NFC Item Tagging for Lost Gear Recovery Without Bulk
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Solution Overview
Problem
Individuals often lose important items like sporting instruments, such as golf clubs, and are unable to retrieve them due to the bulky and delicate nature of existing tracking devices that interfere with the instrument's operation, making it difficult to locate the rightful owner.
Innovation Solution
A smartphone-based item tracking system using NFC/RFID tags that can be securely attached to items without interfering with their operation, allowing users to encode and decode information on the tags, and a database to manage item records, enabling easy reporting of found items.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If existing electronic tracking tags are attached to sporting instruments, then item tracking capability is improved, but the bulky nature and delicate operation of the devices interfere with the instrument's use, making their presence a nuisance
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the tracking functionality from a bulky electronic device and implements it through a minimal NFC/RFID tag combined with a smartphone application. The tag itself is extremely small and non-intrusive, while the processing and user interface are moved to the smartphone, resolving the contradiction between tracking capability and instrument usability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a smartphone as an intermediary device that mediates between the simple NFC/RFID tag and the user. The smartphone handles all complex operations including displaying item information, facilitating communication between owners and finders, and managing the tracking database, allowing the tag itself to remain minimal and non-intrusive.
2Reliability
If a tracking system is implemented with database and communication capabilities, then the ability to report and locate lost items is improved, but the system complexity and device requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes the smartphone serve multiple functions: it acts as the tracking device, the database interface, the communication hub, and the display unit. This multi-functionality eliminates the need for dedicated complex tracking devices with built-in screens, keyboards, and communication modules, thereby reducing overall system complexity while maintaining full tracking and recovery capabilities.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Facilitates the reunification of lost items by providing an intuitive and convenient method for encoding RFID/NFC chips, allowing easy interaction with the database and editing of information, ensuring the rightful owner is notified when their item is found.
Implementation Method 1
The smart phone can interact with a NFC/RFID tag using a read/write device associated with the phone to write or erase information recorded in the database onto the tag
Data Source
AI summary
A computerized communication device running an item tracking application comprising a CPU executing computer software instruction stored in an associated memory to create an item record to track an item. A computer server linked wirelessly with the computerized communication device wherein the computer server host a database comprising a plurality of item records. Each item record comprises a tag name for a tracking tag, an owner name, and owner contact information, and each item record further comprises a tag record encoded on the tracking tag.