Virtual readers for scalable RFID infrastructures

• US 20060266832A1
• Filed: 07/31/2006
• Published: 11/30/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 05/13/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Miriyala, Prasad, Howarth, Arthur G., Saville, Roland
• Granted Patent: US 8,113,418 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/451
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/604 Address structures or formats
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0806 for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0886 Fully automatic configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/122 of virtualised topologies, e.g. software-defined networks [SDN] or network function virtualisation [NFV]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4511 using domain name system [DNS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5007 Internet protocol [IP] addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/00 Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/26 Network addressing or numbering for mobility support

Abstract

Some implementations of the invention involve forming “logical” or “virtual” devices by aggregating a plurality of physical devices. The physical devices may be, for example, controllers, RFID readers and/or storage devices. Some logical devices comprise components of physical devices, such as individual antennas from a plurality of RFID readers. The physical devices may be located near one another or may be distributed over a wide geographical area. Logical device definitions can also be concatenated to include devices having two or more levels of logical device definitions. A single logical device grouping may include physical devices at differing levels of a network hierarchy.

Claims

1. A networking method, comprising:

receiving, from a requesting device, a first request for information regarding a virtual radio frequency identification (“

RFID”

) reader;

translating the first request into second requests for data from a first plurality of devices aggregated as a first logical RFID reader, the first plurality of devices comprising a second plurality of controllers;

sending one of the second requests to each of the second plurality of controllers;

receiving RFID data from the second plurality of controllers responsive to the second requests; and

sending at least some of the RFID data to the requesting device in response to the first request.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the second plurality of controllers translates the second request into a third request for RFID data from a third plurality of devices aggregated as a second logical RFID reader.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the RFID data from the second plurality of controllers comprises current RFID tag read data.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one device of the first plurality of devices comprises a storage device, further comprising the step of receiving stored RFID tag read data from the storage device.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of filtering the RFID data according to parameters of the first request prior to sending at least some of the RFID data to the requesting device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first plurality of devices is aggregated as a first logical RFID reader according to requirements of the ECSpec.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of associating RFID readers and controllers by automatically forming domain name server (“

DNS”

) entries.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of associating controllers and middleware servers by automatically forming domain name server (“

DNS”

) entries.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the first logical RFID reader comprises physical devices in more than one geographic location.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the first logical RFID reader comprises at least one physical RFID reader.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the requesting device comprises an EPC server.

12. The method of claim 2, wherein each of the third plurality of devices comprises at least one antenna of an RFID reader in communication with the controller.

13. The method of claim 2, wherein the third plurality of devices includes at least one antenna of each of multiple RFID readers aggregated as the second logical RFID reader.

14. The method of claim 5, wherein the first request comprises a request for information regarding products of a first enterprise and wherein the filtering step comprises filtering out RFID data not involving products of the first enterprise.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the physical RFID reader is configured with middleware.

16. A network, comprising:

a plurality of RFID devices in various locations of a site;

a plurality of controllers associated with the site;

a plurality of middleware servers associated with the site;

a DNS server configured to maintain network addresses and corresponding location and site information;

an application server configured to create, automatically, an entry in the DNS server corresponding to all registered devices of a site; and

an assigner configured to assign RFID devices to controllers and to assign controllers to middleware servers,

wherein the RFID devices are provisioned with an RFID device network address, an assigner network address and instructions to send a request to the assigner for a controller, and wherein the assigner is configured to assign an RFID device to a controller in response to the request; and

wherein the controllers are provisioned with a controller network address, an assigner network address and instructions to send a request to the assigner for a middleware server, and wherein the assigner is configured to assign a controller to a middleware server in response to the request.

17. The network of claim 16, wherein the assigner comprises a load balancer.

18. The network of claim 16, wherein the application server is configured to send requests to a middleware server and wherein the middleware server retrieves controller location information and provides the controller location information to the application server in response to the application server'"'"'s request.

19. The network of claim 16, wherein the application server is configured to send requests to a controller and wherein the controller retrieves RFID reader location information and provides the RFID reader location information to the application server in response to the application server'"'"'s request.

20. The network of claim 16, wherein the middleware servers are configured to do the following:

receive a request from a requesting device for RFID data regarding a single enterprise;

filter RFID tag reads according to the request; and

return RFID data regarding the single enterprise to the requesting device.

21. A network, comprising:

means for receiving, from a requesting device, a first request for information regarding a virtual radio frequency identification (“

RFID”

) reader;

means for translating the first request into second requests for data from a first plurality of devices aggregated as a first logical RFID reader, the first plurality of devices comprising a second plurality of controllers;

means for sending one of the second requests to each of the second plurality of controllers;

means for receiving RFID data from the second plurality of controllers responsive to the second requests; and

means for sending at least some of the RFID data to the requesting device in response to the first request.

22. Software stored on a machine-readable medium, the software comprising instructions for controlling one or more devices in a network to perform the following steps:

receive, from a requesting device, a first request for information regarding a virtual radio frequency identification (“

RFID”

) reader;

translate the first request into second requests for data from a first plurality of devices aggregated as a first logical RFID reader, the first plurality of devices comprising a second plurality of controllers;

send one of the second requests to each of the second plurality of controllers;

receive RFID data from the second plurality of controllers responsive to the second requests; and

send at least some of the RFID data to the requesting device in response to the first request.