Wearable RFID devices with manually activated RFID tags

• US 9,811,955 B2
• Filed: 06/25/2014
• Issued: 11/07/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/25/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Russell, Ryan Scott, Lauka, Wesley Scott
• Primary Examiner(s): ALUNKAL, THOMAS D
• Application Number:
  US14/314,553
• Publication Number:
  US 20150379791A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,231 Days
• Field of Search: 340 561, 340 1251, 340 1326
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/0716 at least one of the integrated circuit chips comprising a sensor or an interface to a sensor
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/07762 the adhering arrangement making the record carrier wearable, e.g. having the form of a ring, watch, glove or bracelet record carriers for insertion in the human body for medical purposes A61B90/00; record carriers adapted for attachment to animals A01K11/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10396 the interrogation device being wearable, e.g. as a glove, bracelet, or ring wearable aerials in general H01Q1/27
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/04 Manufacturing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 90/00 Systems or methods specially adapted for administrative, commercial, financial, managerial or supervisory purposes, not involving significant data processing
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/22 in combination with an identity check of the pass holder
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/30 Computing systems specially adapted for manufacturing

Abstract

A wearable RFID device may include one or more manually activated RFID tags configured to transmit unique RFID signals in response to a manual activation thereof. Such wearable RFID devices may be worn about any aspect of a user'"'"'s body, such as a hand, a wrist or an arm of the user, who may contact the manually activated RFID tag and transmit an RFID signal that is consistent with a particular action or instruction associated with a task. The action or the instruction may be executed based on the RFID signal, or upon receiving a confluence or sequence of RFID signals. Additionally, a wearable RFID device may be recognized by one or more discrete systems and configured to operate such systems accordingly.

Claims

1. A computer system comprising:

an RFID reader;

a wearable RFID device comprising an article of clothing, a manually activated RFID tag disposed on an outer surface of the article of clothing and a protective layer provided over the manually activated RFID tag, wherein the manually activated RFID tag comprises a circuit having open elements that may be closed by bioelectricity upon contact with the protective layer; and

a computing device in communication with at least the RFID reader,

wherein the computing device is configured to at least;

identify a wearer of the wearable RFID device;

identify an item in a vicinity of the wearable RFID device;

generate an instruction for performing a task, wherein the task comprises a placement of the item in a storage facility;

transmit the instruction for performing the task to at least one networked component;

receive, at the RFID reader, a first RFID signal from the manually activated RFID tag, wherein the first RFID signal is transmitted upon contact with the protective layer provided over the manually activated RFID tag by the wearer at a first time; and

store, after receiving the first RFID signal from the manually activated RFID tag, information regarding at least the wearer, the item and the task in at least one data store, wherein the information comprises an acknowledgment of the placement of the item in the storage facility by the wearer.

2. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the computing device is further configured to at least:

receive, at the RFID reader, a second RFID signal from at least one non-manually activated RFID tag associated with the wearer,

wherein the wearer of the wearable RFID device is identified based at least in part on the second RFID signal.

3. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the task further comprises at least one of:

recording information regarding the item in at least one registry;

authenticating the wearer;

activating a setting associated with at least one of the item, the task or the wearer;

or

deactivating the setting associated with the at least one of the item, the task or the wearer.

4. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the article of clothing is at least one of:

a glove-like apparatus;

a bracelet-like apparatus;

or

an apparatus configured to be worn about at least a portion of an arm, a leg or a head of the wearer.

5. A method comprising:

receiving, at an RFID reader, a first RFID signal transmitted from a wearable RFID device comprising at least one manually activated RFID tag having a circuit configured to be closed by bioelectricity, wherein the first RFID signal is transmitted by the at least one manually activated RFID tag upon contact with at least a portion of the wearable RFID device by a user;

identifying at least one of the user of the wearable RFID device or an object in a vicinity of the wearable RFID device;

storing information regarding the first RFID signal and at least one of the user or the object by at least one computing device; and

identifying at least one task associated with the at least one of the user of the wearable RFID device or the object in the vicinity of the wearable RFID device based at least in part on the information,

wherein the at least one task comprises a placement of the object in a storage facility by the user, and

wherein the information comprises an acknowledgment of the placement of the object in the storage facility by the user.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the wearable RFID device comprises at least one protective layer over the at least one manually activated RFID tag, and

wherein the first RFID signal is transmitted by the at least one manually activated RFID tag upon contact with the at least one protective layer by the user.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

providing at least one instruction for performing the at least one task to a networked component associated with the task.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

identifying a plurality of networked components in communication with the at least one computing device, wherein each of the networked components is associated with at least one of a plurality of tasks; and

selecting at least one of the plurality of networked components based at least in part on the first RFID signal,

wherein the at least one instruction for performing the at least one task is provided to the selected one of the plurality of networked components.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein identifying the at least one of the user of the wearable RFID device or the object in the vicinity of the wearable RFID device comprises:

receiving, at the RFID reader, a second RFID signal transmitted from a first RFID device comprising at least one RFID tag; and

associating the second RFID signal with the at least one of the user of the wearable RFID device or the object in the vicinity of the wearable RFID device,

wherein the at least one of the user of the wearable RFID device or the object is identified based at least in part on the second RFID signal.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

authenticating the user based at least in part on at least one of the first RFID signal or the second RFID signal,

wherein the information regarding the first RFID signal and at least one of the user or the object comprises an authentication of the user.

12. The method of claim 5, wherein the wearable RFID device is configured to be worn about at least one of a hand, a wrist, an arm, a leg, a waist or a head of the user.

13. The method of claim 5, wherein the wearable RFID device comprises a plurality of manually activated RFID tags,

wherein each of the plurality of manually activated RFID tags comprises a circuit configured to be closed by bioelectricity, and

wherein each of the plurality of manually activated RFID tags is configured to transmit at least one unique RFID signal upon contact with at least one unique portion of the wearable RFID device by the user.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein at least one of the plurality of manually activated RFID tags comprises a touch-sensing button, and

wherein the wearable RFID device is configured to transmit the at least one unique RFID signal upon contact with the touch-sensing button by the user.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the touch-sensing button is located on a portion of the wearable RFID device corresponding to a dorsal side of a hand of the user.

11. A method comprising:

receiving, at an RFID reader, a first RFID signal transmitted from a wearable RFID device comprising at least one manually activated RFID tag having a circuit configured to be closed by bioelectricity, wherein the first RFID signal is transmitted by the at least one manually activated RFID tag upon contact with at least a portion of the wearable RFID device by a user;

receiving, at the RFID reader, a second RFID signal transmitted from a first RFID device comprising at least one RFID tag;

associating the second RFID signal with the at least one of the user of the wearable RFID device or an object in a vicinity of the wearable RFID device;

identifying at least one of the user of the wearable RFID device or the object in the vicinity of the wearable RFID device based at least in part on the second RFID signal;

determining a location of the object based at least in part on the first RFID signal or the second RFID signal;

storing information regarding the first RFID signal and the at least one of the user of the wearable RFID device or the object by at least one computing device, wherein the information regarding the first RFID signal and at least one of the user or the object comprises the location of the object; and

identifying at least one task associated with the at least one of the user of the wearable RFID device or the object in the vicinity of the wearable RFID device based at least in part on the information.