Detecting the position of an RFID attached asset

• US 20060055530A1
• Filed: 08/24/2005
• Published: 03/16/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 08/25/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Huang, Jian, Xiang, Zhe, Song, Song, Fu, Rong Yao, Gao, Xing Xin, Wang, Hao BJ
• Granted Patent: US 7,378,968 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/539.130
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0018 Transmission from mobile station to base station

Abstract

Provides asset position detecting apparatus and methods for determining the correspondence relation between an asset attached to an RFID tag and the position in which the asset is located in a predetermined space range. An example apparatus includes: a movable RFID reader movable in the space range, for detecting whether the asset exists in its read range, and reading the RFID tag attached to the asset within its read range, to obtain the specific identification of the detected asset; and position determining means for determining the position where the reader is located, wherein, when said RFID reader detects that said asset exists in its read range during its movement, the obtained identification of the asset and the current position of the RFID reader are associatively stored in a database, so as to obtain the information regarding the position of said asset.

Claims

1. An asset position detecting apparatus for determining the correspondence relation between an asset attached to a radio frequency identification tag and the position in which the asset is located in a predetermined space range, the asset position detecting apparatus comprising:

a movable radio frequency identification reader being movable in said predetermined space range, to detect whether said asset exists in a read range of said reader, and to read the radio frequency identification tag attached to the asset within said read range, so as to obtain a specific identification of the detected asset; and

a position determining means to determine the position where said radio frequency identification reader itself is located, wherein when the radio frequency identification reader detects that said asset exists in said read range during movement of said reader, the obtained specific identification of said asset and a current position of said radio frequency identification reader are associatively stored in a memory, so as to obtain information regarding the position of said asset.

2. The asset position detecting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said position determining means is a positioning means based on one of Global Position System, Wireless Local Area Network, infrared rays technology, and ultrasonic technology.

3. The asset position detecting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein position reference radio frequency identification tags representing position information are attached to a plurality of fixed positions in said predetermined space range, said position determining means determines the position of said radio frequency identification reader according to said fixed position of one position reference radio frequency identification tag read by said radio frequency identification reader.

4. The asset position detecting apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a comparator to compare changes of newly detected asset position information with respect to previously obtained asset position information.

5. The asset position detecting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said movable radio frequency identification reader is installed on a movable mechanism.

12. The asset position detecting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said position determining means is a wireless positioning means.

20. The asset position detecting apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a comparator to compare changes of newly detected asset position information with respect to previously obtained asset position information, and wherein:

said position determining means is a positioning means based on one of Global Position System, Wireless Local Area Network, infrared rays technology, and ultrasonic technology;

position reference radio frequency identification tags representing position information are attached to a plurality of fixed positions in said predetermined space range, said position determining means determines the position of said radio frequency identification reader according to said fixed position of one position reference radio frequency identification tag read by said radio frequency identification reader; and

said movable radio frequency identification reader is installed on a movable mechanism.

6. An asset position detecting method for determining a correspondence relation between an asset attached to a radio frequency identification tag and a position in which the asset is located in a predetermined space range, the method comprising:

employing a movable radio frequency identification reader movable in said predetermined space range in detecting whether said asset exists in a read range of said reader;

upon said radio frequency identification reader detecting that said asset exists in said read range during its movement,

said radio frequency identification reader reading the radio frequency identification tag attached to the asset in said read range to obtain a specific identification of the detected asset;

determining the position of said radio frequency identification reader;

associatively storing the obtained identification of said asset and a current position of said radio frequency identification reader, so as to obtain information regarding the position of said asset.

7. The asset position detecting method according to claim 6, wherein the step of determining comprises using a positioning scheme based on one of:

a Global Position System, a wireless Local Area Network, infrared rays technology, and ultrasonic technology.

8. The asset position detecting method according to claim 6, wherein position reference radio frequency identification tags representing the position information are attached to a plurality of fixed positions in said predetermined space range, the step of determining being performed according to said position reference radio frequency identification tag read by said radio frequency identification reader.

9. The asset position detecting method according to claim 6, further comprising a step of comparing the newly detected asset position information with the previously obtained asset position information to find out the arising changes.

10. The asset position detecting method according to claim 6, further comprising a step of removing the redundancy information provided by the plurality of movable radio frequency identification readers.

11. The asset position detecting method according to claim 6, further comprising a step of updating the originally stored asset position information by using the newly detected asset position information.

13. An asset position detecting apparatus comprising a mobile interrogator, said mobile interrogator comprising:

a movable RFID reader to move in a predetermined space range to detect whether an asset to be managed exists in a read range of said reader, to read an RFID tag attached to the asset, and to obtain a specific identification of the detected asset.

a position determining means to determine the position of the RFID reader;

a memory to associatively store information regarding the position of the asset. when the RFID reader detects that the asset exists in its read range, the obtained identification of the asset and the current position of the RFID reader

14. An asset position detecting apparatus according to claim 13, further comprising means to associate a plurality of assets with positions of each asset as obtained by at least one of:

at least one operators an automatic mechanism, an automatic roaming vehicle carrying a mobile interrogator and moving around an asset warehouse.

15. An asset position detecting apparatus according to claim 14, further comprising a backend computer system to provide a wide scope of functionalities for management of said plurality of assets.

16. An asset position detecting apparatus according to claim 15, further comprising means to provide users with at least one of:

an assets placement map of a physical space of said asset warehouse;

a response to a query of the position of a specific asset;

monitor data of asset movement,

a record of asset movement in a log; and

a report and notification of position changes.

17. An asset position detecting apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the apparatus is integrated with at least one other asset information system.

18. An asset position detecting apparatus according to claim 17, wherein said at least one other asset information system comprises a supply chain information system, said supply chain system manages goods stocking, and the apparatus provides information of where the goods are stored.

19. An asset position detecting apparatus according to claim 17, wherein said at least one other asset information system comprises a library information system which manages information of books, and said apparatus maps each book to an RFID tag.