Intelligent shopping cart

A container for transporting at least one of a plurality of objects, each of said objects including at least one of a plurality of distinctive radio frequency tags, each radio frequency tag of said radio frequency tags having description information of a corresponding one of said objects, said container comprising:

• an object storage portion having sides;
• a base station, operatively connected to said object storage portion and having a transceiver, at least one antenna operatively connected to said transceiver, a computer, operatively connected to said transceiver, having a memory, said computer controlling said transceiver to create a radio frequency field within the object storage portion;
• a shield, connected to said sides, for preventing said radio frequency field from penetrating said sides of the container;
• a computer, connected to said computer and being controlled by the computer for causing the transceiver to periodically interrogate all of said radio frequency tags within the radio frequency field;
• and
• a data structure in the container memory, said data structure having entries, said data structure being periodically updated by the computer to include an entry of said entries for each object of said objects in the object storage portion.

A system in a store for selling objects, comprising:

• a store computer with a store memory having a store inventory of said objects;
• at least one container for transporting at least one of said objects, each of said objects including at least one of a plurality of distinctive radio frequency tags, each radio frequency tag of said radio frequency tags having description information of a corresponding one of said objects, said at least one container further comprising:
• a container base station having a container transceiver operatively connected to said container base station, a container antenna operatively connected to said container transceiver, and a container computer, operatively connected to said container transceiver, having a container memory, said container computer controlling said container transceiver and said container antenna to create a radio frequency field within the container;
• a computer, operatively connected to said container computer, said computer being controlled by the container computer to cause said container transceiver to periodically interrogate all of said radio frequency tags within the radio frequency field;
• and
• a data structure in the container memory having entries, said data structure being periodically updated by the computer to include an entry of said entries for each object of said objects in the container;
• a store transceiver, operatively connected to said store computer, for communicating with the container base station;
• at least one store antenna, operatively connected to said store transceiver, said store antenna receiving radio frequency status information signals from said container base station through the container antenna, the store transceiver being linked to the store computer such that the status information signals sent by the container base station update the store inventory in the store memory.

A system in a store for selling objects, comprising:

• a store computer with a store memory having store information about the objects;
• at least one container for transporting at least one of said objects, each of said objects including at least one of a plurality of distinctive radio frequency tags, each radio frequency tag of said radio frequency tags having description information of a corresponding one of said objects, said container further comprising:
• a container base station having a container transceiver operatively connected to said container base station a container antenna operatively connected to said container transceiver, and a container computer, operatively connected to said container transceiver, having a container memory, said container computer controlling said container transceiver and said container antenna to create a radio frequency field within the container;
• a computer, operatively connected to said container computer, said computer being controlled by the container computer to cause said container transceiver to periodically interrogate all of said radio frequency tags within the radio frequency field;
• and
• a memory, operatively connected to said computer, for storing accumulated information based on said description information
• a store transceiver, operatively connected to said store computer, for communicating with the container base station
• at least one store antenna, operatively connected to said store transceiver, said store antenna sending radio frequency store information signals to said container base station.

A system in a store for selling objects, comprising:

• a store computer with a store memory having store information about the objects;
• at least one container for transporting at least one of said objects, each of said objects including at least one of a plurality of distinctive radio frequency tags, each radio frequency tag of said radio frequency tags having description information of a corresponding one of said objects, said containers further comprising:
• a container base station having a container transceiver operatively connected to said container base station, a container antenna operatively connected to said container transceiver, and a container computer, operatively connected to said container transceiver, having a container memory, said container computer controlling said container transceiver and said container antenna to create a radio frequency field within the container;
• a computer, operatively connected to said container computer, said computer being controlled by the container computer to cause said container transceiver to periodically interrogate all of said radio frequency tags within the radio frequency field;
• and
• a data structure in the container memory having entries, said data structure being periodically updated by the computer to include an entry of said entries for each object of said objects in the container;
• and
• a store transceiver, operatively connected to said store computer, for communicating with the container base station
• at least one store antenna, operatively connected to said store transceiver, said store antenna sending radio frequency store information signals to said container base station.

A container for transporting at least one of a plurality of objects, each of said objects including at least one of a plurality of distinctive radio frequency identification means, each radio frequency identification means having description information of a corresponding one of said objects, said container comprising:

• means for receiving and transmitting radio frequency signals;
• means, connected to said receiving means, for creating a radio frequency field within the container;
• means, connected to said receiving means, for periodically interrogating all of said radio frequency identification means within the radio frequency field and accessing said description information from said radio frequency identification means;
• and
• means, connected to said interrogating means, for storing accumulated information based on said description information.

A method for determining descriptive information about objects in a container each of said objects including at least one of a plurality of distinctive radio frequency tags, each radio frequency tag of said radio frequency tags having said description information of a corresponding one of said objects, said method comprising steps of:

• creating a radio frequency field within the container;
• periodically sending an interrogation signal through said radio frequency field within the container;
• receiving said description information from all of said radio frequency tags within the radio frequency field;
• and
• storing said description information obtained in said receiving step.