Patent Application
20140355384
1. Prior Art
The following is a tabulation of some prior art that presently appears relevant:
2. Background of the Invention
This System and Method provides a means to identify if there are hidden materials within a container, such as an automobile. Automobiles are often used for transporting illegal and contraband materials such as illegal drugs, cash from illegal activities, untaxed goods, counterfeit goods, and other contraband. Automobiles can also be used as weapons when explosive materials are hidden within them. This System and Method provides a means to identify if there are hidden materials within an automobile, and provides advantages over the prior art.
Several methods use radiation to examine a vehicle and determine if there are hidden materials. One system uses dual energy X-ray CT scanning to examine objects and determine what kinds of materials are within the objects, including objects that are vehicles. The disadvantages of this system is that the apparatus to generate the dual energy is large and not readily mobile, and requires considerable effort to move from one location to another. Also this system requires a large and significant source of electricity to power the dual energy X-ray generating devices that are used to examine the objects. The dual energy X-ray radiation also poses a health risk to persons who may be exposed to it, so that it cannot be used to examine a vehicle if there are persons within the vehicle.
Another method uses a first substructure and a second substructure and the vehicle must be positioned between the substructures, and then ultrasonic sound is used to examine the vehicle and determine if there are objects within the vehicle. The disadvantage of this method is that it requires two separate structures that the vehicle must be driven between and the substructures themselves are not readily mobile and easy to carry by a single person.
One method used to detect contraband uses Infrared Light to examine a vehicle and detect certain analytes of material, Analyte Detection with Infrared Light. The infrared light is tuned to excite certain kinds of particles so that it can be configured to detect certain materials, such as those contained within explosive substances. To examine an entire vehicle at one time, requires a large number of infrared light sources as part of a large apparatus. The method is not readily mobile. Also this method cannot be used to determine if there are materials hidden within the hollow cavities of an automobile, such as the hollow space within the door of an automobile, where infrared light cannot penetrate without dismantling the door.
Another method, Vehicle Security Inspection System, uses a large apparatus and a conveyer belt that the vehicle is driven upon and then the conveyer belt is used to ferry the automobile past sensors of different types to detect contraband within the automobile. The permanent installation version of this method is large and not readily moveable from one location to another. A conveyer belt large enough to transport and carry an entire automobile cannot be carried by a single person from one location to another.
One method, Motor Vehicle Screening Apparatus and Method, relies on large, heavy machines to weigh the vehicle and compare the weight of the vehicle to that of an empty vehicle of the same type, to determine if the vehicle has additional materials in it. This is a large machine not readily moveable and takes a significant amount of time to prepare and deploy. The method uses an apparatus that is not readily mobile, and cannot be moved from one location to another by a single person.
Also, all of these methods do not automatically come with a connection to the internet that allows the methods to retrieve and send data to a central computer server connected to the internet. A significant effort would be required to setup these methods to report the results of their deployment and usage to a central computer server connected to the internet.
The object of this invention is to provide a system and method to determine if there are hidden materials within an automobile, or vehicle. It uses an Android mobile telephone, a mobile telephone that runs the Android operating system, to implement the system and method, and a custom software application that runs on and controls the Android telephone. Some examples of Android mobile phones include the Motorola Droid line of phones, Samsung Galaxy line of phones, the HTC One, and LG Android phones.
By measuring the frequency of vibration with which a surface of the automobile vibrates, and comparing it to the frequency of vibration for that particular kind of automobile when it is empty of hidden materials, it can be determined if there are hidden materials within the automobile. The mass of an object affects the frequency of vibration, when an automobile has hidden materials within it, it adds mass to the automobile and causes the frequency of vibration of different surfaces of the automobile to change.
Most Android phones contain all of the necessary components to implement this system and method, A computer processor chip and memory chips that allow a computer operating system and software to run on the phone. An accelerometer, an electronic device that measures vibration and motion. A vibrator that cause the Android phone to vibrate. A computer operating system, Android, that manages the components of the Android phone and allows for the development of custom software using the Android Java programming language. SQLite, a computer database library that allows for the storage and retrieval of data using a software application. A touch screen display that allows the Android phone user to control the Android and software that runs on it. A Global Positioning System (GPS) sensor that allows the latitude and longitude location of the Android phone to be determined. A connection to the internet using the cellular communications network the Android phone uses, and/or a connection to the internet using a wireless internet router, known as WiFi. A battery that serves as the source of electricity for all of the components within the Android phone, and also the Android phone can be connected to a wall outlet source of electricity.
The Android phone is small and lightweight, and can be transported by a single person without difficulty. It also has a battery that allows for the Android phone to be used for several hours when fully charged, without the need of being plugged in to a wall outlet source of electricity.
