Flexible wireless labels as printable reeled-media for tracking items across wide and local area networks

A wireless tracking label tape, with each individual label of the wireless tracking label tape comprising:

• a flexible substrate;
• an interconnect layer formed on the flexible substrate and patterned to electrically couple a plurality of electrical circuits including a Bluetooth RF communication processor, a 5G communication RF processor, and an RF communication circuit configured to generate tracking information;
• and
• a battery formed on the flexible substrate with a battery pouch having at least one layer formed by the interconnect layer, the battery configured to power the plurality of electrical circuits;
• a thermal paper layer printable in a thermal barcode printer;
• and
• wherein an individual tracking label supports, subsequent to printing of a label via the thermal barcode printer, providing tracking information 1) via Bluetooth communication when a Bluetooth gateway is available and 2) via a 5G communication protocol to provide tracking information when a Bluetooth gateway is unavailable;
• wherein the individual tracking label is configured to be provisioned by a transfer of network provisioning information from a smartphone or handheld scanner to a secure storage of the individual tracking label.

A wireless tracking label tape, with each individual label of the wireless tracking label tape comprising:

• a flexible substrate;
• an interconnect layer formed on the flexible substrate and patterned to electrically couple a plurality of electrical circuits including a Bluetooth RF communication processor, a 5G communication RF processor, and an RF communication circuit configured to generate tracking information;
• a battery formed on the flexible substrate with a battery pouch containing electrochemical components of the battery and forming a barrier impermeable to gases or moisture deleterious to battery lifetime, the battery pouch having at least one layer formed by the interconnect layer, the battery configured to power the plurality of electrical circuits;
• a thermal paper layer printable in thermal barcode printer;
• an antenna to harvest RF energy at a wake-up frequency generated by a mobile computing device to activate the wireless tracking label;
• the wireless tracking label configured to receive provisioning information from a mobile computing device, wherein the mobile computing device is a handheld scanner;
• and
• wherein an individual tracking label supports providing location tracking information 1) via Bluetooth communication when a Bluetooth gateway is available and 2) via a 5G communication protocol to provide location tracking information when a Bluetooth gateway is unavailable.

A wireless tracking label tape, with each individual label of the wireless tracking label tape comprising:

• a flexible substrate;
• an interconnect layer formed on the flexible substrate and patterned to electrically couple a plurality of electrical circuits including a Bluetooth RF communication processor, a 5G communication RF processor, and an RF communication circuit configured to generate tracking information;
• a battery formed on the flexible substrate with a battery pouch having at least one layer formed by the interconnect layer, the battery configured to power the plurality of electrical circuits, the battery providing a nominal 3V output and 6V output;
• wherein the battery pouch contains electrochemical components of the battery to form a barrier impermeable to gases or moisture deleterious to battery lifetime for electrolyte chemicals including at least one member from the group consisting of ZnSO4, ZnCl2, MnSO4, and AlCl4;
• a voltage control circuit to switch the applied voltage to the 5G process and to regulate the voltage to the 5G communication RF processor;
• a thermal paper layer printable in a thermal barcode printer;
• and
• wherein an individual label supports, subsequent to printing of a label via a thermal barcode printer, providing tracking information 1) via Bluetooth communication when a Bluetooth gateway is available and 2) via a 5G communication protocol to provide tracking information when a Bluetooth gateway is unavailable.

A method of generating shipping information, comprising:

• tracking shipping labels thermally printed on a flexible wireless tape in which each label has a flexible substrate, an interconnect layer formed on the flexible substrate and patterned to electrically couple a plurality of electrical circuits including a Bluetooth RF communication processor, a 5G communication RF processor, and an RF communication circuit configured to generate tracking information, and a battery formed on the flexible substrate with a battery pouch having at least one layer formed by the interconnect layer configured to power the plurality of electrical circuits;
• the tracking of shipping labels including receiving tracking ID information from fixed Bluetooth gateways and from 5G signals from 5G cells including 5G cell tower location data;
• and
• generating logistical information to display at least one of split shipment information exception handling, variance data, arrival/departure data, and an inventory audit.

A wireless tracking label tape, with each individual wireless tracking label of the wireless tracking label tape comprising:

• a flexible substrate;
• an interconnect layer formed on the flexible substrate and patterned to electrically couple a plurality of electrical circuits including a Bluetooth RF communication processor, a cellular communication RF processor, and a cellular RF communication circuit;
• and
• a battery formed on the flexible substrate with a battery pouch containing electrochemical components of the battery and forming a barrier impermeable to gases or moisture deleterious to battery lifetime, the battery pouch having at least one layer formed by the interconnect layer, the battery configured to power the plurality of electrical circuits;
• a thermal paper layer printable in thermal barcode printer;
• a resonant circuit, including an antenna, to harvest RF energy at a wake-up frequency generated by the thermal barcode printer to activate the wireless tracking label during printing by the thermal barcode printer;
• and
• wherein an individual wireless tracking label supports, subsequent to printing of a label via the thermal barcode printer, providing location tracking information 1) via Bluetooth communication when a Bluetooth gateway is available based on detecting the presence of the Bluetooth gateway proximate the individual wireless tracking label and 2) when a Bluetooth gateway is unavailable detecting proximity of the individual wireless tracking label to at least one cell tower.

A method of generating shipping information, comprising:

• tracking shipping labels thermally printed on a flexible wireless tracking label tape in which each wireless tracking label has a flexible substrate, an interconnect layer formed on the flexible substrate and patterned to electrically couple a plurality of electrical circuits including a Bluetooth RF communication processor, a cellular communication RF processor, and an RF communication circuit, and a battery formed on the flexible substrate with a battery pouch having at least one layer formed by the interconnect layer configured to power the plurality of electrical circuits;
• the tracking of shipping labels including receiving tracking ID information from fixed Bluetooth gateways and from cell tower location data, wherein location tracking information is provided 1) via Bluetooth communication when a Bluetooth gateway is available based on detecting the presence of the Bluetooth gateway proximate the individual wireless tracking label and 2) when a Bluetooth gateway is unavailable detecting proximity of the individual wireless tracking label to at least one cell tower;
• and
• generating logistical information to display at least one of split shipment information exception handling, variance data, arrival/departure data, and an inventory audit.