U.S. patent application number 10/422526 was filed with the patent office on 2004-10-28 for system and method for centralized security screening.
Invention is credited to Boesch, Brian, Peterson, William.
Application Number | 20040212492 10/422526 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 33298913 |
Filed Date | 2004-10-28 |
United States Patent
Application |
20040212492 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Boesch, Brian ; et
al. |
October 28, 2004 |
System and method for centralized security screening
Abstract
A system and method for centralized security screening of
packages including baggage. The system creates images and data
concerning baggage to be reviewed, packetizes the data long with
additional identification information, and conveys the data packets
to a central screening location. All analysis of the baggage
information is accomplished in a centralized way with risk
assessments being provided to each image. Upon sensing of a package
or baggage of concern, alerts may be sent to the screening location
for action. Artificial intelligence tools are used to pre-screen
images to assist with workload assignment.
Inventors: |
Boesch, Brian; (Oak Hill,
VA) ; Peterson, William; (Oak Hill, VA) |
Correspondence
Address: |
ROBERTS ABOKHAIR & MARDULA
SUITE 1000
11800 SUNRISE VALLEY DRIVE
RESTON
VA
20191
US
|
Family ID: |
33298913 |
Appl. No.: |
10/422526 |
Filed: |
April 24, 2003 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
340/531 ;
340/503; 340/551 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B64F 1/368 20130101;
G01V 5/0083 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
340/531 ;
340/503; 340/551 |
International
Class: |
G08B 001/00; G08B
013/14 |
Claims
We claim:
1. A system for centralized security screening comprising: a remote
screening facility adapted to screen baggage and to create baggage
information; and a centralized screening facility connected to the
remote screening facility adapted to review the baggage information
from the remote screening facility.
2. The system for centralized security screening of claim 1
wherein: the remote screening facility comprises a plurality of
baggage screening stations each of which provides baggage data for
further processing.
3. The system for centralized security screening of claim 2 wherein
the remote screening facility further comprises a server adapted to
receive the baggage data, and further adapted to create data
packets of baggage data and related data for transmission to the
centralized screening facility.
4. The system for centralized security screening of claim 3
wherein: the centralized screening facility comprises a test image
store adapted to provided test images to workstations at the
centralized screening facility at random intervals.
5. The system for centralized security screening of claim 4
wherein: the centralized screening facility further comprises means
for alerting security authorities when baggage information of
concern is detected.
6. The system for centralized security screening of claim 4
wherein: the centralized screening facility comprises workstations
adapted to view baggage information and to assign a risk factor to
the images viewed.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] This invention related generally to baggage screening. More
particularly the present invention is a system and method for
centralized screening of images of bags passing through security
screen checkpoints, and the methods for training and quality
control. In addition, other applications of this system and method
are envisioned in the field of security and screening application
such as entrance guard stations and vehicle inspection at
checkpoints.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] Since Sep. 11, 2001 security has been a heightened concern
of the private sector, all travelers and government organizations.
Nowhere has the security been more emphasized than in the airline
travel industry. The screening of individual articles of clothing
and baggage has now become a priority item for expenditure of
government funds and for purchase of new equipment and training of
competent individuals.
[0003] At the present time airline baggage screening is at an
extremely slow process often resulting in passenger delays and
frustration on the part of the traveling public. Further, each
baggage screening point generally requires two or more people to
view images of bags being screened at each screening point. Hence
the entire screening process is quiet labor intensive.
[0004] To make matters worse, the level of screening to be
accomplished exceeds the capabilities both in terms of manpower and
in training of individuals who are to perform the screen. Thus
workers who are tired from working long shifts make mistakes. In
addition, poorly trained screeners are rushed into the screening
process and make additional mistakes. In addition to all of the
above, workers who are screeners understand that their
effectiveness cannot really be measured. Therefore their attention
to their job tends to be less than optimum.
[0005] The current situation with the checkpoint screening of bags
is less than satisfactory. Bags are scanned and images are locally
displayed, there is no record of the screening action and a local
operator of screening equipment must then evaluate the extra images
or other types of images that are collected. Given the huge lines
that occur in certain airports, operators are rushed and therefore
overloaded, or in some cases they are under utilized. While it is
possible to use certain sophisticated artificial intelligence image
analysis, this only improves the performance slightly at the
screening location.
[0006] What is therefore required is a system and method for
improved baggage screening. Such a method would improve the speed
of the screening, decreased in man power required for the
screening, make metrics available so that worker efficiency and
system efficiency can be tested, increase the responsiveness to any
potential threats and to enable the detection of potential attacks
that are in progress.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0007] It is therefore an objective of the present invention to
enhance the quality of security inspection of baggage.
