Method for remotely verifying the delivery of items in a motor vehicle trunk

Abstract

A method for remotely verifying the contents of a customer vehicle's trunk after at least one item has been placed in said trunk by a delivery vehicle, said method being implemented by a server remote from said customer and delivery vehicles, consisting, after receiving (21-25) a first set of data authorizing (26) the remote unlocking of the trunk and data (27) confirming the loading of the item into the trunk, of receiving (28) data representing an image of the trunk's contents after the item has been loaded into the trunk, of receiving (29) identification data of the items present in the trunk after the trunk has been closed, and, from the image and the identification data of the items present in the trunk, of drawing up (30) an inventory of the trunk's contents and transmitting the inventory results to the customer for verification of the integrity of the trunk's contents. (Figure 2)

Description

Title of the invention: Method for remotely verifying a delivery of objects in a motor vehicle trunk

[0001] The present invention relates generally to the field of delivery of objects, or parcels, by motor delivery vehicles and relates more particularly to a method for remote verification of a delivery of objects in a trunk of a motor vehicle, or customer vehicle, recipient of one or more objects.

[0002] This type of delivery is interesting in that it allows delivery without requiring the "physical" presence of the recipient of the delivered objects and in public places accessible in particular by a LCV vehicle, acronym for Light Utility Vehicles, sometimes called "vans" or "minivans". This type of vehicle is suitable for transporting objects in the form of packages whose dimensions remain compatible with the average dimensions of a trunk, or storage trunk, of a motor vehicle.

[0003] It is however necessary to secure the various stages of delivery from loading the objects into the delivery vehicle to loading them into the trunk of the customer's vehicle.

[0004] By security, we mean the tracking of the objects to be delivered, the identification and authentication of the delivery vehicle and / or the delivery person, the precise geolocation of the delivery vehicle and the customer vehicle as well as the confidentiality of the exchanges between the delivery vehicle and the customer vehicle, exchanges which are managed by a server remote from the delivery vehicle and the customer vehicle, capable of implementing a security method based on digital keys described in particular in document FR3087551A1, which was the subject of a patent application filed by the applicant.

[0005] The remote server belongs to a logistics platform capable of managing remote deliveries.

[0006] The exchanges with the remote server are carried out via waves, via a wireless communication infrastructure, for example a 4G or 5G type mobile network communication infrastructure.

[0007] Once the security steps have been verified by the remote server, the latter sends a trunk unlocking request to the client vehicle, allowing the client vehicle's trunk to be opened for loading the objects.

[0008] To ensure that the delivery was carried out in the correct customer vehicle and with the correct objects intended for the customer vehicle, control means have been developed to be verified by the remote server.

[0009] Control means are notably described in document FR3066034A1, which was the subject of a patent application filed by the applicant.

[0010] This document describes a method of sending the position of the client vehicle to the remote server: the client vehicle sends its position (geolocation data) to the server by exploiting a connected service dedicated to delivery (accessible via an application on a smartphone of the user of the client vehicle), for the geolocation of the client vehicle which is considered as the delivery location.

[0011] The remote server transmits the geolocation data to the delivery vehicle which moves to the delivery location. The delivery vehicle is equipped with an electronic label reader, or radio-labels, "tags", of the RFID (for Radio Frequency Identification) type, capable of identifying the labeled packages, when they leave the delivery vehicle when the delivery vehicle has arrived at the delivery location with the same geolocation data as those of the customer vehicle. The list of packages taken out of the delivery vehicle is checked by the remote server: comparison of the list of labeled objects with the list of objects ordered by the customer.

[0012] As described in document FR3135181A, which was the subject of a patent application filed by the applicant. To ensure that the vehicle present is indeed that of the customer, an image of the registration plate of the customer vehicle is collected by the delivery vehicle and / or the delivery person, and transmitted by radio to the remote server which checks the conformity of the image of the plate acquired at the place of delivery with the registration number provided by the customer when ordering.

