A system and method for identifying and tracking singly conveyed products, which are cylindrical at least in regions, and have a peripheral surface to which a marking is respectively applied. The products are conveyed in a direction of transport by a transport device, and during conveyance are rotated by a friction element that comes into engagement with each product by friction as the products are being conveyed. The marking applied to the peripheral surface of each product is read by a stationary camera system having at least two cameras, as the respective product is being rotated.

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.

A system and method is provided for delivering customized information related to a specific product of interest to consumer. In practice, the consumer uses a suitably enabled portable, mobile and/or wireless device (e.g., such as a mobile camera phone) to scan or otherwise read a marker associated with a product, retail item or other article of interest. From the marker, a unique ID is obtained (i.e., the marker ID). The marker ID is then used to cross-reference a URL or other like address in a database that relates marker IDs to corresponding URLs. The target URL is returned to the consumer's device and an http session is established with a content management server at the target URL. In one suitable embodiment, the content management server obtains a SKU and/or template web page ID that are associated with the marker ID in a database. Suitably, the SKU relates to the specific product with which the marker was associated. Having in this way determined the actual specific product of interest to the consumer, customized information related thereto can be delivered to the consumer's device, e.g., via a web page optimized for the identified device. Optionally, the web page content and/or template is obtained from a database that associates the same with the template web page ID received by the content management server.

A store system (1) includes: a reading apparatus (220) that reads a product that passes through a gate (20); a person determination information acquisition apparatus (210) that acquires person determination information that determines a person P who passes through the gate (20); a coupon notification unit (110) that transmits, when a coupon applicable to any product read by the reading apparatus (220) is present, notification information that provides notification of the applicable coupon, to a terminal (30) associated with the person determination information; a checkout unit (120) that performs checkout processing of a product read by the reading apparatus (220), and application processing of a coupon based on coupon use information that is acquired from the terminal (30) and indicates a coupon to be used by the person P; and an electronic receipt transmission unit (130) that transmits an electronic receipt to the terminal (30) in response to execution of the checkout processing and the application processing of a coupon.

A store system (1) includes: a reading apparatus (220) that reads a product that passes through a gate (20); a person determination information acquisition apparatus (210) that acquires person determination information that determines a person P who passes through the gate (20); a coupon notification unit (110) that transmits, when a coupon applicable to any product read by the reading apparatus (220) is present, notification information that provides notification of the applicable coupon, to a terminal (30) associated with the person determination information; a checkout unit (120) that performs checkout processing of a product read by the reading apparatus (220), and application processing of a coupon based on coupon use information that is acquired from the terminal (30) and indicates a coupon to be used by the person P; and an electronic receipt transmission unit (130) that transmits an electronic receipt to the terminal (30) in response to execution of the checkout processing and the application processing of a coupon.

A data writing device includes a roller configured to convey a label including a radio tag along a predetermined path, a reader/writer configured to wirelessly communicate with the radio tag, and a controller configured to control the roller to convey the label and control the reader/writer to acquire a plurality of radio wave intensities from the radio tag at different positions along the predetermined path as the label is conveyed, and determine one of the different positions along the predetermined path at which the radio wave intensities are equal to or greater than a threshold value as a writing position for the radio tag.

An in-transit identification system for an overhead conveyor that transports items equipped with radio frequency identification (RFID) tags uses a guide track arrangement and an antenna frame movably connected thereto. An RFID antenna is mounted to the frame and a bidirectional translation mechanism moves the frame relative to the guide track arrangement along a first direction parallel to a transport path of the conveyor and a second direction perpendicular to the first direction. A controller controls the translation mechanism to move the frame along the second direction to locate the antenna in the transport path adjacent to a first item being transported, along the first direction to maintain the antenna adjacent to said first item while an RFID tag of said first item is interrogated by the antenna and again along the second direction to withdraw the antenna from the transport path after interrogation of the RFID tag.

There is provided an article handling system, method and computer program product for uniquely identifying an article. The system comprises a mobile device having scanning means that obtains a first article identifier and a second article identifier from one or more article tags associated with an article. A mobile application on the mobile device generates a message comprising a first message line including the first article identifier and a second message line including the second article identifier, and sends the message to a destination location. In this way, the article may be subsequently identified at the destination location using either or both of the first article identifier or the second article identifier.

A radio frequency identification (RFID) apparatus includes a housing, an RFID reader, and one or more RFID antennas disposed in the housing. The housing includes a first opening, a second opening, and a tunnel between the first and second openings. The housing is configured to be disposed over a track configured to transport a garment on hanger through the tunnel. The RFID antennas are configured to generate a first RFID signal substantially in the tunnel to interrogate an RFID tag associated with a garment on hanger as it transits through the tunnel. The RFID reader receives a second RFID signal transmitted by the RFID tag in response to receiving the first RFID signal. The RFID apparatus can include a segment of the track. The track can include a trolley configured to secure one or more garments on hangers. The trolley can include an RFID tag.

An RFID-based item tracking system may use statistical methods to determine whether a tag or tagged item that does not respond when inventoried is present in a particular zone or reader antenna field-of-view. In one embodiment, the item tracking system may determine an observability of an item based on one or more initial trials. Upon not detecting the item in one or more subsequent trials, the item tracking system may estimate whether the item is still present based on the observability.