Database records and processes to identify and track physical objects during transportation

A method for continuous tracking of an object comprising the steps of:

• inducting the object into a reference database;
• tracking the object as it moves on a conveyance system through a facility;
• detecting the object diversion from the conveyance system to an auxiliary process that may involve manual handling;
• updating a corresponding record associated with the object in the reference database based on the diversion;
• detecting an entering object that enters the conveyance system from the auxiliary process;
• comparing the entering object with a database of known diverted objects to obtain a result;
• updating a corresponding record associated with the entering object a database with metadata based on the result.

A method for tracking an object in a secure facility, comprising:

• receiving an error message (tag missing or unreadable) from a tag reader;
• based at least in part on a location of the tag reader, querying the reference database server to find a matching record of a last bag that entered the tag reader location;
• based on a result of the query, updating the matching record in the database to indicate the tag lost message;
• and
• sending a message to the virtual binning system to re-associate the identified bag with a corresponding virtual bin.

A method for tracking objects in a controlled-access facility having a conveyance system for moving objects, the method comprising:

• detecting an irregular event or exception condition that affects at least one of the moving objects;
• based on the exception condition, automatically identifying the affected object in the conveyance system;
• and
• executing a predetermined action based on a result of identifying the affected object.

A system for tracking objects comprising:

• an intake system for receiving a physical object from a customer for transport;
• a tracking system for tracking the object substantially continuously from the intake system to a delivery location at a destination, the tracking system configured to substantially continuously track an identity and a location of the object;
• a secure database system coupled to the intake system and to the tracking system, the database system arranged to maintain a corresponding database record for each baggage item received by the intake system, wherein each record includes, for the corresponding baggage item, at least one Unique ID and at least one feature vector comprising a set of numeric values based on an image of at least a part of the object;
• and
• a delivery system including a delivery platform, and a scanner for capturing an image of an object entering the delivery platform, wherein the scanner is coupled to the secure database system to update a corresponding record responsive to the object entering the delivery platform.

A method comprising:

• at a monitoring position of a delivery platform, capturing image data of each object passing by the monitoring position;
• processing the captured image data for each object to form at least one feature vector;
• for each object, querying a reference database system to find a matching database record based on the corresponding feature vector;
• and
• based on finding a matching record, updating the matching record to reflect the image capture.

A tracking unit system comprising

• at least one tracking unit camera that is configured to capture identifying information of an object within its field of view, based on intrinsic properties of the object, without specific need of a label, tag, or other extrinsic proxy that may be attached to the item;
• a tracking unit processor coupled to the tracking unit camera to acquire the captured identifying information;
• a memory in or coupled to the tracking unit processor to store data and machine-readable instructions executable by the tracking unit processor;
• and
• a network interface coupled to the tracking unit processor to enable communications over a network.