# US 12,000,947 B2 · Tracking system with mobile reader > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 12,000,947 B2 - Document ID: US12000947B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 17/576,029 - Filed: 2022-01-14 - Published: 2022-05-05 - Granted: 2024-06-04 - Earliest claimed: 2013-12-13 - Assignees: Position Imaging, Inc. - Applicants: Position Imaging, Inc. - Inventors: Edward L. Hill; Harry Lee Deffebach, III - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12000947B2 ## CPC - G01S 5/06: Position of source determined by co-ordinating a plurality of position lines defined by path-difference measurements (G01S5/12 takes precedence) - G01S 5/02: using radio waves (using satellite radio beacon systems for determining position G01S19/00) - G01S 5/0221: {Receivers} - G01S 5/0268: {by deriving positions from different combinations of signals or of estimated positions in a single positioning system} - G01S 5/0294: {Trajectory determination or predictive filtering, e.g. target tracking or Kalman filtering} - G01S 5/04: Position of source determined by a plurality of spaced direction-finders - G01S 5/12: by co-ordinating position lines of different shape, e.g. hyperbolic, circular, elliptical or radial - G01S 7/006: {using shared front-end circuitry, e.g. antennas (G01S13/765, G01S13/825 take precedence)} - G01S 13/765: {with exchange of information between interrogator and responder} - G01S 13/867: {Combination of radar systems with cameras} - G06K 7/10: by electromagnetic radiation, e.g. optical sensing; by corpuscular radiation - G06K 7/10366: {the interrogation device being adapted for miscellaneous applications} - G06K 7/10376: {the interrogation device being adapted for being moveable} - G06K 17/0029: {the arrangement being specially adapted for wireless interrogation of grouped or bundled articles tagged with wireless record carriers} - G06Q 10/08: Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management - G06Q 30/0639: {Locating goods or services, e.g. based on physical position of the goods or services within a shopping facility} - G08B 13/2462: {Asset location systems combined with EAS (inventory, tracking, logistic G06Q10/00; entrance control systems G07C9/00)} - H04W 4/029: Location-based management or tracking services - H04W 4/80: Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication - G01S 2205/01: specially adapted for specific applications - G08B 21/0275: {Electronic Article Surveillance [EAS] tag technology used for parent or child unit, e.g. same transmission technology, magnetic tag, RF tag, RFID} - G01S: RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES - G06K: GRAPHICAL DATA READING (image or video recognition or understanding G06V); PRESENTATION OF DATA; RECORD CARRIERS; HANDLING RECORD CARRIERS - G06Q: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR - G08B: SIGNALLING SYSTEMS, e.g. PERSONAL CALLING SYSTEMS; ORDER TELEGRAPHS; ALARM SYSTEMS - H04W: WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS (broadcast communication H04H; communication systems using wireless links for non-selective communication, e.g. wireless extensions H04M1/72) ## Abstract A method of associating data with a physical location comprises receiving, by at least two receiver antennae, a radiofrequency (RF) signal transmitted by a mobile device, the RF signal conveying data collected by the mobile device from an external source; calculating, for each of the at least two receiver antennae, a phase of the RF signal received by each receiver antennae; calculating, based on the calculated phases, a physical location from where the mobile device transmitted the RF signal; and associating the data conveyed by the RF signal and the external source from which the data were collected with the calculated physical location from where the mobile device transmitted the RF signal. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method of associating data with a physical location, the method comprising the steps of: moving a mobile device to a physical location where an object is positioned; receiving, by at least two receiver antennae, a radiofrequency (RF) signal transmitted by the mobile device, the RF signal conveying data collected by the mobile device from an external source, the data transmitted by the mobile device including positional data regarding the position of the object at the location; calculating, for each of the at least two receiver antennae, a phase of the RF signal received by each receiver antennae; calculating, based on the calculated phases, the physical location from where the mobile device transmitted the RF signal; and associating the data conveyed by the RF signal and the external source from which the data were collected with the calculated physical location from where the mobile device collected the data and transmitted the RF signal conveying the data. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the step of calculating, based on the calculated phases, a physical location from where the mobile device transmitted the RF signal comprises the step of: calculating for each of the at least two receiver antennae an angle of arrival of the RF signal based on phase differences between the calculated phases of the at least two receiver antennae and on known locations of the at least two receiver antennae. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, the method further comprising the step of: identifying the external source from the data conveyed by the RF signal. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The method of claim 3, further comprising the step of: transmitting to the mobile device an RF signal indicating whether the calculated physical location associated with the identified external source matches an expected physical location for the identified external source. ### Claim 5 (depends on 4) The method of claim 4, further comprising the step of: transmitting to the mobile device an RF signal indicating whether the identified external source associated with the calculated physical location matches an expected item associated with that calculated physical location. