Amazon Technologies, Inc.

Camerin Cole Hahn

Somasundaram Niranjayan

Christopher Raymond Grajewski

Qicai Shi

Nikolai Orlov

Ronald Eugene Huebner

Nathan Pius O'Neill

Vinod L Hingorani

Matthew Perkins

Fabian Hensel

James Stephanick

John Clark Coonley Duksta

Elizabeth Ann Zitzer

Jeremy Samuel De Bonet

Nicholas Kristofer Gentry

Joseph W Chauvin

Liam S C Pingree

Benjamin Jozef Gyori

Jonathan Barak Flowers

Ian Beck Jordan

Ramsey P Gill

Patrick Ian McCleary

Philippe Desrosiers

Navigation beacons may be trained to receive signals of opportunity from one or more vehicles, to recognize their own position based on such signals, and to transmit information regarding their own position to one or more other vehicles accordingly. The navigation beacons may be of small size and feature a basic construction including one or more transceivers, power sources and the like, and may communicate via a Bluetooth&#xae; Low Energy, Ultra Wideband or long-range low-power wireless standard, or any other standard. The navigation beacons may be installed in any location, preferably being mounted to one or more existing fixed structures or facilities (e.g., transportation structures or facilities), and may operate in active and/or passive modes when learning their positions or servicing position information to one or more remote devices.

Organic navigational beacons

Autonomous ground vehicles equipped with one or more sensors may capture data regarding ground conditions at a location. The data may refer to or describe slopes, surface textures, terrain features, weather conditions, moisture contents or the like at the location, and may be used to select one or more areas for receiving a delivery of an item. The sensors may include one or more inclinometers, imaging devices or other systems. The autonomous ground vehicles may also engage in one or more direct interactions or communications with a delivery vehicle, and may select an appropriate area that is suitable for such interactions. The autonomous ground vehicles may also prepare the area for an arrival of a delivery vehicle, such as by making one or more visible markings in ground surfaces at the area.

Selecting delivery modes and delivery areas using autonomous ground vehicles

A portable device comprises a magnetometer for detecting a magnetic field. When the portable device is at or near a portal, the portable device may detect data from the portal, such as beacon data or a connection message. Responsive to the data from the portal, the portable device operates the magnetometer to detect and characterize a magnetic field generated by the portal, such as by characterizing the magnitude, polarity, and direction of the magnetic field. The portable device generates magnetometer data to indicate the magnetic field strength detected by the magnetometer. The magnetometer data is then transmitted to the portal, along with a device identifier. The portal compares the received magnetometer data to expected magnetic field data to determine presence of the portable device at the portal. The portable device is associated with an account, providing information about entry of a user of that account entering the portal.

System to determine portable device presence at a portal

Interaction data provides information about particular items that have been picked or placed from a particular fixture. A radio signal that conveys designation data indicative of a particular user is coupled to a body of the user. A smart floor tile may emit the radio signal that is electromagnetically coupled to the user and propagates along the user's body. As the hand of the user approaches the fixture, the radio signal is received using antennas at the fixture. When the user touches an item, the propagation pathway may improve, resulting in an increase in received signal strength. By using information about the radio signal and the known location of the antennas, information such as a position of a hand of the user or which item has been picked or placed may be determined.

System to detect user interaction with inventory

Sensors at an inventory location can be used to detect the occurrence of an event at the inventory location. For example, capacitive sensors can gather capacitance values, which can then be analyzed for changes that indicate an event has occurred at the inventory location. When an event has been detected, event data is generated and used as a possible trigger to collect additional sensor data. As an example, if an event involving items at an inventory location is detected, such an action can trigger the collection and analysis of additional sensor data, such as weight sensor data, to determine a quantity of the items added or removed from the inventory location.

System to detect event at an inventory location

A facility may include antennas directed to a known location and cameras with a field-of-view that encompasses the known location. The antennas acquire a device identifier and device data from a mobile device carried by a user at the known location. Antenna data is then generated to describe the data acquired by the antennas. Image data is also generated from the cameras to include images of a person at the known location. The antenna data and image data are then processed to determine estimated motion values and a comparison of such values is performed to check if such motion values are within a threshold of one another. If the motion values are within a threshold of each other, data indicative of presence of the mobile device at the known location is generated.

