WO2025196463A1

WO2025196463A1 - System and method for inspecting items in transit

Info

Publication number: WO2025196463A1
Application number: PCT/GB2025/050626
Authority: WO
Inventors: Tara Shankar MANDAL; Vivek Mehrotra
Original assignee: SMITHS DETECTION GROUP Ltd
Current assignee: SMITHS DETECTION GROUP Ltd
Priority date: 2024-03-22
Filing date: 2025-03-24
Publication date: 2025-09-25
Anticipated expiration: 2026-09-22

Abstract

An aspect of the disclosure provides a system for inspecting items in transit, wherein the system comprises: a threat assessment determining module associated with a first location a threat assessment receiving module associated with a second location different to the first location; and a server connectable to the threat assessment receiving module and the threat assessment determining module and arranged to route communications between the threat assessment receiving module and the threat assessment determining module, wherein the threat assessment determining module is arranged to access image data relating to a plurality of items, the image data being obtained while the plurality of items were at the first location, wherein the threat assessment determining module is arranged to apply one or more algorithms to the image data to generate a threat assessment for the plurality of items, wherein the threat assessment determining module is arranged to send the threat assessment to the threat assessment receiving module, and wherein the threat assessment receiving module is arranged to determine from the threat assessment, the level of inspection to performed on the plurality of items at the second location.

Description

SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR INSPECTING ITEMS IN TRANSIT

Field

The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for inspecting items in transit, such as items travelling between transit facilities.

Background

Items in transit may pass through multiple transit facilities. For example, in aviation, a bag or cargo item will pass through a departure airport and an arrival airport and may also pass through one or more transit airports in between. For security purposes, each bag/cargo item will be scanned at the departure airport using an X-ray machine and the X-ray image will be analyzed (automatically or manually) to identify potential threats. The bags/cargo items arriving at the transit/ arrival airports will also typically be scanned using X-ray machines and individually analyzed to identify any threats.

The additional scanning of bags/cargo items at transit airports and arrival airports increases passenger delays, duplicates work done by multiple airports, and requires all of the airports to have specialist scanning machinery at both departure, arrival, and transit sites.

Summary

Aspects and embodiments of the present disclosure are set out in the claims and aim to address the abovedescribed technical problems and other technical problems.

It will be appreciated by the skilled addressee having read the present disclosure that a departure airport could send the X-ray images for the items to the transit/arrival airports to enable the transit/arrival airports to analyze the images while the plane is in flight. However, this requires an extensive amount of management, to ensure images arrive at the correct locations, requires an excessive amount of data transfer, and requires all airports to deploy specialist image analysis technologies.

Embodiments of the present disclosure may aim to improve the processes by which airports or other transit facilities can assess the threats of items.

According to a first aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a system for inspecting items in transit. The system comprises a threat assessment determining module associated with a first location. The system comprises a threat assessment receiving module associated with a second location different to the first location. The system comprises a server connectable to the threat assessment receiving module and the threat assessment determining module and arranged to route communications between the threat assessment receiving module and the threat assessment determining module. The threat assessment determining module is arranged to access image data relating to a plurality of items, the image data being obtained while the plurality of items were at the first location. The threat assessment determining module is arranged to apply one or more algorithms to the image data to generate a threat assessment for the plurality of items. The threat assessment determining module is arranged to send the threat assessment to the threat assessment receiving module. The threat assessment receiving module is arranged to determine from the threat assessment, the level of inspection to performed on the plurality of items at the second location.

According to a second aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a method for inspecting items in transit. The method comprises accessing, by a threat assessment determining module, image data relating to a plurality of items, the image data being obtained while the plurality of items were at a first location associated with the threat assessment determining module. The method comprises applying, by the threat assessment determining module, one or more algorithms to the image data to generate a threat assessment for the plurality of items. The method comprises sending, by the threat assessment determining module and via a server, the threat assessment to a threat assessment receiving module at a second location different to the first location. The system comprises determining, by the threat assessment receiving module, the level of inspection to be performed on the plurality of items at the second location.

The threat assessment determining module may be arranged to access a library of algorithms for analyzing the image data, and wherein the threat determining module is arranged to select one or more of the algorithms from the library for application to the image data.

The threat assessment determining module may be arranged to select the one or more algorithms based on the second location.

The threat assessment determining module may further comprise an image analysis application module arranged to access image data relating to the plurality of items, render one or more images from the image data, and send the rendered one or more images to the threat assessment receiving module.

An image analysis provider exchange module may be provided and configured to establish a tunnel between the threat assessment determining module and the threat assessment receiving module, wherein each of first and second locations are assigned a Tunnel ID.