[0008] It is a further objective of the present invention to
increase the speed at which security assessments of baggage can be
made.
[0009] It is still another objective of the present invention to
decrease the amount of labor required to inspect baggage at
security checkpoints.
[0010] It is yet another objective of the present invention to
provide for the measurement of the effectiveness of both the
screening process and of individual screeners as well as enhancing
training.
[0011] It is still another objective of the present invention to
enable a nationwide linking of an inspection system so that
assessment of nationwide attacks can be made. For example, in Sept
11, a large number of individual bags carried small knives. While
one or two such knives may be normal, the presence of a large
number of independent bags with knives may have signaled a
problem.
[0012] It is a further objective of the present invention to
increase the responsiveness to various changes in levels of threat
associated with airline and other transportation travel.
[0013] It is a further objective of the present invention to enable
collection of a digital record of inspection decisions.
[0014] It is a further aspect of the present invention to balance
the workload of inspection across multiple scanning stations and
locations.
[0015] It is still another aspect of the present invention to shift
the location of the "inspection" to locations where labor is more
cost effective.
[0016] It is yet another aspect of the present invention to provide
layers of inspections where simple images are inspected at one
level with more complex images are inspected by higher trained
individuals.
[0017] It is still another aspect of the present invention to apply
centralized screening of images to support under vehicle
inspection, cargo inspection, entrance and exit inspection, and
other access control inspections.
[0018] It is a further aspect of the present invention to utilize
centralized screening for quality assurance reviews, quality
control, and other related industrial applications.
[0019] It is still another aspect of the present invention to apply
artificial intelligence based tools for pre-screening of images
prior to invoking a human review of images collected.
[0020] It is a further objective of the present invention to sense
with multiple sensors, and combine the images to create an enhanced
composite image for subsequent inspection via artificial
intelligence means or via human interface.
[0021] It is still another aspect of the present invention to link
inspection centers across broad geographic areas in order to
determine if any simultaneous trends are occurring in different
airports, ports of entry, or other facilities conducting
inspections.
[0022] These and other objectives of the present invention will be
apparent from a review of the specification that follows
[0023] The present invention is a system and method for enhanced
security screening of baggage. The invention comprises a network of
local x-ray machines, explosive "sniffers" and other sensors which
collect data and images locally collectively "data" screening. Such
screening data is then bundled into a data package and transmitted
to a central location. Thereafter the screening data are evaluated
centrally and a response rapidly sent back to the security
checkpoint. Such response can be either an "ok" for the baggage or
a message for enhanced enforcement mechanism.
[0024] In addition to the centralized viewing of baggage images,
the present invention provides for "canned" test images to be
inserted into the data stream so that baggage screeners at the
central location can be tested for their own training, evaluation,
and responsiveness purposes. These images can be randomly input
into the data stream thereby testing the screener's alertness for
any security risks associated with bags being viewed.
BRIEF DISCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES
[0025] FIG. 1 illustrates the overall system of the present
invention.
[0026] FIG. 2 illustrated the central evaluation facility of the
present invention.
DETAILED DISCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0027] As noted above, the present invention is a system and method
for centralized inspection and evaluation of baggage. Referring to
FIG. 1, an overview of the centralized baggage screening system is
illustrated. Airport 16 comprises a series of baggage screening
equipment 10, 12, 14. This equipment may be x-ray equipment,
electronic beam equipment, chemical sniffing equipment, or any type
of inspection equipment currently used or projected to be used for
inspecting packages in the future. Images and data recorded from
these screening devices 10, 12, 14, are sent to local server 18.
Local server 18 provides identification information noting such
things as time an image was taken, location, screening equipment,
and other information that identifies the location from which the
actual data is being received. Server 18 packages this information
into a data packet 17 and conveys that data packet to a central
screening location 20, as more fully set forth below.
[0028] Similarly, another location, which might be an airport, 22
has its own baggage screening systems 24, 26, 28 which provide time
tagged, and identified images and data to server 30. Server 30 then
in turn creates its own packetized data 32 before shipment to
central screening location 20.
[0029] Referring to FIG. 2, the central screening location is
illustrated. Data packets 32, 37 are received by server 34 and
placed in a queue. An inspector at workstation 36 picks the next
data packet in the queue for inspection. Similarly, workstations 38
and 40 select images from the data packets in a queue via server
34.
[0030] Inspectors at the various work stations 36, 38, 40 then
inspect the images presented to them making judgments whether or
not to "okay" the baggage in question and therefore pass that
particular bag onto the passenger or to send a signal to "hand
examine" or to sequester the baggage in question.
