RFID system and method for tracking individual articles
View Patent ↗A RFID related system and method for tracking articles that are not individually labeled with RFID tags. A transporter with an RFID reader identifies a carrier with an RFID tag as it is disposed onto the transporter. The location and/or number of the disassociated articles, once removed or otherwise disassociated with the carrier are transmitted to a computer on the transporter. Tagged carriers that continue to have articles associated therewith are removed from the transporter and placed back into storage. The computer may transmit data regarding the carrier and articles to a database.
1. A computer-implemented method for determining the location of an article within a defined environment, said computer-implemented method comprising the steps of:
providing a transporter comprising a mobile platform and a data tag reader adapted to interrogate a tagged carrier, the data tag reader interfaced to a computer;
disposing a tagged carrier onto the transporter, the tagged carrier associated with at least one non-tagged article;
disassociating at least one non-tagged article from the tagged carrier and communicating said dissociation to the computer, wherein said dissociation is verified by a confirmation sensor.
2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising the step of communicating the step of disposing the tagged carrier onto the transporter to the computer.
3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 further comprising the step of transmitting the occurrence of disposing the tagged carrier onto the transporter to a database.
4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of:
removing the tagged carrier from the transporter; and
communicating the step of removing the tagged carrier to the computer.
5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4 further comprising the step of transmitting the occurrence of removing the tagged carrier from the transporter to a database.
6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 further comprising the step of transmitting the location of the tagged carrier to a database after removing the tagged carrier from the transporter.
7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the step of communicating said dissociation is manual.
8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further including the step of disposing the non-tagged article to a storage space after disassociating the at least one non-tagged article from the tagged carrier.
9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 wherein the storage space is a retail store.
10. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 further including the step of transmitting the location of the at least one non-tagged article to a database.
11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further including the step of interrogating the tagged carrier with the data tag reader and transmitting information about the carrier to the computer.
12. A computer-implemented method for determining the location of an article within a retail system selling consumer products, said computer-implemented method comprising the steps of:
providing a transporter comprising a mobile platform and a data tag reader interfaced to a computer database;
disposing a tagged carrier onto the transporter, the tagged carrier associated with at least one non-tagged article;
interrogating the tagged carrier with the data tag reader and transmitting carrier data to the computer;
disassociating one of the at least one non-tagged articles from the tagged carrier and communicating said dissociation to the computer; and
communicating to the computer the location of all non-tagged articles disassociated from the transporter, wherein said communication step automatic.
13. The computer-implemented method of claim 12 further comprising: communicating the step of disposing a tagged carrier onto the transporter to the computer.
14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13 further comprising the step of transmitting the occurrence of disposing the tagged carrier onto the transporter to a database.
15. The computer-implemented method of claim 13 further comprising the steps of:
removing the tagged carrier from the transporter; and
communicating the removal of the tagged carrier to the computer.
16. A system for location of an article within a defined setting, the system comprising:
a transporter with compartments adapted to separate and carry RFID-tagged containers containing non-RFID-tagged articles;
a reader attached to the transporter for communicating electronic RFID data to a computer; at least one antenna configured to receive and transmit data for each compartment to the computer via the reader;
wherein the computer determines and transmits data regarding the location of the non-RFID-tagged articles and the tagged containers, and disassociation of the non-RFID-tagged articles from the tagged containers, to a database; and
a confirmation sensor for verifying the disassociation.
17. The system of claim 16 wherein the transporter further comprises a load cell to weigh the RFID-tagged carriers.