Merchandise event monitoring via wireless tracking

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9916556-B2
Application number	US-201615096928-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 12, 2016
Priority date	Mar 15, 2013
Publication date	Mar 13, 2018
Grant date	Mar 13, 2018

Abstract

Item movement is determined via wireless tracking using RFID data from at least one RFID reader. The RFID data associates RFID tag information with each antenna of the RFID reader that receives the tag information. At least one processer is configured to identify a first appearance of unique tag information in the RFID data. Items may be grouped when their first appearance in RFID data and their antenna association indicates that they first appear in a location within a predetermined amount of time, as indicated by RFID data, and/or when they have all moved from a previous location within a predetermined amount of time, as indicated by different RFID data. A group designation comprises the relevant unique tag information, which may be stored in memory along with a time stamp.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for monitoring movement of two or more items within a facility via wireless tracking, the method comprising:
determining movement of a first RFID tag in response to detecting the first RFID tag in a first read zone defined by a first antenna of an RFID reader and subsequently detecting the first RFID tag in a second read zone defined by a second antenna of the RFID reader;
detecting a second RFID tag in the second read zone within a first time period of detecting the first RFID tag in the second read zone;
determining whether the second RFID tag was previously detected in the first read zone in response to detection of the second RFID tag in the second read zone within the first time period;
in response to determining that the second RFID tag was previously detected in the first read zone, forming a group including the first RFID tag information associated with the first RFID tag and second RFID tag information associated with the second RFID tag; and
tracking movement of the group,
identifying, by the processor, an appearance of the first RFID tag information in a third set of RFID data associated with a third read zone;
identifying, by the processor, an appearance of the second RFID tag information in a fourth set of RFID data associated with a fourth read zone;
checking, by the processor, for an appearance of the first RFID tag information in the fourth set of RFID data;
checking, by the processor, for an appearance of the second RFID tag information in the third set of RFID data;
determining non-appearance of the second RFID tag information in the third set of RFID data and non-appearance of the first RFID tag information in the fourth set of RFID data for a first quantity of time; and
terminating the group,
wherein the first RFID tag is detected in the first read zone based on identifying the first RFID tag information in a first set of RFID data received by a processing device in communication with the RFID reader and the first RFID tag is detected in the second read zone based on identifying the first RFID tag information in a second set of RFID data received by a processing device in communication with the RFID reader; and
wherein the second RFID tag is detected in the first read zone based on identifying the second RFID tag information in the first set of RFID data received by the processing device in communication with the RFID reader and the second RFID tag is detected in the second read zone based on identifying the second RFID tag information in the second set of RFID data received by the processing device in communication with the RFID reader.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining non-movement of the first RFID tag and the second RFID tag in response to detecting that the first RFID tag and the second RFID tag remain in the second read zone for a second time period; and
in response to determining non-movement of the first RFID tag and the second RFID tag, terminating the group.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining movement of the first RFID tag and the second RFID tag in response to failing to detect the first RFID tag and the second RFID tag in the second read zone after a second time period; and
in response to determining movement of the first RFID tag and the second RFID tag, terminating the group.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
filtering, by the processor, the first set of RFID data to eliminate shadow data.

5. A method for monitoring movement of two or more items within a facility via wireless tracking, the method comprising:
determining movement of a first RFID tag in response to detecting the first RFID tag in a first read zone defined by a first antenna of an RFID reader and subsequently detecting the first RFID tag in a second read zone defined by a second antenna of the RFID reader;
detecting a second RFID tag in the second read zone within a first time period of detecting the first RFID tag in the second read zone;
determining whether the second RFID tag was previously detected in the first read zone in response to detection of the second RFID tag in the second read zone within the first time period;
in response to determining that the second RFID tag was previously detected in the first read zone, forming a group including the first RFID tag information associated with the first RFID tag and second RFID tag information associated with the second RFID tag;
tracking movement of the group;
identifying, by the processor, an appearance of the first RFID tag information and an appearance of the second RFID tag information in a third set of RFID data received from a second RFID reader comprising at least one antenna, wherein the at least one antenna of the second RFID reader and the at least two antennas of the first RFID reader have non-overlapping read zones; and
checking whether the appearance of first RFID tag information in the third set of RFID data occurred within a first quantity time of the appearance of the second RFID tag information in the third set of RFID data;
checking whether the appearance of the first RFID tag information and the second RFID tag information in the third set of RFID data from the second RFID reader occurred within a second quantity of time of the appearances of the first RFID tag information or the second RFID tag information in the first set of RFID data from the first RFID reader; and
in response to determining that the appearances in the third set of RFID data occurred within the first quantity of time and the second quantity of time, determining that the group including first and second RFID tags moved,
wherein the first RFID tag is detected in the first read zone based on identifying the first RFID tag information in a first set of RFID data received by a processing device in communication with the RFID reader and the first RFID tag is detected in the second read zone based on identifying the first RFID tag information in a second set of RFID data received by a processing device in communication with the RFID reader; and
wherein the second RFID tag is detected in the first read zone based on identifying the second RFID tag information in the first set of RFID data received by the processing device in communication with the RFID reader and the second RFID tag is detected in the second read zone based on identifying the second RFID tag information in the second set of RFID data received by the processing device in communication with the RFID reader.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
calculating by the processor, a confidence score based on a comparison of the appearances of the first and second RFID tag information in the first set of RFID data and the second set of RFID data.

7. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
triggering, by the processor, an alert based on determining that the group including the first and second RFID tags has moved.

8. The method of claim 5 , wherein a plurality of groups including the group are formed to track the movement of a plurality of RFID tags including the first and second RFID tags through the facility, wherein the method further comprises:
analyzing, by the processor, at least one of formation or termination of one or more of the plurality of groups to identify a traffic flow pattern within the facility.

9. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
determining movement of the first RFID tag and the second RFID tag in response to failing to detect the first RFID tag and the second RFID tag in the second read zone after a second time period; and
in response to determining movement of the first RFID tag and the second RFID tag, terminating the group.

10. The method of claim 5

Assignees

• Wal Mart Stores Inc

Inventors

• Stiefel Thomas E
• Wilkinson Bruce W
• Jones Nicholaus Adam

Classifications

• G06K7/10475

  arrangements to facilitate interaction with further interrogation devices, e.g. such that at least two interrogation devices may function and cooperate in a network of such devices · CPC title

• G06Q10/08 Primary

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

• G06K7/10366

  the interrogation device being adapted for miscellaneous applications · CPC title

• G06Q10/087 Primary

  Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders · CPC title

• G06K2017/0045

  Physics · mapped topic