Method and apparatus for identification of objects
First Claim
1. A system for automatically identifying an article using an identification tag carried by said article, said system comprising:
- a sphere made of a material having unique characteristics;
a detector for detecting the present of said sphere and providing an electrical signal descriptive of said unique characteristics;
a control unit coupled to said detector and receiving said electrical signal, said control unit using said electrical signal to identify said article; and
wherein said identification tag includes a carrier for carrying a plurality of said spheres.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system for identifying and counting articles, such as laundry and dry cleaning items, using a preassigned identification tag. The system uses a plurality of spheres which are carried in an article identification tag. Using a combination of spheres, each of which may have different characteristics, the identification tag can be scanned for the different characteristics of the spheres and the article identified according. The identity of the article may also be determined on the basis of the number and position of the spheres in the identification tag and/or on the basis of the size and position of the spheres.
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Citations
14 Claims
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1. A system for automatically identifying an article using an identification tag carried by said article, said system comprising:
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a sphere made of a material having unique characteristics;
a detector for detecting the present of said sphere and providing an electrical signal descriptive of said unique characteristics;
a control unit coupled to said detector and receiving said electrical signal, said control unit using said electrical signal to identify said article; and
wherein said identification tag includes a carrier for carrying a plurality of said spheres. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A system for automatically identifying randomly positioned articles of clothing using an identification tag carried by a plurality of said articles of clothing, said system comprising:
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a carrier formed within said identification tag for carrying a plurality of spheres, said carrier have a plurality of pockets for carrying respective said spheres;
said spheres being formed in a plurality of sizes;
a detector for detecting the size of each of said spheres and providing a corresponding electrical signal; and
a control unit coupled to said detector and receiving said electrical signal, said control unit using said electrical signal to identify respective ones of said articles of clothing. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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Specification