Intelligent tracking system and methods and systems therefor

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11751012-B2
Application number	US-202117244314-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 29, 2021
Priority date	Jun 1, 2018
Publication date	Sep 5, 2023
Grant date	Sep 5, 2023

Abstract

An intelligent tracking system generally includes one or more tracking devices, some of which may be passive tracking devices. Each passive tracking device includes one or more transceivers and is energized by an energizing signal. Some of these passive tracking devices may operate in a first communication mode or a second communication mode based on the energizing signal. Some tracking devices may include encryption modules or authentication modules. Some of these devices may incorporate a bulk acoustic wave oscillator.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A tracking system comprising an aggregator device, the aggregator device including:
a short distance communication unit that communicates with other devices using one or more short range communication protocols; and
a processor configured to executes executable instructions that cause the processor to:
broadcast, via the short distance communication unit, energizing signals to tracking devices in a read range of the aggregator device, wherein the energizing signals energize the tracking devices and, in response to the energizing, trigger the tracking devices to broadcast tracking messages;
receive, via the short distance communication unit, a first response signal from a first tracking device of the tracking devices and a second response signal from a second tracking device of the tracking devices;
receive first range and bearing data for the first tracking device based on the first response signal;
receive second range and bearing data for the second tracking device of the tracking devices;
receive image data identifying a first trackable item and a second trackable item; and
disambiguate the first trackable item and the second trackable item based on the first range and bearing data and the second range and bearing data, such that the first tracking data is associated with the first trackable item and the second tracking data is associated with the second trackable item based on the disambiguation.

2. The tracking system of claim 1 , wherein the aggregator further comprises a camera, wherein the executable instructions further cause the processor to identify the image data from a plurality of image frames captured by the camera based on the first range and bearing data and the second range and bearing data.

3. The tracking system of claim 2 , wherein the executable instructions further cause the processor to classify theft first trackable item in the image data using an image classifier trained to identify trackable items.

4. The tracking system of claim 1 , wherein the executable instructions cause the processor to:
classify a third trackable item in the image data using an image classifier trained to identify trackable items; and
determine that a third tracking device of the tracking devices is unreadable in response to classifying the trackable item and not receiving a response signal from the third tracking device.

5. The tracking system of claim 1 , wherein the short distance communication unit is configured to:
receive the first response signal at a first radio frequency (RF) antenna of a multiple-output-multiple-input (MOMI) communication device and a third response signal at a second RF antenna of the MOMI communication device from the first tracking device; and
output the first range and bearing data to the processor based on the first response signal and the second response signal.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the short distance communication unit is configured to:
receive an energizing command from the processor; and
modulate an energizing signal between the first RF antenna and the second RF antenna to any of the tracking devices in a read range of the aggregator device.

7. The tracking system of claim 1 , wherein the aggregator device further includes a set of one or more environmental sensors that respectively output sensor data, and the executable instructions further cause the processor to:
receive the sensor data;
classify an existence of an environmental incident based on the sensor data and a machine learned model;
in response to classifying the environmental incident, generate an environmental incident record; and
report the environmental incident to a backend server system.

8. The tracking system of claim 1 , wherein the aggregator device further includes a camera configured to capture the image data, wherein the executable instructions further cause the processor to classify a visual indicia affixed to the first trackable item in one or more frames of the image data using an image classifier trained to identify trackable items and visual indicia.

9. The tracking system of claim 8 , wherein the executable instructions further cause the processor to:
scan the visual indicia; and
decode the visual indicia to obtain a value indicative of tracking information of the first trackable item.

10. The tracking system of claim 1 , wherein the executable instructions further cause the processor to:
identify visual indicia for a third trackable item in the image data using an image classifier trained to identify trackable items and visual indicia;
decode the visual indicia to obtain a value indicative of tracking information of the third trackable item; and
determine that a third tracking device of the tracking devices is missing, damaged, or otherwise unreadable in response to not receiving a tracking message that corresponds to the value decoded from the visual indicia.

11. The tracking system of claim 1 , further comprising the first tracking device and the second tracking device.

12. The system of claim 11 , further comprising the first trackable item and the second trackable item.

13. A method comprising:
broadcasting, via at least one short distance communication unit associated with an aggregator device, energizing signals to tracking devices in a read range of the aggregator device, wherein the energizing signals energize the tracking devices and, in response to the energizing, trigger the tracking devices to broadcast tracking messages;
receiving, via the short distance communication unit, a first response signal from a first tracking device of the tracking devices and a second response signal from a second tracking device of the tracking devices;
receiving first range and bearing data for the first tracking device based on the first response signal;
receiving second range and bearing data for the second tracking device of the tracking devices;
receiving image data identifying a first trackable item and a second trackable item; and
disambiguating the first trackable item and the second trackable item based on the first range and bearing data and the second range and bearing data, such that the first tracking data is associated with the first trackable item and the second tracking data is associated with the second trackable item based on the disambiguation.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising identifying the image data from a plurality of image frames captured by a camera based on the first range and bearing data and the second range and bearing data.

15. The method of claim 13 , further comprising classifying the first trackable item in the image data using an image classifier trained to identify trackable items.

16. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
classifying a third trackable item in the image data using an image classifier trained to identify trackable items; and
determining that a third tracking device of the tracking devices is unreadable in response to classifying the trackable item and not receiving a response signal from the third tracking device.

17. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
receiving the first response signal at a first radio frequency (RF) antenna of a multiple-output-multiple-input (MOMI) communication device and a third response signal at a second RF antenna of the MOMI communication device from the first tracking device; and
deriving the first range and bearing data to the processor based on the first response signal and the second response signal.

18. The method of claim 17 , further comprising m

Assignees

• X Dev Llc

Inventors

• Kawaguchi Dean Mamoru
• Vidal Alberto
• Boling Edward John
• Panchalan Prasad
• Farrell Edward Maurice

Classifications

• G06Q10/08

  Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management · CPC title

• H04B1/0458 Primary

  Arrangements for matching and coupling between power amplifier and antenna or between amplifying stages (matching circuits in general H03H) · CPC title

• H04B1/401

  for selecting or indicating operating mode · CPC title

• H04W4/025 Primary

  using location based information parameters · CPC title

• H04W4/029

  Location-based management or tracking services · CPC title