[0031] Inspectors at the various workstations 36, 38, and 40 can
also assign a risk level to their inspection results with a low
risk or high risk, or points in between being associated with the
image (on any risk scale know in the art). Based upon the workload
and the risk assessment number associated with the image, the
baggage in question can then be passed to the passenger or held for
subsequent inspection.
[0032] When an inspector notes an item of a particular threat, such
information can be provided through server 34 to local authorities
as an alert 45 so that other security action can be taken to detain
the baggage and the passenger involved.
[0033] It is also possible for inspectors at workstations 36, 38,
and 40 to ask for a higher level of review of an image in question.
Where this occurs the image in question is passed to a "senior"
workstation 48 for subsequent review by a more senior experienced
inspector. That inspector has the same options available to the
inspector as those at work stations 36, 38, and 40, that is to
assign a risk factor to the image, to detain the baggage, to
provide an alert to local authorities and all other options
available to other inspectors.
[0034] The central inspection location 20 also comprises an image
store 42 where all images for given periods of time are stored in
the event that subsequent review and quality control is necessary.
These images in image store 42 can be called up for review by
appropriate authorities.
[0035] The central location 20 also comprises a test image store 44
whereby images having known items of interest or threat can be
provided into the queue of server 34 for subsequent inspection by
the various inspection stations 36, 38, and 40. In this fashion an
inspector at any one of the workstations will receive a test image
that the inspector does not know is in fact a test image.
Thereafter the inspector's report can be made and quality of the
inspector's work can be assessed.
[0036] The central location 20 also comprises an administrative
store 46 wherein test results, identification of various
administrative items such as identification of inspectors, their
locations, the stations being screened, and a variety of other
administrative data is kept.
[0037] Server 34 also comprises various artificial intelligence
types of tools. Such tools can recognize shapes, textures, and
specifics of images that would automatically raise a flag. Server
34 can thus pre-process the data packets 32, 37 to view this type
of information.
[0038] It is also important to note that various baggage inspection
stations may comprise not only images of the contents of baggage
but may also contain data such as from explosive sniffers. Further,
inspection of baggage may be accomplished by infrared, x-ray,
electron beam, and other types of sensors known in the art. It is
within the scope of the present invention to combine these images
into a composite image that can then be presented as a data packet
to the various inspection workstations 36, 38, and 40. Therefore
inspectors at various workstations can receive enhanced images that
are actually the composite of multiple data sources that are
associated with the baggage inspection process.
[0039] In operation, x-rays, explosive "sniffers" or other type of
inspection is executed. A processor at the inspection station
detects the edges of baggage and separates the scans of each
individual bag. Each image is then converted into a gray scale or
other representation. Thereafter, the image is compressed to save
data transmission time, and other data is associated with the
image. For example, the inspection station number, the time of day,
the bag ID at a minimum are all associated with a particular image
before transmission. Other data that could be associated include
(but are not limited to) photograph and ID of the bag's owner,
flight information, impressions of the remaining physical
inspectors about the owner. The compressed data is then transmitted
to a central facility for inspection.
[0040] At the central facility, the data is placed into a queue. A
pool of trained screeners pick data packets from the queue and
review the individual images/data and respond with a range of
responses. For example, the response may be and "ok" or "pass" on
the particular bag. Thereafter the traveler can be sent on his way
with the examined bag. A message could be sent to "hand examine"
the particular bag. Whenever a hand examine message is sent, a risk
factor is associated with the bag. With for example, but without
limitation, 1 being the lowest risk and 9 being the highest risk.
Therefore in times of high traffic volume, a risk assessment can be
made and low risk items can be "passed" without hand examination if
that judgment call is made.
[0041] In addition, an alert in association with a definite threat
or weapon can also be sent by the central facility to the screening
station, to airport security, and also to regional security for a
particular area. In this fashion a large-scale alert may be sent
when a definite alert has been located by the operators.
[0042] At the inspection stations, local operators then can operate
on the central office response to either pass a bag, inspect a bag,
or detain the bag and the traveler.
[0043] At the central facility a hierarchy of review takes place.
At the first tier level would be the lowest skilled operator. Such
operators would categorize simple cases which are obviously safe or
obviously hostile. In the event that the first tier operator cannot
make a decision, more complex cases are sent onto a second tier
review. At the second tier review, more skilled operators who are
potentially higher paid, review the images. Such second tier
operators are better able to understand the imaging process and
deal with the potential electronic enhancements that may be
available at their workstations. Finally a third tier of operators
who are highly skilled handle the most complex evaluation
situation. Note that there is no fundamental limit to the tiers of
evaluation, one, two, three or more tiers could be in place
depending on need. This tiered approach, in addition to allowing
less skilled human evaluators to perform triage, separating
obviously innocuous or dangerous bags and only passing those
needing further review to higher tiers, enables the introduction of
less than perfect automated or heuristic evaluation tiers. While in
conventional scanning an automated system that could only
unambiguously clear 10 percent of bags would be nearly useless, in
this system as an early screening level, it could reduce manpower
needs by roughly 10 percent.
