METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR RESPONDER ACCOUNTING

• US 20100079255A1
• Filed: 09/29/2008
• Published: 04/01/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Motorola Solutions, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Motorola, Inc. (Motorola Solutions, Inc.)
• Inventors: Sapashe, Robert L., Kennedy, Neil T., Jhoslien, William J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,305,196 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/10.400
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 17/0022 arrangements or provisious for transferring data to distant stations, e.g. from a sensing device "transfer between computer elements G06F13/00 "; data-transmission H04L
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/0062 in RFID [Radio Frequency Identification] Systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/02 using transceiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/48 Transceivers
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/77 for interrogation

Abstract

A method and apparatus for accounting for responders at a site, includes obtaining a first RFID from a scanning of a responder radio performed in a vicinity of the site; determining, by using the first RFID, a responder identity from a RFID database that associates each one of a plurality of responder identities to a corresponding responder radio RFID; adding at least one of the responder identity and the first RFID to an active responder database for the site; initiating an acknowledgement to the responder radio; obtaining a second RFID as a result of a second scanning; and removing the responder identity from the active responder database when the second RFID matches the first RFID.

Claims

1. A method for accounting for responders at a site, comprising:

obtaining a first RFID from an RFID scanning of a responder radio that was performed in a vicinity of a site;

determining, by using the first RFID, a responder identity from a RFID database that associates each one of a plurality of responder identities to a corresponding responder radio RFID;

adding at least one of the responder identity and the first RFID to an active responder database for the site;

initiating an acknowledgement to the responder radio that indicates that the responder identity has been added to the active responder database;

obtaining a second RFID from an RFID scanning of the responder radio that was performed in the vicinity of the site; and

removing the at least one of the responder identity and the first RFID from the active responder database when the second RFID matches the first RFID.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising

associating a first sub-site location with the responder identity in response to obtaining the first RFID.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising sending a command to the responder radio that automatically channel steers the responder radio to a channel that is associated with the site.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining a third RFID before obtaining the second RFID, wherein the third RFID was obtained from an RFID scanning of a responder radio that was performed in a vicinity of a sub-site location; and

associating the sub-site location with the responder identity when the third RFID matches the first RFID.

5. The method according to claim 4, further comprising sending a command to the responder radio that automatically channel steers the radio to a channel that is associated with the sub-site location when the third RFID matches the first RFID.

6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising

obtaining a directional indication for the second RFID scanning;

removing the responder identity from the active responder database only when the second RFID matches the first RFID and the directional indication is an exit indication.

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising

initiating an acknowledgement to the responder radio that the responder identity has been deleted from the active responder database;

8. A system for accounting for responders at a site, comprising:

a first RFID reader that obtains a first RFID as a result of performing an RFID scanning of a responder radio;

a second RFID reader that obtains a second RFID as a result of performing an RFID scanning of a responder radio; and

a computer, coupled to the first and second RFID readers, that

determines, by using the first RFID, a responder identity from an RFID database that associates each one of a plurality of responder identities to a corresponding responder radio RFID;

adds at least one of the responder identity and the first RFID to an active responder database for the site

initiates an acknowledgement to the responder radio that the responder identity has been added to the active responder database; and

removes the responder identity from the active responder database when the second RFID matches the first RFID.

9. The system according to claim 8, wherein the first and second RFID readers are the same RFID reader.

10. The system according to claim 8, wherein the processor also associates a first sub-site location with the responder identity in response to the first RFID scanning.

11. The system according to claim 8, wherein the processor also initiates a command to the responder radio that automatically channel steers the responder radio to a channel that is associated with the site.

12. The system according to claim 8, further comprising a third RFID reader that obtains a third RFID as a result of performing a third RFID scanning of a responder radio before the second RFID scanning is performed, wherein the processor further associates a sub-site location with the responder identity when the third RFID matches the first RFID.

13. The system according to claim 12, wherein the processor also sends a command to the responder radio that automatically channel steers the radio to a channel that is associated with the sub-site location when the third RFID matches the first RFID.

14. The system according to claim 8, wherein the second RFID reader also obtains a directional indication for the second RFID scanning, and wherein the processor also removes the responder identity from the active responder database only when the second RFID matches the first RFID and the directional indication is an exit indication.

15. An apparatus, comprising:

an input that obtains a first and a second RFID;

an output that transmits an acknowledgement to a responder radio; and

a processor that is controlled by instructions stored in memory to;

identify the first RFID as being a result of a first RFID scanning of a responder radio that was performed in a vicinity of a site,

determine, by using the first RFID, a responder identity from an RFID database that associates each one of a plurality of responder identities to a corresponding responder radio RFID,

add at least one of the responder identity and the first RFID to an active responder database for the site,

initiate the acknowledgement to the responder radio that indicates that the responder identity has been added to the active responder database.

identify the second RFID as being a result of a second scanning of the responder radio that was performed in the vicinity of the site; and

remove the responder identity from the active responder database when the second RFID matches the first RFID.