System and method for determining location of an item
First Claim
1. A method for determining a location of an item, the method comprising:
- by a tracking service server;
receiving, from a communication device of a user, a request to search for an item coupled to a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag, the RFID tag storing an electronic product code (EPC) of the item, wherein the request comprises an item identifier that identifies the item and is associated with the EPC of the item;
retrieving the EPC of the item from a tracking service data store using the item identifier;
transmitting a search signal comprising the EPC of the item to at least one mobile service provider system in communication with a plurality of transmitting towers, wherein the search signal instructs the plurality of transmitting towers to capture radio frequency (RF) signals emitted by the RFID tag coupled to the item, wherein the RF signals emitted by the RFID tag include the EPC of the item; and
receiving a location message indicating location information of the item, the location information based on a detection, by at least one of the plurality of transmitting towers, of RF signals emitted by the RFID tag and captured by the at least one of the plurality of transmitting towers.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present disclosure provides a system and method for determining a location of an item using the services of an existing cellular infrastructure. A search request comprising a first item identifier of the item is received by a tracking service server from a user. A second item identifier of the item is retrieved by the tracking service server from a tracking service database. A search signal comprising the second item identifier is transmitted from the tracking service server to at least one mobile service provider system. The search signal is transmitted by the at least one mobile service provider system to a plurality of communicatively coupled transmitting towers which are configured to locate the item by capturing radio frequency signals, comprising the second item identifier, emitted by an identification tag coupled to the item.
10 Citations
24 Claims
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1. A method for determining a location of an item, the method comprising:
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by a tracking service server; receiving, from a communication device of a user, a request to search for an item coupled to a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag, the RFID tag storing an electronic product code (EPC) of the item, wherein the request comprises an item identifier that identifies the item and is associated with the EPC of the item; retrieving the EPC of the item from a tracking service data store using the item identifier; transmitting a search signal comprising the EPC of the item to at least one mobile service provider system in communication with a plurality of transmitting towers, wherein the search signal instructs the plurality of transmitting towers to capture radio frequency (RF) signals emitted by the RFID tag coupled to the item, wherein the RF signals emitted by the RFID tag include the EPC of the item; and receiving a location message indicating location information of the item, the location information based on a detection, by at least one of the plurality of transmitting towers, of RF signals emitted by the RFID tag and captured by the at least one of the plurality of transmitting towers. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A system for determining a location of an item, the system comprising:
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at least one mobile service provider system; a tracking service server configured to; receive, from a communication device associated with a user, a request to search for an item having a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag, the RFID tag storing an electronic product code (EPC) of the item; retrieve the EPC of the item from a tracking service data store, wherein the EPC is stored in association with a first item identifier in the tracking service data store; and transmit a search signal comprising the EPC of the item to the at least one mobile service provider system; and a plurality of transmitting towers communicatively coupled with the at least one mobile service provider system, the plurality of transmitting towers configured to; receive the search signal from the at least one mobile service provider system when the at least one mobile service provider system transmits the search signal to the plurality of transmitting towers; capture radio frequency signals emitted by the RFID tag of the item in response to receiving the search signal from the at least one mobile service provider system, wherein the radio frequency signals emitted by the RFID tag include the EPC of the item; and transmit a location message to the at least one mobile service provider system on capturing the radio frequency signals emitted by the RFID tag, the location message comprising location information of the item. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media storing instructions that, when executed by a computing device, perform a method for determining a location of an item, the method comprising:
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receiving a search request, comprising an item identifier, for an item associated with an active radio frequency identification (RFID) tag, the active RFID tag storing an electronic product code (EPC) of the item; retrieving the EPC of the item from a tracking service data store using the item identifier, transmitting, by a short message service (SMS) message, a search signal comprising the EPC of the item to at least one mobile service provider system in communication with a plurality of transmission towers, the search signal instructing the mobile service provider system to determine whether radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted by the active RFID tag are received by any of the plurality of transmitting towers, wherein the RF signals transmitted by the active RFID tag include the EPC of the item; and receiving a location message indicating location information of the item, the location information based on a detection, by at least one of the plurality of transmitting towers, of RF signals transmitted by the active RFID tag, wherein the detection indicates that the item is located within a service area of the at least one of the plurality of transmission towers. - View Dependent Claims (24)
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Specification