Systems and methods that integrate radio frequency identification (RFID) technology with agent-based control systems

• US 20060097873A1
• Filed: 11/10/2004
• Published: 05/11/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 11/10/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Rockwell Automation, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Rockwell Automation, Inc.)
• Inventors: Hall, Kenwood H., Marik, Vladimir, Vrba, Pavel, Macurek, Filip, Tichy, Pavel
• Granted Patent: US 7,551,081 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/572.1
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/4183 characterised by data acquisition, e.g. workpiece identification
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/25196 Radio link, transponder
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/33055 Holon, agent executes task and cooperates with other, distributed control
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/02 Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS]

Abstract

The subject invention relates to systems and methods that distribute electronic data, such as Electronic Product Code (EPC) data, obtained from RFID tags by Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) readers and/or servers to agents within an agent-based control system. The systems and methods employ a component that collects, filters, processes, and stores electronic product data. The component collects electronic product data through corresponding reader and/or server interfaces. This data can be filtered to accept particular electronic product data, processed to a format suitable to the agents, and stored. Such storage can include delineating the electronic product data across rows of a table by electronic product code and across columns of the table by various types of data. Upon receiving a subscription and/or request from an agent for electronic product data, the component can obtain and convey the information to the agent.

Claims

1. A system that facilitates electronic data distribution to one or more agents within an agent-based control system, comprising:

a reader interface that receives electronic data from one or more Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) readers;

a processing component that formats the electronic data and stores it in a table; and

a component that provides at least a subset of the stored electronic data to agents subscribed to receive the subset of the stored electronic data.

2. The system of claim 1, the electronic data comprises at least one of an Electronic Product Code (EPC) , a logical reader identifier, a timestamp, a flag indicating the electronic data is within an antenna'"'"'s range, a product type, a date of manufacture, a lot number, an associated case, an associated pallet, and a n associated container level.

3. The system of claim 1, the reader interface employs RFID Driver Plug-ins to receive the electronic data from RFID readers associated with different vendors.

4. The system of claim 3, the RFID Reader Driver Plug-ins utilize a wire or wireless connection to exchange the electronic data.

5. The system of claim 3, the RFID Reader Driver Plug-ins employ vendor communication protocols to communicate with a vendor'"'"'s RFID reader.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising a component that filters the electronic data received by the reader interface to recognize data associated with electronic data of interest and/or to mitigate receiving duplicate electronic data.

7. The system of claim 1, the electronic data is delineated in the table based on an EPC code and/or a type.

8. The system of claim 1, the electronic data is stored in a database or memory.

9. The system of claim 1, the electronic data is unprocessed data.

10. The system of claim 1, further comprising an intelligent component that employs at least one of statistics, probabilities, inferences, and classifiers to facilitate one or more of collecting, filtering, formatting, storing and distributing the electronic data.

11. The system of claim 1, the subset of the stored electronic data is conveyed to the agents as records of data.

12. The system of claim 1, further comprising an inter-agent communication interface that provides the subset of the stored electronic data to the agents via an inter-agent communication mechanism.

13. The system of claim 12, the inter-agent communication interface is one of a subscription mechanism, wherein at least one of the agents subscribes and is informed each time an RFID tag enters a reader'"'"'s range, and a query mechanism, wherein at least one of the agents requests and receives historical data.

14. A system that distributes electronic product data within an agent-based control system, comprising:

a server reader interface that receives and stores records of the electronic product data from a server, and

a component that conveys one or more records to a requesting agent.

15. The system of claim 14, the server is a Savant-like server.

16. The system of claim 14, the requesting agent makes a request for historical electronic product data.

17. The system of claim 16, the historical data includes electronic product codes read within two timestamps.

18. The system of claim 16, the historical electronic product data includes a signal quality indicator read within a time period.

19. The system of claim 16, the historical electronic product data includes timestamps that correspond to an EPC.

20. The system of claim 16, the historical data includes signal quality indicators that correspond to an EPC.

21. The system of claim 16, further comprising a component that utilizes at least one of a signal quality indicator, a timestamp, and environmental information to determine a source of the electronic product data.

22. The system of claim 14, an agent subscribed to receive the electronic product data transmits a command to instruct an RFID reader to transition to an ON state, transition to an OFF state, write to a tag or write data.

23. A system that facilitates distribution of electronic product data, comprising:

a first component tat stores structured electronic product data received from one or more RFID readers that obtain the electronic product data from RFID tags;

a second component that receives a query from an agent of an agent-based control system for at least a portion of the stored electronic product data; and

a third component that provides the portion of the electronic product data to the agent.

24. The system of claim 23, further comprising a component that associates the received electronic product data with an RFID reader that obtained the electronic product data.

25. The system of claim 23, further comprising a component tat associates the received electronic product data with its RFID tag.

26. The system of claim 25, further comprising a component that associates the received electronic product data with a logical RFID reader.

27. A system that provides product data received from a server to an agent-based control system, comprising:

a data processing component that stores preprocessed product data obtained from the server; and

a module that provides the pre-processed product data to agents subscribed to receive the pre-processed product data.

28. The system of claim 27, the module utilizes a Subscribe Interaction Protocol to convey the pre-processed product data to the agents.

29. A method for conveying electronic product data to agents in an agent-based control system, comprising:

receiving electronic product data from an RFID reader and/or a server;

storing the electronic product data in a structured format; and

providing the electronic product data to agents based on an agent subscription and/or a request for at least part of the stored electronic product data.

30. The method of claim 29, further comprising filtering and formatting the electronic product data received from the RFID reader.

31. The method of claim 29, further comprising employing an RFID reader plug-in to receive electronic product data from the RFID reader.

32. The method of claim 29, further comprising employing a server interface to receive the electronic product data from a Savant-like server.

33. A method for conveying electronic data to agents in an agent-based control system, comprising:

receiving a subscription from an agent for subsequently read electronic data;

receiving subsequently read electronic data; and

providing the subsequently read electronic data to the subscribing agent through an inter-agent protocol.

34. A method for providing electronic data to agents in an agent-based control system, comprising:

receiving a query from an agent for historical electronic data; and

providing the historical electronic data as records to the requesting agent.

35. A system that facilitates electronic product data distribution to an agent-based control system, comprising:

means for obtaining electronic product data from one or more RFID readers;

means for storing the electronic product data in a structured format; and

means for providing the stored electronic product data to agents in the agent-based control system.