, deriving the X-ray signatures of the reference areas and obtaining an X-ray image of the article while the article is supported on the supporting device; f) determining if the article is a security threat based at least in part on the X-ray signatures. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A method for performing security screening on a plurality of liquid products at a security checkpoint, comprising:
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a) providing an X-ray imaging system having a scanning area; b) providing a supporting device for supporting a liquid product during a scanning cycle performed with the X-ray imaging system on the liquid product, the supporting device including at least one reference material manifesting an X-ray signature in response to exposure to X-rays; c) using the supporting device to perform a succession of scanning cycles on respective ones of the liquid products; d) wherein each scanning cycle includes; i.) deriving the X-ray signature of the reference material; ii.) performing a self-calibration of the X-ray imaging system based at least in part on the X-ray signature; iii.)determining if the liquid product is a security threat. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. A method for performing security screening on liquid products, comprising;
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a) scanning the liquid product, a first reference material and a second reference material with an X-ray imaging system, the first reference material and the second reference material manifesting respective X-ray signatures when exposed to X-rays, the X-ray signatures being distinguishable from one another, the scanning generating X-ray image data of the liquid product and of the first and second reference materials; b) deriving the X-ray signature from the X-ray image data; c) performing a self-calibration of the X-ray imaging system based at least in part on the X-ray signature; d) determining with the self-calibrated imaging system if the liquid product is a security threat. - View Dependent Claims (29)
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- 30. A tray for supporting an article while the article is subjected to X-ray inspection, the tray including at least two reference areas manifesting respective X-ray signatures when exposed to X-rays, the X-ray signatures being distinguishable from one another, wherein the tray has an article receiving area in which one or more articles to be subjected to X-ray inspection can be placed and a rim portion that extends along the article receiving area, at least one of the reference areas being located on the rim portion.
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38. An X-ray inspection station for performing security screening on liquid products, the X-ray inspection station comprising:
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a) an X-ray scanning area where one or more liquid products are exposed to X-rays; b) a supporting device for supporting one or more liquid products while the liquid products are exposed to X-rays in the scanning area, the supporting device having at least two reference areas manifesting respective X-ray signatures when exposed to X-rays, the X-ray signatures being distinguishable from one another; c) a computer based processing unit responsive to an interaction between X-rays and the supporting device to perform self-calibration for processing X-ray image data of the one or more liquid products to determine if the one or more liquid products are a security threat. - View Dependent Claims (39, 40, 41)
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42. A method for performing security screening of a liquid product at a security checkpoint, comprising;
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1) placing the liquid product in a tray which has a reference area; 2) performing an X-ray inspection of the tray holding the liquid product; 3) comparing the X-ray signature of the liquid product to the X-ray signature of the reference area; 4) determining a threat status associated with the liquid product based at least in part on results obtained by comparing the X-ray signature of the liquid product to the X-ray signature of the reference area, the threat status conveying whether the liquid product is a security threat. - View Dependent Claims (43, 44, 45, 46)
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47. A security screening system suitable for determining if a liquid product presents a security threat, the liquid product being comprised of a container holding a liquid, the screening system comprising:
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1) an input for receiving image data conveying an image depicting the liquid product and depicting a reference area, the image data being produced by subjecting the liquid product and the reference area to penetrating radiation; 2) a logic module for; i) deriving from the image data a signature to penetrating radiation of the liquid held in the liquid product; ii) processing the image data to derive a signature to penetrating radiation of the reference area; iii) comparing the derived signature to penetrating radiation of the liquid held in the liquid product to the derived signature to penetrating radiation of the reference area; iv) processing the image data at least in part based on results obtained in iii) to derive a threat status associated with the liquid product, the derived threat status conveying whether the liquid product poses a security threat. - View Dependent Claims (48, 49, 50, 51, 52)
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Specification