International Business Machines Corporation

Gregory Covert Smith

Christian Lee Hunt

William Alexander Reichert, Iii

Oriana Jeannette Williams

Vincent Mitchel Padua

Robin Radez

James Peter Branigan

John Kenneth Senegal

Christopher Louis Capps

Jay Douglas Stouffer

Lisa M Pring

Angela Susan Graveline

Methods and computer program products for locating devices having a given state by locating a device using an RFID tag associated with the device that responds to queries from an RFID tag reader independently of the state of the device, and determining the state of the device using an RFID tag associated with the device that responds selectively in dependence upon the state of the device. A system for locating devices having a given state comprises an RFID tag reader for locating a device by reading an RFID tag associated with the device that responds independently of the state of the device, and an RFID tag reader for determining the state of the device by reading an RFID tag associated with the device that responds selectively in dependence upon the state of the device.

Locating a device in a given state

The invention provides a system and program product for attenuating a radio frequency identification (RFID) reader. In one embodiment, the system includes optimizing a coverage area of an RFID reader.

System and program product for automatic RFID attenuation and recovery

In an RFID system having an edge controller and a tag reader that is operably connected to the edge controller, a manifest of items having RFID tags tracked by the RFID system is identified, and data from the manifest is downloaded to the edge controller in anticipation of reading the RFID tags, i.e., the manifest data is prefetched. An RFID edge controller that may be operably connected to a tag reader receives, in anticipation of the tag reader reading RFID tags associated with items, manifest data prefetched from a database that stores manifests of items, and compares the manifest data with data read from the RFID tags to determine whether the items comply with the manifest.

Prefetching manifest data in an RFID system

A system, method, and program product that uses statistical sampling to determine whether a pallet has been received when the pallet-level RFID tag is not read. When a shipment is unloaded, the system keeps track of the item-level RFID tags that are received. A threshold is retrieved and compared with the number of item-level RFID tags that were received. If the threshold is 50%, then the pallet would be assumed to be received and marked accordingly in the manifest if 50% of the items in the pallet were received. Threshold levels can be customized based upon the vendor shipping the goods, the type of goods being shipped, or both. In addition, the vendor quality rating and the type of good rating can be combined to form a single threshold that incorporates the vendor's quality along with the material (interference) quality of the goods on the particular pallet.

System and method for pallet identification based on threshold of case-level tags

A radio frequency IC tag is provided which is excellent in weatherability, dustproofness, waterproofness, and static protection and capable of making a communication distance long even though each antenna section is made small in configuration. A first antenna equipped with an IC chip is formed on an upper surface of a first spacer. A second antenna is formed on a lower surface of a top cover. A second spacer is shaped in hollow form. The first spacer and the top cover are disposed on both sides of the second spacer with the first antenna and the second antenna being opposite to each other. Each of the first spacer, the second spacer and the top cover is formed of a synthetic resin. Thus, the IC chip and each antenna section are not exposed to the outside and hence weatherability is enhanced.

System and method for swapping tag reads based on statistical analysis of known environment

Methods and computer program products for locating devices having a given state by locating a device using an RFID tag associated with the device that responds to queries from an RFID tag reader independently of the state of the device, and determining the state of the device using an RFID tag associated with the device that responds selectively in dependence upon the state of the device. The invention also includes systems for locating devices having a given state. The systems comprise an RFID tag reader for locating a device by reading an RFID tag associated with the device that responds independently of the state of the device, and an RFID tag reader for determining the state of the device by reading an RFID tag associated with the device that responds selectively in dependence upon the state of the device.

The invention provides a method for attenuating a radio frequency identification (RFID) reader. In one embodiment, the method includes optimizing a coverage area of an RFID reader.

Method for automatic RFID attenuation and recovery

Methods and computer program products for managing a device connected to a network include querying the device using the network, querying the device using a simulated RFID tag, and querying the device using a suppressible RFID tag to determine status information about the device. A system for managing a device connected to a network comprises means for monitoring status of the device using the network, for receiving status information about the device reported by a simulated RFID tag, and for receiving status information about the device reported by a suppressible RFID tag.

Network management using suppressible RFID tags

A method of queuing messages for communications between computer programs by placing a plurality of messages in a main queue, placing one or more property messages in one or more property queues associated with the main queue and, for each property message, specifying at least one property of a respective message in the main queue and a unique identifier for the respective message. A property name may be specified for a message, or a property value, or some combination of property names and values. An application program interface (API) makes the main queue and the one or more property queues appear as a single priority queue. A message is retrieved from the main queue according to a predefined priority list which includes the at least one property, which can again be a property name, a property value, or some combination of property names and values. The priority list can be dynamically modified. The system can be implemented in an environment where the messages are placed in the queue by a first computer connected to a network, and retrieved by a second computer connected to the network, with the messages being transmitted across the network.

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Raleigh, NC, United States of America

Gregory Covert Smith