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile device collects the data from the external source in response to a scanning operation performed by the mobile device. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the external source is physically attached to or embedded in an item at the physical location. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the external source includes a transponder tag that is activated by an activating signal wirelessly transmitted by the mobile device, and wherein the data is collected by the mobile device in response to the activating signal. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: scanning, by the mobile device, the external source to acquire the data from the external source. ### Claim 10 A method of associating data with a physical location, the method comprising the steps of: moving a mobile device to a physical location where an object is positioned; receiving, by at least two receiver antennae, a radiofrequency (RF) signal transmitted by the mobile device, the RF signal conveying data collected by the mobile device from an external source, the data transmitted by the mobile device including positional data regarding the position of the object at the location; calculating, for each of the at least two receiver antennae, timing information of the RF signal received by each of the at least two receiver antennae; calculating, based on the calculated timing information, a distance from the physical location where the mobile device transmitted the RF signal to the at least two receiver antennae; and associating the data conveyed by the RF signal and the external source from which the data were collected with a physical location from where the mobile device collects the data and transmits the RF signal conveying the data. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The method of claim 10, wherein the step of calculating the timing information of the RF signal includes calculating for each of the at least two receiver antennae an angle of arrival of the RF signal based on phase differences between the calculated timing information of the at least two receiver antennae and on known locations of the at least two receiver antennae. ### Claim 12 (depends on 10) The method of claim 10, the method further comprising the step of: identifying the external source from the data conveyed by the RF signal. ### Claim 13 (depends on 10) The method of claim 10, wherein the mobile device collects the data from the external source in response to a scanning operation performed by the mobile device. ### Claim 14 (depends on 10) The method of claim 10, wherein the external source is physically attached to or embedded in an item at the physical location. ### Claim 15 (depends on 10) The method of claim 10, wherein the external source includes a transponder tag that is activated by a signal wirelessly transmitted by the mobile device and that the data is collected by the mobile device in response to the activating signal. ### Claim 16 (depends on 10) The method of claim 10, further comprising: scanning, by the mobile device, the external source to acquire the data from the external source. ### Claim 17 A system for associating data with a physical location, comprising: at least two receiver antennae that receive a radiofrequency (RF) signal transmitted by a mobile device at a physical location where an object is positioned, the RF signal conveying data collected by the mobile device from an external source, the data transmitted by the mobile device including positional data regarding the position of the object at the location; and a special-purpose processor that calculates, for each of the at least two receiver antennae, a phase of the RF signal received by each receiver antennae, calculates, based on the calculated phases, the physical location from where the mobile device transmitted the RF signal, and associates the data conveyed by the RF signal and the external source from which the data were collected with the calculated physical location from where the mobile device collected the data and transmitted the RF signal conveying the data. ### Claim 18 (depends on 17) The system of claim 17, wherein the special-purpose processor calculates for each of the at least two receiver antennae an angle of arrival of the RF signal based on phase differences between the calculated phases of the at least two receiver antennae and on known locations of the at least two receiver antennae. ### Claim 19 (depends on 17) The system of claim 17, wherein the special-purpose processor identifies the external source from the data conveyed by the RF signal. ### Claim 20 (depends on 17) The system of claim 17, further comprising the external source, the external source including a transponder tag that is activated by an activating signal wirelessly transmitted by the mobile device and that the data is collected by the mobile device in response to the activating signal. ### Claim 21 A method of associating data with a physical location, the method comprising the steps of: moving a mobile device to a physical location where an object is positioned; receiving, by at least two receiver antennae, a radiofrequency (RF) signal transmitted by the mobile device, the RF signal conveying data collected by the mobile device from an external source, the data transmitted by the mobile device including signal strength data for determining the position of the object at the location; measuring, at each of the at least two receiver antennae, the signal strength data received by each receiver antennae; calculating, from the signal strength data as measured at the receiver, a distance between the mobile device and each of the at least two receiver antennae; calculating, based on the calculated distances, the physical location from where the mobile device transmitted the RF signal; and associating the data conveyed by the RF signal and the external source from which the data were collected with the calculated physical location from where the mobile device collected the data and transmitted the RF signal conveying the data.