GB2461123A

GB2461123A - Microchip Luggage Tag and Luggage Tracking System

Info

Publication number: GB2461123A
Application number: GB0811615A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Max Stuart James Rangeley
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2008-06-25
Filing date: 2008-06-25
Publication date: 2009-12-30
Anticipated expiration: 2028-06-25
Also published as: GB2461123B; GB0811615D0

Abstract

A luggage tag 1 comprising a microchip 3 having a read/write area 3A to allow luggage transporters to encode information on the microchip, permanent identification means 4A, 4B to give an identification code relating to a person, and direction means 5 directing a third party to a website containing information about the person. The direction means may be in the form of written instructions. The permanent identification means may be a visual display such as an ID number or a barcode and may also be encoded on the microchip 3. The invention also relates to a luggage system incorporating tag 1 on an item of luggage, a tag read/writer and website based database containing information about the owner of the item of luggage. A luggage transporter can write information about the item of luggage onto the tag and a luggage transporter or third party can retrieve information about the owner through either the database or information stored on the tag in order to facilitate delivery of the item of luggage.

Description

Title: Microchip Luggage Tag and Luggage System Incorporating the Luggage Tag The present invention relates to a luggage tag and luggage system incorporating the luggage tag.

When travelling by air, it is common practice for an airline transporting a passenger to place a paper luggage tag on luggage which identifies the passenger, the flight and the destination airport. A problem with such tags is that they are not re-usable so they are wasteful of paper and hence environmentally and fmancially undesirable. They also break off easily. Also whilst if an item of luggage goes missing, e.g. gets place on the wrong aircraft, an airport can identify the passenger and the intended flight, but there is no method of contacting the passenger or knowing the passengers whereabouts.

It has been known to provide a luggage tag which has a personal identification code either in visual or electronic form, which allows the fmder of an item of luggage to identify the owner and his or her address through a database on a website. However such tags do not allow an airline to put and change passenger, flight and destination airport information on the tag.

The invention seeks to provide a luggage tag and system which avoids the above disadvantages of known products.

According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a luggage tag comprising a microchip having a read/write area to allow luggage transporters to encode information on the microchip, permanent identification means to give an identification code relating to a person, and direction means directing a third party to a website containing infonnation about the person.

Preferably the direction means is in the form of written instructions.

Preferably the permanent identification means is a visual display and/or encoded on said microchip.

According to a second aspect of the present invention there is provided a luggage system comprising: a) a luggage tag as defined above on an item of luggage, b) a luggage tag readlwriter for a luggage transporter, such as an airline or airport, to read or write information on the read/write area of the microchip, c) a website database containing information about the owner of the item of luggage, in use a luggage transporter can write information on the tag relating to the transport of the luggage to be transported, and a luggage transporter or third party can obtain information about the owner through said database or information on the tag relating to the transport of the item of luggage to be transported to facilitate delivery of the item of luggage to the owner in the event the luggage should go astray.

Preferably the information obtainable by a third party and/or luggage transporter is controlled by the owner of the item of luggage. The information obtainable by a third party may be different to that obtainable by a luggage transporter.

The luggage transporter may access the database through an international luggage tracing system.

Embodiments of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 shows a schematic view of a luggage tag, and Figure 2 shows a schematic view of a luggage system.

Referring to Figure 1 there is shown a luggage tag 1 with a tie 2 for securing it to a handle of an item of luggage. Tag 1 has an embedded microchip 3 having a read/write area 3A to allow luggage transporters such as airport and airlines to encode information on the microchip. A permanent identification means in the form of a printed number code 4A and corresponding barcode 4B is provided to give an identification code relating to the owner of an item of luggage. The printed number code may also (or alternatively) be stored in a read only area 3B of microchip 3 (instead of a single chip with a readlwrite area and read only area, two chips could be provided -one for read/write and the other read only). Direction means in the form of written instruction 5 directs a third party to a website containing information about the owner.

