Distributed inventory management system
First Claim
1. An inventory management system for tracking the location of an inventory unit within a neighborhood of inventory units that are capable of being geographically relocated relative to one another, each inventory unit carrying an inventory unit electronic tag, and each inventory unit electronic tag including a source of power, an alterable memory in which information regarding the content and location of the inventory unit and the location of other inventory units in the neighborhood is stored and updated, a transceiver by which to transmit the information stored in the alterable memory of the electronic tag to the electronic tags of the other inventory units in the neighborhood and to receive information therefrom, and an antenna associated with said transceiver by which the electronic tag of said inventory unit communicates with the respective electronic tags of the said other inventory units in the neighborhood.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Disclosed is a distributed inventory management system in which a self-awareness, self-regulating and self-organizing method is used to compile on a real-time basis ad hoc databases from which the locations of a number of geographically distributed inventory units (e.g., pallets, shipping containers, trailers, railroad cards, trucks, and even people) can be reliably tracked. Each inventory unit in a neighborhood of inventory units carries an electronic tag that includes an alterable memory, a transceiver and a microprocessor. The distance from one inventory unit in the neighborhood to another is dependent upon the received signal strength intensity transmitted between and calculated by the respective transceivers of the electronic tags of different inventory units. The alterable memory of each electronic tag stores first and second databases in which are listed and updated over time the nearest and next nearest neighbors to a particular inventory unit. A dominant inventory unit in the neighborhood establishes a local coordinate system with itself located at the origin thereof, and the other inventory units apply a triangulation algorithm to orient themselves with respect to the local coordinate system. By virtue of the foregoing, the location of the other inventory units relative to the location of the dominant inventory unit can be calculated.
37 Citations
20 Claims
- 1. An inventory management system for tracking the location of an inventory unit within a neighborhood of inventory units that are capable of being geographically relocated relative to one another, each inventory unit carrying an inventory unit electronic tag, and each inventory unit electronic tag including a source of power, an alterable memory in which information regarding the content and location of the inventory unit and the location of other inventory units in the neighborhood is stored and updated, a transceiver by which to transmit the information stored in the alterable memory of the electronic tag to the electronic tags of the other inventory units in the neighborhood and to receive information therefrom, and an antenna associated with said transceiver by which the electronic tag of said inventory unit communicates with the respective electronic tags of the said other inventory units in the neighborhood.
Specification