RFID material tracking method and apparatus
First Claim
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1. A method of self-testing an RFID identification system, comprising:
- polling an identification tag location with a sensing antenna;
detecting if a voltage is present in the sensing antenna from a tag at the polled tag location;
waiting a predetermined time for a voltage to become present in the sensing antenna if no voltage is present in the sensing antenna;
determining if tag information data is present at the sensing antenna if a voltage is present in the sensing antenna;
turning an antenna carrier of the sensing antenna off if there is no tag data present in the sensing antenna;
turning the antenna carrier back on after it is turned off, such that the antenna carrier cycles off and back, to repower the tag at the tag location; and
issuing an alert if after the predetermined time has elapsed that there is no voltage present in the sensing antenna.
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for tracking items automatically is described. A passive RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) tag is used with a material tracking system capable of real-time pinpoint location and identification of thousands of items in production and storage areas. Passive RFID tags are attached to the item to be tracked, remote sensing antennas are placed at each remote location to be monitored, interrogators with several antenna inputs are connected to the sensing antennas to multiplex the antenna signals, and a host computer communicates with the interrogators to determine item locations to an exacting measure.
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Citations
78 Claims
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1. A method of self-testing an RFID identification system, comprising:
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polling an identification tag location with a sensing antenna; detecting if a voltage is present in the sensing antenna from a tag at the polled tag location; waiting a predetermined time for a voltage to become present in the sensing antenna if no voltage is present in the sensing antenna; determining if tag information data is present at the sensing antenna if a voltage is present in the sensing antenna; turning an antenna carrier of the sensing antenna off if there is no tag data present in the sensing antenna; turning the antenna carrier back on after it is turned off, such that the antenna carrier cycles off and back, to repower the tag at the tag location; and issuing an alert if after the predetermined time has elapsed that there is no voltage present in the sensing antenna. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method of testing a system for identifying goods, the system having an interrogator with a plurality of antenna inputs, a plurality of identification tags, and a plurality of sensing antennas each operatively connected to the interrogator, the sensing antennas in close proximity to the tag locations, the method comprising:
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turning on one of the antennas to poll a specific tag location; determining whether a voltage due to an excited tag is present at the active antenna; waiting a predetermined time to detect a voltage in the active antenna if no voltage is present in the active antenna; reading tag data from the tag associated with the active antenna if there is a voltage; turning the active antenna off if after the predetermined time there is no voltage present in the active antenna; turning the antenna back on, such that the antenna cycles off and back on, to repower the tag at the tag location; and repeating the determining through the reading until a voltage is detected in the active antenna or until a certain second predetermined time has elapsed. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A method of self-testing an REID identification system, comprising:
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accessing an antenna map of a plurality of antennas to determine which antennas in the antenna map are active, the antenna map having an address for each antenna; selecting an active antenna; activating the selected antenna; determining if the selected antenna has an antenna voltage that exceeds a predetermined lower limit; and obtaining tag data for a tag associated with the selected antenna. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
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32. A method of self-testing an RFID identification system, comprising:
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accessing an antenna map to determine which antennas in the antenna map are active; selecting an active antenna; activating the selected antenna; determining if the selected antenna has an antenna voltage that exceeds a predetermined lower limit; and obtaining tag data for a tag associated with the selected antenna, wherein obtaining tag data for a tag associated with the selected antenna includes; determining if tag data is detected by the selected antenna; if tag data is not detected, determining whether a current iteration count for determining if tag data is detected by the selected antenna is above a limit for the number of iterations; and if tag data is detected by the selected antenna, storing the tag data, wherein obtaining tag data for a tag associated with the selected antenna further includes incrementing the iteration count and cycling a driver for the selected antenna off and then on if tag data is not detected and the current iteration count for determining if tag data is detected by the selected antenna is below a limit for the number of iterations.
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33. A method of testing a system for identifying goods, the system having an interrogator with a plurality of antenna inputs, a plurality of identification tags, and a plurality of sensing antennas each operatively connected to the interrogator, the sensing antennas in close proximity to the tag locations, the method comprising:
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accessing an antenna map of the plurality of sensing antennas to determine which sensing antennas of the plurality of sensing antennas are active, the antenna map having an address for each sensing antenna; selecting an active sensing antenna to poll a specific tag location; driving the selected sensing antenna; determining if the selected sensing antenna has an antenna voltage that exceeds a predetermined lower limit; obtaining tag data for a tag at a specific tag location associated with the selected sensing antenna; and selecting a second sensing antenna of the plurality of sensing antennas from the antenna map to determine if the second sensing antenna has an antenna voltage that exceeds a predetermined lower limit and to obtain tag data for a second tag at a specific second tag location associated with the selected second sensing antenna, wherein the second sensing antenna is indicated as active on the antenna map. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44)
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45. A method of testing a system for identifying goods, the system having an interrogator with a plurality of antenna inputs, a plurality of identification tags, and a plurality of sensing antennas each operatively connected to the interrogator, the sensing antennas in close proximity to the tag locations, the method comprising:
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accessing an antenna map to determine which sensing antennas of the plurality of sensing antennas are active; selecting an active sensing antenna to poll a specific tag location; driving the selected sensing antenna; determining if the selected sensing antenna has an antenna voltage that exceeds a predetermined lower limit; obtaining tag data for a tag at a specific tag location associated with the selected sensing antenna; and selecting a second sensing antenna of the plurality of sensing antennas from the antenna map to determine if the second sensing antenna has an antenna voltage that exceeds a predetermined lower limit and to obtain tag data for a second tag at a specific second tag location associated with the selected second sensing antenna, wherein the second sensing antenna is indicated as active on the antenna map, wherein obtaining tag data for a tag associated with the selected sensing antenna includes; determining if tag data is detected by the selected sensing antenna; if tag data is not detected, determining whether a current iteration count for determining if tag data is detected by the selected sensing antenna is above a limit for the number of iterations; and if tag data is detected by the selected sensing antenna, storing the tag data, wherein obtaining tag data for a tag associated with the selected sensing antenna further includes incrementing the iteration count and cycling a driver for the selected sensing antenna off and then on if tag data is not detected and the current iteration count for determining if tag data is detected by the selected sensing antenna is below a limit for the number of iterations.
