Systems and methods for detecting threats and contraband in cargo
Inventors
Yu, Songyang • Chittineni, Rupa • McCarthy, Mark J.
Assignees
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Publication Number
US-11287391-B2
Publication Date
2022-03-29
Expiration Date
Abstract
The present specification discloses systems and methods for identifying and reporting contents of a tanker, container or vehicle. Programmatic tools are provided to assist an operator in analyzing contents of a tanker, container or vehicle. Manifest data is automatically imported into the system for each shipment, thereby helping security personnel to quickly determine container contents. In case of a mismatch between container contents shown by manifest data and the contents as ascertained from the scanning system, the container or vehicle may be withheld for further inspection.
Core Innovation
The invention describes an automated non-intrusive X-ray cargo/vehicle inspection system that imports manifest data, computes image-based features, and reports threats, contraband, and tanker contents. It supports tanker identification using pixel-value line integrals with rounded versus straight edges, including detection of tanker presence and capacity/fullness based on attenuation thresholds and edge finding.
The system further determines contraband detection by performing feature matching with database templates and using probability thresholds. It includes firearms detection using Maximally Stable External Regions (MSER) and Speeded Up Robust Features (SURF) template matching with firearm templates, and currency detection using dual-energy features combined with a support vector machine (SVM).
For cargo-manifest verification, the system computes per-cargo-code image features and probabilistically compares the computed features to a cargo-manifest feature database using probability P and database thresholds. For vehicle anomaly/threat detection, it registers sequential X-ray scans using a vehicle identifier derived from license plate/OCR and performs pixel-wise change detection between registered scans, including clustering and classification of difference objects.
Claims Coverage
The partial claim set includes two independent claims covering one inventive feature area: determining a change in vehicle contents using scanned images from physically separated scanning locations, including implementation as program instructions on a non-transitory computer-readable medium.
Physically separated scanned images for change determination
Receiving a first set of data representative of a first scanned image of a vehicle generated at a first scanning location; receiving a second set of data representative of a second scanned image of the vehicle generated at a second scanning location physically separated from the first scanning location; determining the change in the contents of the vehicle between the first location and the second location by comparing the first scanned image to the second scanned image.
Program instructions for vehicle contents change determination
A computer readable non-transitory medium comprising executable programmatic instructions for receiving a first set of data representative of a first scanned image of a vehicle generated at a first scanning location; receiving a second set of data representative of a second scanned image of the vehicle generated at a second scanning location physically separated from the first scanning location; and determining the change in the contents of the vehicle by comparing the first scanned image to the second scanned image.
The independent claims cover comparing first and second scanned images of the same vehicle obtained at physically separated scanning locations to determine change in contents, and they also capture the same process implemented as instructions on a computer readable non-transitory medium.
Stated Advantages
Not explicitly described in patent.
Documented Applications
Not explicitly described in patent.
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