Location sensing technology for detecting asset location

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11742964-B2
Application number	US-202017137608-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 30, 2020
Priority date	Dec 30, 2020
Publication date	Aug 29, 2023
Grant date	Aug 29, 2023

Abstract

Various embodiments employ multiple readers and tags in fixed locations in different geographical areas and/or along different storage units. This allows for more granular or precise location sensing. Particular embodiments employ multiple environment tags in various geographical locations and within multiple storage units. Using this new infrastructure setup, some embodiments can perform new functionality by predicting whether a target asset is in a particular geographical location, predict whether the asset is within a particular storage unit based on the proportion of readers mapped to that shelf which are actually reading the tag on the asset, and/or can predict where an asset's exact location in the located storage unit is based on comparing indications of signal strength values between each reader and tag in the storage unit with other indications of signal strength values between each reader and the tag that is attached to the asset.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
a plurality of reader devices that is configured to receive or read data from one or more tags, the plurality of reader devices is located in a facility;
a plurality of environment tags that is configured to provide data to at least one reader device of the plurality of reader devices, wherein a first set of environment tags of the plurality of environment tags is coupled to a first storage unit within the facility, and a second set of environment tags of the plurality of environment tags is coupled to a second storage unit within the facility;
a target tag coupled to a target asset that is located in the facility; and
one or more computing devices that are configured to:
predict a geographical area that the target asset is located in within the facility based at least in part on an identification of a set of reader devices, of the plurality of reader devices, receiving or reading first data from the target tag,
predict that the target asset is within the first storage unit based at least in part on at least one reader device, mapped to the first storage unit, that has received or read the first data from the target tag, and
predict a specific location within the first storage unit that the target asset is within based at least in part on comparing one or more indications of signal strength values between the at least one reader device and each environment tag of the first set of environment tags with one or more other indications of signal strength values between the at least one reader device and the target tag.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the predicting of the geographical area that the target asset is located in within the facility includes predicting what room, of a plurality of rooms, that the target asset is in within the facility.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the predicting that the target asset is within the first storage unit includes:
based on one or more mappings, determining which reader devices of the plurality of reader devices are assigned to particular storage units within the facility and determining which environment tags of the plurality of environment tags are coupled to the particular storage units; and
based at least in part on the one or more mappings, determining, for each storage unit, a proportion of the set of reader devices mapped to the respective storage unit that has received or read data from the target tag.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the predicting that the target asset is within the first storage unit includes predicting that the target asset is within the first storage unit based on the proportion being highest for the first storage unit relative to the second storage unit.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the predicting of the specific location within the first storage unit that the target asset is within includes representing signal strength indications between each reader device that receives data from the target tag as a first set of vectors in vector space and representing signal strength indications between each environment tag of the first set of environment tags and the each reader device as a second set of vectors in the vector space and determining a distance between the first set of vectors and the second set of vectors, wherein the distance corresponds to a physical proximity between the each reader device, the target tag, and the each environment tag.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the predicting of the specific location within the first storage unit includes comparing the distance with a configuration file mapping that maps the first storage unit as a multi-dimensional X-coordinate and Y-coordinate grid indicating a precise location of each environment tag within the first storage unit.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the facility is a shipping sorting center, a logistics store, or a logistics vehicle.

8. A computer-implemented method comprising:
receiving an indication that one or more reader devices have received or read data from a target tag that is coupled to a target asset, wherein the one or more reader devices and the target tag are located in a facility;
receiving a second indication that a plurality of environment tags has provided other data to the one or more reader devices, wherein a first set of environment tags of the plurality of environment tags is coupled to a first storage unit within the facility, and a second set of environment tags of the plurality of environment tags is coupled to a second storage unit within the facility;
predicting that the target asset is within the first storage unit based at least in part on at least one reader device, of the one or more reader devices, mapped to the first storage unit that has received or read the data from the target tag;
predicting a specific location within the first storage unit that the target asset is within based at least in part on comparing one or more indications of signal strength values between the at least one reader device and each environment tag of the first set of environment tags with one or more other indications of signal strength values between the at least one reader device and the target tag.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising predicting a geographical area that the target asset is located in within the facility based at least in part on an identification of the one or more reader devices receiving the data from the target tag and other reader devices within the facility not receiving the data from the target tag.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the predicting that the target asset is within the first storage unit includes:
based on one or more mappings, determining which reader devices of the one or more reader devices are assigned to particular storage units within the facility and determining which environment tags of the plurality of environment tags are coupled to the particular storage units; and
based at least in part on the one or more mappings, determining, for each storage unit, a proportion of the set of reader devices mapped to the respective storage unit that has received or read the data from the target tag.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the predicting that the target asset is within the first storage unit includes predicting that the target asset is within the first storage unit based on the proportion being highest for the first storage unit relative to the second storage unit.

12. The method of claim 8 , wherein the predicting of the specific location within the first storage unit that the target asset is within includes representing signal strength indications between each reader device that receives the data from the target tag as a first set of vectors in vector space and representing signal strength indications between each environment tag of the first set of environment tags and the each reader device as a second set of vectors in the vector space and determining a distance between the first set of vectors and the second set of vectors, wherein the distance corresponds to a physical proximity between the each reader device, the target tag, and the each environment tag.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the predicting of the specific location within the storage unit includes comparing the distance with a configuration file mapping that maps the first storage unit as a multi-dimensional X-coordinate and Y- coordinate grid indicating a precise location of each environment tag within the first storage unit.

14. The method of claim 8 , wherein the one or more reader devices, the target tag, and the plurality of environment tags are a part of a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) syste

Assignees

• United parcel service america inc
• United Parcel Services Of America Inc

Inventors

• Freeman Mallory
• Major Timothy
• Britton Matthew
• Skorb Lauren

Classifications

• G06K7/10099 Primary

  the directional field being used for pinpointing the location of the record carrier, e.g. for finding or locating an RFID tag amongst a plurality of RFID tags, each RFID tag being associated with an object, e.g. for physically locating the RFID tagged object in a warehouse · CPC title

• H04B17/318 Primary

  Received signal strength · CPC title

• G06K7/10188

  the repeating consisting of intelligently propagating data from record carriers via intermediate stations to the interrogation device, e.g. a distant RFID or RFID falling in a "shadow" region sending its identification data to an interrogation device using at least the help of one further RFID that is positioned in a region "visible" to the interrogation device, the further RFID therefore functioning as a relay station · CPC title

• G06K7/10356

  using a plurality of antennas, e.g. configurations including means to resolve interference between the plurality of antennas · CPC title

• H04W4/029 Primary

  Location-based management or tracking services · CPC title