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46. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing a method of self-testing an RFID identification system, the method comprising:
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polling an identification tag location with a sensing antenna; detecting if a voltage is present in the sensing antenna from a tag at the polled tag location; waiting a predetermined time for a voltage to become present in the sensing antenna if no voltage is present in the sensing antenna; determining if tag information data is present at the sensing antenna if a voltage is present in the sensing antenna; turning an antenna carrier of the sensing antenna off if there is no tag data present in the sensing antenna; turning the antenna carrier back on after it is turned off, such that the antenna carrier cycles off and back on, to repower the tag at the tag location; and issuing an alert if after the predetermined time has elapsed that there is no voltage present in the sensing antenna. - View Dependent Claims (47, 48, 49, 50, 51)
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52. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing a method of self-testing an RFID identification system, the method comprising:
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accessing an antenna map of a plurality of antennas to determine which antennas on the antenna map are active, the antenna map having an address for each antenna; selecting an active antenna; activating the selected antenna; determining if the selected antenna has an antenna voltage that exceeds a predetermined lower limit; and obtaining tag data for a tag associated with the selected antenna. - View Dependent Claims (53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60)
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61. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing a method of self-testing an RFID identification system, the method comprising:
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accessing an antenna map to determine which antennas on the antenna map are active; selecting an active antenna; activating the selected antenna; determining if the selected antenna has an antenna voltage that exceeds a predetermined lower limit; and obtaining tag data for a tag associated with the selected antenna, wherein obtaining tag data for a tag associated with the selected antenna includes; determining if tag data is detected by the selected antenna; if tag data is not detected, determining whether a current iteration count for determining if tag data is detected by the selected antenna is above a limit for the number of iterations; and if tag data is detected by the selected antenna, storing the tag data, wherein obtaining tag data for a tag associated with the selected antenna further includes incrementing the iteration count and cycling a driver for the selected antenna off and then on if tag data is not detected and the current iteration count for determining if tag data is detected by the selected antenna is below a limit for the number of iterations.
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62. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing a method of testing a system for identifying goods, the system having an interrogator with a plurality of antenna inputs, a plurality of identification tags, and a plurality of sensing antennas each operatively connected to the interrogator, the sensing antennas in close proximity to the tag locations, the method comprising:
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turning on one of the antennas to poll a specific tag location; determining whether a voltage due to an excited tag is present at the active antenna; waiting a predetermined time to detect a voltage in the active antenna if no voltage is present in the active antenna; reading tag data from the tag associated with the active antenna if there is a voltage; turning the active antenna off if after the predetermined time there is no voltage present in the active antenna; turning the antenna back on, such that the antenna cycles off and back on, to repower the tag at the tag location; and repeating the determining through the reading until a voltage is detected in the active antenna or until a certain second predetermined time has elapsed. - View Dependent Claims (63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68)
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69. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing a method of testing a system for identifying goods, the system having an interrogator with a plurality of antenna inputs, a plurality of identification tags, and a plurality of sensing antennas each operatively connected to the interrogator, the sensing antennas in close proximity to the tag locations, the method comprising:
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accessing an antenna map of the plurality of sensing antennas to determine which sensing antennas of the plurality of sensing antennas are active, the antenna map having an address for each sensing antenna; selecting an active sensing antenna to poll a specific tag location; driving the selected sensing antenna; determining if the selected sensing antenna has an antenna voltage that exceeds a predetermined lower limit; obtaining tag data for a tag at a specific tag location associated with the selected sensing antenna; and selecting a second sensing antenna of the plurality of sensing antennas from the antenna map to determine if the second sensing antenna has an antenna voltage that exceeds a predetermined lower limit and to obtain tag data for a second tag at a specific second tag location associated with the selected second sensing antenna, wherein the second sensing antenna is indicated as active on the antenna map. - View Dependent Claims (70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77)
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78. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing a method of testing a system for identifying goods, the system having an interrogator with a plurality of antenna inputs, a plurality of identification tags, and a plurality of sensing antennas each operatively connected to the interrogator, the sensing antennas in close proximity to the tag locations, the method comprising:
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accessing an antenna map to determine which sensing antennas of the plurality of sensing antennas are active; selecting an active sensing antenna to poll a specific tag location; driving the selected sensing antenna; determining if the selected sensing antenna has an antenna voltage that exceeds a predetermined lower limit; obtaining tag data for a tag at a specific tag location associated with the selected sensing antenna; and selecting a second sensing antenna of the plurality of sensing antennas from the antenna map to determine if the second sensing antenna has an antenna voltage that exceeds a predetermined lower limit and to obtain tag data for a second tag at a specific second tag location associated with the selected second sensing antenna, wherein the second sensing antenna is indicated as active on the antenna map, wherein obtaining tag data for a tag associated with the selected sensing antenna includes; determining if tag data is detected by the selected sensing antenna; if tag data is not detected, determining whether a current iteration count for determining if tag data is detected by the selected sensing antenna is above a limit for the number of iterations; and if tag data is detected by the selected sensing antenna, storing the tag data, wherein obtaining tag data for a tag associated with the selected sensing antenna further includes incrementing the iteration count and cycling a driver for the selected sensing antenna off and then on if tag data is not detected and the current iteration count for determining if tag data is detected by the selected sensing antenna is below a limit for the number of iterations.
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Specification