In an aspect there is provided a method for inspecting items in transit, wherein the method is performed at a threat assessment determining module and the method comprises: accessing, by the threat assessment determining module, image data relating to a plurality of items, the image data being obtained while the plurality of items were at a first location associated with the threat assessment determining module; applying, by the threat assessment determining module, one or more algorithms to the image data to generate a threat assessment for the plurality of items; sending, by the threat assessment determining module and via a server, the threat assessment to a threat assessment receiving module at a second location different to the first location to enable the threat assessment receiving module to select the level of inspection to be performed on the plurality of items at the second location.

These and other methods may further comprise: receiving identifier data identifying at least one of the second location and the threat assessment receiving module, accessing a library of algorithms for analyzing the image data; selecting one or more of the algorithms from the library for application to the image data based on the identifier data; and, applying the one or more selected algorithms to the image data to generate the threat assessment.

These and other methods may further comprise: accessing image data relating to the plurality of items, rendering one or more images from the image data, and sending the rendered one or more images from the threat assessment determining module to the threat assessment receiving module.

These and other methods may further comprise: selecting the one or more images to be rendered based on the threat assessment associated with said one or more images.

The method may comprise rendering and/or sending to the threat assessment receiving module only the one or more images in which a potential threat has been detected.

These and other methods may further comprise establishing a tunnel between the apparatus and the threat assessment receiving module, wherein each of first and second locations are assigned a Tunnel ID.

Said tunnel may be established using a public key private key pair, and a validity of the public key expires after a selected time. The selected time may be based on data associated with the second location.

The tunnel may be established via a secure communication protocol such as a VPN.

In an aspect there is provided an apparatus configured to provide a threat assessment determining module for use in a system for inspecting items in transit, wherein the apparatus is associated with a first location and the apparatus comprises: a communication interface configured to communicate with a server connectable to a threat assessment receiving module, wherein the threat assessment receiving module is associated with a second location different to the first location and said server is arranged to route communications between the threat assessment receiving module and the threat assessment determining module; and, processing logic arranged to: access image data relating to a plurality of items, the image data being obtained while the plurality of items were at the first location, apply one or more algorithms to the image data to generate a threat assessment for the plurality of items, send the threat assessment to the threat assessment receiving module to enable said threat assessment receiving module to determine from the threat assessment, the level of inspection to performed on the plurality of items at the second location.

The processing logic may be arranged to receive, via the communication interface, identifier data identifying at least one of the second location and the threat assessment receiving module, access a library of algorithms for analyzing the image data; select one or more of the algorithms from the library for application to the image data based on the identifier data; and, apply the one or more selected algorithms to the image data to generate the threat assessment.

The threat assessment determining module may further comprise an image analysis application module arranged to access image data relating to the plurality of items, render one or more images from the image data, and send the rendered one or more images to the threat assessment receiving module. The processing logic may be configured to determine, select the one or more images to be rendered based on the threat assessment.

The processing logic may be configured only to render and/or only to send the one or more images to the threat assessment receiving module in the event that a potential threat has been detected in said one or more images.

The processing logic may be configured to establish a tunnel between the apparatus and the threat assessment receiving module, wherein each of first and second locations are assigned a Tunnel ID.

The processing logic may be configured to establish said tunnel using a public key private key pair, and is further configured such that a validity of the public key expires after a selected time.

The selected time may be chosen according to data associated with the second location.

A system according to the present disclosure may comprise the apparatus as described above and may further comprise the threat assessment receiving module, wherein the threat assessment receiving module is configured to determine from the threat assessment, the level of inspection to performed on the plurality of items at the second location.

The threat assessment receiving module may be further configured to provide an output to a resource at the second location to control an inspection performed on the plurality of items according to the level of inspection.

The resource may comprise a control signal interface for controlling inspection hardware and/or for routing items at the second location and/or for controlling a human interface device.

In an embodiment there is provided a computer program product comprising program instructions configured to program a programmable processor. Such a processor may be provided with a communications interface and interfaces for communication with the image analysis application module described herein.

Any feature of any one of the examples disclosed herein may be combined with any selected features of any of the other examples described herein. For example, features of methods may be implemented in suitably configured hardware, and the configuration of the specific hardware described herein may be employed in methods implemented using other hardware.

FIGURES

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Figure 1 shows a system 100 for inspecting items in transit.

The system 100 comprises a threat assessment determining module 102. The threat assessment determining module 102 is associated with a first location and may be physically present at the first location. The first local ion is a transit facility from which a plurality of items depart, and in this particular example is a departure airport. The threat assessment determining module 102 comprises one or a plurality of computer modules.

