Creation and management of RFID device versions

• US 9,330,288 B2
• Filed: 09/22/2015
• Issued: 05/03/2016
• 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:
  US14/861,115
• Publication Number:
  US 20160012262A1
• Time in Patent Office: 224 Days
• 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. An RFID management system, comprising:

a receiver configured to acquire an indication of a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader associated with 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;

an RFID reader interface configured to interrogate the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader to obtain current configuration information associated with the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader;

an RFID reader manager configured to create a device profile for the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader based on the obtained configuration information; and

memory configured to store the device profile for the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader.

2. The RFID management system of claim 1, wherein the obtained configuration information comprises interdependent settings.

3. The RFID management system of claim 2, wherein the obtained configuration information further comprises at least one of Radio Frequency (RF) parameters, network settings or antenna configuration aspects of the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader.

4. The RFID management system of claim 1, wherein the RFID reader manager is further configured to employ the indication as a time-sequence event to establish a check point.

5. The RFID management system of claim 4, wherein the RFID reader manager is 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.

6. The RFID management system of claim 1, wherein the receiver is further configured to employ an indication of the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader leaving the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) network as a time-sequence event to establish a check point.

7. The RFID management system of claim 6, wherein the RFID reader manager is 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.

8. The RFID management system of claim 1, wherein the obtained configuration information comprises at least one antenna configuration associated with the RFID reader.

9. An RFID management system, comprising:

a receiver configured to acquire an indication of a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader associated with 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;

a memory configured to store a device profile comprising configuration information for the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader;

an RFID reader manager configured to obtain the device profile comprising configuration information from the memory; and

an RFID reader interface configured to provide the obtained configuration information to the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader.

10. The RFID management system of claim 9, wherein the obtained configuration information comprises interdependent settings.

11. The RFID management system of claim 10, wherein the obtained configuration information further comprises at least one of Radio Frequency (RF) parameters, network settings or antenna configuration aspects of the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader.

12. The RFID management system of claim 9, wherein the RFID reader manager is further configured to employ the indication as a time-sequence event to establish a check point.

13. The RFID management system of claim 9, wherein the obtained configuration information comprises at least one antenna configuration associated with the RFID reader.

14. An RFID management system, comprising:

memory configured to store a device profile comprising configuration information associated with an Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader;

a receiver configured to acquire an indication of the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader joining the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) network;

an RFID reader interface configured to, based at least in part on the indication, interrogate the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader to obtain current configuration settings of the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader; and

an RFID reader manager configured to create another device profile for the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader based on the obtained configuration settings of the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader;

wherein the memory is further configured to store the another device profile for the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader as a second version.

15. The RFID management system of claim 14, wherein the RFID reader manager is further configured to generate differences between the device profile and the another device profile associated with the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader.

16. The RFID management system of claim 15, wherein the RFID reader manager is further configured to present the differences as highlighted fields in a side-by-side comparison of the device profile and the another device profile associated with the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader.

17. The RFID management system of claim 15, wherein the RFID reader manager is further configured to present the differences displayed as color-coded fields in a side-by-side comparison of the device profile and the another device profile associated with the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader.

18. The RFID management system of claim 14, wherein the obtained configuration information comprises interdependent settings.

19. The RFID management system of claim 18, wherein the obtained configuration information further comprises at least one of Radio Frequency (RF) parameters, network settings or antenna configuration aspects of the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader.

20. The RFID management system of claim 14, wherein the obtained configuration information comprises at least one antenna configuration associated with the RFID reader.