[0044] As a result of the review at the central facility various
recommendations noted above can be made.
[0045] A quick analysis of bandwidth and communication needs to
implement this system shows that it is quite feasible. At the
present time the scanning or evaluation of a bag is approximately
5-10 seconds and includes the bags transit time through an
inspection machine, operator evaluation time, and transit time to a
pick up area where the bag is picked up by the passenger, thus we
have a time budget of at least 5 seconds to perform data
compression, transmission, evaluation and response. X-ray images of
approximately 1200 by 1200 pixels can be compressed substantially
yielding image sizes of between 100,000 and 1,000,000 bits. This
amount of data could be transmitted over a DSL link in 0.1-5
seconds or a DS-2 data link in less than 0.05 seconds. Thus it is
feasible for a small airport with only a few stations to
inexpensively transmit the required data, while large airports
could easily transmit the flood of data generated.
[0046] Once the data arrives at the central facility, it is placed
into a queue, a preferred embodiment would be for this queue to be
implemented using a high-speed scalable database system or systems.
From this database, evaluators (both human and automated) will
select the "next" work item to evaluate. A high-speed workstation
can quickly display the images/data and allow the operator to make
his/her assessment, then continue on to the next bag. Historical
records (kept for a TBD amount of time) would be made of the
decision and of the underlying images/data for later analysis if
necessary.
[0047] Note that while in today's world, passage is a pure yes/no
event. In this system, an evaluator could assign risks to the
person or bag. These risks could be further evaluated even after
the person has left the inspection station. Thus it is possible
that a more judicious review of a particular bag may result in an
alarm even after the person has entered the secure area. While
clearly it is the intent to catch attackers at the stations, the
ability to re-evaluate bags already in the security area may
provide ways to catch or thwart attacks in progress.
[0048] Training/evaluation of operators could be easily
accomplished in this system by simply adding canned "threat"
images/data to the data queue to be processed by that operator.
Thus an operator could receive up to several test bags per day,
(rather than less than monthly in today's environment). This
frequency of test data will encourage operators to be alert and
provide quick detection of operators who are unable to perform.
Since the workflow is completely computerized, a totally novice
operator could be placed at a station and given on-the-job training
by running a typical daily workload of historically collected data
interspersed with test threat data. The system could prompt the
operator and point out the threats in the training data through
on-screen display initially and then only if there is a mistake
made later. Allowing training to take place on the actual equipment
in the actual environment will further decrease cost and increase
the effectiveness of training.
[0049] Evaluators could also be, backed up, by other evaluators.
Thus for a number of reasons, an evaluator's results could be
compared with results of a separate evaluator given the same data.
This could be used a number of reasons including but not limited to
states of extreme threat, or simply to compare effectiveness and
consistency of training.
[0050] Individual operators would be given ID's, thus when they
"log on" to a workstation, they will be given work that is
appropriate to them regardless of which station they use. Thus from
the same station, a trainee would get training data, a level 1
evaluator would get appropriate data and a higher level expert
evaluator would get only data that would require the most expert
analysis.
[0051] While discussions have focused on a "Central site" it is
possible that there are multiple evaluation centers that either
operate independently or preferentially, operate in conjunction,
sharing evaluation data through access to each others databases as
well as potentially sharing data to be evaluated to balance
load.
[0052] Lastly, while data profiling retains a bad connotation
because it has been often applied to racial inequality. It is
possible to profile the baggage owner using other than racial data
and to assign a risk to that individual, if an individual is
assigned a risk factor (for any reason) or a non-risk factor. This
data could be used to augment the data already passed with the
baggage to enhance the evaluation of the bags data.
[0053] A centralized system and method of security screening has
now been described. While baggage screening has been described, it
is important to note that the present invention can be used to
screen not only baggage but also packages of all types such as
shopping bags, personal bag, backpacks and other types of packages
that are desired to be screen at venues such as sporting events,
theatrical events and events of all types where security
enhancement is needed. While airports are a significant location
other locations must be protected as well. It will be apparent to
those skilled in the art that other variations of the present
invention can be accomplished with out departing from the scope of
the invention as disclosed. To further assist in the description of
the present invention a power point presentation of associated
slides are attached hereto and incorporated herein by reference in
its entirety for all purposes.
* * * * *