Patent Application
20250131543
The present invention relates to system and method for object measurements, in particular system and method for object measurements of carry-on bags intended to be carry on a cabinet of an airplane.
The check-in process at airports enables passengers to check-in luggage or bags onto a plane and to obtain a boarding pass. When presenting at the check-in counter, a passenger will provide evidence of the right to travel, such as a ticket, visa, or electronic means. Each airline provides facilities for passengers to check-in their luggage. This may be by way of airline-employed staff at check-in counters at airports or through an agency arrangement or by way of a self-service kiosk. The luggage is placed on a conveyor, tagged and weighed. The conveyor then usually feeds the luggage into the main baggage handling system. The luggage goes into the aircraft's cargo hold. The check-in staff then issues each passenger with a boarding pass.
Carry-on bags refer to the type of luggage that passengers are allowed to carry along in the passenger compartment of a vehicle such as but not limited to airplanes cabinets. Passengers are allowed to carry a limited number of smaller bags with them in the passenger compartment, which typically contain valuables and items needed during the journey. There is normally storage space provided for hand luggage, either under seating, or in overhead lockers.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) sets guidelines for cabin baggage/hand, luggage/carry-on, luggage size. The guidelines are not mandatory, however, and individual airlines can and do vary their requirements. The IATA guideline at one time stated for example that carry-on bags should have a maximum length of 56 cm, width of 45 cm and depth of 25 cm including all handles, side pockets, wheels etc.
The actual size and weight limits of carry-on bags can differ widely in some cases they are dependent on the aircraft model being used; in other cases, it depends on the booking class. Due to the lack of standardization many different specifications were created by the airlines on the maximum permitted carry-on bags restrictions.
If the passenger carry-on exceeds the maximum allowed baggage size, then the airline will probably will not allowed the passenger to carry-on the baggage to the airplane cabinet. This will lead the passenger to check again his baggage and delaying the check-in which is the process whereby people announce their arrival at an airport.
Therefore, there is a need for a system and method for measuring objects that can be carry-on airplane cabinet. Such issues are addressed for example in U.S. Pat. No. 10,885,655 and U.S. Pat. No. 9,518,861.
U.S. Pat. No. 10,885,655 describes systems and methods for object measurement. One embodiment of the invention includes a system including a processor, a memory in communication with the processor, an input device, and an image capture device, wherein the processor obtains image data using the image capture device in response to input received from the input device indicating that image data should be captured, identifies a set of feature points within the obtained image data, completes the obtaining of the image data based on the set of feature points identified and in response to input received from the input device indicating that image data should no longer be captured, generates a model based on the set of feature points, measures the generated model with respect to a reference plane, and provides an indication of the measured size of the generated model.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,518,861 describes a system for controlling and verifying the size and weight of a piece of carry-on luggage. In one embodiment, one or more database servers is configured for selectively storing data related to one or more of the luggage, one or more passengers in possession of the luggage, a transportation vehicle on which the passenger plans to travel, and a transportation hub from which the transportation vehicle is to depart. One or more luggage devices are in selective communication with the one or more database servers and includes a receptacle configured for removable receipt of the luggage the receptacle formed having a bottom, a back wall, and an at least one side wall and at least one verification device integral with the receptacle for determination of at least one of a height, depth, width, weight, and identification information associated with the luggage.
One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a system and method for measuring objects that can be carry-on in an airplane cabinet.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a system and method for applying accurate size measurements of a potential carry-on luggage.
Yet another object of the present invention is to simplify and improve the measurement process and shorten the processing time of the measurement results.
The present invention relates to system and method for object measurements, in particular system and method for object measurements of carry-on bags.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention there is provided a system for object measurement including, one or more user devices having: one or more cameras, one or more modules performing one or more tasks, one or more memory units for storing, loading, and/or maintain the one or more modules. The user device further having one or more processors interpreting and/or executing computer-readable instructions. In the processor access and/or modify and execute the at least one or more modules stored in the memory. The one or more communications units used to communicate with one or more communication networks. The device also includes a user interface. The system further includes one or more reference object with predetermine known size. One or more of the cameras take picture of the one or more reference object and the one or more measurement objects. The one or more modules used for identifying the referenced object. The one or more modules used for identifying the measurement object. The one or more modules used for calculating the size of the measured object utilizing the predetermine known size of the referenced object detection.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention there is provided a method for object measurement having one or more user devices with one or more cameras, the one or more user devices communicating over a communication network and one or more databases communicating with the user device over the communication network including the steps of placing one or more object references and object measurements aligned to one another. Taking at least one picture of one or more object measurements and the one or more reference objects by the user device camera. Applying a machine learning (ML) algorithm for detecting objects in the one or more one taken pictures. Applying an algorithm to identify the referenced object in the at least one picture. Applying an algorithm to identify the measured object in the at least one picture. Calculating the size of the measured object relative to predetermine known size of one or more referenced object detections. If the size of one or more measured objects is bigger than the size of a predetermine object size one or more measured objects is not confirmed, otherwise one or more measured objects is confirmed.
