Systems and methods for estimation of a population of passive RFID sensors
AssigneeMojix, Inc.
InventorRamin Sadr
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Systems and methods for providing an estimate of a population of passive Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) sensors in a coverage area of an RFID reader system are disclosed. In accordance with embodiments of this invention, the contention resolutions or results of each slot in an interrogation receive frame are determined. The contention resolutions are then used to determine the probabilities of different population estimates. A population estimate is then selected as the population based on the probability of the estimate meeting predetermined criteria.
Claims17
A method for estimating a population of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) sensors in an area based upon responses during an interrogation frame processed by a processing system in a transceiver system receiving the responses comprising:
- receiving responses from RFID sensors during a plurality of time slots of a receiving frame;
- determining a contention resolution of each of the plurality of time slots;
- determining a probability state for each of a plurality of population estimates based upon the contention resolution for each of the plurality of time slots;
- where the probability state of a population estimate is a confidence in the population estimate based upon the contention resolution observed in the plurality of time slots of a particular receiving frame;
- estimating a probability for each of the plurality of population estimates based on the probability state;
- selecting one of the plurality of population estimates as a population based upon the estimated probability of the selected one of the plurality of population estimates meeting a predetermined criteria.
A device for providing an estimate of a population of passive Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) sensors in a coverage area of a RFID reader system comprising:
- a memory;
- and
- a processor configured via one or more applications stored in the memory to:
- receive responses from RFID sensors during a plurality of time slots of a receiving frame,
- determine a contention resolution of each of the plurality of time slots where the probability state of a population estimate is a confidence in the population estimate based upon the contention resolution observed in the plurality of time slots of a particular receiving frame;
- determine a probability state for each of a plurality of population estimates based upon the contention resolutions of the plurality of time slots,
- estimate a probability for each of the plurality of population estimates based on the probability state for each of the plurality of population estimates, and
- select one of the plurality of population estimates as a population based upon the estimated probability of the selected one of the plurality of population estimates meeting a predetermined criteria.
A non-transitory machine readable medium containing processor instructions, where execution of the instructions by a processor causes the processor to perform a process for estimating a population of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) sensors in an area based upon responses during an interrogation frame processed by a processing system in a transceiver system receiving the responses comprising:
- receiving responses from RFID sensors during a plurality of time slots of a receiving frame;
- determining a contention resolution of each of the plurality of time slots;
- determining a probability state for each of a plurality of population estimates based upon the contention resolution for each of the plurality of time slots;
- where the probability state of a population estimate is a confidence in the population estimate based upon the contention resolution observed in the plurality of time slots of a particular receiving frame;
- estimating a probability for each of the plurality of population estimates based on the probability state;
- selecting one of the plurality of population estimates as a population based upon the estimated probability of the selected one of the plurality of population estimates meeting a predetermined criteria.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.