The system 100 comprises a threat assessment receiving module 104. The threat assessment receiving module 104 is associated with a second location and may be physically present at the second location. The second local ion is a transit facility at which a plurality of items arrive at (either for transit or final arrival). The second location may be referred to as a target facility and in this example is a target (transit or arrival) airport. The threat assessment receiving module 104 is a computer running a web-based application.

The system 100 comprises a server 106. The server 106 is connectable to threat assessment determining module 102 and the threat assessment receiving module 104. The server 106 is arranged to route communications between the threat assessment determining module 102 and the threat assessment receiving module 104. The server 106 may be a distributed computing system (e.g., cloud based).

In this example, a plane is flying from the first local ion (departure airport) to the second location (transit/ arrival airport). The plane carries a plurality of items (e.g., luggage, cargo) that have been screened at the departure airport. In particular, the plurality of items have been scanned by an X-ray machine at the departure airport. The image data obtained for the plurality of items at the departure airport are stored in a central image store 108 associated with the first location and may be physically present at the first location. The threat assessment receiving module 104 may send a request to the threat assessment determining module 102 for a threat assessment. In other examples, the threat assessment determining module 102 determines to send the threat assessment without receiving a request.

The threat assessment determining module 102 accesses, from the central image store 108, the image data relating to the plurality of items which are in transit to or have arrived at the second location. The image data was obtained while the plurality of items were at the first location (departure airport).

The threat assessment determining module 102 applies one or more algorithms to the image data to generate a threat assessment for the plurality of items.

The threat assessment determining module 102 may comprise or have access to a library of algorithms. Different algorithms or groups of algorithms may be associated with different target destinations for the plurality of items. For example, different algorithms or groups of algorithms may be selected based on whether the plurality of items are arriving at a transit airport or an arrival airport. For a transit airport, the algorithms for identifying weapons/explosives may be required while for an arrival airport, algorithms for identifying currency, narcotics or other forms of contraband may be desired. The algorithms may be developed by the departure airport, the target airport (transit or arrival) or a third party. The algorithms are hosted by the departure airport. The algorithms may comprise trained machine-learning models.

The threat assessment determining module 102 selects the one or more algorithms to use based on the target airport and performs an automated threat detection process using the algorithms to identify potential threats. The threat detection results are collected along with flight and passenger details and sent across to the threat assessment receiving module 104 via the server 106. In particular, the threat detection results and other information are sent to the threat assessment receiving module 102 via a threat data exchange module 110 hosted by the server 106. The threat assessment determining module 102 may also send, to the threat assessment receiving module 104, a list of the algorithms applied to all of the items.

The threat assessment receiving module 104 is arranged to determine from the threat assessment, the level of inspection to performed on the plurality of items at the second location. Items identified by the threat assessment as containing a potential threat may be screened using an X-ray scanner and/or manually inspected. Importandy, all of the items are not required to be inspected and instead only those identified as containing a potential threat by the threat assessment. For example, the threat assessment receiving module may provide an output, such as a control signal, to a resource for controlling the inspection of said items according to the determined level of inspection. The threat assessment determining module 102 comprises a threat detection manager module 112 and an image analysis application module 114. The threat detection manager module 112 applies the one or more algorithms to the image data to generate the threat assessment as described above. The threat detection manager module 112 and image analysis application module 114 comprise processing units, e.g., computers.

In some examples, the threat assessment receiving module 104 may be configured to perform image filtration processing on image data of the plurality of items received for analysis of presence of possible threats, e.g., weapons or liquids. The image filtration processing allows the threat assessment receiving module 104 to access any identifying information of a passenger associated with the plurality of items such that if said passenger arrives at the second location, a physical inspection may be performed.

The image analysis application module 114 accesses image data from the central image store 108, renders an image from the image data and sends the rendered image to the threat assessment receiving module 104. In this way, the raw image data is not necessarily sent to the image analysis application module 114 and instead only a rendered version. Moreover, rendered images for all of the items are not required to be sent and instead only for those where a potential threat has been detected.

The server 106 provides an image analysis provider exchange module 116. A tunnel is created over VPN using the image analysis provider exchange module 116. The tunnel is used for communication between the threat assessment receiving module 102 at the target airport and the image analysis application module 114 at the departure airport. The image analysis commands are proxied from the threat assessment receiving module 102 to the image analysis application module 114 using websockets.

