TRACKING RFID OBJECTS WITH INTEGRATED COMMUNICATION LINK

• US 20090315717A1
• Filed: 06/16/2005
• Published: 12/24/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/16/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Alsafadi, Yasser, Soomro, Amjad
• Granted Patent: US 9,035,772 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/572.100
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 17/00 Methods or arrangements for effecting co-operative working between equipments covered by two or more of main groups G06K1/00 - G06K15/00, e.g. automatic card files incorporating conveying and reading operations
• 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 7/10079 the collision being resolved in the spatial domain, e.g. temporary shields for blindfolding the interrogator in specific directions
• 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: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information

Abstract

A wireless system (101) includes a plurality of objects (106). The wireless system includes a controller 102 and a radio frequency identification (RFID) read-write (RW) device (103, 104, 105). Each of the objects includes an RFED device (107) and a transceiver (108). An object and methods of tracking objects are also disclosed.

Claims

1. A wireless system, comprising:

a controller;

a radio frequency identification read-write (RFID RW) device; and

a plurality of objects, each including;

a radio frequency identification (RFID) device adapted to receive information from the RFID RW device; and

a transceiver adapted to transmit information to and receive information from the controller.

2. A wireless system as recited in claim 1, wherein the controller is an access point (AP) of the wireless network.

3. A wireless system as recited in claim 1, wherein the information from the RFID RW device is a location of the RFID RW device.

4. A wireless system as recited in claim 1, wherein the information from the RFID RW device includes an identity of the RFID RW device.

5. A wireless system as recited in claim 1, wherein the information from the RFID RW device includes a time that the RFID device traveled within a transmission range of the RFID RW device, or a time that the RFID device received a transmission from the RFID RW device.

6. A wireless system as recited in claim 1, wherein none of the plurality of objects is connected to a global positioning system (GPS) device.

7. A wireless system as recited in claim 1, wherein each of the objects includes a memory.

8. A wireless system as recited in claim 7, wherein the memory, the transceiver, the RFID device are integrated with each of the plurality of objects.

9. A wireless system as recited in claim 1, wherein the RFID RW device is not adapted to transmit to the controller.

10. A wireless system as recited in claim 1, wherein the controller queries each of the plurality of objects for the received information.

11. A wireless system as recited in claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of objects autonomously transmits the received information to the controller.

12. A wireless system as recited in claim 1, further comprising a tracking application device, which compiles tracking information of each of the plurality of objects.

13. A wireless system as recited in claim 12, wherein the tracking application device queries each of the plurality of objects for the received information.

14. A wireless system as recited in claim 12, wherein each of the plurality of objects autonomously transmits the received information to the tracking application device.

15. A wireless system as recited in claim 12, wherein the tracking application device queries each of the plurality of objects for the information via the controller.

16. A wireless system as recited in claim 15, wherein each of the plurality of objects transmits the received information to the tracking application device in response to the query.

17. A wireless system as recited in claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of objects is adapted to authenticate a request for the information.

18. A wireless system as recited in claim 1, wherein the plurality of objects is:

cards, or cellular telephones, or personal digital assistants (PDAs), or mobile radio terminals, or cellular phones with data terminals, or portable computers, or two-way messaging devices, or patient monitoring devices, or mobile radio terminals, or merchandise tags.

19. An object, comprising:

a radio frequency identification (RFID) device, which is adapted to receive information from a radio frequency identification read-write (RFID RW) device; and

a transceiver, which is coupled to RFID device, wherein the transceiver is adapted to transmit information to and receive information from a controller, or a tracking application device, or both.

20. An object as recited in claim 19, wherein the information from the RFID RW device includes a location of the RFID RW device.

21. An object as recited in claim 19, wherein the information from the RFID RW device includes an identity of the RFID RW device.

22. An object as recited in claim 19, further comprising a memory.

23. An object as recited in claim 19, wherein the information from the RFID RW device includes a time that the RFID device traveled within a transmission range of or received a transmission from the RFID RW device.

24. An object as recited in claim 19, wherein the object does not include a GPS device.

25. An object as recited in claim 19, wherein the object is one of:

a card, or a cellular telephone, or a personal digital assistant (PDA), or a mobile radio terminal, or a cellular phone with a data terminal, or a portable computer, or a two-way messaging device, or a patient monitoring device, or a merchandise tag.

26. An object as recited in claim 19, wherein the RFID device and the transceiver are integral with the object.

27. A method of tracking objects, the method comprising:

providing a plurality of radio frequency identification read-write (RFID RW) devices in a wireless network;

providing a radio frequency identification (RFID) device in each of the objects;

transmitting data from the RFID RW devices to the objects;

providing a transceiver with each of the objects; and

transmitting the data from the objects to a controller or to a tracking application device, or both.

28. A method as recited in claim 27, wherein the method further comprises, before the transmitting the data from the objects, querying the objects for the data.

29. A method as recited in claim 27, wherein the objects are not queried for the data.

30. A method as recited in claim 28, wherein the querying is by the controller.

31. A method as recited in claim 28, wherein the querying is by the tracking application device.

32. A method as recited in claim 27, wherein each of the transceivers is a WLAN device.

33. A method as recited in claim 27, wherein the objects are one or more of:

a card, or a cellular telephone, or a personal digital assistant (PDA), or a mobile radio terminal, or a cellular phone with a data terminal, or a portable computer, or a two-way messaging device, or a patient monitoring device, or a merchandise tag.