This system and method is implemented using the Android phone by the following steps (a) Data about the automobile being inspected is entered into the Android phone using the touch screen of the Android phone (b) a long side of the phone is placed against the part of the automobile being inspected (c) User clicks a button on the touch screen of the phone that causes the phone to vibrate and apply energy to the surface of the automobile, and cause that surface to vibrate (d) The accelerometer contained within the phone measures the vibration (e) The custom phone software compares the vibration value to that of the vehicle when it is empty and determines if there is a significant difference, that may indicate hidden materials (f) A simple PASS or FAIL message is displayed to the user depending on the results of the test (g) The results of the test are stored by the application software in a computer database and reported by webservice to the central internet server, where the deployment of this system and method across a geographic area can be monitored from a central location.
FIG. 1—a flowchart that shows the basic steps of using this system and method
FIG. 2—a flowchart that shows the process of when the phone vibrates and measures vibration
FIG. 3—a flowchart that shows the process when one of the checkbox options is checked
FIG. 4—a flowchart that shows the process of the update option of the admin screen
FIG. 5—a flowchart that shows the process of the clear readings option of the admin screen
FIG. 6—a flowchart that shows the process of the import baseline option of the admin screen
FIG. 7—a flowchart that shows the process of the import simple baseline option of the admin screen
FIG. 8—the button options of the start screen of the software application
FIG. 9—the button options of the auto color screen
FIG. 10—the button options of the auto type screen
FIG. 11—the button options of the auto part screen
FIG. 12—the button options of the test auto screen
FIG. 13—the button options of the admin login screen
FIG. 14—the button options of the administration screen
The following description is of the best mode presently contemplated of practicing the invention.
Solid surfaces, including surfaces of metal, vibrate with a frequency of vibration when energy is applied to that surface, such as a tap or strike with another solid object. The following mathematical formula shows how the exact frequency of vibration, fn, is determined, the formula uses the number value K, the elastic constant, and the mass of the object, M, to determine the exact frequency of vibration. When K stays the same for the particular surface but mass M changes, the frequency of vibration also changes. Thus changes in mass of an object also cause changes in the frequency of vibration of that particular object. This is the basis of this invention and how it is used to determine if there are hidden materials within an object, when the object is an automobile.
By applying energy to the surface of an automobile, and causing that surface to vibrate, then measuring the frequency of vibration, and then comparing that frequency of vibration to the known frequency of vibration for that automobile when the automobile is empty of hidden materials or contraband, it can be determined if there are hidden materials or contraband within the automobile. Most automobiles contain hollow cavities where materials can be hidden, such as the hollow cavity between the outside surface of an automobile door and the inside surface of that automobile door, hidden materials in this hollow cavity affect the mass M of the surface of the door, causing it to vibrate with a different frequency than when that hollow cavity is empty. The same process can be applied to other parts of the automobile. Also, when a significant object of a certain size is contained anywhere within the automobile, it will affect the frequency of vibration of all surfaces of the automobile. This is the basis of this system and method and how it uses vibration to determine if there are hidden materials within an automobile.
Most Android mobile telephones provide all of the components needed to implement this system and method. The components are listed here. A computer processor chip and computer memory chips. An accelerometer. An electronic vibrator. A touch screen interface. A computer operating system. A computer database. A global positioning system (GPS) sensor. Electronic components that connect to the internet through cellular communications network. Electronic components that connect to the internet through a wireless internet router, or Wifi. A custom software application that allows the user of the Android phone to examine an automobile and determine if there are hidden materials within the automobile by comparing the vibration value of the surface of an automobile to the known vibration value of an automobile free of contraband and hidden materials.
The Android mobile telephone contains a computer processor chip and computer memory chips that allow for software to operate on the phone and manage all of the components of the phone. The Android phone has a computer operating system software installed on it called Android that provides for many features on the phone, including the management of the components of the phone, making phone calls, sending text messages, allowing for users to interact with the operating system using a touch screen interface, and allows for the running of custom software applications that are written using the Android Java programming language, a derivative of the Java programming language. Android Java software for the Android phone is created using the Eclipse development environment and the Android Developer Tools which are provided by Google, Inc.
The Android phone contains an accelerometer, an electronic sensor that measures vibration. This electronic component can be accessed using Android Java software. The rate of vibration measured by the accelerometer can be read by the software and stored in a variable to be used within the software. Most Android phones contain an accelerometer.
The Android phone contains an electronic vibrator that causes the Android phone to vibrate. All Android phones contain an electronic vibrator. Normally this is used to put the Android phone in a “silent” mode so that the phone does not make a noise when receiving an incoming call or incoming text message, instead the phone vibrates. This electronic component can be accessed and controlled using Android Java software. It can be used to apply energy to the surface of an automobile and cause the surface of the automobile to vibrate.
