System and method for verifying RFID reads

• US 20040118916A1
• Filed: 03/11/2003
• Published: 06/24/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Symbol Technologies, LLC (Zebra Technologies Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Symbol Technologies, Inc. (Zebra Technologies Corporation)
• Inventors: He, Duanfeng
• Granted Patent: US 7,066,388 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/383
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/14 the marking being sensed by radiation
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/0004 Hybrid readers
• 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 7/10386 the interrogation device being of the portable or hand-handheld type, e.g. incorporated in ubiquitous hand-held devices such as PDA or mobile phone, or in the form of a portable dedicated RFID reader
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10722 Photodetector array or CCD scanning
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10811 Focalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/10 Character recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/274 Syntactic or semantic context, e.g. balancing

Abstract

An RFID reader and imaging system is provided having a device for imaging an object associated with a tag whose RFID code is read by an RFID reader. The imaging device generates image data associated with the imaged object. The system further includes a database storing RFID codes associated with a plurality of objects and complete or extracted image data associated with each stored RFID code. Verification software executable on at least one processor of the system is provided for verifying whether the RFID code presented to be read and processed by the RFID reader and imaging system corresponds to the imaged object. The process of verification is performed by comparing the acquired image data or other data associated with the imaged object with the stored image data or other stored data corresponding with the RFID code read. If the acquired image data or other data substantially matches the stored image data or other stored data, then the system verifies that the appropriate RFID code was read. If the acquired image data or other data does not substantially match the stored image data or other stored data, then the system verifies that the appropriate RFID code was not read, or that the system contains an error.

Claims

1. An RFID reader and imaging system for verifying an RFID read, said system comprising:

RFID reader circuitry for performing the RFID read by receiving RFID tag data from an RFID tag;

an imaging engine having an array of image sensors for sensing an image of an object and generating image data;

a database storing a plurality of RFID codes and image data associated with each respective RFID code of the plurality of RFID codes, wherein the associated image data represents at least one image of at least one object having an RFID tag; and

a processing unit for receiving the RFID tag data from the RFID reader circuitry and the generated image data from the imaging engine, said processing unit comprising;

an RFID decoding module including programmable instructions executable on the processing unit for decoding the received RFID tag data and generating an RFID code;

a database query module including programmable instructions executable on the processing unit for accessing stored image data associated with an RFID code which matches the generated RFID code; and

a comparator module including programmable instructions executable on the processing unit for comparing the generated image data with the accessed image data for determining whether the generated image data corresponds to the generated RFID code for verifying the RFID read.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the imaging engine and the RFID reader circuitry are housed within an integrated RFID reading and imaging device.

3. The system according to claim 1, wherein signals generated by the imaging engine and the RFID reader circuitry are processed successively by signal processing circuitry.

4. The system according to claim 1, wherein the image data associated with each respective RFID code of the plurality of RFID codes includes a plurality of images.

5. The system according to claim 4, wherein the comparator module includes means for comparing the generated image data with at least one of the plurality of images corresponding to the generated RFID code.

6. The system according to claim 1, wherein the image data associated with each respective RFID code includes data indicative of at least one characteristic of the at least one object.

7. The system according to claim 1, wherein the image data associated with the each respective RFID code includes data extracted from an image of the at least one object.

8. The system according to claim 4, wherein respective image data entries of the plurality of image data entries of image data associated with each respective RFID code include image data corresponding to different views of the at least one object.

9. The system according to claim 1, wherein the processing unit further comprises a face determination module for determining data of the generated image data corresponding to at least one face of the object imaged by the imaging engine.

10. The system according to claim 1, wherein the processing unit further comprises a data extraction module including programmable instructions executable on the processing unit for extracting data from the generated image data.

11. The system according to claim 10, wherein the extracted data is indicative of at least one characteristic of the object imaged by the imaging engine.

12. The system according to claim 1 wherein;

the RFID reader receives RFID tag data from more than one RFID tag;

the RFID decoding module generates an RFID code which corresponds to each respective RFID tag read;

the database query module accesses respective stored image data associated with each RFID code which matches each respective generated RFID code; and

the comparator module compares the generated image data with each respective accessed image data for determining the best correlation thereof for determining the best correspondence between the generated image data and one of the generated RFID codes, and if a correlation does not exist, determining that an unsuccessful read occurred.

13. A method for verifying an RFID read comprising the steps of:

receiving an RFID code which was decoded from a set of RFID tag data obtained by reading an RFID tag during an RFID read operation;

receiving image data obtained by an imaging operation performed substantially simultaneously with the RFID read operation;

querying a database for accessing stored data corresponding to a stored RFID code which matches the received RFID code; and

comparing the received image data with the accessed stored data for determining whether the received image data corresponds to the received RFID code.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein:

the receiving the RFID code step includes receiving a plurality of RFID codes which were decoded from a plurality of respective sets of RFID tag data corresponding to a plurality of respective RFID tags read during the RFID read operation;

the querying step includes accessing a set of stored data corresponding to respective stored RFID codes which match respective received RFID codes of the plurality of received RFID codes; and

the comparing step includes comparing the received image data with the respective sets of accessed data for determining the optimum correlation thereof for determining which received RFID codes of the plurality of received RFID codes corresponds to the received image data, and if a correlation does not exist, determining that an unsuccessful read occurred.

15. A computer-readable medium storing a series of programmable instructions configured for execution by at least one processor for performing an RFID verification method comprising the steps of:

receiving an RFID code which was decoded from a set of RFID tag data obtained by reading an RFID tag during an RFID read operation;

receiving image data obtained by an imaging operation performed substantially simultaneously with the RFID read operation;

querying a database for accessing stored data corresponding to a stored RFID code which matches the received RFID code; and

comparing the received image data with the accessed stored data for determining whether the received image data corresponds to the received RFID code.

16. A verification system for verifying an RFID read comprising:

means for receiving an RFID code which was decoded from a set of RFID tag data obtained by reading an RFID tag during an RFID read operation;

means for receiving object data corresponding to an object associated with the RFID tag, wherein the object data was sensed substantially simultaneously with the RFID read operation;

means for querying a database for accessing stored data corresponding to a stored RFID code which matches the received RFID code; and

means for comparing the received object data with the accessed data for determining whether the received object data corresponds to the received RFID code.

17. The verification system according to claim 16, wherein the stored data corresponding to the generated RFID code is image data and the received object data is image data obtained by an imaging engine.

18. The verification system according to claim 17, wherein the received object data is derived from the image data.

19. The verification system according to claim 17, wherein the means for comparing determines if the comparison is within a predetermined image recognition certainty threshold.

20. The verification system according to claim 16, wherein:

the means for receiving the RFID code includes means for receiving a plurality of RFID codes which were decoded from a plurality of respective sets of RFID tag data corresponding to a plurality of respective RFID tags read during the RFID read operation;

the means for querying includes means for accessing a set of stored data corresponding to respective stored RFID codes which match respective received RFID codes of the plurality of received RFID codes; and

the means for comparing includes means for comparing the received object data with the respective sets of accessed data for determining the optimum correlation thereof for determining which received RFID codes of the plurality of received RFID codes corresponds to the received object data, and if a correlation does not exist, determining that an unsuccessful read occurred.