Patents by Inventor John O. Tortora

John O. Tortora has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 7738687
    Abstract: A multi-level contraband detection system. At a first level, the system obtains volumetric information about an item under inspection. The volumetric information provides a basis for identifying suspect objects in the item under inspection and their locations. The location information is expressed in a first coordinate system relative to the device used for first level scanning. When first level scanning identifies a suspicious object, the item under inspection is passed to a second level scanner that can take further measurements on the suspicious objects. The second level machine is controlled in a second coordinate system. A translation between the two coordinate systems is obtained by registering a multi-dimensional image obtained at the first level with positioning information obtained at the second level. Registration is performed using a coarse and then a fine registration process for quick and accurate registration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 11, 2006
    Date of Patent: June 15, 2010
    Assignee: L-3 Communications Security and Detection Systems, Inc.
    Inventors: John O. Tortora, Jeffrey H. Stillson, Kristoph D. Krug
  • Patent number: 6088423
    Abstract: A multiview X-ray based inspection system detects contraband such as explosives, weapons, drugs and money in packages such as baggage. Each bag moves through at least three stationary, fan-shaped beams of x-rays that are in parallel planes spaced from each other in the direction of bag travel, to produce three projection views of the bag taken from different angles. These projection views are processed to extract two-dimensional outlines of likely individual objects in the bag, and the two-dimensional outlines are matched between different projection views to extract three-dimensional outlines of likely objects in the bag. The system uses these three-dimensional outlines to estimate effective atomic numbers and mass densities of material in these objects, and then to determine the presence of likely contraband in the baggage by testing these estimates against windows in a multi-dimensional space in which one dimension is effective atomic number and another is mass density.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 5, 1998
    Date of Patent: July 11, 2000
    Assignee: Vivid Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Kristoph D. Krug, John O. Tortora, Richard Bijjani, Richard F. Eilbert
  • Patent number: 5642393
    Abstract: An inspection system for detecting a specific material of interest in items of baggage or packages includes a multi-view X-ray inspection probe and one or more material sensitive probes. The multi-view X-ray inspection probe employs X-ray radiation transmitted through or scattered from an examined item to identify a suspicious region inside the item. An interface is used to receive from said X-ray inspection probe X-ray data providing spatial information about the suspicious region and to provide this information to a selected material sensitive probe. The material sensitive probe then acquires material specific information about the previously-identified suspicious region and provides it to a computer. The computer uses a high level detection algorithm to identify presence of the specific material in the suspicious region. The material sensitive probe may be a directional probe such as a coherent scatter probe, or a non-directional probe such as a Compton scatter probe or an NQR probe.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 26, 1995
    Date of Patent: June 24, 1997
    Assignee: Vivid Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Kristoph D. Krug, Michael Ellenbogen, Paul J. Hurd, John O. Tortora