SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MONITORING AN AREA USING NFC TAGS

• US 20140167963A1
• Filed: 12/17/2012
• Published: 06/19/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/2012
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Simon Ferragne
• Original Assignee: Simon Ferragne
• Inventors: Ferragne, Simon
• Application Number:
  US13/716,563
• Publication Number:
  US 20140167963A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/572.1
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/2462 Asset location systems combined with EAS inventory, tracking, logistic G06Q10/00; entrance control systems G07C9/00

Abstract

A system and method for monitoring an area using NFC tags. The NFC tags may be provided at predefined locations within the area, and may have different functions. A sensing device scans the NFC tags and sends sensing data to a remote server over a telecommunication network in real time. The sensing data may include one or more of: the ID of the tag being sensed, the timestamp and/or position of the sensing device at the time of sensing, the ID of the employee performing the sensing, etc. The server detects the ID of the NFC tag from the sensing data received from the sensing device, and performs the function(s) associated with the sensed tag.

Claims

1. A method for monitoring an area including a plurality of NFC tags provided in predetermined locations within the area, the method comprising:

dividing the NFC tags into groups, each group including one or more NFC tags;

associating a different function to each different group of NFC tags, wherein one or more NFC tags represent checkpoints in the area;

receiving real-time or near-time sensing data from a sensing device adapted to sense NFC tags over a telecommunication network, the sensing data including an ID of the NFC tag being sensed and a timestamp representing a time of sensing;

performing the function associated with a given NFC tag, upon receiving sensing data including the ID of the given NFC tag.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the sensing device includes a positioning system, the method further comprising:

receiving a position of the sensing device at the time of sensing;

comparing the position of the sensing device with a predetermined location of the NFC tag;

triggering a first alarm when a mismatch is identified.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the sensing device includes a positioning system, the method further comprising:

receiving a position of the sensing device;

triggering a second alarm when the sensing device remains in a certain location for a given period.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the sensing device includes a positioning system, the method further comprising:

receiving a position of the sensing device;

triggering a third alarm when the sensing device leaves the area.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing the sensing device with computer readable instructions which when executed cause the sensing device to sense the NFC tags when brought in proximity of the NFC tags, and send the sensing data to a remote host over the telecommunication network in real time or as soon as a connection is available.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein a panic-alarm function is associated with a first group of NFC tags, the computer readable instructions causing the sensing device to:

activate an audio/video recorder associated with the sensing device, when sensing one or more NFC tags from the first group of NFC tags; and

send a recorded audio/video file to the remote host.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein a panic-alarm function is associated with a second group of NFC tags, the method further comprising:

upon receiving sensing data including the ID of one or more NFC tags from the second group, sending instructions to the sensing device to activate an audio/video recorder associated with the sensing device; and

receiving an audio/video file from the sensing device.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the sensing device is configured to perform an employee authentication before sensing NFC tags, the computer readable instructions causing the sensing device to include an employee authentication information with the sensing data.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the sensing device authenticates employees using biometric verification, the method further comprising triggering a fourth alarm when a biometric data received/detected at the sensing device does not match any employee.

10. The method of claim 5, wherein the computer readable instructions cause the sensing device to generate an alarm when a scanning time for a certain checkpoint is past due.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising illustrating a status of one or more checkpoints in a user interface.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising color coding illustrated checkpoints using the sensing data and a set of rules specific to each checkpoint.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising illustrating the area, the checkpoints, and the color associated with each checkpoint on a map provided by a third party.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the set of rules comprises a time rule that defines scanning times for each checkpoint.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising refreshing the user interface every time a new sensing data is received for one of the checkpoints.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising generating a late log for a given checkpoint when a time rule is broken.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising changing the color of the given checkpoint in accordance with the late log.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing the sensing data in a predefined format in a database;

generating one or more reports based on the sensing data stored in the database.

19. A method for monitoring an area including a plurality of NFC tags provided in predetermined locations within the area, a portion of the NFC tag representing checkpoints in the area, the method comprising:

associating a function to each tag;

receiving real-time or near-time sensing data from a NFC sensing device over a telecommunication network, the sensing data including an ID of the tag being sensed and a timestamp representing a time of sensing;

performing the function associated with a given NFC tag, upon receiving sensing data including the ID of the given NFC tag.

20. A computing device for monitoring an area including a plurality of NFC tags provided in predetermined locations within the area, the computing device having access to one or more programs which when executed by a processor of the computing device, cause the computing device to perform the steps of:

dividing the NFC tags into groups, each group including one or more NFC tags;

associating a different function to each different group of NFC tags, wherein one or more NFC tags represent checkpoints in the area;

receiving real-time or near-time sensing data from a NFC sensing device over a telecommunication network, the sensing data including an ID of the NFC tag being sensed and a timestamp representing a time of sensing;

performing the function associated with a given NFC tag, upon receiving sensing data including the ID of the given NFC tag.