Key control system using separated ID and location detection mechanisms
First Claim
1. A method for tracking the replacement and removal of objects from a receptacle, said method comprising the steps of:
- conducting a scan of a plurality of slots in a receptacle to determine the presence of an object in the slot;
conducting a scan of said receptacle to identify objects within the receptacle;
comparing the results of the slot scan with the results from a previous slot scan; and
comparing the results of the receptacle scan with the results from a previous receptacle scan.
11 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An object control and tracking system and related methods using separate object identification and location detection mechanisms for objects, such as keys, that are maintained in a secure enclosure, such as a key drawer. A plurality of object slots are located on the top tray of the enclosure to receive object tags that include both an RFID tag and an object to be tracked. The objects (e.g., keys) are attached to a portion of the object tags that are outside of the enclosure. Presence detectors are used to determine if an object tag is present in the corresponding slot of the enclosure. RFID sensors located on opposite interior side walls of the enclosure interrogate each RFID tag to determine the presence of each RFID tag within the enclosure. The object control and tracking system includes a controller, a memory for storing an object control database, and related processing logic operating on the controller to control scanning of the presence detectors to determine an object tag'"'"'s presence in a corresponding slot, to identify each object present in the enclosure and to compare the identified objects with an object control database to determine each object removed or replaced since the previous database update.
86 Citations
40 Claims
-
1. A method for tracking the replacement and removal of objects from a receptacle, said method comprising the steps of:
-
conducting a scan of a plurality of slots in a receptacle to determine the presence of an object in the slot; conducting a scan of said receptacle to identify objects within the receptacle; comparing the results of the slot scan with the results from a previous slot scan; and comparing the results of the receptacle scan with the results from a previous receptacle scan. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
-
-
29. A method for tracking the replacement and removal of key tags from a key storage unit, said method comprising the steps of:
-
securing the storage unit to prevent access to key tags stored therein; conducting a scan of a plurality of slots in the storage unit to determine the presence of a key tag in the slot; conducting a scan of said storage unit to identify key tags within the storage unit; comparing the results of the slot scan with the results from a previous slot scan; comparing the results of the storage unit scan with the results from a previous storage unit scan; and determining the identity and slot location of a key tag within the storage unit based on the step of comparing the results of the storage unit scan and the step of comparing the results of the slot scan. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33, 34)
-
-
35. A method for tracking the replacement and removal of key tags from a key storage unit, said method comprising the steps of:
-
securing a key tag in the storage unit to prevent removal of the key tag from the storage unit; conducting a scan of a plurality of slots in the storage unit to determine the presence of a key tag in the slot; conducting a scan of said storage unit to identify key tags within the storage unit; comparing the results of the slot scan with the results from a previous slot scan; and comparing the results of the storage unit scan with the results from a previous storage unit scan; determining the identity and slot location of a key tag within the storage unit based on the step of comparing the results of the storage unit scan and the step of comparing the results of the slot scan. - View Dependent Claims (36, 37, 38, 39, 40)
-
Specification