Object tracking method and system

• US 10,401,471 B2
• Filed: 12/05/2016
• Issued: 09/03/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 02/06/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fedex Corporate Services Incorporated (FedEx Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Fedex Corporate Services Incorporated (FedEx Corporation)
• Inventors: Hyatt, Anthony, Witty, Stephen, Henry, Kevin
• Primary Examiner(s): Gregory, Bernarr E
• Application Number:
  US15/368,976
• Publication Number:
  US 20170082728A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,002 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/74 Systems using reradiation of radio waves, e.g. secondary radar systems; Analogous systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/13 Receivers
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0294 Trajectory determination or predictive filtering, e.g. target tracking or Kalman filtering
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0833 Tracking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders

Abstract

A system for tracking at least one object configured to be transported by at least one vehicle may include at least one computer system. The at least one computer system may be configured to determine at least one location of the at least one vehicle and determine at least one location of the at least one object. The at least one computer system may be further configured to determine at least one location of at least one geofence adjacent the at least one vehicle based on the at least one location of the at least one vehicle. Also, the at least one computer system may be configured to determine whether the at least one object is located within the at least one geofence to determine whether a load of the at least one vehicle includes the at least one object.

Claims

1. A system for tracking objects, comprising:

a computer system configured to;

receive data from a reader via a communication network, the data including information from a device associated with an object;

determine a location of the object based on the data received from the reader;

determine a location of an object transport vehicle based on data received from a device associated with the object transport vehicle;

generate a geofence surrounding the determined location of the object transport vehicle, a size of the geofence being based on a loading area of the object transport vehicle; and

determine whether the object is within the geofence based on the determined location of the object and at least one parameter of the geofence to determine whether the object has been loaded on the object transport vehicle.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the device associated with the object includes a tag, and the reader is configured to read the tag to obtain the data and transmit the data to the computer system, wherein the data includes identification information of the tag associated with the object.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the device associated with the object transport vehicle is a tag, and wherein the reader is configured to read the tag to obtain identification information of the tag associated with the object transport vehicle.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the reader is also configured to transmit information indicating at least one of a strength or an angle of a signal received from the tag to the computer system.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the computer system is configured to determine the location of the tag based on at least one of the identification information of the tag, the strength, or the angle of the signal received from the tag.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the computer system is configured to determine the location of the object transport vehicle based on the location of the tag.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the device includes at least one global positioning system device associated with the object and configured to provide location information of the object.

8. The system of claim 7, further including a global positioning system device associated with the object transport vehicle and configured to provide location information of the object transport vehicle.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the computer system is configured to store a map including information indicating locations of the object transport vehicle, the geofence, and the object.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the computer system is configured to periodically update the map with updated locations of the object transport vehicle, the geofence, and the object at every predetermined time period.

11. The system of claim 1, further including a plurality of tags associated with the object transport vehicle, and wherein the computer system is configured to:

receive signals from the plurality of tags;

determine locations of the plurality of tags based on the received signals; and

determine the location of the object transport vehicle based on the locations of the plurality of tags.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the computer system is configured to:

identify a center point of the object transport vehicle based on the locations of the plurality of tags; and

generate the geofence based on the center point of the object transport vehicle and a predetermined distance.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one parameter of the geofence includes at least one of a location and a size of the geofence.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer system is configured to monitor a location of at least one of the geofence, the object transport vehicle, or the object.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer system is configured to monitor a weight of a load transported by the object transport vehicle.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the computer system is configured to determine whether the weight of the load transported by the object transport vehicle is greater than a threshold.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the computer system is configured to adjust a size of the geofence when the computer system determines that the weight of the load transported by the object transport vehicle is greater than the threshold and that the object is not within the geofence.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the computer system is configured to determine whether the object has been loaded onto the object transport vehicle based on the monitored weight of the load and the determination of whether the object is within the geofence.

19. A method for tracking an object configured to be transported by an object transport vehicle, the method comprising:

receiving, using a computer system, data from a reader via a communication network, the data including information obtained from a device associated with the object;

determining, using the computer system, a location of the object based on the data received from the reader;

determining a location of the object transport vehicle based on data received from a device associated with the object transport vehicle;

generating a geofence surrounding the determined location of the object transport vehicle, a size of the geofence being based on a loading area of the object transport vehicle; and

determining whether the object is within the geofence based on the determined location of the object and at least one parameter of the geofence to determine whether the object has been loaded on the object transport vehicle.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable medium containing instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform a method for tracking objects, the method comprising:

receiving, using a computer system, data from a reader via a communication network, the data including information obtained from a device associated with the object;

determining, using the computer system, a location of the object based on the data received from the reader;

determining a location of an object transport vehicle based on data received from a device associated with the object transport vehicle;

generating a geofence surrounding the determined location of the object transport vehicle, a size of the geofence being based on a loading area of the object transport vehicle; and

determining whether the object is within the geofence based on the determined location of the object and at least one parameter of the geofence to determine whether the object has been loaded on the object transport vehicle.