Systems and methods of identifying wearable tags or other items within a facility. The location of the identifiable item can be calculated by the system and used to improve the efficiency of the facility or to dispatch emergency help or maintenance to the location of the badge.

A method for controlling infections in a facility such as a hospital or foodservice establishment is provided. The method comprises tagging assets, monitoring asset location and pathogen contamination for each asset over time, analyzing data sets to identify which assets are the critical control points for pathogen transfer, and coating a residual self-sanitizing coating composition on each asset identified as a critical control point. The infection control method shuts down pathogen transfer routes by mitigating or eliminating pathogen growth on the critical control points.

The present disclosure is directed, in part, to identifying packages using existing sensors and tags present in items in a package. Various embodiments associate tags or sensors from a package with the package and compare signals from the tags and sensors read at a different time to identify the package using associated tags and sensors.

In implementations of systems for tracking receptacles in physical environments, a computing device implements a tracking system to receive radio wave data describing first radio waves received by a first radio frequency antenna from a radio frequency tag embedded in a physical receptacle within a first region of a physical environment. The first radio waves indicate a unique identifier of the radio frequency tag. The tracking system computes an amount of time that the physical receptacle is within the first region based on the unique identifier of the radio frequency tag. An item is identified that does not include a radio frequency tag based on the amount of time and a unique identifier of the first radio frequency antenna. The tracking system generates an indication of information related to the item for display in a user interface of a display device disposed in a second region of the physical environment.

This disclosure relates to systems with multiple NFC front ends and at least one shared controller. One disclosed system includes a first discrete device having a first near field communication (NFC) controller, a second discrete device having a second NFC controller, a communicative connection between the first discrete device and the second discrete device, and a system controller located on the first discrete device. The system controller is communicatively connected to the first NFC controller. The system controller is connected to the second NFC controller via the communicative connection. In specific approaches, the second discrete device can include a display which is also controlled by the system controller, and the system controller is NCI compliant and application aware. In specific approaches, the system controller can control the second NFC controller based on the content concurrently being provided to the display.

Various embodiments illustrated herein disclose a method. The method includes receiving, by a first radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag in an RFID reader, a first interrogation command from another RFID reader. The method includes transmitting, by the first RFID tag in the RFID reader, a first response signal to the other RFID reader in response to the reception of the first interrogation command. The method further includes transmitting, by a processor in the RFID reader, a second interrogation command to one or more second RFID tags, where the transmission of the second interrogation command is concurrent to the reception of the first interrogation command or the transmission of the first response signal.

An adaptive inventory management system for use in a materials handling facility storing a plurality of items that are each associated with a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag. The management system including a global inventory database subsystem and a RFID interrogator subsystem comprising a plurality of RFID interrogators that are each configured to read the unique identifier of the RFID tag associated with each of the plurality of items that are within a defined boundary of at least one scan zone generated by the respective RFID interrogator and to communicate the unique identifier of the each scanned RFID tag identified within each scan zone of the respective RFID interrogator to the global inventory database subsystem. The management system being selectively configured to effect user desired levels of fidelity and/or resolution with respect to the generated unique identifier of the each scanned RFID tag within a defined space of the materials handling facility.

The invention provides method for organizing the disinfection of one or more items contaminated with biological agent(s) comprising (a) attaching a radio-frequency ID (RFID) tag to an item(s) to be disinfected; exposing the item(s) of (a) to a disinfecting means for a period sufficient to disinfect the item; and (c) obtaining a signal from the tagged item when disinfection is complete thereby organizing the disinfection of one or more items.

A location designation RFID tag for use in a storage facility includes an inlay, a first layer disposed on a first side of the inlay and having a first thickness, and a second layer disposed on a second side of the inlay. The first layer has a first thickness and the second layer has a second thickness. The inlay includes substrate, an antenna disposed on the substrate, and an integrated circuit disposed on the substrate. The location designation RFID tag may be easily and non-invasively placed and relocated on a floor of a storage facility in a manner that mitigates, and likely resolves, the issues experienced by known RFID tags when placed on a floor. Utilizing an inlay having a long, thin antenna, reduces the overall thickness of the location designation RFID tag, which allows layers to be disposed on the inlay that include a sufficient thickness to improve durability, mitigate detuning, and allow movable devices to readily pass over the location designation RFID tag.

A system for detecting receivers including at least one receiver, a container having a volume for containing the receiver, an antenna suitable for emitting a primary wave in the volume and for receiving a secondary wave emitted by the receiver in the volume in response to reception of the primary wave, and a controller suitable for controlling the emission of the primary wave and for detecting the receiver via the received secondary wave. The system further includes adjustable elements controlled by a control wave, attached to the container and having an impedance that can be modified. Each adjustable element includes a device for recovering energy from the primary wave and/or from the control wave in order to power itself, and a device for receiving the control wave which decodes an adjustment parameter so that the adjustable element controls its impedance.