Method of assigning and deducing the location of articles detected by multiple RFID antennae
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method of determining a location of an item, the method comprising:
- detecting the presence of an item in an overlapping area of a first detection zone and a second detection zone, the first detection zone associated with a first detector, the second detection zone associated with a second detector;
assigning a first percentage of the item to the first detection zone; and
assigning a second percentage of the item to the second detection zone.
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Abstract
In accordance with preferred embodiments of the invention, a method (and corresponding apparatus) is provided for deducing the location of one or more items or objects to be monitored. In exemplary embodiments, the method (and corresponding apparatus) is implemented in RFID (radio frequency identification) applications (e.g., reading RFID tags at 13.56 MHz and approximately 900 MHz) by deducing the location of an item associated with a unique RFID tag in one or more areas of detection covered by multiple RFID reader antennae.
191 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method of determining a location of an item, the method comprising:
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detecting the presence of an item in an overlapping area of a first detection zone and a second detection zone, the first detection zone associated with a first detector, the second detection zone associated with a second detector; assigning a first percentage of the item to the first detection zone; and assigning a second percentage of the item to the second detection zone. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. A system for reading a plurality of items having RFID tags, the system comprising:
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a plurality of RFID readers; and at least first and second RFID reader antennas coupled to the plurality of RFID readers, the at least first and second RFID reader antennas for detecting RFID tags associated with a plurality of items; wherein a location of the plurality of items is assigned according to a proportion of RFID tags detected by the first RFID reader antenna compared to a proportion of the RFID tags detected by the at least second RFID reader antenna. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7)
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8. A system for determining the location of a plurality of items having RFID tags, the system comprising:
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a plurality of RFID reader antennas, each RFID reader antenna having a detection zone, wherein the detection zone of a first one of said plurality of RFID reader antennas overlaps the detection zone of a second one of said plurality of RFID reader antenna; and at least one RFID reader coupled to the plurality of RFID reader antennas for detecting an item when the presence of the item is detected by both the first and second RFID reader antennas, wherein the at least one RFID reader assigns a first percentage of the item to the first detection zone and assigns a second percentage of the item to the second detection zone. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10)
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11. A system for reading items having RFID tags, each RFID tag having a unique identification number, the system comprising:
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a plurality of RFID reader antennas for reading the RFID tags wherein the RFID reader antennas have a first detection zone and at least a second detection zone; at least one RFID reader for reading data from the RFID tags within the first detection zone and the at least second detection zone; and a controller for activating the plurality of RFID reader antennas to read the RFID tags, determining the location of items, and storing in a local database; wherein the location of an item is determined to be in the first detection zone when said at least one RFID reader detects the item in at least a predetermined number of read attempts out of a total number of read attempts. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13)
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14. A method for determining a location of an item, the method comprising the steps of:
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designating first and second detection zones respectively associated with first and second detectors; detecting the presence of an item when the item is detected by both the first and second detectors; associating the item with an RFID tag detectable by the first and second detectors; assigning a unique identification number to the RFID tag, wherein the unique identification number is selected from the group consisting of a manufacturer number, a stock keeping unit number, and a serial number; detecting the unique identification number during a first read cycle; and detecting the unique identification number during a second read cycle, wherein the detection of the unique identification number during the second read cycle is suppressed when the second read cycle is performed less than a predetermined number of read cycles form the first read cycle. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16)
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17. A method of deducing the location of a plurality of items, the method comprising the steps of:
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providing a plurality of items wherein each item is associated with an RFID tag; designating first and second detection zones respectively associated with first and second RFID reader antennae; identifying the items in the first detection zone and the second detection zone with the first and second RFID reader antennae, respectively; reading the information in the RFID tags; determining similarities between different of the items identified in the first detection zone and the second detection zone according to information in the RFID tags; and assigning the location of the plurality of items according to the similarities between the different items identified in the first detection zone and the second detection zone. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
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Specification