Ferret Systems Inc.

Venu Gutlapalli

Gary Leung

Joseph Reddy

Mihir Shah

A tracking and monitoring system that uses 'smart' tracking labels with printed label information on the top and electronics and sensors embedded in thin, flexible layers underneath. Labels may be used to track the location of items, and to monitor item parameters such as temperature, shock, weight, or tampering. Tracking labels may have communications interfaces to transmit label location and sensor data to a centralized server for monitoring and analysis; interfaces may include for example Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, cellular, or Amazon Sidewalk. Label location may be determined from an integrated GPS, by triangulation using received signals from cellular or other networks, or from the location of nearby connected devices. Labels may be battery powered and may use energy harvesting to obtain power from the environment. To conserve battery life, manufactured labels may be put into a hibernation state, and activated when they are placed on an item.

Item tracking system with electronic tracking labels containing sensors

A process for activating tracking labels of an item tracking system that uses a printer to activate labels as they are printed for use. Electronic tracking labels may have a removable portion that breaks an electrical circuit when removed; breaking the circuit activates the label. A printer with a label cutter may be used when labels are prepared for use, and the printer may be configured to cut off the removable portion of the label during label printing. This method automates label activation as part of the label preparation process. The printer may be programmed to position the boundary between the removable portion of the label and the rest of the label under the cutter, for example using knowledge of the label's layout. A printed, activated label output from the printer may be placed directly on an item to be tracked.

Method for activating an electronic tracking label via label printing

An electronic tracking tag that attaches a battery to the tag's circuitry by folding over a portion of the flexible PCB on top of the battery to secure it between two conductive pads. This configuration eliminates the need for a battery holder, thereby reducing weight, cost, and thickness and enabling a label containing the electronics to be fed through a printer without damaging the circuit. The battery may be attached to conductive pads using a conductive adhesive such as a conductive tape, avoiding the use of rigid or brittle tabs or epoxies that may break under the stress of going through the printer. An illustrative configuration with the electronic components, the battery, the fold-over battery attachment, and a label front and liner backing may be less than 2100 micrometers thick.

Electronic tracking label with a fold-over battery attachment

An electronic tracking system that identifies when shipments experience problems such as lost items, separated shipments, or incomplete deliveries. Items in a shipment may be tagged with electronic tracking labels, and gateways included with shipments or installed in transportation vehicles may determine which items are in their vicinity and transmit this data to a central database. The database may include shipment descriptions that identify the items in a shipment and their intended destination. Analysis of the database may indicate that one or more item tracking labels have not recently responded, suggesting that the items may be lost, or that one or more items are located on the wrong transportation vehicle. Shipment status may be updated as new item tracking label data is received. Electronic tracking labels may also have sensors that track whether items have experienced excessive temperatures or shocks during shipping.

Item tracking system with electronic tracking labels that detects shipment faults

An item tracking system that uses smart tracking labels to track an item's position, and that switches between short-range tracking within a local area using short-range interfaces like Bluetooth and long-range tracking within a global or regional area using long-range interfaces like GPS. Long-range communication interfaces may be disabled when the tracking label comes within range of a short-range network such as a Bluetooth network within a warehouse. Switching to short-range services when they are available may significantly reduce the total power requirement for a tracking label. In an illustrative embodiment a tracking label may periodically broadcast an advertising message over Bluetooth; when a Bluetooth gateway in a warehouse or other local area responds to this message, the label disables long-range interfaces and switches position tracking to use short-range services. When the label loses communication with a short-range network, it re-enables the long-range interfaces.

Item tracking system that switches between short-range and long-range location services

A routing system that can receive, decode, and route messages from electronic tracking tags made by different manufacturers and issued by different tag issuers. Tracking tags may be placed on items that are shipped or stored, and wireless messages from the tags may be used to track the items and their status. The system enables a site to use a single gateway that obtain messages from heterogeneous tracking tags; the gateway forwards messages to the routing system for processing. The system may access a tag manufacturers database that contains a descriptor of the messages from each manufacturer's tags, and a tag registrations database that lists tags associated with each tag issuer. The system supports tag messages with encrypted contents and with tag identifiers that are rotated to prevent malicious tracking, and it may check message integrity to detect modification of the message after it is sent from the tag.

Universal tracking tag message router

Temperature sensor label

A hierarchical aggregation tracking and monitoring system using 'smart' tracking labels on packages and on the items contained in the packages. The labels may have printed information on the top and electronics and sensors embedded in thin, flexible layers underneath. Multiple levels of packaging may be tracked, such as boxes aggregated into pallets, which are in turn aggregated into larger containers. Smart labels on packages may communicate with smart labels on the contained items to retrieve item-level sensor data and forward this data to a central server. By using the package labels as gateways, item labels may be made simpler and less expensive. Package labels may detect when an item label does not respond and may notify a server that an item may be missing. Sensors and communications interfaces on labels may be used to automate generation and confirmation of containment data that indicates which items are in which packages.

Growing community of inventors

San Diego, CA, United States of America

Venu Gutlapalli