Method and apparatus pertaining to facilitating the reading of RFID tags

• US 10,073,992 B2
• Filed: 09/20/2013
• Issued: 09/11/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/20/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Walmart Apollo, LLC (WalMart Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Walmart Apollo, LLC (WalMart Inc.)
• Inventors: Jones, Nicholaus A., Bourlon, Jarrod Lee, Taulbee, Alvin Scott, Wilkinson, Bruce W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Terrell, Emily C
• Application Number:
  US14/032,560
• Publication Number:
  US 20150084746A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,817 Days
• Field of Search: 340 1032, 340 1033, 340 103
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/0008 General problems related to the reading of electronic memory record carriers, independent of its reading method, e.g. power transfer
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10009 sensing by radiation using wavelengths larger than 0.1 mm, e.g. radio-waves or microwaves
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10366 the interrogation device being adapted for miscellaneous applications

Abstract

These teachings generally comprise interrogating RFID tags and receiving corresponding responses from various ones of these RFID tags while also receiving, from a remote source, surrogate response corresponding to at least some of the plurality of RFID tags that are not responding to the current interrogation. A corresponding plurality of end user-perceivable indications as correspond to both the responses from various ones of the plurality of RFID tags and the aforementioned surrogate responses are then provided to thereby ultimately inform an end user of the RFID tag reader with respect to a corresponding reading state as regards the plurality of RFID tags.

Claims

1. A method to facilitate an end user reading a plurality of radio frequency identification (RFID) tags using an RFID tag reader, the method comprising:

interrogating en masse the plurality of RFID tags;

receiving corresponding responses from various ones of the plurality of RFID tags;

receiving from a remote source surrogate responses corresponding to at least some of the plurality of RFID tags that did not respond to the interrogation but which did respond to a previous interrogation, the surrogate responses comprising content as though the RFID tags that did not respond to the interrogation had in fact responded to the interrogation;

providing at the RFID tag reader a plurality of end user-perceivable indications corresponding to the responses from the various ones of the plurality of RFID tags and the surrogate responses to thereby inform an end user of the RFID tag reader with respect to a corresponding read state as regards the plurality of RFID tags.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

while receiving the responses;

transmitting at least a portion of at least some of the responses to a remote processor;

receiving from the remote processor a plurality of messages that includes the surrogate responses;

and wherein providing at the RFID tag reader a plurality of end user-perceivable indications corresponding to the responses from the various ones of the plurality of RFID tags and the surrogate responses comprises providing the plurality of end user-perceivable indications as a function of the messages.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein providing the plurality of end user-perceivable indications corresponding to the responses from the various ones of the plurality of RFID tags and the surrogate responses comprises using a first sound to denote responses from the various ones of the plurality of RFID tags and a second sound that is different from the first sound to denote the surrogate responses.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving corresponding responses from various ones of the plurality of RFID tags comprises not receiving corresponding responses from at least some previously-read RFID tags, and wherein receiving from a remote source surrogate responses corresponding to at least some of the plurality of RFID tags that did not respond to the interrogation comprises receiving surrogate responses for at least some of the previously-read RFID tags.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the previously-read RFID tags were read by at least one different RFID tag reader.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the end user-perceivable indications are identical to one another.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the end user-perceivable indications are each no longer than 200 milliseconds in duration.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein providing at the RFID tag reader a plurality of end user-perceivable indications corresponding to the responses from the various ones of the plurality of RFID tags and the surrogate responses comprises providing the end user-perceivable indications in real-time with respect to when the corresponding responses and the surrogate responses are received.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one of the surrogate responses corresponds to an RFID tag that the RFID tag reader read previously.

10. An apparatus to facilitate reading a plurality of radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, the apparatus comprising:

an RFID tag reader configured to interrogate the plurality of RFID tags and to receive corresponding responses from various ones of the plurality of RFID tags;

a receiver configured to receive surrogate responses for non-responding RFID tags that did respond to a previous interrogation, the surrogate responses comprising content as though the non-responding RFID tags had in fact responded to the interrogation;

an annunciator configured to provide end user-perceivable indications;

a control circuit operably coupled to the annunciator and the receiver and configured to provide a plurality of end user-perceivable indications corresponding to the responses from the various ones of the plurality of RFID tags and the surrogate responses to thereby inform an end user of the apparatus with respect to a completeness level of the reading of the plurality of RFID tags, wherein the completeness level treats the non-responding RFID tags for which the surrogate responses were received as though the non-responding RFID tags had responded.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 further comprising:

a transmitter operably coupled to the control circuit;

and wherein the control circuit is configured to, while receiving the responses;

transmit at least a portion of at least some of the responses to a remote processor;

receive from the remote processor a plurality of messages that includes the surrogate responses;

and wherein the control circuit is configured to provide the plurality of end user-perceivable indications corresponding to the responses from the various ones of the plurality of RFID tags and the surrogate responses by providing the plurality of end user-perceivable indications as a function of the messages.

12. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the control circuit is configured to provide the plurality of end user-perceivable indications corresponding to the responses from the various ones of the plurality of RFID tags and the surrogate responses by using a first sound to denote responses from the various ones of the plurality of RFID tags and a second sound that is different from the first sound to denote the surrogate responses.

13. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the non-responding RFID tags were previously read by at least one different RFID tag reader.

14. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the end user-perceivable indications are identical to one another.

15. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the end user-perceivable indications are each no longer than 200 milliseconds in duration.

16. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the control circuit is configured to provide the plurality of end user-perceivable indications corresponding to the responses from the various ones of the plurality of RFID tags and the surrogate responses by providing the end user-perceivable indications in real-time with respect to when the corresponding responses and the surrogate responses are received.

17. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the control circuit is configured to provide the plurality of end user-perceivable indications corresponding to the responses from the various ones of the plurality of RFID tags and the surrogate responses by providing the plurality of end user-perceivable indications as a function, at least in part, of filtering less-recent reads to identify relevant more-recent reads.