Furniture and building structures comprising sensors for determining the position of one or more objects

• US 9,649,551 B2
• Filed: 09/15/2011
• Issued: 05/16/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/03/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tweedletech, LLC
• Original Assignee: Tweedletech, LLC
• Inventors: Maharbiz, Michel Martin, Morichau-Beauchant, Theodore
• Primary Examiner(s): NWUGO, OJIAKO K
• Application Number:
  US13/233,924
• Publication Number:
  US 20120056717A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,070 Days
• Field of Search: 340 103- 1031, 3405721-5729
• CPC Class Codes: A47B 21/00 Tables or desks for office equipment, e.g. typewriters, keyboards
• CPC Class Codes: A47B 37/00 Tables adapted for other particular purposes glass cutting tables C03B33/03
• CPC Class Codes: A47B 88/919 Accessories or additional elements for drawers, e.g. drawer lighting drawers having organising or sorting means A47B88/969
• CPC Class Codes: A47B 96/02 Shelves movable shelves coupled to doors A47B96/16
• CPC Class Codes: A47B 97/00 Furniture or accessories for furniture, not provided for in other groups of this subclass
• CPC Class Codes: A47C 7/62 Accessories for chairs
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2003/00223 shaped as a container into which playing pieces may enter box or container for board games A63F2003/00943
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2003/00258 rollable, flexible or deformable board shaped as an endless belt A63F2003/00321; flexible rim A63F2003/00504
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2003/00394 with a surface relief
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2003/00662 with an electric sensor for playing pieces A63F2009/2444 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2003/00668 using hall effect
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2009/2419 Optical
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2009/242 Bar codes
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2009/2461 Projection of a two-dimensional real image
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2009/2467 of a slide
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2009/247 audible, e.g. using a loudspeaker
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2009/2486 the computer being an accessory to a board game
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2009/2489 by radio transmitters, e.g. using RFID
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/1093 using visible light
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 3/00214 Three-dimensional game boards
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 3/00643 : Electric board games; Electric features of board games electric word or number games A63F3/0421; computer chess G06F; electric raffle games A63F3/081
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/74 : Systems using reradiation of radio waves, e.g. secondary radar systems; Analogous systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/878 : Combination of several spaced transmitters or receivers of known location for determining the position of a transponder or a reflector G01S13/874 takes precedence

Abstract

A system, device and method for determining the position of objects comprising one or more furniture items and/or building structures having one or more sensors and a controller coupled to the sensors. The sensors detect when one or more objects having at least one sensor tag are positioned proximate one of the sensors and transmit a signal to the controller including an identifier of the object and the sensor that detected the objects. As a result, the controller is able to track the position of the objects in relation to the furniture and/or building structures preventing the items from being lost and increasing efficiency when looking for misplaced objects.

Claims

1. A system for determining the location of objects comprising:

one or more structures;

one or more bodies each forming a thin flexible sheet including a plurality of sensors, wherein the bodies are each releasably coupled to one or more of the structures;

one or more objects having one or more sensor tags, wherein each of the sensor tags store a unique identifier and one or more characteristics about the object including a material contained within the object; and

one or more controllers coupled to the sensors for receiving signals from the sensors when the objects are proximate the sensors such that the controllers are able to determine the location of the objects, wherein the controllers are configured to only check if the objects are proximate a selected subset of the sensors for a plurality of consecutive checking cycles such that all the sensors of the selected subset are checked multiple times without checking any of the sensors not in the subset, wherein the subset is selected by a user based on user input.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the structures comprise one or more of the group consisting of a table, a desk, a bench, a drawer, a chair, a shelf, a countertop, a floor, a ceiling and a wall.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the sensors are RFID sensors and the sensor tags are RFID sensor tags.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein the sensors are positioned in a grid formation.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein the sensors are embedded within the bodies.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein the sensors are positioned such that the sensors are a part of a portion of the bodies that is substantially parallel to the ground.

7. The system of claim 5 wherein the sensors are positioned such that the sensors are a part of a portion of the bodies that is substantially perpendicular to the ground.

8. The system of claim 4 wherein the sensors are positioned on a surface of the bodies.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein the sensors are releasably coupled to the bodies.

10. The system of claim 6 wherein each structure comprises at least one of the controllers.

11. The system of claim 6 wherein a plurality of the structures share at least one of the controllers such that the shared controller receives signals from the sensors on the plurality of the structures.

12. The system of claim 11 further comprising a user interface coupled to one or more of the controllers such that the user interface device allows a user to observe the determined position of one or more of the objects.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein the user interface comprises a search module for searching for a target object of the objects and displaying the determined position of the target object to the user.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein the user interface comprise a warning module that warns the user if one of the objects is detected in an undesired location.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein the warning module warns the user if one of the objects is detected in a location proximate to another one of the objects.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein the warning module warns the user if one of the objects is no longer detected at a location.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the unique identifier is used by the controller to identify which of the objects a particular sensor is sensing.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein the user interface is incorporated into one or more of the controllers.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein the controller comprises a storage module that stores the determined locations of one or more of the objects in a memory device coupled with the controller.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein the determined locations are stored as entries in a database, wherein each of the entries comprise one of the determined locations, the unique identifier of the object detected at the one of the determined locations, and a time at which the object was detected at the one of the determined locations such that a user is able to access a history of the movement of the objects.

21. A structure for determining the position of objects comprising:

a body forming a flexible thin sheet;

a plurality of sensors coupled with the body, wherein the sensors are able to sense one or more objects having one or more sensor tags by detecting the sensor tags when the objects are proximate one or more of the sensors; and

one or more controllers coupled with the sensors for receiving signals from the sensors when the objects are proximate the sensors such that the controllers are able to determine the location of the objects, wherein the signals comprise a unique identifier and characteristic data of each of the proximate objects, and further wherein the controllers are configured to only check if the objects are proximate a selected subset of the sensors for a plurality of consecutive checking cycles such that all the sensors of the selected subset are checked multiple times without checking any of the sensors not in the subset, wherein the subset is selected by a user based on user input.

