METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR TRACKING CLUSTERED ITEMS

• US 20080100445A1
• Filed: 12/28/2007
• Published: 05/01/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/16/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: 3M Innovative Properties Company (3M Company)
• Original Assignee: Sirit Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: Horwitz, Clifford, Davidson, William
• Granted Patent: US 7,724,138 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/572.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 17/0029 the arrangement being specially adapted for wireless interrogation of grouped or bundled articles tagged with wireless record carriers
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders

Abstract

A method and system for tracking each item in a cluster of items. Each item has an associated item ID. The method and system involve the following steps. Storing a plurality of item records. The plurality of item records includes, for each item in the cluster of items, an associated item record for storing the associated item ID for the item. Each item record in the plurality of records is then linked to the other item records in the plurality of item records. Using the associated item record for each item in the threshold number of items, and the link between each item record and the other item records, the item records for the associated item ID of each item in the cluster that are not in the threshold number of items are determined.

Claims

1-28. -28. (canceled)

29. A method for tracking a cluster of items, comprising:

receiving signals from a first subset of a plurality of identifiable items in the cluster of items, wherein at least each identifiable item in the first subset is associated with a tag configured to transmit an identifier of the associated identifiable item; and

identifying one or more records of a second subset of the plurality of identifiable items based, at least in part, on the received signals from the first subset independent of signals from the second subset, wherein the first subset is different from the second subset.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein each item of the cluster is associated with a tag configured to transmit a unique identifier of the associated item.

31. The method of claim 29, wherein at least the first subset of identifiable items are in an active range of a Radio Frequency IDentifier (RFID) reader.

32. The method of claim 29, further comprising:

identifying a predefined threshold defining a minimum number of items in the first subset of the plurality of identifiable items; and

determining a number of items in the first subset is greater than or equal to the predefined threshold prior to identifying the one or more records of the second subset.

33. The method of claim 29, further comprising:

receiving a signal identifying a location of an associated location tag; and

associating a location with the cluster of the items based, at least in part, on the location signal.

34. The method of claim 33, the location comprising a first location, the location tag comprising a first location tag of a plurality of identifiable location tags, further comprising:

receiving a signal identifying a second location of an associated second location tag; and

tracking movement of the cluster of items based, at least in part, on the first location and the second location.

35. The method of claim 29, each signal of the first subset comprising a cluster ID, each item of the cluster associated with the cluster ID.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein the one or more records of the second subset are identified in response to at least receiving the cluster ID a minimum number of times.

37. The method of claim 29, each tag comprises a passive RFID tag.

38. The method of claim 29, wherein identifying one or more records of a second subset comprises:

identifying each item in the first subset of the plurality of identifiable items based, at least in part, on the received signals;

determining a cluster ID of each item in the first subset of the plurality of identifiable items;

identifying the second subset of the plurality of identifiable items based, at least in part, on the cluster ID; and

processing records of the second subset of the plurality of identifiable items in response to at least identifying the second subset.

39. Software for tracking a cluster of items comprising computer readable instructions embodied on media and operable to:

receive signals from a first subset of a plurality of identifiable items in the cluster of items, wherein at least each identifiable item in the first subset is associated with a tag configured to transmit an identifier of the associated identifiable item; and

identify one or more records of a second subset of the plurality of identifiable items based, at least in part, on the received signals from the first subset independent of signals from the second subset, wherein the first subset is different from the second subset.

40. The software of claim 39, wherein each item of the cluster is associated with a tag configured to transmit a unique identifier of the associated item.

41. The software of claim 39, wherein at least the first subset of identifiable items are in an active range of a Radio Frequency IDentifier (RFID) reader.

42. The software of claim 39, further operable to:

identify a predefined threshold defining a minimum number of items in the first subset of the plurality of identifiable items; and

determine a number of items in the first subset is greater than or equal to the predefined threshold prior to identifying the one or more records of the second subset.

43. The software of claim 39, further operable to:

receive a signal identifying a location of an associated location tag; and

associate a location with the cluster of the items based, at least in part, on the location signal.

44. The software of claim 43, the location comprising a first location, the location tag comprising a first location tag of a plurality of identifiable location tags, further operable to:

receive a signal identifying a second location of an associated second location tag; and

track movement of the cluster of items based, at least in part, on the first location and the second location.

45. The software of claim 39, each signal of the first subset comprising a cluster ID, each item of the cluster associated with the cluster ID.

46. The software of claim 45, wherein the one or more records of the second subset are identified in response to at least receiving the cluster ID a minimum number of times.

47. The software of claim 39, each tag comprises a passive RFID tag.

48. The software of claim 39, wherein the software operable to identify one or more records of a second subset comprises the software operable to:

identify each item in the first subset of the plurality of identifiable items based, at least in part, on the received signals;

determine a cluster ID of each item in the first subset of the plurality of identifiable items;

identify the second subset of the plurality of identifiable items based, at least in part, on the cluster ID; and

process records of the second subset of the plurality of identifiable items in response to at least identifying the second subset.