RFID system performance monitoring

• US 20060049250A1
• Filed: 09/09/2004
• Published: 03/09/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 09/09/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Gillette Company LLC (The Procter & Gamble Company)
• Original Assignee: Gillette Company (The Procter & Gamble Company)
• Inventors: Sullivan, Michael S.
• Granted Patent: US 7,161,489 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/385
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 11/045 by rotating platforms supporting the articles
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 17/0022 arrangements or provisious for transferring data to distant stations, e.g. from a sensing device "transfer between computer elements G06F13/00 "; data-transmission H04L
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/0701 at least one of the integrated circuit chips comprising an arrangement for power management
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/0715 the arrangement including means to regulate power transfer to the integrated circuit
• 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: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders

Abstract

A system for monitoring and tracking performance of an RFID system collects information about parameters that may impact the performance of an RFID system. In various embodiments, the system may collect information from multiple nodes in the system. The system may perform statistical operations on the collected information to determine their impact on system performance. RFID system performance may be monitored at various nodes in the system, including, for example, individual reader units, environmental sensors, and programming stations. All collected information may be analyzed for the purpose of identifying parameters that contribute to reduced reliability of RFID system performance.

Claims

1. A method of monitoring the performance of a radio frequency identification (RFID) system operating to track the movement of articles through a supply chain, the method comprising:

receiving first information that identifies each individual RFID tag being used in the RFID system, wherein an individual article moving through the supply chain may be tracked by its association with the received first information of an RFID tag that is encoded with the received first information and attached to the article;

receiving second information generated by RFID readers and comprising the results of one or more attempts to read RFID tags as they pass by reader stations at one or more points in the supply chain;

associating at least some of the second information with the first information; and

,

compiling the first and second information and their associations into a database.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the received first information that identifies each individual RFID tag comprises an identifying serial number.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the received first information that identifies each individual RFID tag comprises an electronic product code (EPC).

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the received second information comprises information about performance results of individual tags.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the performance results of individual tags are each associated with an EPC, and the associations are compiled into the database.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the information compiled into the database is retrieved from storage in a plurality of data repositories.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein the results comprise the number of successful reads and the number of attempted reads made by a reader to read tags associated with a group of articles being moved together through the supply chain.

8. The method of claim 3, wherein the performance results comprise at least one measurement of the time taken by a reader to read a predetermined number of the tags associated with a group of articles being moved together through the supply chain.

9. The method of claim 3, wherein the predetermined number corresponds to a predetermined percentage of tags associated with a group of articles moving together through the supply chain.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the received second information is sent from one or more RFID readers structured and configured to read RFID tags associated with articles moving through the supply chain.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving third information related to the environment in which the RFID system is operating.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the third information comprises temperature information.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the third information comprises humidity information.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising receiving fourth information about the articles being moved together through the supply chain.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising receiving fifth information about the RFID system.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising compiling the received third, fourth, and fifth received information are compiled into the database for subsequent statistical analysis with the first and second received information.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein subsequent statistical analysis comprises determining a correlation between some of the second information and other information compiled in the database.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising determining a corrective action based on a comparison of the determined correlations with corresponding predetermined thresholds.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising analyzing the compiled data to determine at least one performance margin for reading tags in the RFID system.

20. A system for monitoring the performance of a radio frequency identification (RFID) system operating to track the movement of articles through a supply chain, the method comprising:

a first database; and

,

a processor operably coupled to a program storage device to receive instructions stored in the program storage device, wherein when the processor executes the received instructions, the processor performs the following operations;

receive first information that identifies each individual RFID tag being used in the RFID system, wherein an individual article moving through the supply chain may be tracked by its association with the received first information of an RFID tag that is encoded with the received first information and attached to the article;

receive second information generated by RFID readers and comprising the results of one or more attempts to read RFID tags as they pass by reader stations at one or more points in the supply chain;

associate at least some of the second information with the first information; and

,

compile the first and second information and their associations into the first database.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the received first information that identifies each individual RFID tag comprises an identifying serial number.

22. The system of claim 20, wherein the received first information that identifies each individual RFID tag comprises an electronic product code (EPC).

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the received second information comprises information about performance results of individual tags.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the performance results of individual tags are each associated with an EPC, and the associations are compiled into the database.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the information compiled into the first database is retrieved from storage in a plurality of data repositories.

26. The system of claim 23, wherein the results comprise the number of successful reads and the number of attempted reads made by a reader to read tags associated with a group of articles being moved together through the supply chain.

27. The system of claim 23, wherein the performance results comprise at least one measurement of the time taken by a reader to read a predetermined number of the tags associated with a group of articles being moved together through the supply chain.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein the predetermined number corresponds to a predetermined percentage of tags associated with a group of articles moving together through the supply chain.

29. The system of claim 20, wherein the received second information is sent from one or more RFID readers structured and configured to read RFID tags associated with articles moving through the supply chain.

30. The system of claim 20, wherein the operations performed by the processor further comprise receiving third information related to the environment in which the RFID system is operating.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein the third information comprises temperature information.

32. The system of claim 30, wherein the third information comprises humidity information.

33. The system of claim 30, wherein the operations performed by the processor further comprise receive fourth information about the articles being moved together through the supply chain.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein the operations performed by the processor further comprise receive fifth information about the RFID system.

35. The system of claim 34, wherein the operations performed by the processor further comprise compile the received third, fourth, and fifth received information into the first database for subsequent statistical analysis with the first and second received information.

36. The system of claim 35, wherein subsequent statistical analysis comprises determining a correlation between some of the second information and other information compiled in the database.

37. The system of claim 36, further comprising determining a corrective action based on a comparison of the determined correlations with corresponding predetermined thresholds.

38. The system of claim 20, further comprising analyzing the compiled data to determine at least one performance margin for reading tags in the RFID system.

39. A computer program product (CPP) tangibly embodied in an information carrier and containing instructions that, when executed, cause a processor to perform operations to monitor the performance of a radio frequency identification (RFID) system operating to track the movement of articles through a supply chain, the operations comprising:

receive first information that identifies each individual RFID tag being used in the RFID system, wherein an individual article moving through the supply chain may be tracked by its association with the received first information of an RFID tag that is encoded with the received first information and attached to the article;

receive second information generated by RFID readers and comprising the results of one or more attempts to read RFID tags as they pass by reader stations at one or more points in the supply chain;

associate at least some of the second information with the first information; and

,

compile the first and second information and their associations into a database.

40. The CPP of claim 39, wherein the received first information that identifies each individual RFID tag comprises an electronic product code (EPC).

41. The CPP of claim 40, wherein the received second information comprises information about performance results of individual tags.

42. The CPP of claim 41, wherein the performance results comprise the number of successful reads and the number of attempted reads made by a reader to read tags associated with a group of articles being moved together through the supply chain.

43. The CPP of claim 42, the operations further comprising compute a correlation between some of the second information and other information compiled in the database.