This image analysis provider exchange module 116 is responsible for managing the tunnel between departure and target airports. All airports are registered to this exchange and are given a unique Tunnel ID. For two airports to open up a tunnel, a valid access permission is required between them with their respective Tunnel IDs. When any airport attempts to open up a tunnel, the contract agreement validation is performed with the airport’s tunnel ID. In some examples, the image analysis provider exchange module 116 defines a set of rules (for example, using a public/private key mechanism) which enable the first location to control the availability and duration of the image data access granted to the second location. In some examples, for a valid access period, the first location will issue a valid public key for the second location to establish a connection to the first location to access the rendered image data - for as long as the public key is valid (based on the set of rules set by the first location), the connection will remain valid such that the second location maintains access to the rendered image data. This may provide a mechanism by which the access period allotted to respective threat assessment receiving modules may be managed reliably - such an approach can permit load on the threat assessment determining module to be securely controlled.

The threat assessment receiving module 104 may send the of the screening results (e.g., an updated threat assessment) to the threat assessment determining module 102 such as via image analysis application module 114. Image analysis application module 114 may prompt the threat detection manager module 112 to update a threat assessment for an item accordingly.

The present disclosure is not limited to applications in airports and aviation. Other forms of transit facilities such as ports may be used.

It will be appreciated in the context of the present disclosure that generally, the first local ion is a first transit facility, such as a first port or airport. The second location may be a second transit facility, such as a second port or airport, which is a destination of the plurality of items travelling from the first transit facility.

It will be appreciated from the discussion above that the embodiments shown in the Figures are merely exemplary, and include features which may be generalised, removed or replaced as described herein and as set out in the claims.

With reference to the drawings in general, it will be appreciated that schematic functional block diagrams are used to indicate functionality of systems and apparatus described herein. It will be appreciated however that the functionality need not be divided in this way, and should not be taken to imply any particular structure of hardware other than that described and claimed below. The function of one or more of the elements shown in the drawings may be further subdivided, and/or distributed throughout apparatus of the disclosure. In some embodiments the function of one or more elements shown in the drawings may be integrated into a single functional unit.

In some examples the funct ionality of the computing hardware, such as the threat assessment determining module 102, threat assessment receiving module 104, and image analysis application module 114, and the other computing hardware described herein may be provided by logic circuits, such as a general purpose processor. These logic circuits may be configured to perform a method according to any one of those described herein. In some examples such hardware may comprise digital logic, such as field programmable gate arrays, FPGA, application specific integrated circuits, ASIC, a digital signal processor, DSP, or by any other appropriate hardware. In some examples, one or more memory elements can store data and/or program instructions used to implement the operations described herein. Embodiments of the disclosure provide tangible, non-transitory storage media comprising program inst met ions operable to program a processor to perform any one or more of the methods described and/or claimed herein and/or to provide data processing apparatus as described and/or claimed herein. The controller may comprise an analogue control circuit which provides at least a part of this control functionality. An embodiment provides an analogue control circuit configured to perform any one or more of the methods described herein.

The above embodiments are to be understood as illustrative examples. Further embodiments are envisaged. It is to be understood that any feature described in relation to any one embodiment may be used alone, or in combination with other features described, and may also be used in combination with one or more features of any other of the embodiments, or any combination of any other of the embodiments. Furthermore, equivalents and modifications not described above may also be employed without departing from the scope of the invention, which is defined in the accompanying claims.

Claims

1. A system for inspecting items in transit, wherein the system comprises: a threat assessment determining module associated with a first location a threat assessment receiving module associated with a second location different to the first location; and a server connectable to the threat assessment receiving module and the threat assessment determining module and arranged to route communications between the threat assessment receiving module and the threat assessment determining module, wherein the threat assessment determining module is arranged to access image data relating to a plurality of items, the image data being obtained while the plurality of items were at the first location, wherein the threat assessment determining module is arranged to apply one or more algorithms to the image data to generate a threat assessment for the plurality of items, wherein the threat assessment determining module is arranged to send the threat assessment to the threat assessment receiving module, and wherein the threat assessment receiving module is arranged to determine from the threat assessment, the level of inspection to performed on the plurality of items at the second location.

2. A system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the threat determining module is arranged to access a library of algorithms for analyzing the image data, and wherein the threat determining module is arranged to select one or more of the algorithms from the library for application to the image data.

3. A system as claimed in claim 2, wherein the threat determining module is arranged to select the one or more algorithms based on the second location.

4. A system as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the threat assessment determining module further comprises an image analysis application module arranged to access image data relating to the plurality of items, render one or more images from the image data, and send the rendered one or more images to the threat assessment receiving module.

5. A system as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein an image analysis provider exchange module 116 establishes a tunnel between first and second location, wherein each of first and second locations are assigned a Tunnel ID.

