Portable RFID reading terminal with visual indication of scan trace

• US 9,454,685 B2
• Filed: 01/29/2016
• Issued: 09/27/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 01/26/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hand Held Products Incorporated (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hand Held Products Incorporated (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Inventors: Zumsteg, Philip, Vargas, Joseph, Plocher, Tom, Wang, Ynjiun Paul, Putrevu, Sriharsha
• Primary Examiner(s): Bee, Andrew
• Assistant Examiner(s): AKKI, MUNEAR T
• Application Number:
  US15/009,986
• Publication Number:
  US 20160148028A1
• Time in Patent Office: 242 Days
• Field of Search: 3405721-5729, 340 101- 106, 340/691.6, 340/815, 353/28, 353/46, 235/440, 235/491, 235/492, 343/757, 343/765, 345/173
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10386 the interrogation device being of the portable or hand-handheld type, e.g. incorporated in ubiquitous hand-held devices such as PDA or mobile phone, or in the form of a portable dedicated RFID reader
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10475 arrangements to facilitate interaction with further interrogation devices, e.g. such that at least two interrogation devices may function and cooperate in a network of such devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0875 Itemisation or classification of parts, supplies or services, e.g. bill of materials

Abstract

A portable radio-frequency identifier (RFID) reading terminal can comprise a microprocessor, a memory, an RFID reading device, and a display. The portable RFID reading terminal can be configured to display a scan trace provided by a line comprising a plurality of time varying points. Each point can be defined by a projection of a radio frequency (RF) signal coverage shape of the RFID reading device onto a chosen plane at a given moment in time.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

outputting a radio-frequency (RF) signal from an radio-frequency identifier (RFID) reader;

displaying a scan trace in response to the outputting the RF signal, wherein the scan trace comprises a plurality of points recorded over a period of time that thereby defines a path of a projection of the RF signal transmitted by an RFID antenna over the period of time in a spatial area.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising reconciling, by reading RFID tags attached to items, an inventory of items stored in a facility against at least one of:

an expected inventory list and an expected count of items.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising receiving, by the RFID reader from an external computer, at least one of:

the expected inventory list and the expected count of items.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising receiving via the user interface at least one of the expected inventory list and the expected count of items.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising receiving via the two-dimensional imager at least one of the expected inventory list and the expected count of items.

6. The method of claim 2, further comprising receiving from an external memory device at least one of:

(1) the expected inventory list and (2) the expected count of items.

7. The method of claim 3, further comprising transmitting, to a second external computer, at least one of:

a list of read RFID tags and a count of read RFID tags.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying the scan trace on a display of the RFID reader.

9. The method of claim 1,

wherein each point is defined by a projection of a coverage shape of an RF signal transmitted by the RFID antenna onto the plane at a given moment in time, and

wherein a spatial position of the coverage shape of the RF signal is determined based on a known position and orientation of the RF antenna relatively to a position of a field of view of the two-dimensional imager.

10. The method of claim 1,

wherein each point is defined by a projection of a coverage shape of an RF signal transmitted by the RFID antenna onto a plane at a given moment in time,

wherein a distance to an object is measured using a two-dimensional imager;

and

wherein a projection of the RF signal coverage shape determined and displayed onto the plane defined by a physical structure.

11. The method of claim 1,

wherein each point is defined by a projection of a coverage shape of an RF signal transmitted by the RFID antenna onto a plane at a given moment in time, and

wherein a change of a spatial position and orientation of the RF signal coverage shape is determined based on proper acceleration values received from at least one accelerometer.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying at least one of the following:

a quantity of scanned items, a quantity of items which have not be scanned yet, and a total quantity of items to be scanned.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying an indicator of a ratio of quantity of scanned items to a total quantity of items to be scanned.

14. Thy method of claim 1, further comprising displaying the scan trace overlaid over an image of a physical structure.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising receiving the image of the physical structure from a camera on the RFID reader.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a description of a physical structure;

creating an image of the physical structure based on the description; and

displaying the scan trace is displayed overlaid over the image of the physical structure.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising

acquiring, using a two-dimensional imager, an image of a physical structure;

and

displaying the scan trace overlaid over the image of the physical structure.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying an indicator of an RF signal coverage over the scan trace overlaid over an image of a physical structure.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying an indicator of an RF signal coverage over a current position within the scan trace.

20. An radio-frequency identifier (RFID) reader comprising:

a radio frequency (RF) antenna that outputs an RF signal;

wherein a scan trace is displayed in response to the outputting the RF signal, wherein the scan trace comprises a plurality of points recorded over a period of time that thereby defines a path of a projection of the RF signal transmitted by the RFID antenna over the period of time in a spatial area.