Systems and methods for managing inventory of items held in a cabinet using radio frequency identification (RFID)

• US 8,334,751 B2
• Filed: 06/30/2011
• Issued: 12/18/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/27/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Smartrac Technology Fletcher, Inc. (Avery Dennison Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Neology Incorporated (OEP Technologie BV)
• Inventors: Azevedo, John, Zhu, Jeffrey, Mikuteit, Eric, Liu, Jun
• Primary Examiner(s): Bugg, George
• Assistant Examiner(s): NWUGO, OJIAKO K
• Application Number:
  US13/174,684
• Publication Number:
  US 20120019358A1
• Time in Patent Office: 537 Days
• Field of Search: 340 51- 56, 340 101- 105, 3405721-5729, 700/231, 235375-385
• US Class Current: 340/5.73
• CPC Class Codes: E05G 1/08 secured individually
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/203 Inventory monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 11/62 in which the articles are stored in compartments in fixed receptacles
• CPC Class Codes: G07G 1/009 the reader being an RFID reader
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/13 delivered from dispensers

Abstract

A RFID cabinet comprises a cabinet structure and one or more drawers or shelves. Chambers are formed within the cabinet to house the one or more drawers or shelves. An RFID scanner is configured to scan items tagged with RFID tags in the chambers via one or more antennas. The antennas can include transmit and receive antennas or antennas configured to perform both transmit and receive functions. The drawers can have a access cover, or lid that can be controlled so as to control access to the drawer. The scanner can be configured to perform inventory control for the tagged items.

Claims

1. A method for performing a dynamic scan operation in a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) cabinet that includes a cabinet structure, a drawer configured to slide in and out of the cabinet structure, the drawer configured to hold RFID tagged items, and a scanner, the method comprising:

receiving, at the scanner, a request for access to the drawer;

performing, at the scanner, a scan of the RFID tagged items before the drawer is removed;

releasing the drawer from the cabinet after a predetermined period of time;

continuing to scan, at the scanner, the RFID tagged items as the drawer is removed; and

unlocking an access cover of the drawer after the drawer has been moved to a predetermined location.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising detecting, at the scanner, when the drawer is to be closed and scanning, at the scanner, the RFID tagged items as the drawer is closed.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising detecting, at the scanner, when the drawer is closed and continuing to scan, at the scanner, the RFID tagged items for a predetermined period of time.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises detecting, at the scanner, when the drawer is going to be closed based on the access cover being locked or closed over the drawer.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising stopping scanning, at the scanner, once the drawer reaches a complete open position.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising detecting, at the scanner, when the drawer is to be removed.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising beginning to scan, at the scanner, responsive to detecting that the drawer is to be removed.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the step of continuing to scan is performed responsive to detecting that the drawer is to be removed.

9. A method for performing a scan operation in a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) cabinet that includes a cabinet structure, a drawer configured to slide in and out of the cabinet structure, the drawer configured to hold RFID tagged items, and a scanner, the method comprising:

generating a transmit signal comprising a maximum allowable power;

interrogating the RFID tagged items via the plurality of antenna using the transmit signal;

receiving responses via the plurality of antenna from the RFID tagged items in response to the transmit signal;

reducing the power of the transmit signal;

interrogating the RFID tagged items via the plurality of antenna using the transmit signal with reduced power;

receiving responses via the plurality of antenna from the RFID tagged items in response to the transmit signal with reduced power;

determining whether the responses to the transmit signal with reduced power are valid; and

when it is determined that the responses are valid, then repeating the steps until the responses are invalid.