22. The structure of claim 21 wherein the sensors are RFID sensors and the sensor tags are RFID sensor tags.

23. The structure of claim 22 wherein the sensors are positioned in a grid formation within the body.

24. The structure of claim 23 wherein the sensors are embedded within the body.

25. The structure of claim 23 wherein the sensors are positioned on a surface of the body.

26. The structure of claim 25 wherein the body comprises one or more fasteners to releasably couple the body to an item surface.

27. The structure of claim 24 wherein the structure shares at least one of the controllers with an additional structure such that the shared controller receives signals from the sensors on both the structure and the additional structure.

28. The structure of claim 27 further comprising a user interface coupled to one or more of the controllers such that the user interface device allows a user to observe the determined position of one or more of the objects.

29. The structure of claim 28 wherein the user interface comprises a search module for searching for a target object of the objects and displaying the determined position of the target object to the user.

30. The structure of claim 29 wherein the user interface comprise a warning module that warns the user if one of the objects is detected in an undesired location.

31. The structure of claim 30 wherein the warning module warns the user if one of the objects is detected in a location proximate to another one of the objects.

32. The structure of claim 31 wherein the warning module warns the user if one of the objects is no longer detected at a location.

33. The structure of claim 32 wherein the user interface is incorporated into one or more of the controllers.

34. The structure of claim 33 wherein the unique identifier is used by the controller to identify which of the objects a particular sensor is sensing.

35. The structure of claim 34 wherein the controller comprises a storage module that stores the determined locations of one or more of the objects in a memory device coupled with the controller.

36. The structure of claim 35 wherein the determined locations are stored as entries in a database, wherein each of the entries comprise one of the determined locations, the unique identifier of the object detected at the one of the determined locations, and a time at which the object was detected at the one of the determined locations such that a user is able to access a history of the movement of the objects.

37. A method of determining the position of objects comprising:

placing one or more objects having one or more sensor tags on one or more bodies coupled to one or more structures, wherein the bodies each form a thin flexible sheet and comprise a plurality of sensors;

checking only a selected subset of the sensors for a plurality of consecutive checking cycles such that all the sensors of the selected subset are checked multiple times without checking any of the sensors not in the subset, wherein each checking cycle is performed by reading data stored on the sensor tags with the subset of the sensors when the objects are moved proximate to at least one of the subset of the sensors, wherein the data comprises a unique identifier and one or more characteristics about the object, wherein the subset is selected by a user based on user input;

transmitting the data stored on the sensory tags to one or more controllers coupled to the sensors such that the controllers are able to determine the location of the objects; and

presenting the determined location of one or more of the objects to a user on a user interface.

38. The method of claim 37 wherein the structures comprise one or more of the group consisting of a table, a desk, a bench, a drawer, a chair, a shelf, a countertop a floor, a ceiling and a wall.

39. The method of claim 38 wherein the sensors are RFID sensors and the sensor tags are RFID sensor tags.

40. The method of claim 39 wherein the sensors are positioned in a grid formation.

41. The method of claim 40 wherein the sensors are embedded within the bodies.

42. The method of claim 41 wherein the sensors are positioned such that the sensors are a part of a portion of the structure that is substantially parallel to the ground.

43. The method of claim 41 wherein the sensors are positioned such that the sensors are a part of a portion of the structure that is substantially perpendicular to the ground.

44. The method of claim 40 wherein the sensors are positioned on a surface of the bodies.

45. The method of claim 44 further comprising releasably coupling the sensors to the structure.

46. The method of claim 42 wherein each structure comprises at least one of the controllers.

47. The method of claim 42 wherein a plurality of the structures share at least one of the controllers such that the shared controller receives signals from the sensors on the plurality of the structures.

48. The method of claim 47 wherein the user interface is coupled to one or more of the controllers.

49. The method of claim 48 wherein the user interface comprises a search module for searching for a target object of the objects and displaying the determined position of the target object to the user.

50. The method of claim 49 wherein the user interface comprise a warning module that warns the user if one of the objects is detected in an undesired location.

51. The method of claim 50 wherein the warning module warns the user if one of the objects is detected in a location proximate to another one of the objects.

52. The method of claim 51 wherein the warning module warns the user if one of the objects is no longer detected at a location.

53. The method of claim 52 wherein the unique identifier is used by the controller to identify which of the objects a sensor is sensing.

54. The method of claim 53 wherein the user interface is incorporated into one or more of the controllers.

55. The method of claim 37 wherein the controller comprises a storage module that stores the determined locations of one or more of the objects in a memory device coupled with the controller.

56. The method of claim 37 wherein the determined locations are stored as entries in a database, wherein each of the entries comprise one of the determined locations, the unique identifier of the object detected at the one of the determined locations, and a time at which the object was detected at the one of the determined locations such that a user is able to access a history of the movement of the objects.

57. A system for determining the location of furniture within room,

the system comprising:

one or more structures each having a plurality of sensors;

one or more pieces of furniture having one or more sensor tags, wherein each of the sensor tags store a unique identifier, values for one or more static characteristics about the furniture including a furniture type and values for one or more dynamic characteristics about the furniture, wherein the dynamic characteristics of the furniture change over time such that the values for the dynamic characteristics must be updated to reflect changes to the dynamic characteristics of the furniture; and

one or more controllers coupled to the sensors for receiving signals from the sensors when the furniture is proximate the sensors such that the controllers are able to determine the location of the furniture, wherein the one or more dynamic characteristics about the furniture include a duration that the object has been in a current location.