Automated system for producing location-based inventories

• US 8,031,070 B2
• Filed: 08/30/2007
• Issued: 10/04/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nbg Id, Neopost Technologies S.A. (Quadient SA)
• Original Assignee: Nbg Id, Neopost Technologies S.A. (Quadient SA)
• Inventors: Vallet, Adrien, Chateau, Nathalie, Fabre, Bruno, Venture, Guy
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee; Benjamin C
• Assistant Examiner(s): KING, CURTIS J
• Application Number:
  US11/847,744
• Publication Number:
  US 20080055088A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,496 Days
• Field of Search: 340/572.1
• US Class Current: 340/572.1
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 1/1371 with data records
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 2209/04 Indication location means
• CPC Class Codes: B66F 9/0755 Position control; Position detectors
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders

Abstract

A system for producing a location-based inventory of objects each furnished with an RFID transponder (24) designed to interact with an RFID reader/interrogator (30) and placed at different locations of a warehousing structure (10) including a plurality of rows (16A-16C) supported by vertical uprights (18A-18D). Each of the uprights of this warehousing structure is furnished at each of the rows with an RFID location transponder (26) and a processor (30; 32) to produce a location-based inventory of the objects present on the warehousing structure according to the information received from the transponders.

Claims

1. System for producing location-based inventories of objects each furnished with an RFID transponder (24) designed to interact with an RFID reader/interrogator (30) and placed at different locations of a warehousing structure (10) including a plurality of rows (16A-16C) supported by vertical uprights (18A-18D),

wherein each of the vertical uprights is furnished at each of the rows with an RFID location transponder (26) and wherein each of the beginning uprights (18A) and end uprights (18D) of a row is also furnished with a lock on marker (28B) designed to device (28A) associated with the RFID read/interrogator,

wherein the system comprises:

processing means (30;

32) for producing a location-based inventory of the objects present on the said warehousing structure according to information received from the RFID transponders and the RFID location transponders and for providing a location of the RFID reader/interrogator relative to the warehousing structure, reading of said received information being disabled by said processor means for the time necessary for the RFID reader/interrogator to pass from one row to another, the RFID reader/interrogator conducting multiple reads on each of the RFID transponders and the RFID location transponders; and

a first filtration means for filtering data received and read from the RFID transponders and the RFID locator transponders by deleting spurious reads and by retaining only majority reads.

2. System according to claim 1, wherein the said lock-on device comprises an optical transceiver assembly.

3. System according to claim 1, further comprising a presence detector (27) to indicate or not the presence of an object in each of the said locations of the warehousing structure.

4. System according to claim 3, wherein the said presence detector comprises an ultrasound sensor.

5. System according to claim 3, wherein the said RFID reader/interrogator (30), the said presence detector (27) and the said lock-on device (28A) are mounted on a forklift truck (14) designed to pass in front of each of the rows of the said warehousing structure.

6. System according to claim 1, wherein the said processing means include a remote management data processing assembly (32) to which the information received from the RFID transponders and RFID location transponders that is necessary for producing the location-based inventory is retransmitted by the said RFID reader/interrogator from wireless transceiver means (30A).

11. System according to claim 1, further comprising a second filtration means for generating a weighted average of the majority reads relative to a determined RFID transponder or RFID location transponder in order to make it possible to place the barycentres of each of the RFID transponders or RFID location transponders in sequential order.

7. Method for producing a location-based inventory of objects each furnished with an RFID transponder designed to interact with an RFID reader/interrogator and placed at different locations in a warehousing structure including a plurality of rows supported by vertical uprights including respective beginning and end uprights each comprising at each of the rows an RFID location transponder, the said method comprising the steps of:

providing each of the beginning uprights and end uprights of a row with a lock-on marker configured to interact with a lock-on device associated with the RFID reader/interrogator;

moving said RFID reader/interrogator in front of each of the rows of the said warehousing structure in turn;

during this movement, interrogating and reading data received from the RFID transponders of the said objects and data received from each of the RFID location transponders a multitude of times,

from this reading determining the location of each of the said objects in the said warehousing structure and the location of the RFID reader/interrogator with respect to the warehouse structure, reading of said data received from said RFID transponders and said RFID location transponders being disabled by processing means for the time necessary for the RFID reader/interrogator to pass from one row to another, and

to determine the location of each object, carrying out a first filtration on the data received and read from the RFID transponders and the RFID location transponders by deleting spurious reads and by retaining only majority reads.

8. Method according to claim 7, further comprising the step of carrying out a second filtration including generating a weighted average of the majority reads relative to a determined RFID transponder or RFID location transponder in order to make it possible to place the barycentres of each of the RFID transponders or RFID location transponders in sequential order.

9. Method according to claim 7, further comprising carrying out a verification of the consistency of the inventory by comparing the number of objects inventoried in a determined zone of the said warehousing structure with the number of locations available in the said determined zone.

10. Method according to claim 7, wherein during the said movement, the presence or absence of an object in each of the locations of the said warehousing structure is also determined.