Instead of being secured to an item of luggage, tag 1 could be bonded to an item of luggage or integrally formed with the item of luggage.

Tag 1 may use IATA's standard RP174Oc, using a 850MHz to 950M}Iz frequency, often known as UHF, which is licensed different bands and powers in different regions of the world.

The air interface protocol employed is ISO-18000-6-C; an open standard that describes the way the reader talks to the tag and how the tag responds. Iso-i 5691 and ISO-i 5692 protocols delineate data compression for storage and identify commands that are available to interact with the tag.

Tag 1 may be used as part of a luggage system 10 as shown in Figure 2.

System 10 is designed to be used with numerous items of luggage each having a tag 1 as described above with reference to Figure 1.

System 10 has a luggage tag readlwriter 20 controlled by a computer 21 for a luggage transporter, such as an airline or airport, to read or write information on the read write area 3A of the microchip. The tag read/writer 20, e.g. automatic or handheld device, controlled by a computer 21 may be located at a check in desk. Tag read/write 20 may apply to read/write area the JATA baggage codes n-mmm-xxxxxx, where n is the bag type identifier, mmm is the issuing airline identifier with the number allocated by IATA, and xxxxxx is the bag number. This bag number may be a 10 digit number.

A website 30 (e.g. with an address "www.lostbag.com") has database containing information about the owner of the item of luggage. This may include the users e-mail, phone number, address, type of luggage, temporary addresses and travel itinerary etc. The owner can control the information being disclosed by accessing the website, e.g. using a username and password.

The tag read/writer 20 controlled by a computer 21 may be connectable directly to the website or through an international luggage tracing system 40, such as "World Tracer", as is known in the art. However, the read/writer 20 need not be connected to the website 30 in order to write information onto the tag.

In use a luggage transporter can write information on the tag relating to the transport of the luggage to be transported, and a luggage transporter or third party can obtain information about the owner through said database or information on the tag relating to the transport of the item of luggage to be transported to facilitate delivery of the item of luggage to the owner in the event the luggage should go astray. Examples of how the system functions are described below.

Under normal circumstances, the owner will check in an item of luggage at a departure airport and the item of luggage will appear at the baggage reclaim at the correct destination airport.

If the item of luggage should go astray, e.g. be sent to the incorrect destination airport, when the item of luggage is found, a luggage transporter (e.g. the incorrect destination airport or an airline at the incorrect destination airport, or World Tracer), can go onto the website 30 and enter the owners ID number either from the printed code 4 or from the read only area 3B of microchip 3. This will bring up the owners contact details so the item of luggage can be re-united with its owner.

If an item of luggage becomes lost, e.g. left at a restaurant and a third party fmds it. The third party can go onto the website 30 and enter the owners ID number from the printed code 4. The third party will be invited to send the owner a message so the item of luggage can be re-united with its owner, whilst keeping the owners contact details undisclosed for security reasons.

Preferably the information obtainable by a third party and/or luggage transporter is controlled by the owner of the item of luggage. The information obtainable by a third party may be different to that obtainable by a luggage transporter. For example an owner may fmcl it acceptable for a luggage transporter to know a travel itinerary or home address and telephone number, but may not want to divulge this information to an unknown third party.

The system can also be used to interrogate the Worldtracer and luggage transporter systems to locate an owner's lost luggage. An owner can record their luggage as lost in the database. The database then interrogates Worldtracer, which in turn may then interrogate the luggage transporter system. The database then receives relevant information from Worldtracer, perhaps from the luggage transporter. Information relevant to the member is then sent to the owner by email or SMS and is sent to the messages area in their website account.

The invention may take a form different to that specifically described above.

