Methods and systems of dual-domain based tag location detection in an inventory environment

An inventory system, comprising:

• a reader device configured to:
• transmit interrogation signals to a reference tag and an active tag, wherein the reference tag comprises a light-emitting diode (LED);
• receive, from the active tag, a response signal carrying tag data;
• transmit the tag data and signal metadata describing the response signal to an inventory management system;
• transmit an instruction to a camera to capture an image depicting the LED on the reference tag when the LED is activated;
• and
• transmit a further instruction to the camera to capture a further image depicting the LED on the reference tag when the LED is activated;
• the camera configured to:
• transmit the image and image metadata describing the image to the inventory management system;
• and
• transmit the further image and further image metadata describing the further image to the inventory management system;
• and
• the inventory management system comprising:
• a memory;
• and
• a management application stored on the memory, which when executed by a processor of the inventory management system, causes the management application to:
• determine an active tag location of the active tag based on the response signal, the signal metadata, the image, and the image metadata;
• confirm that a reference tag location of the reference tag has remained constant based on the further image, the further image metadata, and camera parameters of the camera;
• modify the active tag location of the active tag based on the response signal and the signal metadata, in response to confirming the reference tag location of the reference tag, to determine an updated active tag location for comparison with an expected variance;
• determine a current variance between the reference tag location of the reference tag and the updated active tag location of the active tag, wherein the current variance is a first vector indicative of a first difference between the reference tag location and the updated active tag location;
• compare the current variance between the reference tag location and the updated active tag location with the expected variance between the reference tag location and a prior active tag location, wherein the expected variance is a second vector indicative of a second difference between the reference tag location and an expected active tag location of the active tag;
• and
• update location data of the active tag to be the updated active tag location when the current variance deviates from the expected variance by more than a threshold.

A method, comprising:

• determining, by an application executing at a computer system in an inventory management system, an active tag location of an active tag based on a first response signal received from the active tag, first signal metadata associated with the first response signal, and a first image depicting a light-emitting diode (LED) on a reference tag;
• receiving, by the application, a second response signal from the active tag and second signal metadata associated with the second response signal;
• instructing, by the application, a camera to capture a second image depicting the reference tag when the LED on the reference tag is activated when the second signal metadata associated with the second response signal is different from the first signal metadata associated with the first response signal received from the active tag;
• receiving, by the application, the second image depicting the LED on the reference tag;
• confirming, by the application, that a reference tag location of the reference tag has remained constant based on the second image and camera parameters of the camera;
• modifying, by the application, the active tag location of the active tag based on the second response signal and the second signal metadata in response to confirming the reference tag location of the reference tag, to determine an updated active tag location for comparison with an expected variance;
• determining, by the application, a current variance between the reference tag location of the reference tag and the updated active tag location, wherein the current variance is a first vector indicative of a first difference between the reference tag location and the updated active tag location;
• comparing, by the application, the current variance between the reference tag location and the updated active tag location with the expected variance between the reference tag location and a prior active tag location, wherein the expected variance is a second vector indicative of a second difference between the reference tag location and an expected active tag location of the active tag;
• and
• performing, by the application, a corrective action when the current variance deviates from the expected variance beyond a threshold based on a rule, wherein the corrective action comprises at least one of modifying the expected variance based on the updated active tag location or modifying the updated active tag location based on the expected variance.