Portable locator system

• US 7,080,061 B2
• Filed: 03/25/2003
• Issued: 07/18/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Hill-Rom Services Incorporated (Baxter International Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hill-Rom Services Incorporated (Baxter International Inc.)
• Inventors: Kabala, Stanley J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Gaffin, Jeffrey
• Assistant Examiner(s): ALAUBAIDI, HAYTHIM J
• Application Number:
  US10/396,677
• Publication Number:
  US 20030191767A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,211 Days
• Field of Search: 707/1, 707/3
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2205/02 Indoor
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0009 Transmission of position information to remote stations involving assistance data G01S5/0236
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0295 Proximity-based methods, e.g. position inferred from reception of particular signals
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/14 Determining absolute distances from a plurality of spaced points of known location
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/16 using electromagnetic waves other than radio waves
• 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: G06K 7/10059 transponder driven
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface

Abstract

A locator system and method for locating at least one of persons and objects within a facility comprises a plurality of badges, each badge having a badge transmitter that wirelessly transmits a signal including unique identification code, and a plurality of transceivers spatially dispersed within the facility, each of the transceivers having a transceiver receiver that receives signals including the unique identification code transmitted by a badge and a transceiver transmitter that wirelessly forwards the signals received from the badge to a central processor via a receiver.

Claims

1. A method of collecting location data comprising:

associating each of a plurality of objects and persons to a respective one of a plurality of badges, each of the badges having a unique identification code;

transmitting a first signal including the unique identification code from a badge;

receiving the first signal by a first receiver at a location having a location identifier;

wirelessly transmitting a second signal including information representing the received unique identification code and the location identifier;

receiving the second signal at a second receiver;

forwarding the second signal from the second receiver to a central processor;

recording the second signal information; and

determining a location of at least one of the object and the person, wherein the step of receiving the second signal includes the step of receiving a plurality of second signals, further comprising determining a strength of the first signal and a time at which the first signal was received, the second signal also includes a reception time and a signal strength of the first signal, and wherein the determining step includes determining whether two second signals include the same received identification code and substantially equal reception times, comparing the signal strengths of the two second signals to determine the greater signal strength, and determining a location of one of a person and an object based on the second signal having the greater signal strength.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

forwarding the signals received from the badge to the receiver which forwards the signals to the central processor.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein a central processor determines from a signal received from a transceiver a location of one of the person and the object, a time that the identification code was received, which one of the plurality of transceivers received the signal, and a duration of receipt of the same identification code by the same transceiver.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising the steps of receiving the identification code via an IR signal, performing an IR to digital conversion of the identification code, and wirelessly forwarding receiver.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the transceiver transmitter wirelessly forwards the signal to the receiver via an RF signal.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the receiver is coupled to the central processor via a wired connection.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein the receiver is coupled to the central processor via a network.

8. The method of claim 2, wherein each of the plurality of transceivers has a location identification code associated therewith.

9. The method of claim 2, wherein central processor also determines from the signals received from the transceivers a travel pattern of at least one of the person and the object being monitored.

10. The method of claim 2, wherein the transceivers wirelessly transmit the signals to the receiver in response to a request received from the central processor.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a time at which the first signal was received, including a reception time of the first signal in the second signal, and determining a duration of stay of one of the object and person at the location.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a strength of the first signal, and including a signal strength of the first signal in the second signal.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of wirelessly transmitting a second signal is performed in response to a request.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the first signal is an IR signal.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the first signal is converted to digital to become part of the second signal.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the second signal is an RF signal.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a travel pattern of at least one of the person and the object.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

transmitting a signal including a unique identification code;

storing a list of each badge, its identification code, and one of a person or an object associated with each badge, and

receiving the identification code and a transceiver transmitter for wirelessly forwarding signals to a transceiver.