Systems, devices, and methods for managing RFID data

• US 20060124738A1
• Filed: 12/06/2005
• Published: 06/15/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/14/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Siemens Corporate Research Incorporated (Siemens AG)
• Original Assignee: Siemens Corporate Research Incorporated (Siemens AG)
• Inventors: Wang, Fusheng, Liu, Peiya
• Granted Patent: US 7,481,368 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/385
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10079 the collision being resolved in the spatial domain, e.g. temporary shields for blindfolding the interrogator in specific directions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/28 the pass enabling tracking or indicating presence

Abstract

Certain exemplary embodiments comprise a database table comprising a plurality of records, each of the plurality of records comprising an identification of an object, and an identification of a particular location of the object, each particular location of the object automatically determined responsive to automatically generatable, automatically receivable, radio frequency identification information.

Claims

1. A method comprising a plurality of activities, the plurality of activities comprising:

automatically populating a first database table with data obtained from one or more radio identification readers, said database table comprising a first plurality of records, each of said first plurality of records comprising an identification of an object, an identification of a particular location of the object, an explicit start time indicating when the object became associated with the particular location of the object, and an explicit stop time indicating when the object ceased being associated with the particular location of the object, the particular location of the object comprised by each record one of a plurality of potential locations, each particular location of the object automatically determined responsive to automatically generatable, automatically receivable, radio frequency identification information, each record created upon association of the object with a different particular location of the object than that of a temporally adjacent record;

automatically populating a second database table with said data obtained from the one or more radio identification readers, said second database table comprising a second plurality of records, each of said second plurality of records comprising said identification of the object, an identification of a container associated with the object, an explicit start time indicating when the object became associated with the container, and an explicit stop time indicating when the object ceased being associated with the container, the container comprised by each record one of a plurality of potential containers, each record created upon association of the object with a different container associated with the object than that of a temporally adjacent record; and

automatically determining that said identification of the object and the particular location of the object comprised in a first radio frequency identification record duplicates the identification of the object and the particular location of the object in a second radio frequency identification record, said first radio frequency identification record associated with a first subset of data from a first radio identification reader, said second radio frequency identification record associated with a second subset of data from a second radio identification reader, said second subset of data obtained within a predetermined interference interval of said first subset of data.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

automatically removing said first radio frequency identification record from said first database table responsive to said automatically determining activity.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving said predetermined interference interval.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

automatically populating a third database table with said data obtained from the one or more radio identification readers, said third database table comprising a third plurality of records, each of said third plurality of records comprising said identification of the object, a transaction identification associated with the object, and a transaction type associated with each transaction identification, said transaction type one of a plurality of potential transaction types.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

automatically populating a third database table with said data obtained from the one or more radio identification readers, said third database table comprising a third plurality of records, each of said third plurality of records comprising an identification of a reader adapted to obtain said radio frequency identification information, an identification of a particular location of the reader, an explicit start time indicating when the reader became associated with the particular location of the reader, and an explicit stop time indicating when the reader ceased being associated with the particular location of the reader.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

automatically populating a third database table with said data obtained from the one or more radio identification readers, said third database table comprising a third plurality of records, each of said third plurality of records comprising said automatically generatable, automatically receivable, radio frequency identification information, an identification of a reader associated with said automatically generatable, automatically receivable, radio frequency identification information, and a timestamp associated with said automatically generatable, automatically receivable, radio frequency identification information.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

automatically populating a third database table with said data obtained from the one or more radio identification readers, said third database table comprising a third plurality of records, each of said third plurality of records comprising said identification of the object, a transaction identification associated with the object, and a timestamp associated with said automatically generatable, automatically receivable, radio frequency identification information.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing a user interface adapted to generate a history query.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing a user interface adapted to generate a temporal snapshot query.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing a user interface adapted to generate a temporal slicing query.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing a user interface adapted to generate a temporal aggregate query.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing a user interface adapted to generate a temporal join query.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing a user interface adapted to generate a containment query.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

querying a radio frequency identification tag to obtain said automatically generatable, automatically receivable, radio frequency identification information.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving said automatically generatable, automatically receivable, radio frequency identification information.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing said automatically generatable, automatically receivable, radio frequency identification information.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

automatically receiving said automatically generatable, automatically receivable, radio frequency identification information from a plurality of radio frequency identification information readers.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing said automatically generatable, automatically receivable, radio frequency identification information in an Extensible Markup Language format.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

automatically detecting that the object is missing.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

automatically determining a time interval related to said automatically generatable, automatically receivable, radio frequency identification information.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein said identification of the object corresponds to a record in third database table, said record in said third database table comprising a description of the object.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein said identification of the particular location of the object corresponds to a record in a third database table, said record in said third database table comprising an owner of the particular location.

