System and method of RFID device management

• US 7,522,050 B2
• Filed: 03/30/2006
• Issued: 04/21/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Psion PLC (Motorola Solutions, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Psion Teklogix (Motorola Solutions, Inc.)
• Inventors: Le, Trong
• Primary Examiner(s): TWEEL JR, JOHN ALEXANDER
• Application Number:
  US11/394,384
• Publication Number:
  US 20070250358A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,118 Days
• Field of Search: 340/572.1, 340/10.1, 340/551, 700/214, 700/215, 235/385
• US Class Current: 340/572.1
• CPC Class Codes: G07G 1/0045 with a code reader for reading of an identifying code of the article to be registered, e.g. barcode reader or radio-frequency identity [RFID] reader
• CPC Class Codes: G07G 1/009 the reader being an RFID reader
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/48 Transceivers
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/77 for interrogation

Abstract

A radio frequency identification management system and method of managing one or more radio frequency identification devices is provided. The radio frequency identification (RFID) management system comprises a device manager for managing one or more RFID devices, and one or more RFID device drivers for communicating with and operating the one or more RFID devices. The method comprises the steps of managing one or more RFID devices through a device manager, and operating the one or more RFID devices through the device manager.

Claims

1. A radio frequency identification management system for managing a plurality of radio frequency identification devices, the radio frequency identification (RFID) management system comprising:

a plurality of RFID device drivers for communicating with and operating the plurality of RFID devices;

a plurality of device managers, each device manager for managing and communicating with one or more RFID devices through a RFID device driver of the plurality of RFID device drivers; and

a device controller for interfacing the plurality of device managers with upper layer software applications.

2. The radio frequency identification management system as claimed in claim 1, wherein a device manager of the plurality of device manager further manages auxiliary hardware and the system further comprises one or more device drivers for communicating with and operating the auxiliary hardware.

3. The radio frequency identification management system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the plurality of device managers can further interface directly with the upper layer software applications.

4. The radio frequency identification management system as claimed in claim 3, wherein at least one RFID device driver of the plurality of RFID device drivers communicates with a RFID device of the plurality of RFID devices using a command-response scheme.

5. The radio frequency identification management system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the plurality of device managers comprise a plurality of different types of device managers, each different device manager type for managing and communicating with a plurality of devices of the type.

6. The radio frequency identification management system as claimed in claim 5, each different device manager type is one of:

a portal type device manager for managing and communicating with a plurality of portal type devices;

a conveyor belt type device manager for managing and communicating with a plurality of conveyor belt type devices;

a forklift type device manager for managing and communicating with a plurality of forklift type devices; and

a handheld type device manager for managing and communicating with a plurality of handheld type devices.

7. The radio frequency identification management system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the device controller communicates with at least one device manager of the plurality of device managers using a command-response scheme.

8. The radio frequency identification management system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the device controller gathers statistics and errors of the plurality of RFID devices through the plurality of device managers for real-time administration of the system.

15. The radio frequency identification management system as claimed in claim 5, wherein devices of the same type share a plurality of common characteristics.

16. The radio frequency identification management system as claimed in claim 1, wherein managing the one or more RFID devices comprises one or more of:

setting a power level of RFID readers;

setting a tag type of RFID readers;

retrieving statistic and diagnostic information of RFID readers; and

retrieving a connection state of RFID readers.

17. The radio frequency identification management system as claimed in claim 1, wherein communicating with the one or more RFID devices comprises sending function commands to RFID devices through RFID device drivers, the function commands including:

function commands to read user data from an RFID tag;

function commands to write user data to the RFID tag; and

function commands to kill the RFID tag.

18. The radio frequency identification management system as claimed in claim 1, wherein a device manager of the plurality of device managers further comprises an additional RFID device driver for communicating with one or more RFID devices.

9. A method of managing a plurality of radio frequency identification (RFID) devices, the method comprising:

interfacing upper layer software applications with a plurality of device managers, the interfacing achieved through a device controller;

managing and communicating with a plurality of RFID device drivers, the managing and communicating with achieved using individual device managers; and

communicating with and operating one or more RFID devices of the plurality of RFID devices, the communicating with and operating achieved through a RFID device driver of the plurality of RFID device drivers.

10. The method claimed in claim 9, wherein managing the plurality of RFID device drivers using individual device managers includes:

communicating device management commands to one or more RFID device drivers of the RFID device drivers.

11. The method claimed in claim 9, wherein communicating with one or more RFID device drivers of the plurality of RFID device drivers comprises:

communicating operation commands to an RFID device from a device manager using a RFID device driver; and

receiving operation command responses from the RFID device at the RFID device driver and communicating the operating command response to the device manager using the RFID device driver.

12. The method claimed in claim 9, further comprising the step of:

managing auxiliary hardware.

13. The method as claimed in claim 9, further comprising the step of:

gathering statistics and errors for real-time administration of the system.

14. A computer-readable storage medium having computer readable code embodied therein for execution in a computer of a method of managing a plurality of radio frequency identification (RFID) devices, the method comprising:

interfacing upper layer software applications with a plurality of device managers, the interfacing achieved through a device controller;

managing and communicating with a plurality of RFID device drivers, the managing and communicating with achieved using individual device managers; and

communicating with and operating one or more RFID devices of the plurality of RFID devices, the communicating with and operating achieved through a RFID device driver of the plurality of RFID device drivers.