RFID ANTENNA RE-LOCATION AND/OR RFID LOCATION

• US 20180004986A1
• Filed: 06/30/2016
• Published: 01/04/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Wu, Michael, Sanjay, Addicam V., Gutwein, Daniel, Tran Van, Hoang, Algotar, Kalpana
• Granted Patent: US 10,706,242 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10356 using a plurality of antennas, e.g. configurations including means to resolve interference between the plurality of antennas

Abstract

In various embodiments, an RFID Antenna/Tag Location Configuration device (RLC) may facilitate placement of one or more RFID antennas in a physical space. The RLC may collect RFID data from tags determine which of the RFID antennas need to be relocated. The RLC may determine, based on collected RFID data, whether each antenna is a dominant antenna and/or has a substantial read rate. If an antenna is not dominant and/or does not exhibit a substantial read-rate, the RLC ma indicate that the antenna should be relocated. The RLC may also be configured to filter collected RFID data prior to using the data for determination of antennas. The RLC may also determine, using the RFID antennas, a physical location of RFID tags in the physical space using detected signal strength for RFID tags. Additional embodiments may be described and/or claimed.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

one or more computer processors;

an RFID data collector to operate on the one or more computer processors to collect RFID data read from RFID tags located in a physical space by a plurality of RFID antennas located in the space;

an RFID antenna placement module (AP) coupled to the RFID data collector to operate on the one or more computer processors to determine, based on the collected RFID data, whether one or more of the plurality of RFID antennas are to be relocated in the space.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a filtering module coupled to the RFID data collector and the RFID antenna placement module and to operate on the one or more computer processors to filter the RFID data prior to determination whether one or more of the plurality of RFID antennas are to be relocated.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the filtering module is to filter out RFID data for RFID tags for which no ground truth information is known.

4. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the filtering module is to filter out RFID data read for a RFID tag by a RFID antenna which is not dominant for that RFID tag.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus further comprises ground truth storage coupled to the AP, the ground truth storage to store known locations for one or more RFID tags in the space.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the AP is to determine, for an RFID antenna of the plurality of RFID antennas, whether the RFID antenna is a dominant antenna for a shelf, rack, table, or other location-based unit which includes one or more of the RFID tags.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the AP is to determine, for an RFID antenna of the one or more RFID antennas, whether the RFID antenna has a read rate in excess of a read threshold for a shelf, rack, table, or other location-based unit which includes one or more of the RFID tags.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the AP is to determine, for an RFID antenna which is not a dominant RFID antenna for a shelf, rack, table, or other location-based unit and which does not have a read rate in excess of a read threshold for a shelf, rack, table, or other location-based unit, that the RFID antenna is to be relocated.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the RFID data collector is to determine a first set of one or more of the plurality of RFID antennas are to be relocated; and

the AP is to repeat collection and determination of whether one or more of the plurality of the RFID antennas are to be relocated after the first set of the RFID antennas are relocated.

10. A radio frequency identification (RFID) tag location apparatus, comprising:

one or more computer processors;

an RFID data collector to operate on the one or more computer processors to cause one or more RFID antennas to request and receive RFID response signals from an RFID tag located in a space;

an RFID tag location determination module (TLD) coupled to the RFID data collector to operate on the one or more computer processors to determine a location of the RFID tag in the space, wherein the TLD is to determine the location based on signal strength of the RFID response signals received by the one or more RFID antennas and location information for the one or more RFID antennas.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the RFID data collector is to collect signal strength information through collection of radio frequency signal strength indicator (RSSI) data for one or more readings performed of the RFID tag by each of the one or more RFID antennas located in the space.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the TLD is to determine direct distances from each of the one or more antennas to the RFID tag based at least in part on the collected RSSI data.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the TLD is to determine projected distances from each of the one or more antennas to the RFID tag based at least in part on the determined direct distances.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the TLD is to determine one or more potential RFID tag coordinates based on the determined projected distances.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the TLD is to determine coordinates of the RFID tag as a mean of multiple potential RFID tag coordinates out of the one or more potential RFID tag coordinates.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the TLD is to select a triplet of potential RFID tag coordinates and to determine a mean of the selected triplet.

17. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

collecting, by a computer system, RFID data read from RFID tags located in a physical space by a plurality of RFID antennas located in the space; and

determining, by the computer system, based on the collected RFID data, whether one or more of the plurality of RFID antennas are to be relocated in the space.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising filtering, by the computer system, the RFID data prior to determination whether one or more of the plurality of RFID antennas are to be relocated.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein determining one or more of the plurality of RFID antennas are to be relocated comprises determining, for an RFID antenna which is not a dominant RFID antenna for a shelf, rack, table, or other location-based unit and which does not have a read rate in excess of a read threshold for a shelf, rack, table, or other location-based unit, that the RFID antenna is to be relocated.

20. One or more computer-readable media containing instructions written thereon that, in response to execution by a computer system, cause the computing system to:

collect RFID data read from RFID tags located in a physical space by a plurality of RFID antennas located in the space; and

determine, based on the collected RFID data, whether one or more of the plurality of RFID antennas are to be relocated in the space.

21. The computer-readable media of claim 20, wherein the instructions are further to cause the computer system to filter the RFID data prior to determination whether one or more of the plurality of RFID antennas are to be relocated.

22. The computer-readable media of claim 21, wherein filter comprises filter out RFID data read for a RFID tag by a RFID antenna which is not dominant for that RFID tag.

23. The computer-readable media of claim 20, wherein determine one or more of the plurality of RFID antennas are to be relocated comprises determine, for an RFID antenna of the plurality of RFID antennas, whether the RFID antenna is a dominant antenna for a shelf, rack, table, or other location-based unit which includes one or more of the RFID tags.

24. The computer-readable media of claim 20, wherein determine one or more of the plurality of RFID antennas are to be relocated comprises determine, for an RFID antenna of the one or more RFID antennas, whether the RFID antenna has a read rate in excess of a read threshold for a shelf, rack, table, or other location-based unit which includes one or more of the RFID tags.

25. The computer-readable media of claim 20, wherein:

collect comprises determine a first set of one or more of the plurality of RFID antennas are to be relocated; and

the instructions are further to cause the computer system to repeat collection and determination of whether one or more of the plurality of the RFID antennas are to be relocated after the first set of the RFID antennas are relocated.