The Android phone contains a touch screen interface which allows the user to interact and control the Android phone. Screens, or Activities, can be developed using Android Java and XML and customized to work with software running on the Android phone.
The Android phone contains a database library called SQLite, which allows for the creation of computer databases which are accessed and controlled using the Structured Query Language (SQL) computer language standard. SQLite databases allow for the storage and retrieval of computer data and can be implemented using the Android Java programming language.
Most Android phones also contain a global positioning system (GPS) sensor that can determine the Latitude and Longitude location of the Android phone using the GPS Satellite network. Data from this GPS sensor can be accessed using Android Java software.
The Android phone contains components that allow it to connect to the internet through the cellular communications network that handles phone calls and text messages coming from and going to an Android phone. An Android phone can also connect to the internet through a wireless internet router where such a router is available and within proximity of the Android phone. This is often referred to as WiFi. Data can be sent and retrieved from the internet using Android Java software.
Before this system and method can be used to determine if hidden materials are contained within an automobile, a database must be built that contains the vibration values of empty automobiles to be used as the baseline for vibration comparisons. A part of this invention allows for this task to be done.
The vibration measurement of an empty automobile is called the BASELINE reading. For this invention, there are two kinds of baseline readings, the regular baseline reading, and the simple baseline reading. A regular baseline reading applies to a manufacturer/make of automobile, type of automobile, and part of automobile. A simple baseline reading applies to a type of automobile and part of the automobile, but is not differentiated by the manufacturer/make of the automobile. The regular baseline reading can be the empty vehicle vibration measurement for a chevrolet car door, where the simple baseline reading can be the empty vehicle vibration measurement for a car door, a simpler differentiation, and so is called the simple baseline.
The baseline and simple baseline readings are stored in the Android phone computer database. The regular baseline reading is stored in a database table called BASELINE, and the simple baseline reading is stored in a database table called SIMPLEBASELINE. These two tables have the following structure and columns.
BASELINE table
ROWID, an integer value to identify single row of data that is automatically incremented with new data
MANUFACTURER, a text field containing the name of the automobile Manufacturer/Make
TYPE, a text field containing the type of automobile (car, sport utility vehicle, van, or truck)
PART, a text field containing the auto part (door, bumper, quarter panel, trunk, fuel tank, dashboard)
BASELINEREADING, a real field that stores a floating point number, for the frequency of vibration
SIMPLEBASELINE table
ROWID, an integer value to identify single row of data that is automatically incremented with new data
TYPE, a text field containing the type of automobile (car, sport utility vehicle, van, or truck)
PART, a text field containing the auto part (door, bumper, quarter panel, trunk, fuel tank, dashboard)
BASELINEREADING, a real field that stores a floating point number, for the frequency of vibration
The computer database used by this invention also has several other tables. A tabled called OWNERINFO that contains a KeyID, or a randomly generated number used to be the unique identifier of a particular phone. A table called TOLERANCE that is used to store the tolerance value of vibration measurements by the accelerometer. Not every measure of vibration of the surface of an automobile will be the exact same value, there will be a variance of measurements and the tolerance is used to determine the range of that variance. Also there is a database table called READINGS, which is used to store the information from a single test of an automobile. These tables have the following structure.
ROWID, an integer value to identify single row of data that is automatically incremented with new data
KEYID, an integer number for the unique identifier for a particular phone
ROWID, an integer value to identify single row of data that is automatically incremented with new data
TOLERANCE, a real value, a floating point number to be used as the variance of vibration values
ROWID, an integer value to identify single row of data that is automatically incremented with new data
DATETIME, text field, the data and time of the test of the automobile
LATITUDE, real field, floating point number, latitude location of the phone during auto tes
LONGITUDE, real field, floating point number, longitude location of the phone during auto test
MANUFACTURER, text field, the manufacturer/make of the automobile being tested
COLOR, text field, the color of the automobile being tested
TYPE, text field, the type of automobile being tested (car, suv, etc.)
PART, text field, the part of automobile being tested (bumper, door, etc.)
AVERAGEREADING, real field, the average vibration of the auto surface during the test
PASSFAIL, text field, the results of the test of the auto, either PASS or FAIL.
The database tables are created and maintained in an Android Java class called DatabaseDataSource, which is used to contain all of the common database operations that will be performed on the database, and allows for reusability of software so software does not have to be duplicated needlessly each place in the software that it is used.
The steps to implement this system and method using the Android phone and the custom software application are listed in brief here, and then in more detail afterwards.
