Applications for radio frequency identification systems

• US 7,728,732 B2
• Filed: 12/23/2008
• Issued: 06/01/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/14/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: 3M Innovative Properties Company (3M Company)
• Original Assignee: 3M Innovative Properties Company (3M Company)
• Inventors: Nash, James E., Grunes, Mitchell B., Gonzalez, Bernard A., Lindahl, Richard W., Garber, Sharon R., Karel, Gerald L., Jackson, Richard H., Kruse, John M., Piotrowski, Chester, Yorkovich, John D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Mullen; Thomas J
• Application Number:
  US12/342,458
• Publication Number:
  US 20090102609A1
• Time in Patent Office: 525 Days
• Field of Search: 340/572.1, 340/572.4, 340/10.1, 340/5.92, 235/385, 705/28
• US Class Current: 340/572.4
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 17/00 Methods or arrangements for effecting co-operative working between equipments covered by two or more of main groups G06K1/00 - G06K15/00, e.g. automatic card files incorporating conveying and reading operations
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/07749 the record carrier being capable of non-contact communication, e.g. constructional details of the antenna of a non-contact smart card
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/07779 the inductive antenna being a coil
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/07783 the coil being planar
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/07786 the antenna being of the HF type, such as a dipole
• 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 7/10079 the collision being resolved in the spatial domain, e.g. temporary shields for blindfolding the interrogator in specific directions
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10386 the interrogation device being of the portable or hand-handheld type, e.g. incorporated in ubiquitous hand-held devices such as PDA or mobile phone, or in the form of a portable dedicated RFID reader
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/0042 for hiring of objects
• CPC Class Codes: G07G 1/0036 Checkout procedures
• CPC Class Codes: G07G 1/0054 with control of supplementary check-parameters, e.g. weight or number of articles
• CPC Class Codes: G07G 1/009 the reader being an RFID reader
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/2408 using ferromagnetic tags
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/2411 Tag deactivation
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/2417 having a radio frequency identification chip
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/2431 Tag circuit details
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/2457 Lending systems using EAS tags wherein the tags are reusable, e.g. they can be activated and deactivated more than once, e.g. for a library
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/2462 Asset location systems combined with EAS inventory, tracking, logistic G06Q10/00; entrance control systems G07C9/00
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/2485 Simultaneous detection of multiple EAS tags
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/2216 : used in interrogator/reader equipment
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/2225 : used in active tags, i.e. provided with its own power source or in passive tags, i.e. deriving power from RF signal
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/364 : using a particular conducting material, e.g. superconductor
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 7/00 : Loop antennas with a substantially uniform current distribution around the loop and having a directional radiation pattern in a plane perpendicular to the plane of the loop
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 9/285 : Planar dipole H01Q9/065 takes precedence; patch antenna H01Q9/0407

Abstract

The present invention relates to RFID devices, including handheld RFID devices, and applications for such devices. The devices and applications may be used in connection with items that are associated with an RFID tag, and optionally a magnetic security element. The devices and applications are described with particular reference to library materials such as books, periodicals, and magnetic and optical media.

Claims

1. A method of determining a storage location that is currently being processed by a radio-frequency identification (RFID) device, comprising:

interrogating a plurality of RFID tags associated with a plurality of items with the RFID device;

receiving data with the RFID device from the interrogated plurality of RFID tags, wherein receiving the data comprises reading data specifying storage locations wherein the data is encoded directly within the RFID tags associated with each of the plurality of items; and

heuristically processing the received data with the RFID device to determine a storage location associated with the plurality of items, wherein heuristically processing the received data comprises determining the storage location upon reading a certain number of the plurality of RFID tags indexed to the storage location.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising, after heuristically determining the storage location upon reading the certain number of RFID tags indexed to a storage location, providing an alert with the RFID device upon the RFID device reading an RFID tag indexed to a storage location that does not match the determined storage location.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the data comprises reading data identifying code numbers from the RFID tags and wherein the code numbers are used to indicate a storage location associated with a corresponding item.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising obtaining the storage location from a database based on the received data.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein interrogating the plurality of RFID tags comprises interrogating the plurality of RFID tags with a handheld RFID device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the determined storage location specifies a specific shelf location.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the determined storage location specifies a general category of library materials.

8. A hand-held radio-frequency identification (RFID) device comprising:

a reader that interrogates a plurality of RFID tags associated with a plurality of items, wherein the reader receives data specifying storage locations from the interrogated plurality of RFID tags in response to the interrogation, wherein the data is encoded directly within the RFID tags associated with each of the plurality of items; and

a processor configured to heuristically process the received data to determine a storage location associated with the plurality of items, wherein the processor is configured to heuristically determine the storage location upon receiving data from a certain number of the plurality of RFID tags indexed to the storage location.

9. The RFID device of claim 8, wherein the processor is configured to, after heuristically determining the storage location upon reading the certain number of RFID tags indexed to the same storage location, provide an alert upon the RFID device reading an RFID tag indexed to a storage location that does not match the determined storage location.

10. The RFID device of claim 8, wherein the processor is configured to obtain the storage location from a database based on the received data.