Method and system for tracking and optimizing cargo utilization and volume measurement and imaging sensing using lidars and video camera

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11151506-B2
Application number	US-201816160726-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 15, 2018
Priority date	Oct 16, 2017
Publication date	Oct 19, 2021
Grant date	Oct 19, 2021

Abstract

Embodiments provide for using a set of sensors installing within a cargo container and on a vehicle to measure, monitor, and manage the cargo and available cargo capacity within the container. According to one embodiment, a method for measuring cargo capacity and monitoring cargo within a cargo container can comprise reading, by a monitoring system of the cargo container, a plurality of spatial sensors installed within the cargo container. The plurality of spatial sensors can comprise, for example, one or more light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensors. An interior of the cargo container can be mapped based on reading the plurality of spatial sensors and available cargo capacity within the cargo container can be determined based on the mapping of the interior of the cargo container. The determined available cargo capacity within the cargo container can be transmitted from the monitoring system to a cloud-based cargo management system.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for measuring cargo capacity and monitoring cargo within a cargo container, the method comprising:
reading, by a monitoring system of the cargo container, a plurality of light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensors installed within the cargo container;
generating, by the monitoring system, a three-dimensional map of an interior of the cargo container based on reading the plurality of LiDAR sensors;
reading, by the monitoring system, one or more non-spatial sensors installed on or within the cargo container;
determining, by the monitoring system, available cargo capacity within the cargo container based on the three-dimensional map of the interior of the cargo container and further based on reading at least one of the one or more non-spatial sensors;
transmitting, from the monitoring system to a cloud-based cargo management system, the determined available cargo capacity within the cargo container;
monitoring, by the monitoring system, the interior of the cargo container using the generated three-dimensional map of the interior of the cargo container, the plurality of LiDAR sensors, and the one or more non-spatial sensors;
determining, by the monitoring system and based on the monitoring of the interior of the cargo container, that a change has occurred in the interior of the cargo container;
in response to determining that a change has occurred in the interior of the cargo container, further determining, by the monitoring system, whether the change in the interior of the cargo container is an expected change based on a maintained record storing route and schedule information for the cargo container; and
in response to determining that the change in the interior of the cargo container is an expected change based on the route and schedule information for the cargo container, repeating the generating of the three-dimensional map of the interior of the cargo container, determining the available cargo capacity within the cargo container, and transmitting the available cargo capacity to the cloud-based cargo management system.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more non-spatial sensors comprise a weight sensor, a light sensor, an acoustic sensor, a motion sensor, or a camera.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, in response to determining the change in the interior of the cargo container is not an expected change based on the route and schedule information for the cargo container, transmitting one or more notifications of the change in the interior of the cargo container to the cloud-based cargo management system.

4. A system comprising:
a cloud-based cargo management system;
a cargo container;
a plurality of light detection and ranging (LiDAR)sensors installed within the cargo container;
one or more non-spatial sensors installed on or within the cargo container; and
a cargo monitoring system installed on or within the cargo container and comprising a processor and a memory coupled with and readable by the processor and storing therein a set of instructions which, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to measure cargo capacity and monitor cargo within the cargo container by:
reading the plurality of LiDAR sensors,
generating a three-dimensional map of an interior of the cargo container based on reading the plurality of LiDAR sensors,
determining available cargo capacity within the cargo container based on the three-dimensional map of the interior of the cargo container and further based on reading the one or more non-spatial sensors,
transmitting, to the cloud-based cargo management system, the determined available cargo capacity within the cargo container,
monitoring the interior of the cargo container using the generated three-dimensional map of the interior of the cargo container, the plurality of LiDAR sensors, and the one or more non-spatial sensors;

determining, based on the monitoring of the interior of the cargo container, that a change has occurred in the interior of the cargo container;
in response to determining that a change has occurred in the interior of the cargo container, further determining whether the change in the interior of the cargo container is an expected change based on a maintained record storing route and schedule information for the cargo container; and
in response to determining that the change in the interior of the cargo container is an expected change based on the route and schedule information for the cargo container, repeat the generating of the three-dimensional map of the interior of the cargo container, determining the available cargo capacity within the cargo container, and transmitting the available cargo capacity to the cloud-based cargo management system.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the cloud-based cargo management system comprises a processor and a memory coupled with and readable by the processor and storing therein a set of instructions which, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to manage cargo capacity within the cargo container by:
maintaining route and schedule information for the cargo container;
receiving, from the cargo monitoring system, cargo capacity information for the cargo container;
determining whether the received cargo capacity information for the cargo container indicates a cargo capacity update for the cargo container; and
in response to determining the received cargo capacity information for the cargo container indicates a cargo capacity update for the cargo container, updating, the route and schedule information for the cargo container.

6. The system of claim 4 , wherein the one or more non-spatial sensors comprise a weight sensor, a light sensor, an acoustic sensor, a motion sensor, or a camera.

7. The system of claim 4 , wherein the instructions executed by the processor of the cargo monitoring system further cause the cargo monitoring system to, in response to determining the change in the interior of the cargo container is not an expected change based on the route and schedule information for the cargo container, transmit one or more notifications of the change in the interior of the cargo container to the cloud-based cargo management system.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the cloud-based cargo management system further causes the cloud-based cargo management system to receive, from the cargo monitoring system, notification information indicating an unexpected change in the interior of the cargo container and initiate a remedial action based on the received notification information.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein initiating the remedial action is further based on one or more of the maintained record storing route and schedule information for the cargo container, historical information maintained by the cloud-based cargo management system, or third-party information related to a current location for the cargo container.

10. A non-transitory, computer-readable medium comprising a set of instructions stored therein which, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to measure cargo capacity within a cargo container by:
reading, by a monitoring system of the cargo container, a plurality of light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensors installed within the cargo container;
generating, by the monitoring system, a three-dimensional map of an interior of the cargo container based on reading the plurality of LiDAR sensors;
reading, by the monitoring system, one or more non-spatial sensors installed on or within the cargo container;
determining, by the monitoring system, available cargo capacity within the cargo container based on the three-dimensional map of the interior of the cargo container and further based on reading at least one

Assignees

• Flex Ltd

Inventors

• Kilburn Christopher Bjorn
• Lucrecio Armando J

Classifications

• G06Q10/083

  Shipping · CPC title

• G06Q10/08 Primary

  Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management · CPC title

• B65D90/48

  Arrangements of indicating or measuring devices · CPC title

• G01S17/86

  Combinations of lidar systems with systems other than lidar, radar or sonar, e.g. with direction finders · CPC title

• B65D88/121 Primary

  ISO containers · CPC title