Tracking a mobile unit in a housing facility for mobile units

• US 9,942,722 B2
• Filed: 01/20/2017
• Issued: 04/10/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Rawlinson, Andrew, Sun, Xing Zhi, Wang, Ziyuan
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Ajit
• Application Number:
  US15/410,803
• Publication Number:
  US 20170134908A1
• Time in Patent Office: 445 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/00 Record carriers for use with machines and with at least a part designed to carry digital markings
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/30 Services specially adapted for particular environments, situations or purposes
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/33 for indoor environments, e.g. buildings
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/38 for collecting sensor information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/40 for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]
• 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

Abstract

A mobile unit in a housing facility for mobile units may be tracked by activating a first reading device at a first location of the housing facility upon detecting a first mobile unit arriving at or departing from the first location, wherein the first mobile unit has a first tag having an identification code (ID) readable by the first reading device. A set of readings may be performed by the first reading device to read a set of tag IDs during a time interval. Upon an ending of the time interval, tag IDs, in the set of tag IDs, that correspond to the first tag ID are identified based on the set of readings. A record is updated to associate the first tag ID with the first location.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for tracking a mobile unit in a housing facility for mobile units, the method comprising:

in response to receiving a signal from a detector associated with a first location, activating a first reading device having a reading range that includes at least the first location;

receiving a first set of tag IDs from the first reading device, read during a first time interval; and

in response to determining that one of the tag IDs in the first set of tag IDs cannot be associated with the first location, initiating a conflict resolution step to select a single tag ID for the first location, wherein initiating a conflict resolution comprises;

determining that a tag ID in the first set of tag IDs appears more than any other tag ID in the first set of tag IDs; and

identifying the tag ID appearing more than any other tag ID in the first set of tag IDs to associate with the first location; and

eliminating from the first set of tag IDs any tag ID associated with any location other than the first location.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein initiating a conflict resolution step comprises:

determining that every tag ID in the first set of tag IDs corresponds to a same tag ID; and

identifying any one of the tag IDs in the first set of tag IDs to associate with the first location.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein initiating a conflict resolution step further comprises:

in response to determining that one of the tag IDs in the first set of tag IDs cannot be associated with the first location,

activating one or more second reading devices, each having a reading range that includes at least the first location, wherein the reading range of at least one of the second reading devices is different from the reading range of the first reading device;

receiving a second set of tag IDs from the second reading devices read during a second time interval; and

identifying a tag ID that is read by a highest number of the second reading devices and associating the identified tag ID with the first location.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein determining that one of the tag IDs in the first set of tag IDs cannot be associated with the first location is based a number of instances of two or more of the tag IDs in the first set of tag IDs being within a threshold range.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

communicating the associated tag ID to a recipient device based on the record of the first location.

6. A computer system for tracking a mobile unit in a housing facility for mobile units, the system comprising:

a computer having a processor and a tangible storage device; and

a program embodied on the storage device for execution by the processor, the program having a plurality of program instructions, comprising instructions for;

activating, in response to receiving a signal from a detector associated with a first location, a first reading device having a reading range that includes at least the first location;

receiving a first set of tag IDs from the first reading device, read during a first time interval; and

initiating, in response to determining that one of the tag IDs in the first set of tag IDs cannot be associated with the first location, a conflict resolution step to select a single tag ID for the first location, wherein initiating a conflict resolution comprises;

determining that a tag ID in the first set of tag IDs appears more than any other tag ID in the first set of tag IDs;

identifying the tag ID appearing more than any other tag ID in the first set of tag IDs to associate with the first location; and

eliminating from the first set of tag IDs any tag ID associated with any location other than the first location.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein initiating a conflict resolution step comprises:

determining that every tag ID in the first set of tag IDs corresponds to a same tag ID; and

identifying any one of the tag IDs in the first set of tag IDs to associate with the first location.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein initiating a conflict resolution step further comprises:

in response to determining that one of the tag IDs in the first set of tag IDs cannot be associated with the first location,

activating one or more second reading devices, each having a reading range that includes at least the first location, wherein the reading range of at least one of the second reading devices is different from the reading range of the first reading device;

receiving a second set of tag IDs from the second reading devices read during a second time interval; and

identifying a tag ID that is read by a highest number of the second reading devices and associate the identified tag ID with the first location.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein determining that one of the tag IDs in the first set of tag IDs cannot be associated with the first location is based a number of instances of two or more of the tag IDs in the first set of tag IDs being within a threshold range.

10. The system of claim 6, wherein the programming instructions further comprise instructions for:

communicating the associated tag ID to a recipient device based on the record of the first location.

11. A computer program product for tracking a mobile unit in a housing facility for mobile units, comprising a tangible storage device having program code embodied therewith, the program code executable by a processor of a computer to perform a method comprising:

in response to receiving a signal from a detector associated with a first location, activating, by the processor, first reading device having a reading range that includes at least the first location;

receiving a first set of tag IDs, by the processor, from the first reading device, read by the first reading device during a first time interval; and

in response to determining, by the processor, that one of the tag IDs in the first set of tag IDs cannot be associated with the first location, initiating a conflict resolution step, by the processor, to select a single tag ID for the first location, wherein initiating a conflict resolution comprises;

determining, by the processor, that a tag ID in the first set of tag IDs appears more than any other tag ID in the first set of tag IDs;

identifying, by the processor, the tag ID appearing more than any other tag ID in the first set of tag IDs to associate with the first location;

eliminating, by the processor, from the first set of tag IDs any tag ID associated with any location other than the first location.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein initiating a conflict resolution step comprises:

determining, by the processor, that every tag ID in the first set of tag IDs corresponds to a same tag ID; and

identifying, by the processor, any one of the tag IDs in the first set of tag IDs to associate with the first location.

13. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein initiating a conflict resolution step further comprises:

in response to determining, by the processor, that one of the tag IDs in the first set of tag IDs cannot be associated with the first location,

activating, by the processor, one or more second reading devices, each having a reading range that includes at least the first location, wherein the reading range of at least one of the second reading devices is different from the reading range of the first reading device;

receiving, by the processor, a second set of tag IDs from the second reading devices read by the second reading devices during a second time interval; and

identifying, by the processor, a tag ID that is read by a highest number of the second reading devices and associating, by the processor, the identified tag ID with the first location.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein determining, by the processor, that one of the tag IDs in the first set of tag IDs cannot be associated with the first location is based a number of instances of two or more of the tag IDs in the first set of tag IDs being within a threshold range.