Warning of hazardous conditions in monitored spaces using RFID technology

• US 9,593,806 B2
• Filed: 04/12/2012
• Issued: 03/14/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Allen, Lloyd W. Jr., Jenkins, Jana Helton, Miller, Steven Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Swarthout, Brent
• Application Number:
  US13/445,881
• Publication Number:
  US 20120194337A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,797 Days
• Field of Search: 340/5.92, 340/572.1, 340/988, 701/301, 701/50, 701/213, 705/22, 342/357.07
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: F16P 3/14 the means being photocells or other devices sensitive without mechanical contact
• CPC Class Codes: F16P 3/147 using electro-magnetic technology, e.g. tags or radar
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 17/0022 arrangements or provisious for transferring data to distant stations, e.g. from a sensing device "transfer between computer elements G06F13/00 "; data-transmission H04L
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/203 Inventory monitoring

Abstract

To warn of hazardous conditions in a monitored space, the presence of an object bearing an RFID tag is detected using an RFID tag reader. Objects may be, for example, human beings, vehicles, or stationary materiel. A determination is made as to whether the object poses a hazard by, for example, reading data from the RFID tag or by accessing a database using data read from the RFID tag. If the object is determined to pose a hazard, the nature of the hazard is determined from the RFID tag or the database, and warning about the nature of the hazard is provided proximate to the monitored space. In some embodiments, providing the warning may be conditional upon detecting the concurrent presence of two objects in the monitored space.

Claims

1. A method for warning of hazardous conditions in a monitored space, comprising:

continuously monitoring the monitored space using an RFID tag reader;

concurrently detecting a presence in the monitored space of at least two moving objects, each bearing a corresponding RFID tag, by the RFID tag reader;

determining whether one of the moving objects poses a hazard to the other of the moving objects, using data read from the RFID tag; and

if one of the moving objects is determined to pose a hazard to the other of the moving objects, determining a nature of the hazard by accessing a database using data read from the RFID tag, and providing a warning proximate to the monitored space about the nature of the hazard so that the warning is observable by the other of the moving objects in the monitored space.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the moving objects is a human being or a vehicle.

3. A computer program product for warning of hazardous conditions in a monitored space, the computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embedded therein, the computer readable program code comprising:

computer readable program code configured to continuously monitor the monitored space using an RFID tag reader;

computer readable program code configured to concurrently detect a presence in the monitored space of at least two moving objects, each bearing a corresponding RFID tag, by the RFID tag reader;

computer readable program code configured to determine whether one of the moving objects poses a hazard to the other of the moving objects, using data read from the RFID tag; and

computer readable program code configured to determine a nature of the hazard by accessing a database using data read from the RFID tag, and providing a warning proximate to the monitored space about the nature of the hazard so that the warning is observable by the other of the moving objects in the monitored space, if one of the moving objects is determined to pose a hazard to the other of the moving objects.

5. The computer program product of claim 3, wherein each of the moving objects is a human being or a vehicle.

4. A system for warning of hazardous conditions in a monitored space, comprising:

a processor configured to perform

continuously monitoring the monitored space using an RFID tag reader;

concurrently detecting a presence in the monitored space of at least two moving objects, each bearing a corresponding RFID tag, by the RFID tag reader;

determining whether one of the moving objects poses a hazard to the other of the moving objects, using data read from the RFID tag; and

if one of the moving objects is determined to pose a hazard to the other of the moving objects, determining a nature of the hazard by accessing a database using data read from the RFID tag, and providing a warning proximate to the monitored space about the nature of the hazard so that the warning is observable by the other of the moving objects in the monitored space.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein each of the moving objects is a human being or a vehicle.