[0013] Once the exchanges between the delivery vehicle and the remote server and between the client vehicle and the remote server have been authenticated, the objects checked upon leaving the delivery vehicle and upon loading into the trunk of the client vehicle and, once the vehicle has been “physically” identified, a request for remote unlocking of the trunk of the client vehicle, having a remote trunk unlocking functionality (“Remote Access” in English terminology), is transmitted to the client vehicle, by the remote server, without intervention from the user of the client vehicle (driver and / or owner) and without the need for a key or code exchange. The delivery person has a limited, determined time range for opening the trunk once the unlocking request has been transmitted.

[0014] The delivery person then loads the object(s) into the trunk of the customer's vehicle which are "read" by a reader present in the trunk of the customer's vehicle at the time of loading.

[0015] This method does not allow checking that all the objects loaded into the trunk of the customer vehicle are actually present in the trunk once delivery has been made. and the trunk closed_and, on the other hand, that no other object has disappeared from the trunk following delivery or that no intruder object has been loaded into it.

[0016] Indeed, an object, although unloaded from the delivery vehicle and loaded into the trunk to be “read”, can then be removed from the trunk before the trunk is closed.

[0017] The present invention aims to overcome these drawbacks in particular by proposing a solution making it possible to improve the security of a delivery of objects, or parcels, in the trunk of a customer vehicle by guaranteeing the conformity of the objects delivered and the integrity of the contents of the trunk after delivery.

[0018] To this end, the present invention has as its first object, a method for remotely checking the contents of a trunk of a customer vehicle after delivery of at least one object in said trunk by a delivery vehicle, the unlocking of said trunk being able to be controlled remotely;said method implemented by a server remote from said client and delivery vehicles, consisting, after having received a first series of data authorizing the remote unlocking of the trunk and data confirming the loading of the object in the trunk, in receiving data representative of an image of the contents of the trunk after loading the object in the trunk, in receiving identification data of the objects present in the trunk after closing the trunk and, from the image and the identification data of the objects present in the trunk, in drawing up an inventory of the contents of the trunk and in transmitting the result of the inventory to the client for verification of the integrity of the contents of the trunk. ;

[0019] According to one characteristic, the image of the contents of the trunk, after loading the object into the trunk, is obtained from an image capture device associated with the delivery vehicle, and capable of transmitting the image to the remote server via waves.

[0020] According to another characteristic, data confirming loading of the object into the trunk of the client vehicle are received from a first reading of a radio tag affixed to said object, by a reading device embedded in the trunk of the client vehicle, during loading of the object into the trunk, and for which data identifying objects present in the trunk are received from a second reading in relation to a radio tag affixed to an object present in the trunk, by the reading device embedded in the trunk of the client vehicle, after closing the trunk; said reading device embedded in the trunk being capable of transmitting the data of the first and second readings to the remote server via waves.

[0021] According to another characteristic, the data obtained by the second reading and the data obtained from the image of the contents of the safe when loading the object into the safe are stored in a file drawing up an inventory of said objects. with an inventory discrepancy table for items with a radio tag, highlighting newly delivered items.

[0022] According to another characteristic, the inventory is transmitted to the driver or owner of the customer vehicle.

[0023] The second subject of the present invention is a computer program product comprising instructions for implementing the method as described above, when these instructions are executed by at least one processor.

[0024] The third subject of the present invention is a computer-readable recording medium on which is recorded a computer program comprising instructions for executing the steps of the method as described above.

[0025] Finally, the present invention has as its fourth object a system comprising a delivery vehicle, a client vehicle and a remote server implementing the method as described above, for the remote verification of the contents of a trunk of the client vehicle after delivery of at least one object in said trunk by the delivery vehicle; said delivery vehicle and client vehicle being connected in wireless communication with said remote server and each comprising at least one means for reading data stored on a radio tag affixed to the object and said system further comprising an image capture device associated with the delivery vehicle.

[0026] According to one characteristic, the image capture device associated with the delivery vehicle is an authenticated smartphone held by the deliverer of the object.

[0027] Other advantages and characteristics of the present invention may emerge more clearly from the description which follows, given solely by way of non-limiting example and made with reference to the drawings in which:

[0028] [Fig. 1] illustrates a delivery system comprising a remote server implementing a method according to the invention;

[0029] [Fig.2] illustrates a flowchart of the main steps of the method according to the invention, implemented by the remote server of the system of [Fig.l].

