Optical character recognition of bag tag

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12112577-B2
Application number	US-202318514877-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 20, 2023
Priority date	Feb 1, 2023
Publication date	Oct 8, 2024
Grant date	Oct 8, 2024

Abstract

Provided is a system and method of optical character recognition of a bag tag, the method including: a) obtaining, by at least one of at least one processor, image data representative of at least one image of printed passenger information associated with an airline travel carrier on an originating hardcopy bag tag or a printed instrument comprising at least a portion of the printed passenger information on the originating hardcopy bag tag to create a digital passenger information (DPI) data record linked to the airline travel carrier, wherein the originating hardcopy bag tag is issued for a luggage item of a passenger, and wherein the DPI data record comprises an International Air Transport Association (IATA) license plate number, a passenger name record (PNR) number, an airline code, an airline name, a name of the passenger, or any combination thereof; b) accessing, by at least one of the at least one processor, passenger return flight information from a computer system associated with the airline travel carrier, based on the DPI data record; and c) printing, by a printing device, a return leg travel IATA bag tag for a return flight associated with the passenger return flight information.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
a) obtaining, by at least one of at least one processor, image data representative of at least one image of printed passenger information associated with an airline travel carrier on an originating hardcopy bag tag or a printed instrument comprising at least a portion of the printed passenger information on the originating hardcopy bag tag to create a digital passenger information (DPI) data record linked to the airline travel carrier, wherein the originating hardcopy bag tag is issued for a luggage item of a passenger, and wherein the DPI data record comprises an International Air Transport Association (IATA) license plate number, a passenger name record (PNR) number, an airline code, an airline name, a name of the passenger, or any combination thereof;
b) accessing, by at least one of the at least one processor, passenger return flight information from a computer system associated with the airline travel carrier, based on the DPI data record; and
c) printing, by a printing device, a return leg travel IATA bag tag for a return flight associated with the passenger return flight information.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the DPI data record comprises the PNR number.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the DPI data record further comprises an airline code, an airline name, the name of the passenger, or any combination thereof.

4. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the marker identifier comprises a barcode, wherein the barcode is readable by a barcode scanning device, and wherein the marker identifier includes one of the IATA license plate number or a new tracking identifier.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the DPI data record further comprises passenger related or airline related information included on the originating hardcopy bag tag that links to the passenger return flight information stored in memory systems of the computer system associated with the airline travel carrier.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the obtaining the image data comprises:
capturing, by an imaging device, the at least one image of the originating hardcopy bag tag or the printed instrument; and
communicating, by a communication device in electronic communication with the imaging device, the at least one image to a network interface coupled to at least one of the at least one processor.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
performing, by at least one of the at least one processor, image processing on the at least one image to optically recognize printed text of the printed passenger information associated with the airline travel carrier on the originating hardcopy bag tag and converting the printed text to searchable machine-encoded text sequences; and
creating, by at least one of the at least one processor, the DPI data record linked to the airline travel carrier from the searchable machine-encoded text sequences.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the performing image processing further comprises:
optically recognizing text of the PNR number in the at least one image;
forming a machine-encoded text sequence of the PNR number;
optically recognizing text of the name of the passenger in the at least one image; and
forming a machine-encoded text sequence of the name of the passenger.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the performing image processing further comprises:
optically recognizing text of an airline code or an airline name in the at least one image; and
forming a machine-encoded text sequence of the airline code or the airline name.

10. The method of claim 1 ,
wherein the accessing the passenger return flight information comprises accessing a B-type message using the IATA license plate number of the DPI data record, wherein the B-type message comprises the PNR number, and
wherein the B-type message comprises a baggage source message.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising checking in, by at least one of the at least one processor, the luggage item for the return flight with a return flight carrier, prior to printing the return leg travel IATA bag tag.

12. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising, prior to c):
generating, by at least one of the at least one processor, a manifest record with the passenger return flight information;
linking, by at least one of the at least one processor, the manifest record to one of a marker identifier and the IATA license plate number;
determining, by at least one of the at least one processor, a trigger of one of the marker identifier or the IATA license plate number being received; and
in response to determining that the trigger has been received, performing c).

13. A system comprising:
at least one processor; and
at least one non-transitory, tangible memory communicatively coupled to the at least one processor, the at least one memory storing at least one instruction,
wherein the at least one processor is configured to execute the at least one instruction to:
obtain image data representative of at least one image of printed passenger information associated with an airline travel carrier on an originating hardcopy bag tag or a printed instrument comprising at least a portion of the printed passenger information on the originating hardcopy bag tag to create a digital passenger information (DPI) data record linked to the airline travel carrier, wherein the originating hardcopy bag tag is issued for a luggage item of a passenger, and wherein the DPI data record comprises an International Air Transport Association (IATA) license plate number, a passenger name record (PNR) number, an airline code, an airline name, a name of the passenger, or any combination thereof,
access passenger return flight information from a computer system associated with the airline travel carrier, based on the DPI data record, and
cause a printing device to print a return leg travel IATA bag tag for a return flight associated with the passenger return flight information.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the DPI data record comprises the PNR number.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein DPI data record further comprises an airline code, an airline name, the name of the passenger, or any combination thereof.

16. The system of claim 13 , wherein the DPI data record further comprises passenger related or airline related information included on the originating hardcopy bag tag that links to the passenger return flight information stored in memory systems of the computer system associated with the airline travel carrier.

17. The system of claim 13 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the at least one instruction to:
perform image processing on the at least one image to optically recognize printed text of the printed passenger information associated with the airline travel carrier on the originating hardcopy bag tag and convert the printed text to searchable machine-encoded text sequences; and
create the DPI data record linked to the airline travel carrier from the machine-encoded text sequences.

18. The system of claim 17 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the at least one instruction to:
optically recognize text of the PNR number in the at least one image;
forming a machine-encoded text sequence of the PNR number;
optically recognize text of the name of the passenger in the at least one image; and
form a machine-encoded text sequence of the name of the passenger.

19. The system of claim 17 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to exe

Assignees

• Mateer Craig

Inventors

• Mateer Craig

Classifications

• G01N23/10

  the material being confined in a container, e.g. in a luggage X-ray scanners · CPC title

• B42D15/0053

  Forms specially designed for commercial use, e.g. bills, receipts, offer or order sheets, coupons · CPC title

• G09F3/207

  in the form of a badge to be worn by a person · CPC title

• G06Q10/08

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

• G06Q50/40

  Business processes related to the transportation industry (shipping G06Q10/083) · CPC title