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US 11,082,807 B2Granted
Hardware system for active RFID identification and location tracking
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsCharles Theurer, Brandon Good, Shaopeng Liu
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Systems and methods for facilitating proximity detection and location tracking using a hub or bridge are disclosed. An example apparatus is to receive a message from a beacon at a second location within a proximity area of the apparatus, the message indicative of the second location and identifying the beacon; and relay the message to a location server to determine asset location.
Claims22
A location hub apparatus arranged at a first location, the apparatus comprising:
- memory including instructions to be executed;
- a communication interface to receive and transmit via at least a first communication technology and a second communication technology;
- at least one processor to execute the instructions to at least:
- receive, via a first communication technology, a message from a beacon at a second location within a proximity area of the apparatus, the message indicative of the second location and identifying the beacon;
- and
- relay, via a second communication technology, the message to a location server to determine asset location, wherein the second communication technology is different from the first communication technology;
- and
- a power source drawing external power for the memory, the communication interface, and the at least one processor.
5 more elements
A system comprising:
- a hub module communicatively coupled to a wireless receiver, a wireless transmitter, and an external power source;
- and
- a beacon tag including a wireless transmitter, the wireless transmitter configured to broadcast at least one wireless message, the at least one wireless message being broadcast using a first wireless protocol,
- wherein the hub module is configured to receive the at least one wireless message through the wireless receiver, determine a proximity of a beacon tag to the hub module by comparing a received signal strength indication to a threshold associated with a proximity area, and discard the at least one wireless message when the received signal strength indication is less than the threshold.
1 more element
A location hub apparatus arranged at a first location, the location hub apparatus comprising:
- memory including instructions to be executed;
- a communication interface to receive and transmit data via at least a first communication technology and a second communication technology;
- at least one processor to execute the instructions to at least:
- receive, via the first communication technology, a message from a beacon at a second location within a proximity area of the location hub apparatus, the message indicative of the second location and identifying the beacon;
- determine a proximity of the beacon to the location hub apparatus by comparing a received signal strength indication to a threshold associated with the proximity area, and discard the message when the received signal strength indication is less than the threshold;
- and
- relay, via a second communication technology, the message to a location server to determine asset location when the received signal strength indication is equal to or greater than the threshold.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.