RFID-based enterprise intelligence

• US 8,441,354 B2
• Filed: 05/31/2011
• Issued: 05/14/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/18/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Padmanabhan, Venkata N., Sivalingam, Lenin Ravindranath, Agrawal, Piyush
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Tai T
• Application Number:
  US13/118,997
• Publication Number:
  US 20110227704A1
• Time in Patent Office: 714 Days
• Field of Search: 340/572.1, 340/572.4, 340/572.7, 340/505, 340/506, 340/527, 340/5.91, 340/5.92, 340/10.1, 235/383, 235/385, 235/435, 700/236, 700/244
• US Class Current: 340/572.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2209/47 using RFID associated with sensors
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2209/845 where the measuring is synchronized between sensing devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 9/00 Arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station, in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom

Abstract

An “RFID-Based Inference Platform” provides various techniques for using RFID tags in combination with other enterprise sensors to track users and objects, infer their interactions, and provide these inferences for enabling further applications. Specifically, observations are collected from combinations of RFID tag reads and other enterprise sensors including electronic calendars, user presence identifiers, cardkey access logs, computer logins, etc. Given sufficient observations, the RFID-Based Inference Platform automatically differentiates between tags associated with or affixed to people and tags affixed to objects. The RFID-Based Inference Platform then infers additional information including identities of people, ownership of specific objects, the nature of different “zones” in a workspace (e.g., private office versus conference room). These inferences are then used to enable various applications including object tracking, automated object ownership determinations, automated object cataloging, automated misplaced object alerts, video annotations, automated conference room scheduling, semi-automated object image catalogs, object interaction query systems, etc.

Claims

1. A system for using RFID tag data to infer information regarding tagged entities, comprising:

tagging a plurality of entities with one or more random RFID tags, where the entities include one or more persons and one or more objects;

a device for automatically collecting RFID tag data captured by repeated scans of the RFID tags in one or more zones of interest, wherein the RFID tag data includes location and movement data for each tad in one or more zones of interest; and

a device for repeatedly evaluating the RFID tag data for automatically inferring which of the RFID tags are linked to persons (“

person tags”

) and which of the RFID tags are linked to objects (“

object tags”

).

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising a device for automatically inferring correlations between tagged entities by evaluating RFID tag data selected from a group including one or more of RFID tag co-location in one or more of the zones, RFID tag interaction within a particular zone, and RFID tag co-movement between two or more zones.

3. The system of claim 2 further comprising a device for automatically indexing one or more multimedia recordings of one or more areas in one or more of the zones of interest based on the inferred correlations.

4. The system of claim 2 further comprising a device for automatically inferring associations between one or more of the RFID tags based on event data collected from a plurality of sensors, services and monitors within any of the zones of interest.

5. The system of claim 4 further comprising a device for automatically inferring an identity of persons associated with one or more of the person tags by evaluating the inferred associations between the RFID tags and the event data.

6. The system of claim 5 further comprising a device for:

storing all inferences to an inference database; and

providing a set of APIs (application programming interfaces) for allowing one or more external programs to directly interact with the inference database.

7. A method for automatically inferring correlations between entities having RFID tags, comprising steps for:

tagging a plurality of entities with one or more random RFID tags, where the entities include one or more persons and one or more objects;

automatically collecting RFID tag data captured by repeated scans of the RFID tags in one or more zones of interest, wherein the RFID tap data includes location and movement data for each tap in one or more zones of interest; and

repeatedly evaluating the RFID tag data for automatically inferring which of the RFID tags are linked to persons (“

person tags”

) and which of the RFID tags are linked to objects (“

object tags”

).

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising automatically inferring correlations between tagged entities by evaluating RFID tag data selected from a group including one or more of RFID tag co-location in one or more of the zones, RFID tag interaction within a particular zone, and RFID tag co-movement between two or more zones.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising automatically indexing one or more multimedia recordings of one or more areas in one or more of the zones of interest based on the inferred correlations.

10. The method of claim 8 further comprising automatically inferring associations between one or more of the RFID tags based on event data collected from a plurality of sensors, services and monitors within any of the zones of interest.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising automatically inferring an identity of persons associated with one or more of the person tags by evaluating the inferred associations between the RFID tags and the event data.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising:

storing all inferences to an inference database; and

providing a set of APIs (application programming interfaces) for allowing one or more external programs to directly interact with the inference database.

13. The method of claim 7 further comprising:

storing all inferences to an inference database; and

providing a set of APIs (application programming interfaces) for allowing one or more external programs to directly interact with the inference database.

14. A computer-implemented process for automatically inferring correlations between entities having RFID tags, comprising using a computer to perform process actions for:

tagging a plurality of entities with one or more random RFID tags, where the entities include one or more persons and one or more objects;

automatically collecting RFID tag data captured by repeated scans of the RFID tags in one or more zones of interest, wherein the RFID tap data includes location and movement data for each tap in one or more zones of interest; and

repeatedly evaluating the RFID tag data for automatically inferring which of the RFID tags are linked to persons (“

person tags”

) and which of the RFID tags are linked to objects (“

object tags”

).

15. The computer-implemented process of claim 14 further comprising automatically inferring correlations between tagged entities by evaluating RFID tag data selected from a group including one or more of RFID tag co-location in one or more of the zones, RFID tag interaction within a particular zone, and RFID tag co-movement between two or more zones.

16. The computer-implemented process of claim 15 further comprising automatically indexing one or more multimedia recordings of one or more areas in one or more of the zones of interest based on the inferred correlations.

17. The computer-implemented process of claim 15 further comprising automatically inferring associations between one or more of the RFID tags based on event data collected from a plurality of sensors, services and monitors within any of the zones of interest.

18. The computer-implemented process of claim 17 further comprising automatically inferring an identity of persons associated with one or more of the person tags by evaluating the inferred associations between the RFID tags and the event data.

19. The computer-implemented process of claim 18 further comprising:

storing all inferences to an inference database; and

providing a set of APIs (application programming interfaces) for allowing one or more external programs to directly interact with the inference database.

20. The computer-implemented process of claim 14 further comprising:

storing all inferences to an inference database; and

providing a set of APIs (application programming interfaces) for allowing one or more external programs to directly interact with the inference database.