X-ray inspection system that integrates manifest data with imaging/detection processing

• US 9,632,206 B2
• Filed: 06/15/2015
• Issued: 04/25/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/07/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rapiscan Systems Incorporated (OSI Systems Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Rapiscan Systems Incorporated (OSI Systems Incorporated)
• Inventors: Parikh, Shehul Sailesh, Sankaranarayaran, Balamurugan, Abel, Jeffrey Bryan, Kumar, Siva, Bendahan, Joseph
• Primary Examiner(s): Harandi, Siamak
• Application Number:
  US14/739,329
• Publication Number:
  US 20160097877A1
• Time in Patent Office: 680 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01V 5/22 Active interrogation, i.e. by irradiating objects or goods using external radiation sources, e.g. using gamma rays or cosmic rays
• CPC Class Codes: G01V 5/271 using a network, e.g. a remote expert, accessing remote data or the like
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0838 Historical data
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10116 X-ray image
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30248 Vehicle exterior or interior
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/0004 Industrial image inspection
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/001 using an image reference approach
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/194 using image scanning and comparing systems

Abstract

The present specification discloses systems and methods for integrating manifest data for cargo and light vehicles with their X-ray images generated during scanning. Manifest data is automatically imported into the system for each shipment, and helps the security personnel to quickly determine the contents of cargo. In case of a mismatch between cargo contents shown by manifest data and the X-ray images, the cargo may be withheld for further inspection. In one embodiment, the process of analyzing the X-ray image of the cargo in conjunction with the manifest data is automated.

Claims

1. A method for inspecting cargo and vehicles, comprising:

scanning a cargo container or vehicle at a service post using an X-ray system;

importing manifest data into a server, wherein the manifest data is associated with the cargo or vehicle being scanned and associated with a cargo code;

generating a scan image of the cargo;

associating the manifest data and cargo code with the scan image;

using a routing application, routing an analysis of the scan image to a server, wherein said routing is based on metadata that is indicative of inspection queue lengths, workload, and contention time;

using said server, computing a first plurality of features from the scan image;

using said server and based on the cargo code, extracting a second plurality of features stored in a database; and

comparing said first plurality of features from the scan image to the second plurality of features stored in the database to determine if contents of the cargo or vehicle correspond to a same cargo type as specified in the manifest data.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining whether a threat item or alarm condition is present.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein a result of said comparing is reported to the service post.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein each scan image is associated with a unique identifier before transmission from the service post to a regional center.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the scan images, its associated unique identifier and manifest data, and results of said comparing are stored in the database.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising computing features of the contents from the scan image, wherein said features include attenuation, texture, cargo height, density and atomic number.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein comparing further comprises comparing the first plurality of features from the scan image with features associated with historically stored images.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first plurality of features are associated with said cargo code.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising segregating the scan image according to cargo types, if the cargo is associated with more than one cargo code.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein each segregated part of the scan image is compared to historically stored images associated with a corresponding cargo code.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising automatically comparing said scan image to historically stored images.

12. A system for scanning cargo and vehicles, the system comprising:

at least one X-ray unit for performing a non-intrusive X-ray scan and at least one server, wherein the at least one X-ray unit is configured to generate a scan image of contents within the cargo or vehicle, wherein the at least one server comprises an application configured to import manifest data of said contents and associate the manifest data with the scan image and a routing application, and wherein the routing application is configured to allocate an analysis of the scan image; and

a plurality of servers configured to receive the scan images and associated manifest data from the at least one server and determine from the scan images if the contents of the cargo or vehicle are of the same type as specified in the manifest data, wherein each of the plurality of servers is configured to transmit metadata that is indicative of inspection queue lengths, workload, and contention time to the routing application, wherein the routing application is configured to allocate said analysis based upon said metadata, wherein at least one of the plurality of servers receives the scan image with the manifest data from the at least one server based upon the allocation, and wherein the at least one of the plurality of servers is configured to compute a plurality of features from the scan image and, based on a code associated with the scan image, compare said plurality of features from the scan image to a plurality of features stored in a database.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein each scan image is associated with a unique identifier before transmission from the at least one server to the plurality of servers.

14. The system of claim 13, further comprising a database configured to store the scan image, its associated unique identifiers and manifest data.