Abstract: A hazardous materials shipping system for tracking a plurality of packages containing hazardous materials. The shipping system includes a shipment order system configured to record shipping and hazardous materials information, and to issue a tracking number for the package. A package tracking system tracks a path of the package through various delivery vehicles and other facilities. Information on the hazardous materials can be correlated with the delivery path of the package by a hazardous materials database system using the tracking number. Optionally, the hazardous materials database system can make the delivery path and hazardous materials information available to an emergency response team to facilitate containment and cleanup of hazardous materials along the path. As another advantage, the hazardous materials database system can compare the paths of various packages to determine if cross-contamination has occurred.

Abstract: A system and method for supply chain and inventory risk management that supplies inventory from a manufacturer to a plurality of customers. An owner entity of the system is transferred a plurality of customer agreements which describe requirements for the distribution of the inventory to the customers in agreed-upon amounts in exchange for agreed-upon payments. Transfer of the customer agreements allows an electronic system of the owner entity to forecast and place orders purchasing from the manufacturer the amount of inventory that will be needed by the customers. Further, the transfer of the agreements increases the certainty that inventory purchased by the owner will be sold to the customer. The electronic owner system may also commission the services of a logistics agent that is capable of providing shipping and handling services customized to high-risk inventory, such as electronic components, increasing the owner's profit on the sale of the inventory.

Abstract: An improved system and methods for correlating an interrogation-based air traffic surveillance intruder, such as an Traffic alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) intruder, and a GPS-based air traffic surveillance target, such as an Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B) target to minimize or eliminate the display of two symbols for the same intruder/target on the CDTI of an aircraft. The method comprises the steps of receiving ADS-B data at a processing unit and calculating select component deltas for the ADS-B data versus an entry in a TCAS intruder file. Progressive weights are assigned to the deltas and the progressive weights are summed, resulting in a total confidence score. Total confidence scores of ADS-B target and TCAS intruder pairs are compared to determine correlation between the ADS-B target and the TCAS intruders.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for processing a greyscale input of an image, particularly of a shipping label, into a binary output image in which foreground information is segmented from the background information and contrasts between adjacent regions having different background densities are obliterated is described. A neuron employing a 5.times.5 input neighborhood having a unique neuron activation function is shown. No explicit line process is employed. Output is biased toward a particular one of the output values by employing non-linear feedback as a function of both the grey scale value for the pixel corresponding to the label site being updated and the most recent value of the label site. The otherwise strong contribution from a gradient term in the energy function is suppressed by a shunting inhibition when the shunting inhibition function detects that the pixel lies on or near a boundary between adjacent regions of differing background intensities.

Abstract: A system for determining the fine angular orientation of a bar code symbol in a two-dimensional pixel image. A window is selected from the two-dimensional image for processing. Edge magnitude information and edge direction information are determined for a plurality of pixels in the selected window. For each pixel in the plurality of pixels, the edge magnitude and the edge direction of each pixel is associated with at least one of a plurality of directional ranges if the edge magnitude associated with the pixel exceeds a threshold. For each directional range in the plurality of directional ranges, a density value associated with each directional range is determined in accordance with the number of pixels associated with the directional range, an angular mean value is determined in accordance with the edge directions associated with the directional range, and a noise value is determined in accordance with the edge directions associated with the directional range.