Creation and management of RFID device versions

• US 9,179,292 B2
• Filed: 08/27/2007
• Issued: 11/03/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/27/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Gopalan, Krishnan, Sonnathi, Kalyan Chakravarthy, Jain, Bhuvanesh N.
• Primary Examiner(s): Mehmood, Jennifer
• Assistant Examiner(s): Mahase, Pameshanand
• Application Number:
  US11/845,532
• Publication Number:
  US 20090058618A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,990 Days
• Field of Search: 340/572.1, 340/572.4, 340/8.1
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10198 setting parameters for the interrogator, e.g. programming parameters and operating modes
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/18 Processing of user or subscriber data, e.g. subscribed services, user preferences or user profiles; Transfer of user or subscriber data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/22 Processing or transfer of terminal data, e.g. status or physical capabilities

Abstract

The claimed subject matter provides a system and/or method that creates, manages, or maintains multiple device versions in a network of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) devices. The system can include components that detect whether a device has joined the network and based at least in part on such indication creates a device profile the first time that the device is detected, establishes a version trail containing configuration settings specific to the detected device, and thereafter builds and maintains the version trail when the device joins and/or leaves the network.

Claims

1. A machine-implemented system, comprising:

at least one server of a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) network; and

a component of the server configured to

receive, from an interface, an indication of a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader joining the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) network, the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader identifies Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags when the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags are within a range of the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader,

based at least in part on the indication, interrogating the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader to obtain current configuration settings of the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader, the configuration settings associated with configurable aspects of the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader;

creating a device profile for the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader based on the obtained configuration settings of the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader; and

storing the device profile for the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader as a first version.

2. The system of claim 1, the configuration settings comprising interdependent settings associated with Radio Frequency (RF) parameters, network settings and/or antenna configuration aspects of the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader.

3. The system of claim 1, the component being further configured to store the device profile on a storage medium.

4. The system of claim 1, the component being further configured to employ the indication as a time-sequence event to establish a check point.

5. The system of claim 1, the component being further configured to

receive, from the interface, another indication of the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader joining the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) network at a later time;

based at least in part on the second indication, interrogating the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader to obtain current configuration settings of the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader;

creating another device profile for the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader based on the obtained configuration settings of the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader; and

storing the device profile for the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader as a second version.

6. The system of claim 5, the component being further configured to generate differences between the first version and the second version associated with the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader.

7. The system of claim 6, the component being further configured to present the differences as highlighted fields in a side-by-side comparison of the first version and the second version associated with the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader.

8. The system of claim 6, the component being further configured to present the differences displayed as color-coded fields in a side-by-side comparison of the first version and the second version associated with the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader.

9. The system of claim 1, the component being further configured to employ the joining as a time-sequence event to establish a check point.

10. The system of claim 1, the component being further configured to utilize the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader leaving the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) network as a time-sequence event to establish a check point.

11. The system of claim 10, the component being further configured to utilize the check point to create a version instance in a version trail, the version instance being configured to provide an aggregation of changes occurring between a previous check point and the check point.

12. The system of claim 11, the component being further configured to apply selected parameters included in the version trail to modify configuration parameters extant on the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader.

13. The system of claim 1, further comprising at least one antenna configuration associated with the first version.

14. A method implemented on a machine, comprising:

acquiring indication of a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader on a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) network, the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader identifies Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags when the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags are within a range of the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader;

based at least in part on the indication, interrogating the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader to obtain current configuration settings of the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader, the configuration settings associated with configurable aspects of the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader;

creating a device profile for the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader based on the obtained configuration settings of the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader; and

storing the device profile for the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader as a first version.

15. The method of claim 14, comprising acquiring the indication based on the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader exiting or joining the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) network.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising storing a version trail in a database.

17. The method of claim 14, updating a version trail by generating synchronized versions.

18. The method of claim 14, further comprising including selected parametric changes to the configuration settings associated with the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader in a version trail.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising employing the selected parametric changes to automatically overwrite selected configuration settings associated with the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader when the reader exits or re-joins the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) network.

20. A computer-readable storage memory storing instructions, the instructions in response to execution by one or more computing devices implementing a process, comprising:

determining a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader presence on a network including a plurality of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) readers, the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader identifies Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags when the Radio Frequency (RFID) tags are within a range of the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader;

based at least in part on the determination, interrogating the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader to obtain current configuration settings of the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader, the configuration settings associated with configurable aspects of the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader;

creating a device profile for the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader based on the obtained configuration settings of the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader; and

storing the device profile for the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader as a first version.