Method and system for luggage security control (16-Sep-2009)

Method and system for luggage security control

Travelling by plane can sometimes lead to situations in which customers, after taking their suitcases back at the airport, do not find all the things they put when they packed them.The methods that are currently widespread for protecting luggage are based on locking systems that are very easy to force. Even the police are allowed to perform random checks opening the locks and the luggage, and closing them back after having inspected the luggage content. In this case the police leave a paper inside the luggage to certificate the inspection, but if there could be a way to avoid opening luggage, and still letting the police check its content, customers would appreciate it. There are, however, many other cases in which customers go through surprises of any type when they open their luggage after a travel by plane. Without taking into account the obvious cases when the suitcase is open or damaged, the customers are not able to realize that something is missing before they reach their home.This usually happens far from the airport, and much time later, when drawing up a report is often useless. Furthermore, inattentive customers may think they have been stolen something but they forgot it somewhere, or put it in another

place or gave it to someone.

To solves the problems mentioned above an integrated and automatic system for luggage security control is proposed hereunder.

The solution is based on an additional component that can be plugged on luggage that will give the opportunity to memorize some critical information related to the luggage content and weight.These information can be stored in the luggage itself during the check-in at the airport departure, and can be easily checked either by the police during inspections or by a proper analyzer just before the time the luggage is put on the arrival airport conveyor belt.

The proposed solution is also able to notify the owner of the luggage, or any other configured

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 eople (for example, the police) of the fact that the luggage content has significantly changed from the time when the owner left it to the time he takes it back. It is based on an additional RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) transponder (or tag) that is manufactured on top of traditional luggage to store critical information about luggage content. RFID systems are rugged, inexpensive, and can be highly reliable so they fits with this solution. This new component can also contain a led or a display that alerts the owner of the fact that the luggage content has changed.

Before going through the check-in at the airport departure, the luggage tag is filled just with the notification list and the led turned off. The notification list can be stored at different times during the luggage life,

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 assed through an X-ray Analyzer that scans its content, makes a photograph...