The detailed process using this invention to do a test of an automobile is composed of the following steps:
A method by which the baseline readings of an empty automobile can be inserted into the application database can be done in one of two different ways. One way is to exercise one of the checkbox options on the bottom of the screen where the INITIATE TEST button is also located (
Baseline readings should only be set when there is absolute certainty that the automobile being tested is free of hidden or contraband materials. Checkbox options are outlined in the flowchart in
When checkbox options are enabled and checked, no test of the automobile is done to determine if there is contraband or hidden materials in the automobile, instead the average vibration reading is used as a regular baseline and/or simple baseline reading (left and center checkbox options), or the average vibration value is displayed to the user instead of a generic PASS or FAIL message (right checkbox option).
During the test of the automobile, if the left checkbox option is checked, then the results of the test are used to set the regular baseline reading for that Manufacturer, Type, and Part of vehicle. The average reading of vibration measured while the phone was vibrating and was held against the surface of the automobile is placed into the application database as the regular baseline reading, for that particular Manufacturer, Type, and Part of automobile. If a baseline reading already exists in the database for that Manufacturer, Type, and Part of automobile, then an update operation is done on the database table BASELINE. If no record exists in the database for that Manufacturer, Type, and Part of automobile, then an insert operation is done on the database table BASELINE. When this checkbox option is checked, no test is done to determine if there is contraband or hidden material within the auto.
During the test of the automobile, if the center checkbox option is checked, then the results of the test are used to set the simple baseline reading for that Type and Part of automobile. Simple baseline readings do not apply to a Manufacturer/Make of automobiles, only to a Type and Part of automobile. The average reading of vibration measured while the phone was vibrating and was held against the surface of the automobile is placed into the application database as the simple baseline reading, for that particular Type and Part of automobile. If a simple baseline reading already exists in the database for that Type and Part of automobile, then an update operation is done on the database table SIMPLEBASELINE. If no record exists in the database for that Type and Part of automobile, then an insert operation is done on the database table SIMPLEBASELINE. When this checkbox option is checked, no test is done to determine if there is contraband or hidden material within the automobile.
When both the left and the center checkbox options are checked, then the average vibration reading is used to be placed into both the BASELINE database table and also the SIMPLEBASELINE table as the regular and simple baseline readings.
When the right checkbox option is checked out of the three checkbox options at the bottom of the test automobile screen (
An administration screen is available as part of the software application as well. This part of the application is for persons responsible in a management and supervisory role in the deployment of this technology, referred to herein as admin user. It is not for the general users of the technology and system and method. For a user to get to the administration screen of the application, they simply click the button titled ADMIN on the first screen of the application after the application is first started (
The administration screen of the custom software application contains the following:
A text field for the KeyID is displayed on this screen, where the user enters an integer number for the KeyID, the number used as the unique identifier for the phone being used. This is a randomly generated integer number used to identify the phone. The KeyID is unique to a single phone and two phones will not have an identical KeyID. A text field for the Tolerance is also displayed on this screen. In this field a admin user will manually enter the floating point number that will be for the range of vibration measurements tolerated by the application, since there will be a natural variance in the vibration measurements used as baseline and simple baseline readings. The tolerance number is stored in the database table TOLERANCE. The tolerance is manually entered into the phone by the admin user of the software application to prevent the chances of an error or false tolerance value being entered by way of internet webservice. When the admin user clicks the button titled UPDATE on the administration screen of the application, the database table OWNERINFO is checked by a SQL select query to determine if there is already a KeyID stored in the database table. If a record already exists in the database table, then an update of that record with the new KeyID is executed. If no record for KeyID is found in the table, then the KeyID is inserted into the OWNERINFO database table. If the database operation is successful, a confirmation message is displayed to the user with black text on a green background at the bottom of the administration screen. If a database error occurs during the database operation, an error message is displayed to the user in black text on a red background at the bottom of the administration screen of the application. The process for this operation is detailed in the flowchart in
There is a button titled CLEAR READINGS on the administration screen of the software application (
There is a button titled IMPORT BASELINE on the administration screen of the software application (
There is a button titled IMPORT SIMPLE BASELINE on the administration screen of the software application (
Computer source code for a working implementation of this system and method, and invention, is included as part of this patent application. The computer source code is for software created using the Android Java Programming Language, Extensible Markup Language (XML), and Structured Query Language (SQL). The software was created using the Eclipse development environment and the Android Developer Tools provided by Google, Inc, running on a computer running Windows 7 Professional operating system from Microsoft, Inc.
This invention can be implemented using other kinds of mobile phones that do not run the Android operating system. Some phones made by Research In Motion (RIM), Inc. using the brand name of Blackberry also have all of the components needed to implement this system and method, phones running the Blackberry 10 operating system. Also some phones that run the Windows mobile operating system from Microsoft also contain all of the components needed to implement this system and method, including the Nokia Lumia mobile telephone.
This application claims the benefit of provisional patent application Ser. No. 61/689,336, filed 2012 Jun. 4 by the present inventor.
