System for tracking physical objects

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10251024-B2
Application number	US-201715464483-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 21, 2017
Priority date	Mar 23, 2016
Publication date	Apr 2, 2019
Grant date	Apr 2, 2019

Abstract

Described in detail herein are systems and methods for determining in situ locations of physical objects using mobile devices within a facility. Multiple mobile devices may scan different identifiers of different physical objects disposed in a facility. The mobile devices may transmit the identifiers to a distributed computing system. The distributed computing system may query a database to determine the in situ location of the physical objects associated with the identifiers. In response to not being able to retrieve a in situ location of a physical object, the distributed computing system may determine a path of the mobile device which transmitted the identifier associated with the physical object with the unknown in situ location. The distributed computing system may determine the in situ location of the physical object for which the in situ location was unknown based on the path and the known locations of the other physical objects.

First claim

We claim:

1. A system comprising:
a distributed computing system;
one or more mobile devices communicatively coupled to the distributed computing system, including a processor and an optical reader, one or more of the mobile devices being configured to (i) scan a plurality of different identifiers of a plurality of different geographically distributed physical objects, and (ii) transmit the plurality of different identifiers to the distributed computing system;
wherein the distributed computing system is programmed to:
receive the plurality of different identifiers for the plurality of different geographically distributed physical objects;
query a database for known locations of the plurality of different geographically distributed physical objects using the plurality of different identifiers, wherein a location of at least one of the plurality of different geographically distributed physical objects is unknown;
interpolate each of the known locations of the plurality of different geographically distributed physical objects as a data point;
retrieve a map of a facility in which the plurality of different geographically distributed physical objects are designated to be disposed from the database;
overlay the map including locations at which each physical object of the plurality of different geographically distributed physical objects are designated to be disposed, over the data points representing each known location of the physical objects;
determine whether the data points representing each of the known locations of each of the physical objects correlate with the designated locations of each physical object;
generate one or more projected paths of the one or more of mobile devices based on the data points, wherein generating the one or more projected paths includes omitting at least one data point determined to be arbitrary, unplanned, or illogical; and
determine the location of the at least one physical object based on an intersection of two or more of the projected paths.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein in response to determining a location of the at least one physical object, verify the location is where the physical object is supposed to be disposed.

3. The system in claim 1 , wherein in response to determining the location of the at least one physical object based on an intersection of two or more of the projected paths the distributed computing system triggers an event.

4. The system in claim 3 , wherein the event is one or more of: issuing an alert, storing the determined location of the at least one physical object, determining a new location to move the physical object.

5. The system in claim 1 , wherein the mobile device is one or more of: a mobile phone, a portable digital assistant, a laptop computer, a tablet device, or a wireless portable device.

6. A method comprising:
scanning, via one or more mobile devices communicatively coupled to a distributed computing system, including a processor and an optical reader, a plurality of different identifiers of a plurality of different geographically distributed physical objects;
transmitting, via the one or more mobile devices, the plurality of different identifiers to the distributed computing system;
receiving, via the distributed computing system, the plurality of different identifiers for the plurality of different geographically distributed physical objects;
querying, via the distributed computing system, a database for known locations of the plurality of different geographically distributed physical objects using the plurality of different identifiers, wherein a location of at least one of the plurality of different geographically distributed physical objects is unknown;
interpolating, via the distributed computing system, each of the known locations of the plurality of different geographically distributed physical objects as a data point;
retrieving, via the distributed computing system, a map of a facility in which the plurality of different geographically distributed physical objects are designated to be disposed from the database;
overlaying, via the distributed computing system, the map including locations at which each physical object of the plurality of different geographically distributed physical objects are designated to be disposed, over the data points representing each known location of the physical objects;
determining, via the distributed computing system, whether the data points representing each of the known locations of each of the physical objects correlate with the designated locations of each physical object;
generating, via the distributed computing system, one or more projected paths of the one or more of mobile devices based on the data points, wherein generating the one or more projected paths includes omitting at least one data point determined to be arbitrary, unplanned, or illogical; and
determining, via the computing system, the location of the at least one physical object based on an intersection of two or more of the projected paths.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising in response to determining a location of the at least one physical object, verifying, via the distributed computing system, the location is where the physical object is supposed to be disposed.

8. The method in claim 6 , further comprising in response to the distributed computing system determining the location of the at least one physical object based on an intersection of two or more of the projected paths, triggering, via the distributed computing system, an event.

9. The method in claim 8 , wherein the event is one or more of: issuing an alert, storing the determined location of the at least one physical object, determining a new location to move the physical object.

10. The method in claim 6 , wherein the mobile device is one or more of: a mobile phone, a portable digital assistant, a laptop computer, a tablet device, or a wireless portable device.

11. One or more non-transitory computer readable memory media storing instructions, wherein the instructions are executable by one or more processors to:
scan, via one or more mobile devices communicatively coupled to a distributed computing system, including a processor and an optical reader, a plurality of different identifiers of a plurality of different geographically distributed physical objects;
transmit, via the one or more mobile devices, the plurality of different identifiers to the distributed computing system;
receive, via the distributed computing system, the plurality of different identifiers for the plurality of different geographically distributed physical objects;
query, via the distributed computing system, a database for known locations of the plurality of different geographically distributed physical objects using the plurality of different identifiers, wherein a location of at least one of the plurality of different geographically distributed physical objects is unknown;
interpolate, via the distributed computing system, each of the known locations of the plurality of different geographically distributed physical objects as a data point;
retrieve, via the distributed computing system, a map of a facility in which the plurality of different geographically distributed physical objects are designated to be disposed from the database;
overlay, via the distributed computing system, the map including locations at which each physical object of the plurality of different geographically distributed physical objects are designated to be disposed, over the data points representing each known location of the physical objects;
determine, via the distributed computing system, whether the data points representing each of the known locations of each

Assignees

• Walmart Apollo Llc

Inventors

• Jones Nicholaus Adam
• Vasgaard Aaron
• Taylor Robert James
• Jones Matthew Allen

Classifications

• G06Q30/0641

  utilising user interfaces specially adapted for shopping · CPC title

• G06K7/1095

  the scanner comprising adaptations for scanning a record carrier that is displayed on a display-screen or the like · CPC title

• H04L67/04

  specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability · CPC title

• G06K2007/10524

  Hand-held scanners · CPC title

• G07G1/0081

  the reader being a portable scanner or data reader (G07G1/009 takes precedence) · CPC title