PRODUCT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND METHOD OF MANAGING PRODUCT AT A LOCATION

• US 20100007464A1
• Filed: 07/10/2008
• Published: 01/14/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/10/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Annette Cote Mctigue
• Original Assignee: Annette Cote Mctigue
• Inventors: McTigue, Annette Cote
• Granted Patent: US 8,284,056 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/10.100
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13003 Constructional details of switching devices

Abstract

A system and method of managing product at a location in which an echolocation RFID tag or a weight-sensing RFID tag is utilized to determine the quantity of material in a container and then this information is read by an RFID reader and then transmitted to a data storage repository and processing program for further handling of the data. The data storage repository and processing program may be near the RFID reader or may be remotely located with respect to the RFID reader.

Claims

1. A product management system comprising:

a radio frequency identification (RFID) reader;

an echolocation RFID tag for the transmission of radio signals to a product and thereafter receiving return signals due to the reflection of the transmitted radio signals from the product;

wherein, in operation, the RFID reader receives information from the echolocation RFID tag to determine a distance from the echolocation RFID tag to the product and then correlates the distance determined to a quantity of product.

2. The product management system of claim 1 further comprising a data storage repository for storing data with respect to information received by the RFID reader.

3. The product management system of claim 1 further comprising a processing program for processing information received by the RFID reader.

4. The product management system of claim 3 wherein the processing program processes attributes and use of products.

5. The product management system of claim 3 wherein the processing program manages brand loyalty.

6. The product management system of claim 3 wherein the processing program manages market intelligence.

7. The product management system of claim 3 wherein the processing program manages product restocking.

8. The product management system of claim 3 wherein the processing program manages meal planning.

9. The product management system of claim 1 further comprising a weight-sensing RFID tag which can determine the weight of a quantity of a product and wherein, in operation, the RFID reader receives information from the weight-sensing RFID tag to determine a weight of a quantity of product.

10. The product management system of claim 9 wherein the echolocation and weight-sensing RFID tags are selected from the group consisting of active, passive and semi-passive RFID tags.

11. The product management system of claim 1 wherein the echolocation RFID tag has the capability to determine the ambient temperature and wherein, in operation, the RFID reader receives information from the echolocation RFID tag to determine the ambient temperature.

12. The product management system of claim 1 wherein at least a portion of the product management system is contained in a cabinet.

13. The product management system of claim 12 wherein the cabinet is a refrigerator.

14. The product management system of claim 12 in which the RFID reader receives information from the echolocation RFID tag when a cabinet door is opened.

15. The product management system of claim 9 further comprising a container which contains the weight-sensing RFID tag and the weight determined is the weight of the product in the container.

16. A product management system comprising:

a radio frequency identification (RFID) reader;

a weight-sensing RFID tag which can determine the weight of a quantity of a product; and

wherein, in operation, the RFID reader receives information from the weight-sensing RFID tag to determine a weight of a quantity of product.

17. The product management system of claim 16 further comprising an echolocation RFID tag for the transmission of radio signals to a product and thereafter receiving return signals due to the reflection of the transmitted radio signals from the product and wherein, in operation,

18. A product management system comprising:

a radio frequency (RFID) tag having the capability by echolocation or weight-sensing to determine the quantity of product in a container;

an RFID reader for receiving the quantity of product information from the RFID tag;

a communication device for transmitting the quantity of product information to a remote location; and

a processing program for processing the quantity of product information received by the RFID reader.

19. A method of managing product at a location, the method comprising the steps of:

sensing by an echolocation radio frequency identification (RFID) tag the level of product in a container at the location;

reading the level of product from the echolocation RFID tag; and

correlating the level of the product in the container to a quantity of product in the container.

20. The method of claim 19 further comprising the step of transmitting information regarding the quantity of product to a second location.

21. A method of managing product at a location, the method comprising the steps of:

sensing by a weight-sensing radio frequency identification (RFID) tag the weight of product in a container at the location; and

reading the weight of product from the weight-sensing RFID tag.

22. The method of claim 21 further comprising the step of transmitting information regarding the weight of the product to a second location.