Patent Application
20160117630
The present disclosure relates to a system and method for identifying orphaned packages.
In the transportation and logistics market, reliable and on-time delivery of packages and parcels is important for both the financial and reputational stability of a company, especially for organizations such as United Parcel Service (UPS), Federal Express, and DHL. However, the high volume of packages passing through transit points inevitably leads to cases in which packages are lost. This results in reduced customer satisfaction and perhaps financial penalties. Because packages are tracked using barcodes and/or shipping labels that are affixed to the package, failure cases arise when those labels are inadvertently removed or are damaged beyond recognition. Such parcels, where shipping labels are either removed or unrecognizable, can be referred to as “orphaned” packages. A package that misses a scan at a transit point and ends up at an unexpected location, even if it has a label, may also be deemed an orphaned package.
In the following description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration specific embodiments which may be practiced. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention, and it is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and that structural, electrical, and optical changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. The following description of example embodiments is, therefore, not to be taken in a limited sense, and the scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims.
The inventors of the current disclosure have had discussions with one or more shipping companies, and the inventors have been informed by the shipping companies that there is a commercial need for a system which identifies orphaned packages.
In an embodiment, a system uses cameras and measuring tools to determine identifying characteristics of an orphaned package, and compares these characteristics to imagery and/or waybill information (size, weight, etc.) of other packages in the company's database. Because many parcels are nearly identical (e.g., brown cardboard in standard sizes), it is not expected that these identifiers will produce a unique determination of the orphaned package's identity. Instead, these characteristics are used to generate a list of candidate packages. The list of candidate packages includes the true parcel (i.e., the orphaned package because it is in the company's database) along with many other parcels. The key to unique identification of the orphaned package is that the other parcels on the candidate list are not orphaned. The other parcels are scanned after the orphaned package is enrolled onto the orphan list—either on a conveyor belt as the packages move through the package distribution facility or as the package goes out of the facility. In either case, non-orphaned packages are scanned into the system at least once by the end of a shift (package distribution facilities typically operate at night, so the end of the shift is in the morning). The system eliminates parcels from the list of candidate packages as they are subsequently scanned, and by the end of the shift, the true identity of the orphaned package should exist on a short list of packages that never left the facility.
In an embodiment, the system includes a camera to record visual features of the orphaned package, along with measuring devices such as a scale (for weight) and range sensors and/or tape measures (for size and shape). Imagery from the camera is used to compute visual features (e.g., using scale invariant feature transform (SIFT) or speeded up robust features (SURF)), which should be invariant to affine transformations. Tape, labels, writing, and creases bear edges that form a signature for each face of a package. Descriptors, such as shape contexts, characterize the edge information. Representations of these features, along with weight and size information, are combined into a feature vector. That feature vector is used with a discriminative hash function to determine a candidate set of packages which have been checked into the facility. The system has access to the shipping company's database, presumed to contain (at least) size and weight information of packages, and containing imagery of the package.
An example embodiment of a system to identify orphaned packages in a package shipping facility is illustrated in
As noted above, at times a package will become orphaned in the shipping facility because, for example, the identifying information on the package (names, addresses, bar code, etc.) becomes damaged or destroyed. In such a case, data relating to the orphaned package must be collected. Referring to
The orphaned package data stored in database 170 is compared to the package data in database 160, which contains the package data for all other packages in the shipping facility or distribution center. If a package 110 in the database 160 is similar enough to the data of the orphaned package 210, the data for that package is placed on a candidate list 180.
After the creation of the candidate list, all other packages are identified at some point in the distribution facility as those other packages travel through the distribution facility. For example, as packages move through a particular section of the shipping facility, such as on a conveyor belt 320 as illustrated in
In an embodiment, the system includes a plurality of video sensing devices. The plurality of video sensing devices is configured to track packages as the packages travel through a package distribution facility. The data captured by the plurality of video sensing devices can further be used to identify orphaned packages.
Referring first to
At 430, the system receives scan data relating to a plurality of other packages, and at 432, the system modifies the list of candidate packages as a function of the scan data. At 434, the system identifies the plurality of other packages by scanning the plurality of other packages as the plurality of other packages pass through a distribution facility. At 436, the system compares the identified other packages to packages on the list of candidate packages, and at 438, the system removes an identified other package from the list of candidate packages when the identified other package is scanned within the distribution facility.
Block 440 indicates that the data associated with the orphaned package includes weight data, video data, range data, three dimensional data, measurement data, and/or features derived from these data. At 442, the system places the weight data, video data, range data, three dimensional data, measurement data, and/or features derived from these data into a vector, and at 444, and the system executes a discriminative hash function on the vector to determine the other packages that are to be placed on the list of candidate packages.
Block 450 indicates that the data associated with the orphaned package includes dimension data received from a laser curtain scanner configured to scan packages on a conveyor belt.
At 460, the system stores in a lost and found database the data associated with the orphaned package when the orphaned package was not identified as a function of the list of candidate packages. At 465, the system searches the lost and found database in response to a customer inquiry for a package.
Referring now to
At 535, other packages passing through a distribution facility are identified. At 540, the identified other packages are compared to packages on the list of candidate packages. At 545, an identified other package is removed from the list of candidate packages when the identified other package appears on the list of candidate packages. At 550, the orphan package is narrowed down to a very small list when only a few packages remain on the list of candidate packages. In some cases, the orphaned package may be the only package remaining on the candidate list.
It should be understood that there exist implementations of other variations and modifications of the invention and its various aspects, as may be readily apparent, for example, to those of ordinary skill in the art, and that the invention is not limited by specific embodiments described herein. Features and embodiments described above may be combined with each other in different combinations. It is therefore contemplated to cover any and all modifications, variations, combinations or equivalents that fall within the scope of the present invention.
The Abstract is provided to comply with 37 C.F.R. §1.72(b) and will allow the reader to quickly ascertain the nature and gist of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims.
In the foregoing description of the embodiments, various features are grouped together in a single embodiment for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure. This method of disclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting that the claimed embodiments have more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive subject matter lies in less than all features of a single disclosed embodiment. Thus the following claims are hereby incorporated into the Description of the Embodiments, with each claim standing on its own as a separate example embodiment.
