RFID-based self-checkout systems using cycle counting

1. A radio frequency identification (RFID)-based self-checkout system using cycle counting, the system comprising:

a walk-way between a first wall and a second wall defining a walk through gate (WTG) for a checkout process in a retail store, the first wall including an entrance sensor disposed on an outer surface of the first wall at an entrance area of the WTG and an exit sensor disposed on an inner surface of the first wall at an exit area of the WTG;

an RFID reader disposed on the inner surface of the first wall to interrogate RFID tags within the WTG by using a plurality of antenna polls positioned on inner surfaces, outer surfaces, and side surfaces of the first and second walls;

an activation sequencer to determine an activation sequence of the plurality of antenna ports positioned on the inner surfaces of the first and second walls that have been enabled;

a collector to collect RFID tag responses from each of the RFID tags within the WTG; and

a matcher to match one or more of the RFID tag responses to a particular antenna port of the plurality of antenna ports in an activation cycle, and

indicator lamps disposed on top of the first wall and the second wall closer to the exit area to indicate whether the WTG is in-session for the cycle counting,

wherein all the received RFID tag responses from all of the plurality of antenna ports are considered to perform the cycle counting of the checkout process.

2. The RFID-based self-checkout system of claim 1 , wherein the RFID reader realizes simultaneous reception of a tag's response from multiple antenna ports of the plurality of antenna ports equipped with their own RF chains that are synchronized at a carrier level.

3. The RFID-based self-checkout system of claim 1 , wherein the cycle counting indicates knowing where a reading lies with respect to the activation sequence when the activation sequence is known.

4. The RFID-based self-checkout system of claim 1 , wherein the activation sequence is repeated in cycles.

5. The RFID-based self-checkout system of claim 4 , wherein interrogation in a given set of full cycles is used by the system to classify each of the RFID tags based on the RFID tag responses.

6. The RFID-based self-checkout system of claim 4 , wherein interrogation stops after detection of a given number of full cycles.

7. The RFID-based self-checkout system of claim 3 , wherein the activation cycle is a primal sequence defined as a sequence in which an antenna port is not repeated in one cycle.

8. The RFID-based self-checkout system of claim 7 , wherein the activation sequence in each cycle is a random permutation of the primal sequence.

9. The RFID-based self-checkout system of claim 1 , wherein the RFID tag responses are normalized by giving each of the plurality of antenna ports an equal opportunity in sampling their respective share of space.

10. The RFID-based self-checkout system of claim 1 , wherein simultaneous reception of an RFID tag response from multiple antenna ports of the plurality of antenna ports occurs and wherein a decoded RFID tag response by the plurality of antenna ports is used to associate the RFID tag response to the antenna port in the activation sequence.

11. The RFID-based self-checkout system of claim 1 , wherein the activation sequence and a number of cycles are controlled by the system.

12. The RFID-based self-checkout system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of antenna ports are enabled such that they have proportional fair opportunities in exciting the RFID tags that are in a read range of corresponding antenna ports.

13. The RFID-based self-checkout system of claim 1 , wherein beamforming is employed by using an antenna array and wherein an antenna port of the plurality of antenna ports is electrically connected to the antenna array using one or more beamforming coefficients.

14. A method for employing cycle counting for a radio frequency identification (RFID)-based self-checkout system, the method comprising:

providing a walk-way between a first wall and a second wall defining a walk through gate (WTG) for a checkout process in a retail store, the first wall including an entrance sensor disposed on an outer surface of the first wall at an entrance area of the WTG and an exit sensor disposed on an inner surface of the first wall at an exit area of the WTG;

interrogating, by an RFID reader disposed on the inner surface of the first wall, RFID tags within the WTG by using a plurality of antenna ports positioned on inner surfaces, outer surfaces, and side surfaces of the first and second walls;

determining, by an activation sequencer of the RFID-based self-checkout system, an activation sequence of the plurality of antenna polls positioned on inner surfaces of the first and second walls that have been enabled;

collecting, by a collector of the RFID-based self-checkout system, RFID tag responses from each of the RFID tags within the WTG; and

matching, by a matcher of the RFID-based self-checkout system, one or more of the RFID tag responses to a particular antenna port of the plurality of antenna ports in an activation cycle, and

activating, by the RFID-based self-checkout system, indicator lamps disposed on top of the first wall and the second wall closer to the exit area of the WTG, to indicate whether the WTG is in-session for cycle counting,

wherein all the received RFID tag responses from all of the plurality of antenna ports are considered to perform the cycle counting of the checkout process.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the activation sequence is repeated in cycles.

16. The method of claim 14 , wherein RFID reader realizes simultaneous reception of a tag's response from multiple antenna ports of the plurality of antenna ports equipped with their own RF chains that are synchronized at a carrier level.

17. The method of claim 14 , wherein the cycle counting indicates knowing where a reading lies with respect to the activation sequence when the activation sequence is known.

18. The method of claim 14 , wherein interrogation stops after detection of a given number of full cycles.

19. The method of claim 15 , wherein the activation cycle is a primal sequence defined as a sequence in which an antenna port is not repeated in one cycle.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein the RFID tag responses are normalized by giving each of the plurality of antenna ports an equal opportunity in sampling their respective share of space.