[0030] The method according to the invention adds to the multiple checks carried out from the exit of the objects from the delivery vehicle until the loading of the objects into the trunk of the customer vehicle as described in document FR3135181A additional check actions, before and after closing the trunk.

[0031] Compared to the teaching of this document, the present invention adds the reception of an image of the contents of the safe by the remote server following the loading of the objects into the safe, "before closing the safe", and the reception of an inventory of the contents of the safe, "after closing the safe" making it possible to verify the integrity of the contents of the safe once delivery has been made.

[0032] The following description is based on controls already described in detail in document FR3135181A which are summarized below.

[0033] These checks concern the identification of at least one object (or package) by end-to-end RFID contactless reading, from the exit of the delivery vehicle to the loading of the object into the trunk of the customer vehicle, by adding a reading of the object loaded into the trunk by RFID equipment mounted in the trunk of the customer vehicle; the authentication of the delivery person and / or the associated delivery vehicle, by exchange of digital keys, and the “physical” verification of the customer vehicle in front of the delivery person, by means of a photo taken by the delivery person.

[0034] These checks are processed by a remote server belonging to a logistics platform managing remote delivery, to guarantee that the remote delivery operation is compliant and respectful of a logistics contract entered into with the end customer, recipient of the object.

[0035] [Fig.l] schematically illustrates a system 1 comprising a remote server 101 implementing the verification method according to the invention.

[0036] The remote server 101 is connected by radio to a delivery vehicle 10 and to a client vehicle 11 by a wireless communication infrastructure.

[0037] The delivery vehicle 10 and the client vehicle 11 are configured to transport one or more objects (or packages) and to read the data stored on radio tags affixed to the objects they transport.

[0038] The delivery vehicle 10 and the customer vehicle 11 each carry at least one means for reading data stored on radio tags.

[0039] The remote device 101 illustrated in [Fig.l] corresponds for example to a server of the “cloud” 100 (or “nuage” in French).

[0040] The communication infrastructure connecting the delivery vehicle 10 and the client vehicle 11 to the “cloud” 100 (and ultimately to the remote server 101) advantageously corresponds to an infrastructure of a wireless communication network, for example a 4G mobile network communication infrastructure, allowing the delivery vehicle 10 to communicate data to the remote server 101, for example to transmit data to the remote server 101 and receive data from the remote server 101. The client vehicle 11 also exchanges data with the remote server 101 via the wireless communication network infrastructure, for example to transmit data to the remote server 101 and receive data from the remote server 101.

[0041] The communication infrastructure comprises, for example, one or more communication devices 110 of the relay antenna type (cellular network) or roadside unit, known as UBR. In a communication mode using such a network architecture, the data is, for example, transmitted by the vehicle of delivery 10 and / or the client vehicle 11 to the remote server 101 of the “cloud” 100 (and vice versa) via a relay antenna 110 (the antenna 110 being for example connected to the “cloud” 100 via a wired link).

[0042] The delivery vehicle 10 and the client vehicle 11 also each carry a communication system configured to communicate with the “cloud” 100 and the remote server 101.

[0043] The delivery vehicle 10 and the client vehicle 11 each carry a satellite geolocation system configured to determine the current position of the vehicles 10, 11, such as a receiver of a GPS (Global Positioning System) type system.

[0044] Once the delivery vehicle 10 (or the delivery person) is authenticated, the remote server 101 receives data of an image of a license plate of the client vehicle 11 taken by the delivery person.

[0045] For example, the delivery person can take a photo of the license plate of the customer vehicle 11 via a mobile communication device (called the first mobile communication device) having an image capture device, held by the delivery person and send it to the remote device 101 via the wireless connection connecting the remote device 101 to the mobile communication device, for example a smartphone held by the delivery person, who is also authenticated.

[0046] The authentication process implemented corresponds to any method of authenticating a person or a device known to those skilled in the art. Such a method is notably described in the patent document FR3087551A already introduced above.

