Patent ID: 7522053

Claim:
A method of protecting luggage from tampering comprising the following steps: (a) receiving a piece of luggage at a baggage check-in station; (b) encoding passenger and routing information at the baggage check-in station onto an identification tag; (c) attaching the identification tag to the piece of luggage; (d) placing the piece of luggage on a baggage conveyor and conveying the piece of luggage to a security inspection station inside a secure area that excludes all unauthorized personnel; (e) conveying the piece of luggage on the baggage conveyor to a scanning station to detect and decode the identification tag; (f) conveying the piece of luggage on the baggage conveyor to a wrapping station; (g) when an identification tag is detected, continuing from step (h), else continuing from step (j); (h) when the identification tag indicates that the piece of luggage is to be wrapped, continuing from step (i), else continuing from step (j); (i) wrapping the piece of luggage automatically; and (j) conveying the piece of luggage through the wrapping station to a baggage receiving station.