RFID material tracking method and apparatus
First Claim
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1. A system for tracking an object, the system comprising:
- a first radio frequency identification (RFID) tag attached to the object;
a central database;
a database server communicatively coupled to the central database;
a plurality of sensing antennas each provided with a location identifier, wherein the plurality of sensing antennas comprises a first sensing antenna that is provided with a first location identifier, the first sensing antenna being the sensing antenna that is positioned closest to the first RFID tag relative to the other sensing antennas;
an antenna map comprising an address corresponding to each of the plurality of sensing antennas, wherein the antenna map is accessed to determine which sensing antennas are active, the antenna map comprising an address for each sensing antenna; and
a plurality of interrogators positioned remotely from one another, each of the plurality of interrogators having at least one interrogating antenna coupled to at least some of the active sensing antennas, each of the plurality of interrogators being communicatively coupled to the database server and configured to interrogate RFID tags using the at least some of the active sensing antennas including the first sensing antenna and to use the at least one interrogating antenna to receive identifying information from the interrogated RFID tags, at least one interrogator of the plurality of interrogators being configured to update the central database via the database server with positional information identifying a current location of the first RFID tag identified by the interrogator via the first sensing antenna;
wherein the current location of the first RFID tag is identified based on the first location identifier of the first sensing antenna.
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for tracking items automatically is described. A passive RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) tag is used with a material tracking system capable of real-time pinpoint location and identification of thousands of items in production and storage areas. Passive RFID tags are attached to the item to be tracked, remote sensing antennas are placed at each remote location to be monitored, interrogators with several antenna inputs are connected to the sensing antennas to multiplex the antenna signals, and a host computer communicates with the interrogators to determine item locations to an exacting measure.
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Citations
31 Claims
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1. A system for tracking an object, the system comprising:
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a first radio frequency identification (RFID) tag attached to the object; a central database; a database server communicatively coupled to the central database; a plurality of sensing antennas each provided with a location identifier, wherein the plurality of sensing antennas comprises a first sensing antenna that is provided with a first location identifier, the first sensing antenna being the sensing antenna that is positioned closest to the first RFID tag relative to the other sensing antennas; an antenna map comprising an address corresponding to each of the plurality of sensing antennas, wherein the antenna map is accessed to determine which sensing antennas are active, the antenna map comprising an address for each sensing antenna; and a plurality of interrogators positioned remotely from one another, each of the plurality of interrogators having at least one interrogating antenna coupled to at least some of the active sensing antennas, each of the plurality of interrogators being communicatively coupled to the database server and configured to interrogate RFID tags using the at least some of the active sensing antennas including the first sensing antenna and to use the at least one interrogating antenna to receive identifying information from the interrogated RFID tags, at least one interrogator of the plurality of interrogators being configured to update the central database via the database server with positional information identifying a current location of the first RFID tag identified by the interrogator via the first sensing antenna; wherein the current location of the first RFID tag is identified based on the first location identifier of the first sensing antenna. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A system for tracking an object, the system comprising:
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a central database, the central database being configured to be accessible from a multitude of locations and store information associated with a plurality of radio frequency identification (RFID) tags and objects to which each of the plurality of RFID tags is attached; a plurality of sensing antennas in communication with the RFID tags, wherein each sensing antenna is provided with a location identifier; an antenna map comprising an address corresponding to each of the plurality of sensing antennas, wherein the antenna map is accessed to determine which sensing antennas are active, the antenna map comprising an address for each sensing antenna; and a plurality of readers configured to communicatively couple to the central database and the sensing antennas, wherein each reader is configured to interrogate the plurality of RFID tags using the active sensing antennas to obtain identifying information, the plurality of readers each being further configured to update the central database with a current location of each RFID tag, wherein the current location of each RFID tag is identified based on the location identifier of the active sensing antenna that is positioned closest to the corresponding RFID tag relative to the other sensing antennas. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A system to track objects, the system comprising:
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a database configured to be accessible from a multitude of locations, the database configured to store information associated with a plurality of radio frequency identification (RFID) tags and objects to which the plurality of RFID tags are attached; a plurality of sensing antennas in communication with the RFID tags, wherein each sensing antenna is provided with a location identifier; an antenna map comprising an address corresponding to each of the plurality of sensing antennas, wherein the antenna map is accessed to determine which sensing antennas are active, the antenna map comprising an address for each sensing antenna; and an interrogator communicatively coupled to the database, wherein the interrogator is connected to the plurality of sensing antennas positioned at various locations remote to the interrogator to interrogate the RFID tags at the various locations using the active sensing antennas, the interrogator being configured to update the database with status information regarding the RFID tags, wherein the status information is determined for each RFID tag based on the location identifier of the active sensing antenna that is positioned closest to the corresponding RFID tag relative to the other sensing antennas. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. A method to track objects, the method comprising:
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providing a database to store information associated with a plurality of radio frequency identification (RFID) tags and objects to which the plurality of RFID tags are attached; coupling a plurality of sensing antennas to be in communication with the plurality of RFID tags, wherein each sensing antenna is provided with a location identifier; accessing an antenna map to determine which sensing antennas are active, wherein the antenna map comprises an address corresponding to each of the plurality of sensing antennas; and connecting an interrogator to the plurality of sensing antennas positioned at various locations remote to the interrogator to interrogate the RFID tags at the various locations using the active sensing antennas, wherein the interrogator is communicatively coupled to the database to update the database with status information regarding the RFID tags, wherein the status information is determined for each RFID tag based on the location identifier of the active sensing antenna that is positioned closest to the corresponding RFID tag relative to the other sensing antennas. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31)
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Specification