Systems and methods for secure supply chain management and inventory control
First Claim
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1. A method of reconstructing item identifier strings that identify items in a collection using information read from RFID tags affixed to the items, the method comprising:
- receiving, using a processor, a plurality of data packets read from a batch of RFID tags, where each data packet includes redundancy provided by a coding scheme, where information for each RFID tag in the batch is shared among the RFID tags in the batch in the form of redundancy provided by the coding scheme, and where a code correction capability of the data packets enables the information of all of the RFID tags in the batch of RFID tags to be reconstructed by reading the data packets of a subset of the batch of RFID tags;
reordering the received plurality of data packets using an item sequence number extracted from each of the received plurality of data packets using the processor;
generating a code word from a set of code word elements comprising a code word element extracted from each of the received plurality of data packets using the processor; and
extracting a plurality of item identifier strings from the code word using the processor, where the plurality of item identifier strings identify items in the collection.
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Abstract
Systems for encoding and reading RFID tags on a collection of items are shown. One embodiment of the invention includes a plurality of items, where each item possesses an item identifier string, and a plurality of RFID tags, where an RFID tag is affixed to each of the items and each RFID tag is encoded with a code word element generated using at least all of the item identifier strings. In many embodiments, the collection is a plurality of goods contained within a case, pallet, container or storage area.
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Citations
13 Claims
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1. A method of reconstructing item identifier strings that identify items in a collection using information read from RFID tags affixed to the items, the method comprising:
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receiving, using a processor, a plurality of data packets read from a batch of RFID tags, where each data packet includes redundancy provided by a coding scheme, where information for each RFID tag in the batch is shared among the RFID tags in the batch in the form of redundancy provided by the coding scheme, and where a code correction capability of the data packets enables the information of all of the RFID tags in the batch of RFID tags to be reconstructed by reading the data packets of a subset of the batch of RFID tags; reordering the received plurality of data packets using an item sequence number extracted from each of the received plurality of data packets using the processor; generating a code word from a set of code word elements comprising a code word element extracted from each of the received plurality of data packets using the processor; and extracting a plurality of item identifier strings from the code word using the processor, where the plurality of item identifier strings identify items in the collection. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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Specification