Data transferring method and object tracking system using the same

• US 8,880,584 B2
• Filed: 12/07/2007
• Issued: 11/04/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/07/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Xu, Jichuan, He, Yi
• Primary Examiner(s): Zele, Krista
• Assistant Examiner(s): LINDSEY, MATTHEW S
• Application Number:
  US11/952,838
• Publication Number:
  US 20090150478A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,524 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

A data transferring system and an object tracking system. The data transferring method includes generating messages based on the data, connecting the clients to the server, generating a plurality of event trigger thread instances, each of the instances being in communication with a corresponding one of the clients and sending the messages from the server to the clients through remote events by using the corresponding event trigger thread instance to control the communication between the server and the client.

Claims

1. An object tracking system for monitoring a plurality of objects, comprising:

a plurality of RFID tags each physically coupled with a corresponding object, that send out wireless signals indicating the locations of the objects;

at least one RFID reader that receives the wireless signals generated by the RFID tags and converts the signals into object-tracked data indicating the locations of the objects; and

a data transferring system including;

a server that accesses the object-tracked data generated by the RFID reader and that generates messages based on a comparison of currently obtained object-tracked data and previously obtained object-tracked data;

a plurality of clients that receive the messages generated by the server, the server configured to monitor the locations of each of the objects in real time based on the messages where each of the plurality of objects and the server must send location information to each client of the plurality of clients within a time interval defined by a refresh time of the system; and

a microcontroller having data transferring software for transferring the data from the server to the clients, wherein the microcontroller has data transferring software that generates a plurality of event trigger thread instances, each of the instances being in communication with a corresponding one of the clients, and sends the messages from the server to the clients through remote events by using the corresponding event trigger thread instance to control the communication between the server and the client but only for those objects whose location has changed.

2. The object tracking system of claim 1, wherein the microcontroller having data transferring software registers a delegate method of the clients to the server'"'"'s refresh event and sends the messages automatically upon triggering the refresh event of the server.

3. The object tracking system of claim 1, wherein generating messages based on the comparison of the currently obtained object-tracked data and the previously obtained object-tracked data includes generating the messages based on the comparison within a certain time interval.

4. The object tracking system of claim 1, furthering comprising packing the messages prior to sending the messages from the server to the client and unpacking the messages after sending the messages from the server to the client.

5. The object tracking system of claim 4, further comprising compressing the message package prior to sending the messages from the server to the client and uncompressing the message package after sending the messages from the server to the client.

6. The object tracking system of claim 1, further comprising storing the messages in a cache before sending the messages from the server to the client.