CPC G06K 7/10099 (2013.01) [G01S 13/46 (2013.01); G06K 7/10376 (2013.01)] | 18 Claims |
1. A system for determining directionality of a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag within a venue, the system comprising:
a first RFID transceiver arrangement configured to interrogate RFID tags disposed within a lane of a venue, wherein the first RFID transceiver arrangement is configured to have a signal range that extends over at least a first portion of the lane;
a second RFID transceiver arrangement configured to interrogate RFID tags disposed within the venue, wherein the second RFID transceiver arrangement is configured to generate a beam in a plurality of directions relative to the second RFID transceiver arrangement, wherein at least one of the directions extends over at least a second portion of the lane, the second portion of the lane being proximate to the first portion of the lane;
a third RFID transceiver arrangement configured to interrogate RFID tags disposed within a second lane of the venue, wherein the third RFID transceiver arrangement is configured to have a signal range that extends over at least a first portion of the second lane, wherein at least one of the directions for the beams generated by the second transceiver arrangement extends over at least a second portion of the second lane, the second portion of the second lane being proximate to the first portion of the second lane; and
a controller operatively connected to the first RFID transceiver arrangement the second RFID transceiver arrangement, and the third RFID transceiver arrangement, wherein the controller is configured to:
detect, via the first RFID transceiver arrangement, a first plurality of read events respectively corresponding to a first set of RFID tags;
detect, via the second RFID transceiver arrangement, a second plurality of read events respectively corresponding to a second set of RFID tags, wherein the second plurality of read events occurred within a threshold time from the first plurality of read events;
determine that a particular RFID tag is included in both the first set of RFID tags and the second set of RFID tags;
based upon the read events for the particular RFID tag detected via the second RFID transceiver arrangement, determine a direction of travel for the particular RFID tag; and
associate the determined direction of travel with RFID tags included in the first set of RFID tags.
|