Systems and methods for container condition determination in transport refrigiration

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2022366556-A1
Application number	US-202217661916-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	May 3, 2022
Priority date	May 14, 2021
Publication date	Nov 17, 2022
Grant date	—

Abstract

Systems and methods for container condition determination are disclosed. In some embodiments, a system comprises one or more optical sensors; at least one processor; and memory storing instructions executable by the at least one processor, the instructions when executed cause the system to: obtain image data of a container from the one or more optical sensors; determine from the image data, position information of one or more items located inside the container; determine from the image data air delivery information in the container; determine airflow characteristics of the container using the position information of the one or more items and the air delivery information; and determine, using the airflow characteristics and the position information of the one or more items, a probability of an item of the one or more items being damaged.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A system for container condition determination, the system comprising:
one or more optical sensors; at least one processor; and memory storing instructions executable by the at least one processor, the instructions when executed cause the system to:
obtain image data of a container from the one or more optical sensors;
determine from the image data, position information of one or more items located inside the container;
determine from the image data air delivery information in the container;
determine airflow characteristics of the container using the position information of the one or more items and the air delivery information; and
determine, using the airflow characteristics and the position information of the one or more items, a probability of an item of the one or more items being damaged.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the instructions further cause the system to:
determine a condition of one or more components of the container based on the image data of the container, the condition of the one or more components indicating presence or absence of damage to the one or more components; and determine a condition of the container based on condition of the one or more components.

3 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the condition of the one or more components may be one or more of a physical, or thermal condition.

4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the instructions further cause the system to:
determine a loading pattern of the container based on one or more of an orientation information or the position information of one or more items located inside the container.

5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the instructions further cause the system to:
determine identification information of the one or more items, and wherein determining the probability of the item being damaged is further based on the identification information.

6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the instructions further cause the system to:
obtain, from sensors placed inside the container, environmental information inside the container; and determine a temperature control performance in the container based on the obtained environmental information; wherein determining the probability of the item being damaged is further based on the environmental information or the temperature control performance.

7 . The system of claim 4 , wherein the instructions further cause the system to:
determine thermal information for the container based on the image data; and generate one or more of a thermal simulation, an airflow simulation, or a loading pattern simulation based on one or more of the thermal, airflow, or loading information.

8 . A method for container condition determination, the method being implemented in system comprising one or more optical sensors, at least one processor, and memory storing instructions, the method comprising:
obtaining image data of a container from the one or more optical sensors; determining from the image data, position information of one or more items located inside the container; determining from the image data air delivery information in the container; determining airflow characteristics of the container using the position information of the one or more items and the air delivery information; and determining, using the airflow characteristics and the position information of the one or more items, a probability of an item of the one or more items being damaged.

9 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
determining a condition of one or more components of the container based on the image data of the container, the condition of the one or more components indicating presence or absence of damage to the one or more components; and determining a condition of the container based on condition of the one or more components.

10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the condition of the one or more components may be one or more of a physical or thermal condition.

11 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
determining a loading pattern of the container based on an orientation information or the position information of one or more items located inside the container.

12 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
determining identification information of the one or more items, and wherein determining the probability of the item being damaged is further based on the identification information.

13 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
obtaining, from sensors placed inside the container, environmental information inside the container; and determining a temperature control performance in the container based on the obtained environmental information; wherein determining the probability of the item being damaged is further based on the environmental information or the temperature control performance.

14 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
determining thermal information for the container based on the image data; and generating one or more of a thermal simulation, an airflow simulation, or a loading pattern simulation based on one or more of the thermal, airflow, or loading information.

15 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing program instructions, wherein the program instructions are computer-executable to implement:
obtaining image data of a container from the one or more optical sensors; determining from the image data, position information of one or more items located inside the container; determining from the image data air delivery information in the container; determining airflow characteristics of the container using the position information of the one or more items and the air delivery information; and determining, using the airflow characteristics and the position information of the one or more items, a probability of an item of the one or more items being damaged.

16 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the program instructions are computer-executable to implement:
determining a condition of one or more components of the container based on the image data of the container, the condition of the one or more components indicating presence or absence of damage to the one or more components; and determining a condition of the container based on condition of the one or more components.

17 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16 , wherein the condition of the one or more components may be one or more of a physical, thermal, or seal condition.

18 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the program instructions are computer-executable to implement:
determining a loading pattern of the container based on the position information of one or more items located inside the container.

19 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the program instructions are computer-executable to implement:
obtaining, from sensors placed inside the container, environmental information inside the container; and determining a temperature control performance in the container based on the obtained environmental information; wherein determining the probability of the item being damaged is further based on the environmental information or the temperature control performance.

20 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 18 , wherein the program instructions are computer-executable to implement:
determining thermal information for the containe

Assignees

• Carrier Corp

Inventors

• Meckesheimer Martin
• Leshuk Jeffrey Allen

Classifications

• G06Q10/0832 Primary

  Special goods or special handling procedures, e.g. handling of hazardous or fragile goods · CPC title

• G06T7/70

  Determining position or orientation of objects or cameras (camera calibration G06T7/80) · CPC title

• G06T7/0002 Primary

  Inspection of images, e.g. flaw detection · CPC title

• G06T2207/20076

  Probabilistic image processing · CPC title

• F25D2700/06

  Sensors detecting the presence of a product · CPC title