System and Method for Inventory Control of Mobile Assets
First Claim
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1. A Radio-Frequency Identification (“
- RFID”
)-based asset-tracking system comprising;
an RFID tag attached to an asset;
a mobile RFID surveyor including an RFID reader to interact with the RFID tag and means for determining a location of the mobile RFID surveyor;
processing logic to correlate a signal from the RFID tag with the location of the mobile RFID surveyor; and
a database to store the location of the mobile RFID surveyor.
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Abstract
A radio-frequency identification (“RFID”)-based asset tracking system uses a mobile RFID reader to move among stationary assets and communicate with RFID tags attached to the assets. The mobile RFID reader has means for estimating its own location, so the location of a tagged asset can also be estimated by reference to the RFID reader'"'"'s location when the RFID tag was seen. Location and tag information can be reported back to a central database in real time, or collected and uploaded to the database when the mobile RFID reader returns to a base station. The systems can be used to keep track of vehicles on a dealer'"'"'s lot or in a warehouse or parking structure.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A Radio-Frequency Identification (“
- RFID”
)-based asset-tracking system comprising;an RFID tag attached to an asset; a mobile RFID surveyor including an RFID reader to interact with the RFID tag and means for determining a location of the mobile RFID surveyor; processing logic to correlate a signal from the RFID tag with the location of the mobile RFID surveyor; and a database to store the location of the mobile RFID surveyor. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
- RFID”
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7. A method for maintaining an asset-location database comprising:
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attaching a Radio-Frequency Identification (“
RFID”
) tag to an asset, said asset having a physical location near a plurality of other assets;moving an RFID surveyor among the plurality of assets; interrogating the RFID tag; receiving a reply from the RFID tag; obtaining an estimate of a position of the RFID surveyor when the reply is received; and storing the position estimate in the asset-location database as a location of the asset having the RFID tag. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. An inventory control and management system for tracking locations of a plurality of vehicles on a lot comprising:
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an active/passive Radio Frequency Identification (“
RFID”
) tag attached to each of the plurality of vehicles, each such RFID tag having a unique identification number among the plurality of RFID tags and each unique RFID identification number associated with a unique identifier of its corresponding vehicle in a computer database;a mobile RFID survey vehicle having an RFID reader to communicate with RFID tags and a Global Positioning System (“
GPS”
) receiver to obtain an estimate of a location of the survey vehicle;a programmable processor to cause the RFID reader to communicate with RFID tags of vehicles near the survey vehicle and correlate the unique identification number of the RFID tags with the estimate of the location of the survey vehicle; and communication means to report the unique RFID tag numbers and the location estimates for incorporation in the computer database. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification