INVENTORY TRACKING

Abstract

An inventory system is provided herein, comprising a first inventory system unit and a second inventory system unit. The first inventory system unit comprises at least a configuration transmitter to generate a configuration field inside a first field zone to configure one or more UHF RFID tags within said first field zone into a configured state deviating from a default state. The second inventory system unit therein comprises at least an interrogation transceiver to generate an interrogation field inside a second field zone that is at least partly outside said first field zone to subsequently interrogate a set of one or more UHF RFID tags that are within said second field zone and that are in the configured state as a result of being configured by the configuration transmitter.

Claims

1. An inventory system comprising: a first inventory system unit; and a second inventory system unit, wherein the first inventory system unit comprises at least a configuration transmitter configured to generate a configuration field inside a first field zone to configure one or more Ultra High Frequency (UHF) radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags within the first field zone into a configured state deviating from a default state, and wherein the second inventory system unit comprises at least an interrogation transceiver configured to generate an interrogation field inside a second field zone that is at least partly outside the first field zone to subsequently interrogate a set of one or more UHF RFID tags that are both: within the second field zone, and in the configured state.

2. The inventory system according to claim 1, wherein the configuration transmitter is configured to set to B a session N inventoried flag of at least one UHF RFID tag complying with Electronic Product Code (EPC) Ultra High Frequency Radio-Frequency Identity Protocols Generation-2 (EPC UHF Gen2) air interface standard, wherein the interrogation transceiver is configured to interrogate the UHF RFID tags with the session N inventoried flag set to B, and wherein N can have a value of 0, 1, 2, or 3.

3. The inventory system according to claim 2, wherein the interrogation transceiver is configured to: receive an EPC backscattered by the at least one UHF RFID tag and enter a reply state, and respond, while in the reply state, to receiving the EPC backscattered by the at least one UHF RFID tag by transmitting to the at least one UHF RFID tag an invalid ACK (NAK) or by submitting a command having an effect of the NAK.

4. The inventory system according to claim 2, wherein the interrogation transceiver is configured to: receive an EPC backscattered by the at least one UHF RFID tag, and refraining from issuing a response to the at least one UHF RFID tag within a specified interrogator reply time.

5. The inventory system according to claim 1, wherein the configuration transmitter is configured to issue a Select command to at least one UHF RFID tag complying with Electronic Product Code (EPC) Ultra High Frequency Radio-Frequency Identity Protocols Generation-2 (EPC UHF Gen2) air interface standard, to assert an SL flag of the UHF RFID tag, and wherein the interrogation transceiver is configured to interrogate tags asserting the SL flag.

6. The inventory system according to claim 1 comprising at least one UHF RFID tag complying with Electronic Product Code (EPC) Ultra High Frequency Radio-Frequency Identity Protocols Generation-2 (EPC UHF Gen2) air interface standard, wherein the first inventory system unit comprises the configuration transmitter as part of a further interrogation transceiver, wherein the first inventory system unit is configured to: set a session M inventoried flag of the at least one UHF RFID tag to B, and interrogate the at least one UHF RFID tag having a session N inventoried flag that is set to B; and wherein the second inventory system unit is configured to: set the session N inventoried flag of the at least one UHF RFID tag to B, and interrogate the at least one UHF RFID tag having the session M inventoried flag that is set to B.

7. The inventory system according to claim 1 comprising at least one UHF RFID tag complying with Electronic Product Code (EPC) Ultra High Frequency Radio-Frequency Identity Protocols Generation-2 (EPC UHF Gen2) air interface standard, wherein the first inventory system unit comprises the configuration transmitter as part of a further interrogation transceiver, wherein the first inventory system unit is configured to: set a session M inventoried flag of the at least one UHF RFID tag to B, and interrogate the at least one UHF RFID tag having a S/L flag that is set; and wherein the second inventory system unit is configured to: set S/L flag of the at least one UHF RFID tag, and interrogate the at least one UHF RFID tag having the session M inventoried flag that is set to B.

8. The inventory system according to claim 1, wherein the first and the second inventory system unit are accommodated in a same housing.

9. The inventory system according to claim 8, wherein the first and the second inventory system unit are provided on a same printed circuit board.

10. A building comprising: an inventory system comprising: a first inventory system unit; and a second inventory system unit, wherein the first inventory system unit comprises at least a configuration transmitter configured to generate a configuration field inside a first field zone to configure one or more Ultra High Frequency (UHF) radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags within the first field zone into a configured state deviating from a default state, and wherein the second inventory system unit comprises at least an interrogation transceiver configured to generate an interrogation field inside a second field zone that is at least partly outside the first field zone to subsequently interrogate a set of one or more UHF RFID tags that are both: within the second field zone, and in the configured state; and a wall enclosing an interior, the wall having a gate providing access to an exterior, wherein the first field zone is at least partly within the interior, wherein the second field zone is at least partly in the exterior or in a corridor giving access to the exterior, and wherein a path from the interior to the exterior via the gate extends through both the first field zone and the second field zone.

11. A building comprising: a first room, a second room, a wall between the first room and the second room with a gate for allowing access between the rooms, and an inventory system comprising: a first inventory system unit; and a second inventory system unit, wherein the first inventory system unit comprises at least a configuration transmitter configured to generate a configuration field inside a first field zone to configure one or more Ultra High Frequency (UHF) radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags within the first field zone into a configured state deviating from a default state, and wherein the second inventory system unit comprises at least an interrogation transceiver configured to generate an interrogation field inside a second field zone that is at least partly outside the first field zone to subsequently interrogate a set of one or more UHF RFID tags that are both: within the second field zone, and in the configured state; wherein the first field zone is at least partly within the first room, wherein the second field zone is at least partly within the second room, and wherein a path from the first room to the second room via the gate extends through both the first and the second field zone.

12. The building according to claim 11, wherein the gate comprises a corridor between the first room and the second room.

13. The building according to claim 10, further comprising a passageway between a first room and a second room or between an interior and an exterior, and wherein the inventory system, is one of a plurality of species of the inventory system, the species being distributed along a width of the passageway, wherein the species of the inventory systems cooperate to provide for a configuration field extending over an area in the interior or in the first room extending over the full width of the passageway, and are configured to render an interrogation field between each pair of the species.

14. An inventory tracking method using one or more Ultra High Frequency (UHF) radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags, the method comprising: generating a configuration field inside a first field zone to configure the one or more UHF RFID tags within the first field zone into a configured state deviating from a default state, generating an interrogation field inside a second field zone that is at least partly outside the first field zone to subsequently interrogate a set of one or more UHF RFID tags that are within the second field zone and that are in the configured state as a result of being configured by the configuration field into the configured state.

15. The method of claim 14, comprising: setting, using the configuration field, the session N inventoried flag of at least one UHF RFID tag complying with Electronic Product Code (EPC) Ultra High Frequency Radio-Frequency Identity Protocols Generation-2 (EPC UHF Gen2) air interface standard to B and interrogating, using the interrogation field, the UHF RFID tags with the session N inventoried flag set to B, wherein N can have a value of 0, 1, 2 or 3.

16. The method according to claim 15, comprising: receiving an EPC backscattered by the at least one UHF RFID tag and entering a reply state for responding, while in the reply state, by transmitting to the at least one UHF RFID tag an invalid ACK (NAK) or a command having an effect of the NAK.

17. The method according to claim 15, comprising: receiving an EPC backscattered by the at least one UHF RFID tag, and refraining from issuing a response to the at least one UHF RFID tag within a specified interrogator reply time.

18. The method according to claim 14, comprising: issuing, using the configuration field, a Select command to at least one UHF RFID tag complying with Electronic Product Code (EPC) Ultra High Frequency Radio-Frequency Identity Protocols Generation-2 (EPC UHF Gen2) air interface standard to assert an SL flag of the UHF RFID tag, and interrogating, using the interrogation field, tags asserting the SL flag.

19. A record carrier comprising a computer program with computer program instructions that, when executed by a programmable device, facilitate performing the method of claim 14.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0026] These and other aspects of the present invention are described in more detail with reference to the drawings. Therein:

[0027] FIG. 1 schematically shows a portion of a building having arranged therein an embodiment of the inventory system;

[0028] FIG. 2 shows a process of inventorying UHF-RFID tags with the embodiment of the inventory system of FIG. 1;

[0029] FIG. 3 shows another example of using an embodiment of the inventory system in a building;

[0030] FIG. 4 shows a still further example of using an embodiment of the inventory system in a building;

[0031] FIG. 5 schematically shows an embodiment of the inventory system having a mutually integrated first and second inventory system unit;

[0032] FIG. 6 shows a practical implementation of the embodiment of the inventory system of FIG. 5;

[0033] FIG. 7 shows a component of the practical implementation of FIG. 6 in more detail; FIG. 7A and 7B respectively show a first field zone and a second field zone;

[0034] FIG. 8 shows an exemplary arrangement of species of the inventory system at the exit of a shop.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0035] In the following detailed description numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it will be understood by one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well known methods, procedures, and components have not been described in detail so as not to obscure aspects of the present invention.

[0036] FIG. 1 schematically shows a portion of a building that comprises a first room R1, a second room R2, and a wall W between the rooms R1, R2 that has a gate G for allowing access between the rooms. In the example shown, the gate G may be a free passageway. The building is provided with an inventory system 1 that comprises a first inventory system unit 10 and a second inventory system unit 20. The first inventory system unit 10 comprises at least a configuration transmitter 12 accommodated in the first room R1 to generate a configuration field inside a first field zone FZ1 that is at least partly within the first room R1. The configuration field is at least strong enough to configure tags 30 that are in a configuration zone AZ in the immediate neighborhood of the gate G regardless local effects such as reflections, the orientation and the sensitivity of the tag. As a side effect, it may also configure more remote tags that are farther away of the gate, but not in the configuration zone. This is not a problem, as the configuration field merely serves to broadcast a configuration message, which can take place in a predetermined time-interval, irrespective the number of tags to be configured. The one or more UHF RFID tags 30, 30a, 30b that have received the activation message assume a configured state deviating from a default state.

[0037] An operation of the system is demonstrated in FIG. 2. By way of example, at a point in time t0, a box BX provided with articles is transported along a path p1 into the configuration zone AZ, which may be a sub area of a larger first field zone. As shown in the top left corner of FIG. 2, the articles in the box BX are tagged with respective UHF RFID tags 30, 30a, 30b, . . . , 30n, in this example UHF RFID tag complying with the EPC UHF Gen2 Air Interface standard. At point in time t0, the tags have a default state, denoted as A. After having entered the configuration zone AZ, the configuration field of the first inventory system unit 10 causes the tag at a point in time t1 to assume the configured state, here denoted as B. At a point in time t2, when further continuing along the path p1, the box BX enters the second field zone FZ2 in the second room R2, in which the second inventory system unit 20 generates an interrogation field. Inside the second field zone FZ2 that is at least partly outside the first field zone FZ1 the second inventory system unit 20 subsequently interrogates the set of one or more UHF RFID tags 30, 30a, . . . , 30n that are present in the box BX and that were configured by first inventory system unit 10 into the configured state. Subsequent to interrogation at a point in time t3, the one or more UHF RFID tags 30, 30a, . . . , 30n may return to their default state. FIG. 2 shows that the box BX is transported further along the path p1 at a point in time t4.

[0038] In some cases a box or an article to be transported to the second room R2, may already be present at a location where the configuration field is strong enough to configure the tags. This is schematically shown for a box BX′, which is to be transported to the second room R2 along a path p2. Similar as in the case of the box BX, the configured tags present in the box BX′ are interrogated by the second inventory system unit 20 when they enter the second field zone FZ2 at a point in time t1′.

[0039] FIG. 3 shows an alternative arrangement of a building, wherein the gate G comprises a corridor C between the first room R1 and the second room R2.

[0040] FIG. 4 shows a still further arrangement of a building. In this arrangement the building comprises a wall W that encloses an interior INT, such a shopping area. The wall W has a gate G to provide access to an exterior EXT such as a shopping street, or other common space. As shown in FIG. 4, the first field zone FZ1 is at least partly within the interior INT and the second field zone FZ2 is at least partly in the exterior EXT or in a corridor giving access to the exterior, so that any path from the interior to the exterior via the gate extends through both the first and the second field zone. Therewith the inventory system 1 is configured to detect tagged goods that are taken outside the building without authorization.

[0041] It is further noted that in the embodiment of FIG. 4, the first and the second inventory system unit 10, 20, are accommodated in a common housing 15, which is accommodated inside the building.

[0042] FIG. 5 shows a particular example thereof wherein the first and the second inventory system unit are provided on one or more common printed circuit boards 16. Moreover, the first and the second inventory system units 10, 20 share common electronic components, such as a power supply 17. Also certain components are time-multiplexed. For example a common oscillator 18 is provided that alternately serves to provide the carrier wave to render the configuration field and to render the interrogation field. To that end a switch module 19 is provided that alternately provides the output signal of the common oscillator 18 to a first output module 121, that serves to render the configuration field, and to a second output module 221, that serves to render the interrogation field.

[0043] FIG. 6 shows a practical embodiment of the inventory system 1. In the example shown in FIG. 6, the inventory system 1 comprises a support 151 that carries the printed circuit board 16 with the electronic components of the system units and a wedge shaped antenna carrier 14 that carries the antennas 122, 222. electrically coupled to the system units by a flexible connection 13. More in particular, it is shown that the antenna 122 of the first inventory system unit comprises a single element on a short side of the wedge shaped antenna carrier 14, while the antenna 222 of the second inventory system unit comprises a respective antenna module 222a, 222b on each long side thereof. On the right side of the support 151, the housing 15 is shown, in which the support 151 with the components assembled therewith is accommodated.

[0044] FIG. 7 schematically shows wedge shaped antenna carrier 14 that carries the antennas 122, and 222, the latter with antenna modules 222a, 222b. FIG. 7A shows the power distribution of the interrogation field rendered with the antenna modules 222a, 222b of the antenna 222. Due to the fact that each antenna module has a pair of antenna plates, a focused beam is provided at each side of the antenna carrier 14. FIG. 7B shows the power distribution of the configuration field rendered with the antenna 122. Therewith a broad beam is generated at the side of the short side of the wedge shaped antenna carrier 14.

[0045] FIG. 8 shows an exemplary arrangement of species 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d of the inventory system arranged at the exit of a shop. With this arrangement it is achieved that a relatively broad passageway can be monitored. The inventory systems 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d cooperate to provide for a configuration field extending over an area inside the shop extending over the full width of the passageway, and are configured to render an interrogation field between each pair 1a-1b; 1b-1c; 1c-1d of inventory systems.

[0046] In summary, the present disclosure provides improved approaches to inventory one or more UHF RFID tags. The method is improved in that an interrogation overhead resulting from neighboring tags is at least substantially reduced. An inventory tracking method as disclosed herein comprises generating a configuration field inside a first field zone to configure one or more UHF RFID tags within the first field zone into a configured state deviating from a default state. For this purpose it is sufficient to use a first inventory system unit that is merely configured to transmit a configuration command, as described for example with reference to FIG. 1. Alternatively however, the first inventory system unit 10 may be a fully functional RFID reader unit. Various options are available to configure the tags in the configuration field. For example for UHF RFID tags complying with the EPC UHF Gen2 Air Interface standard one option is to set the inventory flag for one of the sessions 0, 1, 2, 3 to B. Another option is to set their SL flag. An interrogation field is generated inside a second field zone that is at least partly outside said first field zone to subsequently interrogate the set of one or more UHF RFID tags within said second field zone that were configured by the configuration field into the configured state. Dependent on the particular application a most appropriate way of configuring may be selected. For example in case the configuration field and the interrogation field overlap each other in the path from the first to the second room, or from the interior to the exterior, it is guaranteed that the tags are continuously energized when moving along the path. In that case any session flag or the SL flag could be used for configuration. However, in case there is no overlap, a flag having a minimally guaranteed persistence time can be used, such as the inventory flag for the sessions of type 2 or 3, or the SL flag. Using the SL flag is additionally advantageous in that it does not return automatically to its default state after interrogation of the tag. Therewith interrogation by the second inventory system unit can be repeated to better localize the tag if desired. This advantage can also be used when the inventory flag of one of the sessions is used, provided that the second inventory system unit receiving an EPC response from the tag does not acknowledge that response, for example by explicitly transmitting a not acknowledge message or by transmitting any command other than a Query, QueryRep or QueryAdjust.

[0047] As noted, in some embodiments, the first inventory system unit is a fully functional RFID reader unit. This renders in possible to inventory in both directions. For inventory systems cooperating with UHF RFID tags complying with the EPC UHF Gen2 standard it is one option that the first inventory system unit is configured to set the session M inventoried flag of the UHF RFID tag within its configuration field to B and to interrogate UHF RFID tag with their session N inventoried flag to B within its interrogation field. Reversely, the second inventory system unit 20 therein is configured to set the session N inventoried flag of an UHF RFID tag in its configuration field to B and to interrogate UHF RFID tags with a session M inventoried flag set to B that are within its interrogation field. It is another option that the first inventory system unit is configured to set the session M inventoried flag of the UHF RFID tag within its configuration field to B and to interrogate UHF RFID tags with an asserted SL flag within its interrogation field. Reversely, the second inventory system unit 20 therein is configured to set the SL-flag of an UHF RFID tag in its configuration field in an asserted state and to interrogate UHF RFID tags with a session M inventoried flag set to B that are within its interrogation field. The integers M, N indicate the session type 0,1, 2 or 3, and should be mutually different.

[0048] In the claims the word “comprising” does not exclude other elements or steps, and the indefinite article “a” or “an” does not exclude a plurality. A single component or other unit may fulfill the functions of several items recited in the claims. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in mutually different claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used to advantage. Any reference signs in the claims should not be construed as limiting the scope.