User identification system using directional antennas and cameras

A facility is equipped with floor tiles, each tile having several segments, each segment with an antenna. Each segment on a tile is associated with a particular timeslot. A transmitter at the tile transmits on a specific frequency. During the particular timeslot for that segment, a signal at the specific frequency is transmitted and radiated from the antenna for that segment. A user electromagnetically couples to one or more antennas of the tile, acting as a signal path for the signal. A receiver in a second tile detects the signal, and information about the frequency detected, timeslot for the signal, and relative signal strength is generated. Where the user has stepped from is determined using the information. By concatenating these steps, a path of the user may be determined. Receivers in shelves facilitate disambiguation of one user from another when interacting with items.

Electromagnetic user tracking system

A storage unit includes a support bar for hanging items and an RFID antenna provided within a predefined distance of the support bar. When the items hanging from the support bar are adorned with RFID tags, and the RFID antenna emits electromagnetic fields in a direction of the support bar, RFID signals identifying the items are transmitted from the RFID tags to the RFID antenna, thereby enabling a placement or a removal of an item to be automatically registered, or an accounting of the available items to be automatically performed. The RFID antenna may be a portion of a transmission line that uses shields and/or dielectric materials to shape the electromagnetic fields toward a predefined direction, and the locations of items bearing RFID tags on the support bar may be determined by varying the phase of the emitted radiofrequency and determining strengths of RFID signals when the electromagnetic fields are emitted at varying phases.

Inventory tracking using RFID

Tracking data of objects within a facility may be obtained using a plurality of smart floor tiles. Techniques for installation of the smart floor tiles allow for the generation of information about the relative arrangement of the smart floor tiles relative to one another. This relative arrangement is used in conjunction with information about physical dimensions of the smart floor tiles to generate a mapping that associates particular floor tiles with particular physical locations within the facility.

User tracking system

Tracking data of users or other objects within a facility may be obtained using a plurality of smart floor tiles. Determining group data indicative of which users are in a common group is useful to associate interactions of those users with a particular account, such as a billing account. A radio signal may be transferred from one user to others via proximity or physical contact. The radio signal conveys designation data. Smart floor tiles at different locations receive the radio signal conveying the same designation data. The users present at those different locations are then associated with a common group.

System to determine user groupings in a facility

An entry portal to a facility includes magnets to produce a magnetic field and a proximity sensor to detect passage of a user. A portable device carried by a user detects the magnetic field and generates magnetometer data which is then sent to the portal along with a device identifier. The magnetometer data is compared to expected magnetic field data to determine presence at the portal. Timestamps of the magnetometer data and data from the proximity sensor may be compared to determine whether the two events occurred contemporaneously. If so, the portable device is deemed to be present at the portal. The device identifier may be used to determine a user, and entry data indicative of entry of the user may be generated. Subsequently, the user may then be tracked using sensors in the facility.

Magnetic entry portal identification system

Methods and systems for generating flight plans for aerial vehicles based at least in part on communication performance are described. First information about a set of access points may be accessed. Second information about a flight path for an aerial vehicle to move from a first point to a second point may be accessed. A set of directions for the aerial vehicle to move between the first point and the second point may be generated. The set of directions may be generated based at least in part on a communication criterion and the second information about the flight path. The flight path may be updated based at least in part on the set of directions.

Generation of flight plans for aerial vehicles

One or more surfaces within a facility are equipped with devices having several segments, each segment with an antenna. Segments may be grouped together into a cluster. Each segment within a cluster is associated with a particular timeslot. A transmitter at the device transmits on a specific frequency. During the particular timeslot for that segment, a signal at the specific frequency is transmitted and radiated from the antenna for that segment. An object electromagnetically couples to one or more antennas of the device, acting as a signal path for the signal. A receiver in a second segment detects the signal, and information about the timeslot for the signal and relative signal strength is generated. By using this information, a location and path of the object may be determined. Receivers in shelves may also be used to facilitate disambiguation of one user from another when interacting with items on those shelves.

Electromagnetic object tracking system

This disclosure describes RFID tags that include capacitive shields to capacitively couple with antennas of the RFID tags when exposed to threshold levels of electromagnetic energy, such as when placed in a microwave. In some instances, these capacitive shields comprise a material that is both thermally conductive and electrically conductive. When exposed to electromagnetic energy of a high frequency, the capacitive shield may capacitively couple to the antenna of the RFID and, thus, may receive energy from the antenna. Given the properties of the capacitive shield, the capacitive shield may convert this energy into thermal energy and dissipate this heat into an ambient environment of the RFID tag. By doing so, the capacitive shield lessens the risk that dangerous arcing will occur from the electromagnetic energy.

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Redmond, WA, United States of America

Camerin Cole Hahn