[0047] According to such a method, an exchange of digital keys is implemented between the different actors associated with the delivery of the object, i.e. the delivery person and the user of the client vehicle 11 (driver / owner) to allow the user of the client vehicle 11 to ensure that the request for remote unlocking of the client vehicle 11 is indeed initiated by the delivery person.

[0048] According to a particular and non-limiting exemplary embodiment, an identification tag comprises an RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) type interface which allows the short-range reading of the data stored by this identification tag. Such an RFID type identification tag is also called an RFID radio tag.

[0049] The delivery vehicle 10 and the customer vehicle 11 each advantageously carry one or more radio tag readers. A radio tag reader is also called an RFID reader.

[0050] The radio tag contains in memory identification data of the object on which it is affixed. Thus, when an object comprising a radio tag is loaded into the trunk of the customer vehicle 11, the RFID reader loaded into the trunk of the customer vehicle 11 interrogates the radio tag which transmits in return the identification data of the object.

[0051] [Fig. 2] illustrates a flowchart of the different steps of the method according to the invention.

[0052] The method is for example implemented by one or more processors of a data processing device of the remote server 101.

[0053] In a first step 21, the remote server 101 receives first data representative of identification of the delivery vehicle 10, second data representative of the object and third data comprising a first piece of information representative of the geolocation of the delivery vehicle 10 and a second piece of information representative of a time instant (timestamp) at which the object left the delivery vehicle 10. The second data are obtained from a radio tag associated with the object, by a first reading device on board the delivery vehicle 10 and configured to read the second data stored on the radio tag when the object leaves the delivery vehicle 10.

[0054] In a second step 22, the remote server 101 receives a third piece of information representative of the geolocation of the client vehicle 11.

[0055] In a third step 23, the remote server 101 receives a fourth piece of data representing an image of a license plate of the client vehicle 11. The fourth piece of data is transmitted by a first mobile communication device associated with the delivery vehicle 10 or the delivery person. For example, the delivery person can take a photo of the license plate of the client vehicle 11 from his smartphone.

[0056] In a fourth step 24, the mobile communication device (smartphone) and the operator carrying out the delivery (the delivery person) are authenticated by the remote server 101.

[0057] In a fifth step 25, the first data, the second data, the third and the fourth data are compared with a set of determined reference data pre-recorded in a memory associated with the processing device of the remote server 101, and the first information is compared with the third information.

[0058] When the first mobile communication device (smartphone) and the operator (the delivery person) are authenticated, the first, second, third and fourth data are consistent with the reference data and when the first information corresponds to the second information, then in a sixth step 26, the server remote 101 authorizes the sending of a request to remotely unlock the trunk of the client vehicle 11.

[0059] In a seventh step 27, the remote server receives fifth data representative of a confirmation of loading of the object into the client vehicle 11. The fifth data are obtained from a reading of the second data of the radio tag by a second reading device on board the trunk of the client vehicle 11 and configured to read the second data stored on the radio tag when loading the object into the trunk of the client vehicle 11.

[0060] Steps 21 to 25 allow you to verify that all the conditions for authorizing (step 26) the unlocking of the trunk are met.

[0061] The opening of the trunk for loading the object into the trunk by the delivery person is therefore permitted and step 27 provides confirmation of the loading into the trunk.

[0062] Advantageously, according to the present invention, in an eighth step 28, the remote server 101 receives sixth data representative of at least one image of the contents of the trunk of the client vehicle 11 “after loading the object into the trunk” and therefore after closing the trunk. For example, the delivery person can take a time-stamped photo of the inside of the trunk of the client vehicle 11 via his smartphone, and send it to the remote device 101 via the wireless connection linking the remote device 101 to the delivery person's smartphone. This photo makes it possible to provide an image representative of an overview of all the objects present in the trunk: object(s) having a label or not, object(s) present in the trunk before delivery of the object by the delivery vehicle 10 and the delivered object.

[0063] Thanks to this image (photo), the remote server 101 is able, by image recognition in particular, to distinguish and draw up an inventory, or list, of all the objects present in the trunk of the client vehicle 11.

