RFID-BASED INVENTORY MONITORING SYSTEMS AND METHODS WITH SELF-ADJUSTING OPERATIONAL PARAMETERS

• US 20140084060A1
• Filed: 09/26/2012
• Published: 03/27/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/26/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Symbol Technologies, LLC (Zebra Technologies Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Motorola Solutions, Inc.
• Inventors: JAIN, BINIT, EKL, RANDY L., GRIESMANN, DANIEL S.
• Granted Patent: US 9,076,119 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/385
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10009 sensing by radiation using wavelengths larger than 0.1 mm, e.g. radio-waves or microwaves
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10207 parameter settings related to power consumption of the interrogator
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders

Abstract

An inventory monitoring controller maintains information reflecting a current inventory of articles based on radio frequency identification (RFID) tag identifying information received from one or more RFID tag readers in the context of inventory polling operations. In an embodiment, the controller also adjusts an operational parameter (e.g., a missing article detection threshold or a variable polling parameter) based on an analysis of the RFID tag identifying information. For example, a variable polling parameter may be adjusted in response to an occurrence of a triggering event (e.g., an inventory change indicated by the RFID tag identifying information or an occurrence of a temporal event), and a missing article detection threshold may be adjusted based on historical information relating to the detection of (or failure to detect) a particular RFID tag.

Claims

1. A method comprising the steps of:

polling a plurality of RFID tags;

determining SKU/product attributes for the plurality of RFID tags;

storing the SKU/product attributes in a historical database;

determining associations among the SKU/product attributes.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the SKU/product attributes comprise attributes taken from the group consisting of manufacturer, color, sex, size, design, and type of product.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of determining associations comprises the step of determining at least one of the following:

a certain manufacturer'"'"'s items are located at a particular location;

a particular brand is always located near items of the same brand;

a certain manufacturer'"'"'s items are always located near each other;

products of a similar type or design are located near each other;

products of a certain color are always located near each other; and

products for a particular sex are always located near each other.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

scanning an item;

determining the item'"'"'s current location;

determining SKU/product information for the item; and

using the determined associations, the SKU/product information, and the item'"'"'s current location for determining if the item is misplaced.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising the step of:

notifying a user that the item is misplaced.

6. The method of claim 4 further comprising the step of:

suggesting a location or multiple locations for the misplaced item.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the multiple locations are rank ordered by strength.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the strength is based on a time period that the association has been existing.

9. A method comprising the steps of:

scanning an item;

determining the item'"'"'s current location;

determining SKU/product information for the item;

determining historical associations for the SKU/product information; and

using the determined historical associations, the SKU/product information, and the item'"'"'s current location for determining if the item is misplaced.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising the step of:

notifying a user that the item is misplaced.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising the step of:

suggesting a location or multiple locations for the misplaced item.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the multiple locations are rank ordered by strength.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the strength is based on a time period that the association has been existing.

14. A system comprising:

an RFID scanner polling a plurality of RFID tags;

a controller determining SKU/product attributes for the plurality of RFID tags, storing the SKU/product attributes in a historical database, and determining associations among the SKU/product attributes.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein the SKU/product attributes comprise attributes taken from the group consisting of manufacturer, color, sex, size, design, and type of product.

16. The system of claim 14 wherein the controller determines associations by determining one of the following:

a certain manufacturer'"'"'s items are located at a particular location;

a particular brand is always located near items of the same brand;

a certain manufacturer'"'"'s items are always located near each other;

products of a similar type or design are located near each other;

products of a certain color are always located near each other; and

products for a particular sex are always located near each other.

17. The system of claim 14 wherein the associations are utilized by the controller to determine if items are misplaced.