The information encoded onto the readlwrite area 3A of the microchip can also be transferred to the web-based database, so that for security reasons individuals can be tracked and traced and records can be kept. This would require the airport to have the correct software so that their reader can interrogate andlor encode information onto the read/write area of the tag and then transfer that information onto the web-based database. An individual's travel habits will not be kept for longer than is acceptable and will never be shared with third parties except in the event of a security risk. In addition to this when the airline encodes its own ID onto the tag it should be possible, when airport computer systems are sufficiently developed, for any security information stored in the database to then be encoded onto the tag along with the airline's ID. The security information is thereby stored on two databases and can be drawn from both the permanent ID number and the temporarily encoded airline II) on the read/write area of the chip.

Relevant security information can also be read from the database and tag and delivered to other relevant databases. This would also require the correct software and access to the website database; the security information in particular could be reserved only for individuals that have a particular password or software system. The security information may include (but is not limited to) the following: passenger's previous flight behaviour, passenger's suspicious nature or passenger's travel companions. As microchip technology develops there will be space for more and more details on the tag, perhaps incorporating different layers of information. The information encoded onto the read/write area of the tag may or may not be entered and stored in the person's account online.

The database software facilitates computer to computer interaction so that systems such as WorldTracer can interrogate the website database to retrieve relevant details such as the description of the person's luggage and the person's travel details. This also allows our system to interrogate the other relevant computer systems so that we can let owners know if and when their luggage has been found along with other relevant information.

The airport and/or airline can access the website database using a number of different methods.

Firstly, they can enter through the website itself, using a usemame and password. Secondly, they can use the WorldTracer system to access a person's details. Thirdly, they can use the computer systems used by re-flight companies and related systems to access the database and find the relevant details. Once in the database the airline/airport can send messages to the owner of the tag; these messages may take the form of email, SMS or other similar messaging systems. The message(s) will also be shown in a messages area within the person's personal account so that they can read all relevant messages by going to their account.

The nature of the database means that airlines and airports can not only look up information which a person has chosen to enter, but can also leave relevant information for others interrogating the database, and can use the database as a method of keeping track of the luggage by looking to see which other computer systems (eg re-flight companies or WorldTracer) have interrogated the database and then left relevant information. Such information will not be kept longer than is acceptable.

Furthermore, the tag can even be used as a frequent flyer card that could encompass all of the information for various airlines, so that frequent flyers do not have to carry the frequent flyer cards of multiple airlines. The information regarding the frequent flyer details can be encoded onto the read/write area of the tag and/or recorded onto the database, which can then be accessed by airlines.

L

A person's information on a database could include details on how to get luggage delivered quickly by courier, as airlines can sometimes take a number of days to deliver the luggage, although this is not essential to the process, as airlines have agreements whereby they will return each other's lost luggage and the return process is usualiy completed within 48 hours.

Further modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the presenting invention.

Claims

SCLAIMS1. A luggage tag comprising a microchip having a read/write area to allow luggage transporters to encode information on the microchip, permanent identification means to give an identification code relating to a person, and direction means directing a third party to a website containing information about the person.
2. A luggage tag according to claim 1, wherein the direction means is in the form of written instructions.
3. A luggage tag according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the permanent identification means is a visual display and/or encoded on said microchip.
4. A luggage system comprising: a) a luggage tag according to any preceding claim on an item of luggage, b) a luggage tag read/writer for a luggage transporter, such as an airline or airport, to read or write information on the read/write area of the microchip, c) a website database containing information about the owner of the item of luggage, in use a luggage transporter can write information on the tag relating to the transport of the luggage to be transported, and a luggage transporter or third party can obtain information about the owner through said database or information on the tag relating to the transport of the item of luggage to be transported to facilitate delivery of the item of luggage to the owner in the event the luggage should go astray.
5. A luggage system according to claim 4, wherein the information obtainable by a third party andlor luggage transporter is controlled by the owner of the item of luggage.
6. A luggage system according to claim 5, wherein the information obtainable by a third party is different to that obtainable by a luggage transporter.
7. A luggage system according to claim 4, 5 or 6, wherein the luggage transporter may access the database through an international luggage tracing system.
8. A luggage tag substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawings.
9. A luggage system substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawings.