| 摘要 |
A system for luggage self-tracking/identification during air travel involves a programmable, wireless LAN active transceiver preferably located inside each piece of luggage, with controlled access to the airlines' luggage tracking networks. Prior to a flight, each transceiver is loaded with the passenger's itinerary, and logged in the airline's network at check-in. Each transceiver is uniquely identifiable by the luggage tracking network. An example of a preferred identifier would be the utilization of its Medium Access Control (MAC) and its alphanumeric serial keyword to provide unique and secure registration/identification of the transceiver in the airline's network. During the trip, which may include different stopovers before reaching the final destination, the transceiver is able to automatically compare its programmed itinerary with its current location via wireless access to the airports and aircraft wireless LANs. In this way, the transceiver is able to notify airline personnel if there is a disagreement between its programmed itinerary and its current location, thus preventing misrouting. The transceiver's itinerary can be wirelessly re-programmed by airline personnel/network to account for flight changes or delays. Finally, the transceiver has an internal timer that starts counting down from the expected "total traveling time", accounting for flight changes or delays. If this timer elapses without the itinerary being complete, the transceiver connects to a wireless access point (hotspot) to report itself as a missing luggage, avoiding a worldwide tracking initiative and speeding up recovery time.
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