SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR REAL TIME THEFT DETECTION

• US 20100148966A1
• Filed: 12/07/2009
• Published: 06/17/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/12/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Infosys Limited
• Original Assignee: Infosys Technologies Limited (Infosys Limited)
• Inventors: Chawla, Kirti, Vuppala, Sunil Kumar, Gupta, Puneet
• Granted Patent: US 8,427,319 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/572.100
• 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: G08B 13/2417 having a radio frequency identification chip
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/2482 EAS methods, e.g. description of flow chart of the detection procedure
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/2488 Timing issues, e.g. synchronising measures to avoid signal collision, with multiple emitters or a single emitter and receiver

Abstract

A method for tracking one or more portable devices in real time to detect theft of the one or more portable devices is provided. The method enables, firstly, interrogating a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag via a RFID reader during successive sweep intervals. The sweep interval represents active state of the RFID reader. Secondly, the method enables receiving one or more pairing information from the RFID tag. Further, the method enables comparing the one or more pairing information with corresponding one or more pairing information stored in the RFID reader. Finally, the method enables generating an alert signal via the wearable-band or the one or more portable devices when the one or more pairing information does not match with the corresponding one or more pairing information stored in the RFID reader.

Claims

1. A method for tracking one or more portable devices in real time to detect theft of the one or more portable devices, the method comprising the steps of:

interrogating a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag via a RFID reader during successive sweep intervals, wherein the sweep interval represents active state of the RFID reader, further wherein the RFID tag and the RFID reader reside in a wearable-band adapted to be worn by a user and the one or more portable devices respectively or vice versa;

receiving one or more pairing information from the RFID tag;

comparing the one or more pairing information with corresponding one or more pairing information stored in the RFID reader; and

generating an alert signal via the wearable-band or the one or more portable devices when the one or more pairing information does not match with the corresponding one or more pairing information stored in the RFID reader.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of establishing a sleep interval between the successive sweep intervals, wherein the sleep interval represents inactive state of the RFID reader.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of generating an alert signal via the wearable-band or the one or more portable devices when the RFID tag fails to respond to the RFID reader.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of receiving the one or more pairing information from the RFID tag comprises the steps of:

fetching a unique identifier, wherein the unique identifier corresponds to vendor specific information associated with the RFID reader and the wearable-band; and

fetching a unique number allocated to each pair of the one or more portable devices and the wearable-band.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein comparing the one or more pairing information with corresponding one or more pairing information stored in the RFID reader comprises the steps of:

comparing the unique identifier with the unique identifier stored in the RFID reader; and

comparing the unique number associated with the RFID tag with the unique number associated with the RFID reader.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of generating an alert signal via the wearable-band or the one or more portable devices further comprises the step of:

measuring a first time value at the start of the sweep interval;

measuring a second time value when the one or more pairing information does not match with the one or more pairing information stored in the RFID reader;

calculating a difference between the second time value and the first time value to obtain a third time value;

comparing the third time value with a predetermined false alarm threshold value; and

generating an alert signal when the third time value exceeds the predetermined false alarm threshold value.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of generating an alert signal via the wearable-band and the RFID reader when any one of the pairing information do not match with the corresponding pairing information stored in the RFID reader comprises at least one of:

triggering an alarm system and triggering a visual display system.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of performing selective error correction using hamming code on the pairing information received from the RFID tag.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of mapping information related to multiple portable devices with information stored in a lookup table in the wearable-band, wherein the wearable-band comprises multiple RFID tags.

10. A system for tracking one or more portable devices in real time to detect theft of the one or more portable devices, the system comprising:

one or more portable devices with processing capability;

one or more portable devices without processing capability;

a wearable-band adapted to be worn by a user;

wherein the one or more portable devices with processing capability comprises a Radio frequency Identification (RFID) reader configured to interrogate a RFID tag residing in the wearable-band during successive sweep intervals, wherein the sweep interval represents active state of the RFID reader; and

wherein the one or more portable devices without processing capability comprises the RFID tag which is interrogated by the RFID reader residing in the wearable-band during successive sweep intervals.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the one or more portable devices with processing capability comprises any one of:

mobile phones, personal digital assistants, laptops, smart phones, digital watch, digital camera, portable audio player, portable video player and any other intelligent device capable of processing.

12. The system of claim 10 wherein the one or more portable devices without processing capability comprises any one of:

wallets, document holders, keys handbags and any other personal item of the user without processing capability.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the one or more portable devices with processing capabilities comprises software modules such as programmable time service, a user interface and a portable device feature control application programming interface to at least facilitate generating an alert to the user.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the one or more portable devices with processing capabilities comprises hardware modules such as system bus, memory mapped registers, interrupt line and circuit space on the printed circuit board of the one or more portable devices.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the wearable-band paired with the one or more portable devices with processing capabilities comprises hardware modules such as battery operated alarm circuit integrated with the RFID tag.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein the wearable-band paired with the one or more portable devices without processing capability comprises a battery for operating the RFID reader, an alarm circuit and a display unit in a user interface of the wearable-band.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein the wearable-band paired with the one or more portable devices without processing capability comprises software modules such as programmable time service, application programming interfaces to at least facilitate generating an alert to the user employing an alarm circuit and a display unit.