System and Method for Searching Physical Objects

• US 20090128302A1
• Filed: 04/07/2006
• Published: 05/21/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 04/07/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: National University of Singapore
• Original Assignee: National University of Singapore
• Inventors: Srinivasan, Vikram, Yap, Kok Klong, Motani, Mehul
• Granted Patent: US 8,749,378 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/10.600
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0009 Transmission of position information to remote stations involving assistance data G01S5/0236
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0295 Proximity-based methods, e.g. position inferred from reception of particular signals
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/0008 General problems related to the reading of electronic memory record carriers, independent of its reading method, e.g. power transfer
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10356 using a plurality of antennas, e.g. configurations including means to resolve interference between the plurality of antennas
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders

Abstract

A system and method for searching physical objects. The system comprises one or more tags, each tag being disposed on one associated object; one or more substations, each substation arranged for communication with tags located within a range around each substation; one or more base stations, each base station arranged for communication with substations located within a range around each base station; an interrogation engine residing in each base station for interrogating, in response to a search query, the substations within the range around each base station, to determine whether a search object of the search query is within the range around the respective substations.

Claims

1. A system for searching physical objects, the system comprising:

one or more tags, each tag being disposed on one associated object;

one or more substations, each substation arranged for communication with tags located within a range around each substation;

one or more base stations, each base station arranged for communication with substations located within a range around each base station;

an interrogation engine residing in each base station for interrogating, in response to a search query, the substations within the range around each base station, to determine whether a search object of the search query is within the range around the respective substations.

2. The system as claimed in claim 1, further comprising one or more query terminals for inputting the search query and for displaying search results.

3. The system as claimed in claims 1 or 2, wherein each substation provides a list of the tag descriptions of tags within the range around said each substation to the interrogation engine together with a value indicative of signal strengths from the respective tags.

4. The system, as claimed in claim 3, wherein the interrogation engine, if one tag is within the range around two or more substations, assigns said one tag to the substation for which a higher value indicative of signal strength is received.

5. The system as claimed in claims 3 or 4, wherein the tag descriptions comprise descriptions of the respective physical objects the tags are disposed on.

6. The system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein each base station is arranged for labelling a space corresponding to the range of said each base station as public or private, and the interrogation engine processes the search queries in a manner dependent on whether the space is public or private associated with a user.

7. The system as claimed in claim 6, wherein each tag is arranged for labelling the associated object as public or private, and the interrogation engine processes the search queries in a manner dependent on whether the object is public or private associated with a user.

8. The system as claimed in claims 6 to 7, wherein the interrogation engine instructs display of search results in a binary form if the search object is public and is located in a private space.

9. The system as claimed in any one of claims 6 to 8, wherein the interrogation engine instructs display of search results in a binary form if the search object is private associated with one user and the search object is located in a private space associated with another user.

10. The system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the interrogation engine is implemented centralised in the base-station, or the interrogation engine is implemented in a distributed manner on the base-station and one or more of the substations or tags.

11. The system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein an interrogation engine protocol is optimised for energy, latency, or both.

12. A method for searching physical objects, the method comprising:

disposing one or more tags, each tag being disposed on one associated object;

arranging one or more substations for communication with tags located within a range around each substation;

arranging one or more base stations for communication with substations located within a range around each base station;

utilising an interrogation engine residing in each base station for interrogating, in response to a search query, the substations within the range around each base station, to determine whether a search object of the search query is within the range around the respective substations.

13. The method as claimed in claim 12, further comprising utilising one or more query terminals for inputting the search query and for displaying search results.

14. The method as claimed in claims 12 or 13, further comprising utilising each substation for providing a list of the tag descriptions of tags within the range around said each substation to the interrogation engine together with a value indicative of signal strengths from the respective tags.

15. The method as claimed in claim 14, further comprising utilising the interrogation engine, if one tag is within the range around two or more substations, for assigning said one tag to the substation for which a higher value indicative of signal strength is received.

16. The method as claimed in claims 14 or 15, wherein the tag descriptions comprise descriptions of the respective physical objects the tags are disposed on.

17. The method as claimed in any one of claims 13 to 16, further comprising arranging each base station for labelling a space corresponding to the range of said each base station as public or private, and utilising the interrogation engine for processing the search queries in a manner dependent on whether the space is public or private associated with a user.

18. The method as claimed in claim 17, further comprising arranging each tag for labelling the associated object as public or private, and utilising the interrogation engine for processing the search queries in a manner dependent on whether the object is public or private associated with a user.

19. The method as claimed in claims 17 or 18, further comprising utilising the interrogation engine for instructing display of search results in a binary form if the search object is public and is located in a private space.

20. The method as claimed in any one of claims 17 to 19, further comprising utilising the interrogation engine for instructing display of search results in a binary form if the search object is private associated with one user and the search object is located in a private space associated with another user.

21. The method as claimed in any one of claims 12 to 20, further comprising implementing the interrogation engine centralised in the base-station, or implementing the interrogation engine in a distributed manner on the base-station and one or more of the substations or tags.

22. The method as claimed in any one of claims 12 to 21, further comprising optimising an interrogation engine protocol for energy, latency, or both.