Personal articles tracking

• US 20050068168A1
• Filed: 09/16/2003
• Published: 03/31/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 09/16/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Aupperle, Bryan Eric, Mathewson, James Merwin II
• Granted Patent: US 7,271,715 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/539.130
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/1427 with transmitter-receiver for distance detection
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/2462 Asset location systems combined with EAS inventory, tracking, logistic G06Q10/00; entrance control systems G07C9/00
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0275 Electronic Article Surveillance [EAS] tag technology used for parent or child unit, e.g. same transmission technology, magnetic tag, RF tag, RFID

Abstract

A personal articles tracking system, method and apparatus. In the system of the invention, a radio frequency identification (RFID) reader can be coupled to a tracking processor. A data store further can be configured to store tag data from corresponding RFID tags. Finally, an alert can be programmed to activate when the tracking processor no longer can sense within range of the RFID reader an RFID tag having corresponding tag data stored in the data store.

Claims

1. A personal articles tracking system comprising:

a radio frequency identification (RFID) reader coupled to a tracking processor;

a data store configured to store tag data from corresponding RFID tags; and

,

an alert programmed to activate when said tracking processor no longer can sense within range of said RFID reader an RFID tag having corresponding tag data stored in said data store.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein said tracking processor, RFID reader and alert are disposed in a pervasive device, said alert having a communicative linkage to an audiovisual presentation layer provided by said pervasive device.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein said alert further comprises logic for notifying a third party of said activation through a communications link provided by said pervasive device.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein said alert further comprises programming to activate when said tracking processor no longer can sense within range of said RFID reader a specific RFID tag.

5. A method for tracking personal articles comprising the steps of:

registering a plurality RFID tags in an inventory or tracked personal articles;

sensing a plurality of proximate RFID tags;

comparing said sensed proximate RFID tags to said registered RFID tags; and

,

producing an alert where not all of said registered RFID tags have been sensed.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein said producing step comprises the steps of:

selecting a sub-set of said registered RFID tags; and

,

producing an alert wherein not all of said selected sub-set of said registered RFID tags have been sensed.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein said selecting step comprises the steps of:

establishing a set of profiles, each profile in said set comprising at least one identifier for a corresponding RFID tag;

selecting a profile from among said established set of profiles; and

,

including in said sub-set all RFID tags established within said selected profile.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein said producing step comprises the steps of:

accessing a presentation layer in a pervasive device; and

,

presenting said alert in at least one of an audio and visual form through said presentation layer in said pervasive device.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein said producing step comprises the steps of:

accessing a communications layer in a pervasive device; and

,

generating a cellular telephone call through said communications layer to a pre-determined third-party to notify said third party that not all of said registered RFID tags have been sensed.

10. A machine readable storage having stored thereon a computer program for tracking personal articles, the computer program comprising a routine set of instructions for causing the machine to perform the steps of:

registering a plurality RFID tags in an inventory or tracked personal articles;

sensing a plurality of proximate RFID tags;

comparing said sensed proximate RFID tags to said registered RFID tags; and

,

producing an alert where not all of said registered RFID tags have been sensed.

11. The machine readable storage of claim 10, wherein said producing step comprises the steps of:

selecting a sub-set of said registered RFID tags; and

,

producing an alert wherein not all of said selected sub-set of said registered RFID tags have been sensed.

12. The machine readable storage of claim 11, wherein said selecting step comprises the steps of:

establishing a set of profiles, each profile in said set comprising at least one identifier for a corresponding RFID tag;

selecting a profile from among said established set of profiles; and

,

including in said sub-set all RFID tags established within said selected profile.

13. The machine readable storage of claim 10, wherein said producing step comprises the steps of:

accessing a presentation layer in a pervasive device; and

,

presenting said alert in at least one of an audio and visual form through said presentation layer in said pervasive device.

14. The machine readable storage of claim 10, wherein said producing step comprises the steps of:

accessing a communications layer in a pervasive device; and

,

generating a cellular telephone call through said communications layer to a pre-determined third-party to notify said third party that not all of said registered RFID tags have been sensed.