Intelligent RFID information management system

• US 7,551,082 B2
• Filed: 12/30/2004
• Issued: 06/23/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Kartha, G. Neelakantan, Vishik, Claire Svetlana
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen; Hung T.
• Application Number:
  US11/026,531
• Publication Number:
  US 20060152370A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,636 Days
• Field of Search: 340/572.1, 340/572.3, 340/572.4, 340/825.36, 340/825.49, 340/825.69, 340/10.1, 340/10.3, 340/10.4, 340/10.42, 340/825.72, 235/375, 235/383, 235/385, 235/454, 235/455, 705/28, 705/22
• US Class Current: 340/572.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/381 using identifiers, e.g. barcodes, RFIDs for URLs G06F16/9554
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/949 Inventory

Abstract

Automatic information capture and management is enhanced with RFID tags that provide complex information about an object in combination with intelligent systems that apply ontological classification of the object based on the captured information. An intelligent system includes a local RFID system, a central information clearinghouse which may further include one or more data mart having a subset of the clearinghouse information, a search and match engine with fuzzy matching capability, a rule engine, and one or more ontology to facilitate the use of the information captured about the object.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a repository configured to collect data captured at a plurality of locations from objects equipped with a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag including an RFID code, the RFID code including components matched to a trading-related ontology, wherein the trading-related ontology includes interrelated hierarchies of concepts including geography, inventory control, shipping, fulfillment, and ordering;

a search engine configured to search the collected data; and

a rules engine including encoded business rules associated with one or more operations of the system.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more operations include a supply chain planning operation.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the search engine is further configured to perform exact match searching of the collected data.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the search engine is further configured to perform fuzzy match searching of the collected data.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the search engine is further configured to perform reasoning-based searching of the collected data.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the search engine is further configured to:

perform exact match searching of the collected data;

perform fuzzy match searching of the collected data; and

perform reasoning-based searching of the collected data.

7. A method comprising:

collecting data captured at a plurality of locations from objects equipped with a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag including an RFID code, the RFID code including components matched to a trading-related ontology, wherein the trading-related ontology includes interrelated hierarchies of concepts including geography, inventory control, shipping, fulfillment, and ordering;

searching the collected data using a search engine; and

processing the collected data in accordance with a rules engine, wherein the rules engine includes encoded business rules associated with one or more operations of a system, wherein the collected data is related to the system.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the one or more operations include a supply chain planning operation.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein searching the collected data using the search engine comprises performing exact match searching of the collected data.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein searching the collected data using the search engine comprises performing fuzzy match searching of the collected data.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein searching the collected data using the search engine comprises performing reasoning-based searching of the collected data.

12. A computer-readable storage medium including computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:

collect data captured at a plurality of locations from objects equipped with a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag including an RFID code, the RFID code including components matched to a trading-related ontology, wherein the trading-related ontology includes interrelated hierarchies of concepts including geography, inventory control, shipping, fulfillment, and ordering;

search the collected data using a search engine; and

process the collected data in accordance with a rules engine, wherein the rules engine includes encoded business rules associated with one or more operations of a system, wherein the collected data is related to the system.

13. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the one or more operations of the system include a supply chain planning operation.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, further comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the computer, cause the computer to perform exact match searching of the collected data.

15. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, further comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the computer, cause the computer to perform fuzzy match searching of the collected data.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, further comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the computer, cause the computer to perform reasoning-based searching of the collected data.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, further comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the computer, cause the computer to:

perform exact match searching of the collected data;

perform fuzzy match searching of the collected data; and

perform reasoning-based searching of the collected data.