The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 10, 2008
Filed:
Jun. 30, 2006
Rhonda L. Childress, Austin, TX (US);
Bradley Childs, Austin, TX (US);
Joann Huffman, Austin, TX (US);
Stewart Jason Hyman, Richmond Hill, CA;
David Bruce Kumhyr, Austin, TX (US);
Stehen James Watt, Leander, TX (US);
Rhonda L. Childress, Austin, TX (US);
Bradley Childs, Austin, TX (US);
Joann Huffman, Austin, TX (US);
Stewart Jason Hyman, Richmond Hill, CA;
David Bruce Kumhyr, Austin, TX (US);
Stehen James Watt, Leander, TX (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
A system, method, and medium for tracking the contents of a container in which the items stored in the container are provided with radio frequency identification ('RFID') tags, and a tracker affixed to the container periodically polls the items in the container to collect identification information. An electronic manifest, also attached to the container, is updated periodically to reflect items which have been added to the container or removed from the container since the last polling. The tracker emulates an RFID tag when polled by an external reader, responding by uploading the entire electronic manifest to the external reader. The external reader and the affixed reader preferably utilize distinct RFID protocols so as to produce a hierarchical manifest data structure with high integrity.