Patent ID: 8502643

Claim:
A method for enrolling in a self check-in program for a user to check-in one or more items for transportation, the method comprising: electronically reading personal identification (ID) information from a government-issued ID document with an ID input device; electronically verifying the ID document based on the personal ID information, including querying a database of government-issued ID documents to identify the ID document; receiving additional personal ID information input at an input device for enrollment in the self check-in program, the additional personal ID information being personal ID information not stored on the government-issued ID document or in the database of government-issued ID documents; capturing, when the ID document is identified in the database, biometric data from the user; storing the biometric data in a database, the biometric data being encoded; creating a biological key based on the biometric data, wherein the biological key is a number and wherein the biological key is used to identify the user; storing a database key on a portable ID storage medium, the database key configured to allow access to the biometric data stored in the database; and issuing the portable ID storage medium having the database key to the user, thereby completing the method for enrolling in the self check-in program, the portable ID storage medium configured to initiate an identification session for self check-in by the user, using the biometric data stored in the database, of an item for transportation, wherein the self check-in program generates an item tag for the item, the biological key being stored on the item tag to identify the user, and wherein the item tag is attachable to the item to identify the item as belonging to the user, the identification session expiring upon deposit of the item on a conveyor in response to the presentation of the portable ID storage medium by the user at a control point associated with access to the conveyor and after the user has been identified based on the biometric data stored in the database, and the conveyor moving the item away from the user and controlling access to checked-in items, thereby allowing the user to self check-in the item unassisted by an attendant.