[0064] In a ninth step 29, the remote server 101 receives seventh data obtained from a reading of radio tag(s) from the second reading device embedded in the trunk of the client vehicle 11 and configured to read data stored on a radio tag of the delivered object and / or other objects having a radio tag, present in the delivery vehicle after closing the trunk.

[0065] Finally, in a tenth step 30, the objects identified from the image of the contents of the safe and the objects read by the second radio-tag reading device are stored in a file drawing up an inventory of said objects with an inventory discrepancy table for the objects having a radio-tag, highlighting in particular the new objects delivered.

[0066] This inventory is transmitted to the recipient (the customer) of the object and makes it possible to check on the one hand that the delivered object is in the “closed” trunk and on the other hand that no intruder object has been introduced into the trunk of the customer vehicle 11 (object with radio- tag or without radio tag), nor that any object (with radio tag or without radio tag), previously present in the safe has disappeared.

[0067] The additional checks, corresponding respectively to steps 28, 29 and 30, provide additional guarantees as to the integrity of the contents of a vehicle trunk after delivery.

[0068] The present invention also relates to a computer program comprising instructions for implementing the method according to the invention, when these instructions are executed by a processor, as well as a recording medium readable by a computer on which is recorded a computer program comprising instructions for executing the steps of the method according to the invention.

Claims

Claims

1. Method for remotely checking the contents of a trunk of a customer vehicle (11) after delivery of at least one object in said trunk by a delivery vehicle (10), the unlocking of said trunk being capable of being controlled remotely, said method implemented by a remote server (101) of said customer vehicles (11) and delivery vehicles (10), consisting, after having received (21-25) a first series of data authorizing (26) the remote unlocking of the trunk and data (27) confirming the loading of the object in the trunk, in receiving (28) data representative of an image of the contents of the trunk after loading of the object in the trunk, in receiving (29) identification data of the objects present in the trunk after closing the trunk and, from the image and the identification data of the objects present in the trunk,to draw up (30) the inventory of the contents of the safe and to transmit the result of the inventory to the customer for verification of the integrity of the contents of the safe.,

2. Method according to the preceding claim, for which the image of the contents of the trunk after loading the object into the trunk is obtained from an image capture device associated with the delivery vehicle, and capable of transmitting the image to the remote server (101) via waves.

3. Method according to the preceding claims, for which data confirming loading of the object into the trunk of the client vehicle (11) are received from a first reading of a radio tag affixed to said object, by a reading device on board the trunk of the client vehicle (11), during loading of the object into the trunk, and for which data identifying objects present in the trunk are received from a second reading in relation to a radio tag affixed to an object present in the trunk, by the reading device on board the trunk of the client vehicle (11), after closing the trunk; said reading device on board the trunk being capable of transmitting the data of the first and second readings to the remote server (101) via waves.

4. A method according to the preceding claims, wherein the data obtained by the second reading and the data obtained from of the image of the contents of the safe when loading the object into the safe are stored in a file drawing up an inventory of said objects with an inventory discrepancy table for objects with a radio tag, highlighting the new objects delivered.

5. Method according to the preceding claim, for which the inventory is transmitted to the driver or owner of the client vehicle (11).

6. Computer program product comprising instructions for implementing the method according to one of the preceding claims, when these instructions are executed by at least one processor.

7. A computer-readable recording medium on which is recorded a computer program comprising instructions for carrying out the steps of the method according to one of claims 1 to 5.

8. id J. System (1) comprising a delivery vehicle (10), a client vehicle (11) and a remote server (101) implementing the method according to claims 1 to 5, for the remote verification of the contents of a trunk of the client vehicle (11) after delivery of at least one object in said trunk by the delivery vehicle (10); said delivery vehicle (10) and client vehicle (11) being connected in wireless communication with said remote server (101) and each comprising at least one means for reading data stored on a radio tag affixed to the object and said system further comprising an image capture device associated with the delivery vehicle (10).

9. System according to the preceding claim, in which the image capture device associated with the delivery vehicle (10) is an authenticated smartphone held by the deliverer of the object.