6. A method for inspecting items in transit, wherein the method comprises: accessing, by a threat assessment determining module, image data relating to a plurality of items, the image data being obtained while the plurality of items were at a first location associated with the threat assessment determining module; applying, by the threat assessment determining module, one or more algorithms to the image data to generate a threat assessment for the plurality of items; sending, by the threat assessment determining module and via a server, the threat assessment to a threat assessment receiving module at a second location different to the first location; and determining, by the threat assessment receiving module, the level of inspection to be performed on the plurality of items at the second location.

7. A method for inspecting items in transit, wherein the method is performed at a threat assessment determining module and the method comprises: accessing, by the threat assessment determining module, image data relating to a plurality of items, the image data being obtained while the plurality of items were at a first location associated with the threat assessment determining module; applying, by the threat assessment determining module, one or more algorithms to the image data to generate a threat assessment for the plurality of items; sending, by the threat assessment determining module and via a server, the threat assessment to a threat assessment receiving module at a second location different to the first location to enable the threat assessment receiving module to select the level of inspection to be performed on the plurality of items at the second location.

8. The method of claim 6 or 7 further comprising: receiving identifier data identifying at least one of the second location and the threat assessment receiving module, accessing a library of algorithms for analyzing the image data; selecting one or more of the algorithms from the library for application to the image data based on the identifier data; and, applying the one or more selected algorithms to the image data to generate the threat assessment.

9. The method of any of claims 6 to 8 further comprising accessing image data relating to the plurality of items, rendering one or more images from the image data, and sending the rendered one or more images from the threat assessment determining module to the threat assessment receiving module.

10. The method of claim 9 comprising selecting the one or more images to be rendered based on the threat assessment associated with said one or more images.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein only the one or more images in which a potential threat has been detected are rendered and/or sent to the threat assessment receiving module.

12. The method of claim 11 comprising establishing a tunnel between the apparatus and the threat assessment receiving module, wherein each of first and second locations are assigned a Tunnel ID.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein said tunnel is established using a public key private key pair, and a validity of the public key expires after a selected time.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the selected time is based on data associated with the second location.

15. The method of claim 13 or 14 wherein the tunnel is established via a secure communication protocol such as a VPN.

16. An apparatus configured to provide a threat assessment determining module for use in a system for inspecting items in transit, wherein the apparatus is associated with a first location and the apparatus comprises: a communication interface configured to communicate with a server connectable to a threat assessment receiving module, wherein the threat assessment receiving module is associated with a second location different to the first location and said server is arranged to route communications between the threat assessment receiving module and the threat assessment determining module; and, processing logic arranged to: access image data relating to a plurality of items, the image data being obtained while the plurality of items were at the first location, apply one or more algorithms to the image data to generate a threat assessment for the plurality of items, send the threat assessment to the threat assessment receiving module to enable said threat assessment receiving module to determine from the threat assessment, the level of inspection to performed on the plurality of items at the second location.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein the processing logic is arranged to receive, via the communication interface, identifier data identifying at least one of the second location and the threat assessment receiving module, access a library of algorithms for analyzing the image data; select one or more of the algorithms from the library for application to the image data based on the identifier data; and, apply the one or more selected algorithms to the image data to generate the threat assessment.

18. The apparatus of claim 16 or 17 wherein the threat assessment determining module further comprises an image analysis application module arranged to access image data relating to the plurality of items, render one or more images from the image data, and send the rendered one or more images to the threat assessment receiving module.

19. The apparatus of claim 18 wherein the processing logic is configured to determine, select the one or more images to be rendered based on the threat assessment.

20. The apparatus of claim 19 wherein the processing logic is configured only to render and/or only to send the one or more images to the threat assessment receiving module in the event that a potential threat has been detected in said one or more images.

21. The apparatus of any of claims 16 to 20 wherein the processing logic is configured to establish a tunnel between the apparatus and the threat assessment receiving module, wherein each of first and second locations are assigned a Tunnel ID.

22. The apparatus of claim 21 wherein the processing logic is configured to establish said tunnel using a public key private key pair, and is further configured such that a validity of the public key expires after a selected time.

23. The apparatus of claim 22 wherein the selected time is chosen according to data associated with the second location.

24. The apparatus of claim 22 or 23 wherein the tunnel is established via a secure communication protocol such as a VPN.

25. A system comprising the apparatus of any of claims 16 to 24 and further comprising the threat assessment receiving module, wherein the threat assessment receiving module is configured to determine from the threat assessment, the level of inspection to performed on the plurality of items at the second location.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the threat assessment receiving module is further configured to provide an output to a resource at the second location to control an inspection performed on the plurality of items according to the level of inspection.

27. A computer program product comprising program instructions configured to program a programmable processor to perform the method of any of claims 7 to 15.