Wireless remote monitoring of supply bins
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A supply bin comprising:
- a bottom wall; and
a peripheral wall extending upward from the bottom wall to define a bin interior;
a sensor module in the bin interior, the sensor module including an RF interface capable of providing wireless communication and a sensor capable of detecting a quantity of items in the bin interior, the sensor capable of communicating only whether or not the quantity of items is below a threshold via the RF interface.
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Abstract
A provisioning system includes a plurality of supply bins each having a bottom wall and a peripheral wall extending upward from the bottom wall to define a bin interior. A sensor module is disposed in each bin interior. The sensor module includes an RF interface capable of providing wireless communication and a sensor capable of detecting items in the bin interior and communicating via the RF interface based upon a quantity of the items detected by the sensor in the bin interior. An RF reader reads all of the RF interfaces in the supply bins in a supply room to determine what items need to be resupplied.
50 Citations
24 Claims
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1. A supply bin comprising:
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a bottom wall; and a peripheral wall extending upward from the bottom wall to define a bin interior; a sensor module in the bin interior, the sensor module including an RF interface capable of providing wireless communication and a sensor capable of detecting a quantity of items in the bin interior, the sensor capable of communicating only whether or not the quantity of items is below a threshold via the RF interface. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A method for managing inventory including the steps of:
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a) associating each of a plurality of RFID interfaces with one of a plurality of supply bins in a supply room; b) associating a sensor with each of the plurality of supply bins and the associated RFID interfaces; c) placing supplies in the plurality of supply bins; d) detecting with one of the sensors that the associated one of the supply bins has less than a threshold of supplies; and e) receiving at an RF reader a passive RF signal from the one of the sensors indicating that the associated one of the supply bins has less than the threshold of supplies. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24)
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Specification