The invention may be understood upon reading of the following detailed description of non-limiting exemplary embodiments thereof, with reference to the following drawings, in which:
The following detailed description of the invention refers to the accompanying drawings referred to above. Dimensions of components and features shown in the figures are chosen for convenience or clarity of presentation and are not necessarily shown to scale. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings and the following description to refer to the same and like parts.
The present invention relates to system and method for object measurements, in particular system and method for object measurements of carry-on bags. Type of users that can be use the system and method of the present invention are for example airlines admin workers, one or more managers/workers of ground airport handling agents, airline-employed staff at check-in counters at airports or through an agency arrangement or by way of a self-service kiosk, airlines subcontract ground handling to airports, handling agents or even to another airline. Ground handling addresses the many service requirements of an airliner between the time it arrives at a terminal gate and the time it departs on its next flight.
Referring to
A user 250 that is authorized to do so such as for example an admin user, may also enter or load the flight(s) data such as but not limited to flight number, date of flight, hour of flight (the application of the invention will automatically compute the opening of the boarding flight according to the flight hour that will be entered or otherwise can be loaded from a data file). The user 250 if authorized to do so, can also enter in the application of the invention the flight data from one destination (country of origin) to another destination (destination country). The user, if authorized to do so, can also enter the dimensions of allowed carry-on bag that can be entered to the airplane cabinet, such as the bag length width and bag depth. The details of airline-employed staff are also entered to the application of the invention such as employ's first and last name, employ's username, and password.
When the airline-employed staff reaches to the check-in counter at the airport, one or more application users, for example, airline-employed staff request access from the application of the system 200 of the invention for allowing to enter data about the potential carry-on bags that will potentially allowed to get into the cabinet of planes regarding to the flights that the employee is assigned to. The handling manager of the employee may approve in the application of the invention the employee's work and the manager can verifies that the employee is indeed assigned to the flights to which he requests access and approved accordingly. The handling manager agent can enter in the database 210 of the application of the invention the allowed handling workers that can enter and view data about the flight passengers and their carry-on bag(s).
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Examples of physical processor 206 may include, without limitation, microprocessors, microcontrollers, central processing units (CPUs), Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) that implement softcore processors, Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), portions of one or more of the same, variations or combinations of one or more of the same, or any other suitable physical processor.
As also illustrated in in
User device such as devices 220 generally represents any type or form of computing device capable of reading and/or executing computer-executable instructions. In at least one embodiment, user device 220 may accept one or more directions from database servers 210 and 212. Examples of user device 220 include, without limitation, servers, desktops, laptops, tablets, cellular phones, (e.g., smartphones), personal digital assistants (PDAs), multimedia players, embedded systems, wearable devices (e.g., smart watches, smart glasses, etc.), gaming consoles, combinations of one or more of the same, or any other suitable mobile computing device.
Communication network 230 generally represents any medium or architecture capable of facilitating communication and/or data transfer between user device 220 and/or data servers 210 and 212. Examples of communication network 230 include, without limitation, an intranet, a wide-area network (WAN), a local area network (LAN), a personal area network (PAN), the Internet, Power Line Communications (PLC), a cellular network (e.g., a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) network, a code-division multiple access (CDMA) network, a Long-Term Evolution (LTE) network, etc.), universal serial bus (USB) connections, and the like. Network 230 may facilitate communication or data transfer using wireless or wired connections. In at least one embodiment, network 230 may facilitate communication between user device 220 and servers 210 and 212.
Database servers 210 and 212 generally represents any type or form of computing device capable of reading and/or executing computer-executable instructions and/or hosting executables. Examples of servers 210 and 212 include, without limitation, application servers, storage servers, database servers, web servers, cloud servers, and/or any other suitable computing device configured to run certain software applications and/or provide various application, storage, and/or database services.
In at least one example, user device 220 and servers 210 and 212 may be computing devices programmed with one or more modules. All or a portion of the functionality of the modules may be performed by user device 220, servers 212, 210, and/or any other suitable computing system. As will be described in greater detail below, one or more of modules for example such as modules 202 may, when executed by at least one processor of user device 220, enable several functions that will be described later in more detail. As detailed above, the computing devices and systems described and/or illustrated herein broadly represent any type or form of computing device or system capable of executing computer-readable instructions, such as those contained within the modules described herein. In their most basic configuration, these computing device(s) may each include at least one memory device and at least one physical processor.
