Real-Time Automatic RFID Inventory Control System

• US 20100156597A1
• Filed: 12/23/2008
• Published: 06/24/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Motorola, Inc. (Motorola Solutions, Inc.), Symbol Technologies, LLC (Zebra Technologies Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Symbol Technologies, Inc. (Zebra Technologies Corporation)
• Inventors: Bekritsky, Benjamin J., Stern, Miklos
• Granted Patent: US 8,077,041 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/5.920
• 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: 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: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders

Abstract

The present disclosure describes a system for tracking store-items placed in a storage space. The system includes a plurality of wireless RFID readers distributed within the storage space such that at least one store-item, having an RFID tag attached, is within an interrogation range of at least one of the wireless RFID reader. The system further includes a monitoring server operative to communicate wirelessly with the a plurality of wireless RFID readers to obtain information collected by the plurality of wireless RFID readers from the RFID tag attached to the at least one store-item.

Claims

1. A system for tracking store-items placed in a storage space, the system comprising:

a plurality of wireless RFID readers distributed within the storage space such that at least, one store-item, having an RFID tag attached, is within an interrogation range of at least one of the plurality of wireless RFID readers; and

a monitoring server operative to communicate wirelessly with the plurality of wireless RFID readers to receive information collected by the plurality of wireless RFID readers from the RFID tag attached to the at least one store-item.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the monitoring server is operative to communicate wirelessly with the plurality of wireless RFID readers to direct the wireless RFID readers to obtain the information pertaining to the at least one store-item from the RFID tag.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of wireless RFID readers are battery-powered.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the plurality of wireless RFID readers are operative to be trickle charged with lighting available in the storage space.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein the monitoring server sets an alert on receiving a power status, indicating low battery power, from at least one of the wireless RFID readers.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of wireless RFID readers are AC-powered.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of wireless RFID readers are operative at low duty cycle.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising one or more RFID beacon tags with known location information.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the wireless RFID readers is a portable handheld device.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the monitoring server maintains a database of the store-items currently placed in the storage space.

11. An RFID reader comprising:

a wireless radio to communicate wirelessly with a monitoring server to;

receive instructions from the monitoring server to obtain information pertaining to one or more store-items placed in a storage space;

transmit the obtained information to the monitoring server;

an RFID radio configured to interrogate RFID tags attached to the one or more store-items placed in the storage space; and

a power module comprising a battery to power the RFID reader.

12. The RFID reader of claim 11 further comprising at least one of a dual-polarized antenna, a circularly polarized antenna, and an Omni-directional antenna.

13. The RFID reader of claim 11, wherein the RFID reader communicates with the monitoring server wirelessly.

14. The RFID reader of claim 11, wherein the RFID reader turns ON after pre-specified time intervals to conduct an inventory poll.

15. The RFID reader of claim 11, wherein the power module is configured to trickle charge the battery from lighting available in the storage space.

16. The RFID reader of claim 11, wherein the power module is further configured to communicate a power status of the RFID reader to the monitoring server.

17. A method of tracking store-items placed in a storage space, the method comprising:

attaching RFID tags to the store-items;

distributing a plurality of RFID readers within the storage space such that one or more of the RFID tags are within an interrogation range of at least one of the RFID reader;

obtaining information pertaining to the store-items by interrogating the RFID tags; and

sending the obtained information to a monitoring server, wherein the monitoring server updates a database of the store-items based on the obtained information.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising trickle charging the plurality of RFID readers from lighting available in the storage space.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

interrogating the RFID tags repeatedly up to a pre-specified number of times; and

combining results obtained by repeated interrogation of the RFID tags to obtain accurate information of the store-items.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising instructing RFID the readers to search for a specific store-item present in the storage space.

21. The method of claim 19, further comprising preparing an inventory map by combining the information obtained by repeatedly interrogating the RFID tags.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising displaying the inventory map, information pertaining to the store-items, and the combined results through a graphical user interface of the monitoring server.