System and method for tracking positions of objects in space, time as well as tracking their textual evolution

• US 20050062849A1
• Filed: 09/18/2003
• Published: 03/24/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 09/18/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Pitney Bowes Incorporated (Böwe Systec AG)
• Original Assignee: Pitney Bowes Incorporated (Böwe Systec AG)
• Inventors: Romansky, Brian M., Foth, Thomas J., Lang, Christopher C., Chhatpar, Anand V.
• Granted Patent: US 7,369,681 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/159
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32133 on the same paper sheet, e.g. a facsimile page header
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3226 of identification information or the like, e.g. ID code, index, title, part of an image, reduced-size image
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/327 which are undetectable to the naked eye, e.g. embedded codes

Abstract

A system and method including cameras for monitoring objects such as documents, at multiple locations, and for recording the objects'"'"' movement through space and time. The objects are marked with unique identifiers, and the invention is adaptable for recording and recognizing the objects'"'"' development using character recognition. A center receives the information from the cameras, and that information is searchable. Advantageously, the unique identifiers are printed with ink that is invisible unless it fluoresces or phosphoresces, the digital cameras include an ultraviolet flash to cause the identifiers to fluoresce or phosphoresce at a certain wavelength, and the cameras are equipped with filters to filter out wavelengths other than the certain wavelength. Packages or pads of pre-marked blank paper are adaptable for use with the present invention.

Claims

1. A system for monitoring objects at a plurality of locations, comprising:

a plurality of cameras, including at least one of the cameras at each one of the locations, wherein at least one of the cameras is positioned to view at least some of the objects;

a unique identifier on or in each respective one of the objects, for being viewed by at least one of the cameras;

a center having receiving means to receive monitor signals from the plurality of cameras regarding the unique identifiers;

wherein the center also has recording means for recording times and the locations of sightings of each of the unique identifiers.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein a plurality of the objects are paper items, and the cameras are also for viewing content of the paper items, and for sending said content to the center for recordation in coordination with the respective unique identifiers, and wherein said content recorded at the center is searchable by users.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein each object comprises at least one paper, envelope, cardboard item, or file, and wherein the center is also for performing character recognition on said content.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the unique identifiers utilize an ink that normally is substantially invisible to humans.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the cameras are each equipped with a filter for filtering out colors that are unnecessary to observe the ink, and for filtering out sufficient light so that human forms are substantially invisible to the cameras.

6. The system of claim 2, wherein the unique identifiers comprise luminescent material, and wherein at least part of said content is printed or written using an ink having luminescent properties substantially similar to luminescent properties of the luminescent material.

7. The system of claim 1,

wherein each of the cameras is a digital camera including an infrared or ultraviolet flash, for capturing images at regular intervals using the flash;

wherein the unique identifiers comprise material that is invisible to humans at least between the flashes; and

wherein the unique identifiers emit light in a certain range of the spectrum when exposed to the flash.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the cameras are each equipped with a filter for filtering out light that is outside the certain range, and for filtering sufficient light so that human forms are substantially invisible to the cameras.

9. The system of claim 1,

wherein the objects at least one of the locations include drawers of a file cabinet;

wherein the cameras are also for detecting use of the drawers; and

wherein the cameras are situated so that the cameras of at most one location can view one of the unique identifiers at a particular time.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein a person who accesses the file cabinet is equipped with a radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag having an RFID signal that is reported to the center.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the center is for user access via at least one computer, and wherein the center is for providing data regarding particular sets of the times and the locations at which a particular one of the unique identifiers was sighted, and also for providing data about other unique identifiers that were also sighted at the particular sets of the times and the locations.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the center is for user access via at least one computer, and wherein the center is for providing data regarding particular sets of the times and locations at which a particular one of the unique identifiers was sighted, and also for providing relevant radio-frequency identification data.

13. The system of claim 1, further comprising an incoming object station, for applying incoming unique identifiers to at least some incoming objects, and furthermore for reporting to the center the incoming unique identifiers with corresponding information about the incoming objects.

14. The system of claim 1, further comprising at least one paper processing device for reporting to the center electronic images of paper items being processed, and for reporting the unique identifiers of the paper items.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the paper processing device is a printer, sorter, copier, or facsimile machine.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the incoming object station further comprises determining means for determining whether incoming material already includes incoming identifiers, and if so determining whether at least some of the incoming identifiers are adequate for use in-house.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the incoming object station further comprises determining means for determining whether incoming material already includes incoming identifiers, and also for determining whether the incoming identifiers indicate at least one source from which the incoming material came.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the determining means is also for determining whether the at least one source is self-consistent or consistent with other indications in the incoming material as to the source.

19. A method of monitoring objects at a plurality of locations, comprising the steps of:

photographing unique identifiers on the objects using at least one digital camera at each of the plurality of locations;

sending to a center the unique identifiers that are on each of the respective objects;

recording, at the center, times and the locations of sightings of each of the unique identifiers.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising the steps of:

capturing content of each of the paper items using the digital cameras;

sending said content to the center for recordation in coordination with a respective one of the unique identifiers; and

searching the content recorded at the center.

21. The method of claim 19, further comprising the steps of:

using an infrared or ultraviolet flash that causes the unique identifiers to luminesce in a certain range of the visible spectrum;

filtering out light outside the certain range; and

filtering out sufficient light so that human forms are substantially invisible to the cameras.

22. A package or pad of paper, having unique identifiers respectively included on each sheet of the paper utilizing a substance that normally is substantially invisible to humans, the paper being otherwise substantially blank, said substance being reactive to incoming light having an ultraviolet wavelength by being fluorescent or phosphorescent at least at a visible wavelength,

wherein the package or pad of paper also includes informational material that describes both the ultraviolet wavelength and the visible wavelength.

24. The center of claim 22, wherein the center is also for recordation of searchable written content in coordination with at least one of the unique identifiers, the written content being received in at least one of the monitor signals from the cameras.

23. A center for monitoring objects at a plurality of locations, comprising:

a plurality of communication ports for receiving monitor signals from a plurality of cameras that view the objects;

a recognition module, for recognizing a unique identifier that appears on each respective one of the objects, in response to images provided to the center by the monitor signals;

a recording means for recording the unique identifiers, and for recording times and the locations of sightings of each of the unique identifiers.

25. A package or pad of paper, having unique identifiers respectively included on each sheet of the paper utilizing a substance that normally is substantially invisible to humans, the paper being otherwise substantially blank, said substance being reactive to incoming light having an infrared wavelength by being fluorescent or phosphorescent at an other wavelength,

wherein the package or pad of paper also includes informational material that describes both the infrared wavelength and the other wavelength.