Although illustrated as separate elements, the modules described and/or illustrated herein may represent portions of a single module or application. In addition, in certain embodiments one or more of these modules may represent one or more software applications or programs that, when executed by a computing device, may cause the computing device to perform one or more tasks. For example, one or more of the modules described and/or illustrated herein may represent modules stored and configured to run on one or more of the computing devices or systems described and/or illustrated herein. One or more of these modules may also represent all or portions of one or more special-purpose computers configured to perform one or more tasks.
In addition, one or more of the modules described herein may transform data, physical devices, and/or representations of physical devices from one form to another. Additionally, or alternatively, one or more of the modules recited herein may transform a processor, volatile memory, non-volatile memory, and/or any other portion of a physical computing device from one form to another by executing on the computing device, storing data on the computing device, and/or otherwise interacting with the computing device.
The term “computer-readable medium,” as used herein, generally refers to any form of device, carrier, or medium capable of storing or carrying computer-readable instructions. Examples of computer-readable media include, without limitation, transmission-type media, such as carrier waves, and non-transitory-type media, such as magnetic-storage media (e.g., hard disk drives, tape drives, and floppy disks), optical-storage media (e.g., Compact Disks (CDs), Digital Video Disks (DVDs), and BLU-RAY disks), electronic-storage media (e.g., solid-state drives and flash media), and other distribution systems.
The process parameters and sequence of the steps described and/or illustrated herein are given by way of example only and can be varied as desired. For example, while the steps illustrated and/or described herein may be shown or discussed in a particular order, these steps do not necessarily need to be performed in the order illustrated or discussed. The various exemplary methods described and/or illustrated herein may also omit one or more of the steps described or illustrated herein or include additional steps in addition to those disclosed.
The preceding description has been provided to enable others skilled in the art to best utilize various aspects of the exemplary embodiments disclosed herein. This exemplary description is not intended to be exhaustive or to be limited to any precise form disclosed. Many modifications and variations are possible without departing from the spirit and scope of the instant disclosure. The embodiments disclosed herein should be considered in all respects illustrative and not restrictive. Reference should be made to the appended claims and their equivalents in determining the scope of the instant disclosure.
Referring also to
One of the benefits of the present invention is that the measurements result in associate with the measured object and the time it is processed the picture taken by camera 240 are more accurate and faster than known in the art augmented reality techniques to measure an unknown size of suitcases and bags because of the use of a physical reference two- or three-dimensional object and its comparison to the size of the measured object in the real world. More detail description about the method to measure measured object in accordance with the present invention will be described later.
Another benefit of the present invention is that the method of the present invention is easier and simpler to the user 250 for knowing the size of the three-dimensional measured object. The user 250 for example don't need to walk and circle around the measured object and take multiple photos in different angles or scan the measured object to know the actual size of the measured object 102.
Yet another benefit of the present invention is that airlines or companies that provide ground services to airlines could make more money at the counter by selling the service that checks if the measured object is small enough if yes, the object can enter to the airplane cabinet.
Yet in another benefit of the present invention each airline company will know how much money the application of the size measurement services is made for the company on flights and one or more data reports about the measurement results, that will be described later in more detail. The reports can be generated for analysis and decision making.
Referring to
In step 602 placing the measured object 102 to be aligned with the reference object 350. In step 604 taking one or more pictures by camera 240 of the two object 350 and 102. In the preferred embodiments of the present invention two camera pictures are needed for each view, for example top and side view. In step 606 applying a machine learning (ML) algorithm for detecting objects in a picture. One example of such algorithm may be Mask R-CNN which is a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) regarding image segmentation. This variant of a Deep Neural Network detects objects in an image and generates a high-quality segmentation mask for each instance. A Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) is a type of artificial neural network used in image recognition and processing that is optimized to process pixel data. Therefore, Convolutional Neural Networks are the fundamental and basic building blocks for the computer vision task of image segmentation (CNN segmentation). The Convolutional Neural Network Architecture consists of three main layers:
In step 608 applying another algorithm to identify the referenced object. In step 610 applying another algorithm to identify the objects in picture(s). In step 612 applying another algorithm to identify the measured object. In step 614, calculating the size of the measured object relative to predetermine known size of the referenced object detection. In step 616, isolate or cut editing of the picture(s) to have in the picture the measured object without the referenced object. In addition, adding size measurements layer on the edited picture(s) for example as shown in
Management interface of airlines companies in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention may include the following options:
Management interface of the airline's companies' handlers in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention may include the following options:
Referring to
An exemplary work interface web pages of a device user 250 is shown schematically in
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It should be understood that the above description is merely exemplary and that there are various embodiments of the present invention that may be devised, mutatis mutandis, and that the features described in the above-described embodiments, and those not described herein, may be used separately or in any suitable combination; and the invention can be devised in accordance with embodiments not necessarily described above.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 288740 | Dec 2021 | IL | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/IL2022/051278 | 11/30/2022 | WO |