23. A system comprising:

an event manager adapted to obtain automatically generatable, automatically receivable, radio frequency identification information; and

an application integration interface adapted to;

automatically populate a first database table with data obtained from one or more radio identification readers, said database table comprising a first plurality of records, each of said first plurality of records comprising an identification of an object, an identification of a particular location of the object, an explicit start time indicating when the object became associated with the particular location of the object, and an explicit stop time indicating when the object ceased being associated with the particular location of the object, the particular location of the object comprised by each record one of a plurality of potential locations, each particular location of the object automatically determined responsive to automatically generatable, automatically receivable, radio frequency identification information, each record created upon association of the object with a different particular location of the object than that of a temporally adjacent record;

automatically populate a second database table with said data obtained from the one or more radio identification readers, said second database table comprising a second plurality of records, each of said second plurality of records comprising said identification of the object, an identification of a container associated with the object, an explicit start time indicating when the object became associated with the container, and an explicit stop time indicating when the object ceased being associated with the container, the container comprised by each record one of a plurality of potential containers, each record created upon association of the object with a different container associated with the object than that of a temporally adjacent record; and

automatically determining that said identification of the object and the particular location of the object comprised in a first radio frequency identification record duplicates the identification of the object and the particular location of the object in a second radio frequency identification record, said first radio frequency identification record associated with a first subset of data from a first radio identification reader, said second radio frequency identification record associated with a second subset of data from a second radio identification reader, said second subset of data obtained within a predetermined interference interval of said first subset of data.

24. A system comprising:

a means for obtaining automatically generatable, automatically receivable, radio frequency identification information; and

an interface adapted to;

automatically populate a first database table with data obtained from one or more radio identification readers, said database table comprising a first plurality of records, each of said first plurality of records comprising an identification of an object, an identification of a particular location of the object, an explicit start time indicating when the object became associated with the particular location of the object, and an explicit stop time indicating when the object ceased being associated with the particular location of the object, the particular location of the object comprised by each record one of a plurality of potential locations, each particular location of the object automatically determined responsive to automatically generatable, automatically receivable, radio frequency identification information, each record created upon association of the object with a different particular location of the object than that of a temporally adjacent record;

automatically populate a second database table with said data obtained from the one or more radio identification readers, said second database table comprising a second plurality of records, each of said second plurality of records comprising said identification of the object, an identification of a container associated with the object, an explicit start time indicating when the object became associated with the container, and an explicit stop time indicating when the object ceased being associated with the container, the container comprised by each record one of a plurality of potential containers, each record created upon association of the object with a different container associated with the object than that of a temporally adjacent record; and

automatically determining that said identification of the object and the particular location of the object comprised in a first radio frequency identification record duplicates the identification of the object and the particular location of the object in a second radio frequency identification record, said first radio frequency identification record associated with a first subset of data from a first radio identification reader, said second radio frequency identification record associated with a second subset of data from a second radio identification reader, said second subset of data obtained within a predetermined interference interval of said first subset of data.

25. A computer-readable medium comprising machine instructions for activities comprising:

automatically populating a first database table with data obtained from one or more radio identification readers, said database table comprising a first plurality of records, each of said first plurality of records comprising an identification of an object, an identification of a particular location of the object, an explicit start time indicating when the object became associated with the particular location of the object, and an explicit stop time indicating when the object ceased being associated with the particular location of the object, the particular location of the object comprised by each record one of a plurality of potential locations, each particular location of the object automatically determined responsive to automatically generatable, automatically receivable, radio frequency identification information, each record created upon association of the object with a different particular location of the object than that of a temporally adjacent record;

automatically populating a second database table with said data obtained from the one or more radio identification readers, said second database table comprising a second plurality of records, each of said second plurality of records comprising said identification of the object, an identification of a container associated with the object, an explicit start time indicating when the object became associated with the container, and an explicit stop time indicating when the object ceased being associated with the container, the container comprised by each record one of a plurality of potential containers, each record created upon association of the object with a different container associated with the object than that of a temporally adjacent record; and

automatically determining that said identification of the object and the particular location of the object comprised in a first radio frequency identification record duplicates the identification of the object and the particular location of the object in a second radio frequency identification record, said first radio frequency identification record associated with a first subset of data from a first radio identification reader, said second radio frequency identification record associated with a second subset of data from a second radio identification reader, said second subset of data obtained within a predetermined interference interval of said first subset of data.

26. A method comprising a plurality of activities comprising:

automatically determining a charge for;

automatically populating a first database table with data obtained from one or more radio identification readers, said database table comprising a first plurality of records, each of said first plurality of records comprising an identification of an object, an identification of a particular location of the object, an explicit start time indicating when the object became associated with the particular location of the object, and an explicit stop time indicating when the object ceased being associated with the particular location of the object, the particular location of the object comprised by each record one of a plurality of potential locations, each particular location of the object automatically determined responsive to automatically generatable, automatically receivable, radio frequency identification information, each record created upon association of the object with a different particular location of the object than that of a temporally adjacent record;

automatically populating a second database table with said data obtained from the one or more radio identification readers, said second database table comprising a second plurality of records, each of said second plurality of records comprising said identification of the object, an identification of a container associated with the object, an explicit start time indicating when the object became associated with the container, and an explicit stop time indicating when the object ceased being associated with the container, the container comprised by each record one of a plurality of potential containers, each record created upon association of the object with a different container associated with the object than that of a temporally adjacent record; and

automatically determining that said identification of the object and the particular location of the object comprised in a first radio frequency identification record duplicates the identification of the object and the particular location of the object in a second radio frequency identification record, said first radio frequency identification record associated with a first subset of data from a first radio identification reader, said second radio frequency identification record associated with a second subset of data from a second radio identification reader, said second subset of data obtained within a predetermined interference interval of said first subset of data.