RFID Gate and Work Table Sensor Fusion for Shopping Basket Identification
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing RFID-based payment systems face challenges in accurately determining the product to be purchased due to missing readings caused by products with blocking characteristics, such as metal or liquid, which can disrupt radio waves and lead to incomplete scanning at gates or work tables.
Innovation Solution
An information processing apparatus and system that utilize gate and work table sensors to read RFID tags on products and shopping baskets, with data acquisition and storage control mechanisms to associate product and basket identification information. This allows for accurate determination of purchased products by comparing read data at both gate and work table sensors.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a single gate sensor is used to read RFID tags on products in shopping baskets, then the system is simple and convenient, but reading accuracy deteriorates due to blocking characteristics of certain products
Solution Approach 1:
The reading system is divided into multiple independent sensors: a gate sensor for initial reading and work table sensors for secondary reading. This segmentation allows the system to overcome the limitations of single-point reading by distributing reading functions across multiple locations, thereby improving overall reading accuracy while maintaining operational convenience.
Solution Approach 2:
The gate sensor performs preliminary reading of RFID tags when the shopping basket first passes through the gate. This preliminary action captures product information early in the shopping process, and the system stores this data for later verification and supplementation by work table sensors, ensuring no product is missed due to blocking characteristics.
2Measurement precision
If multiple sensors are deployed to improve reading accuracy, then reading completeness improves, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple sensor readings from the gate sensor and work table sensors are merged into a unified data set. The system combines the preliminary reading data from the gate with the secondary reading data from the work table, creating a comprehensive product list that leverages the strengths of each sensor while managing complexity through integrated data processing.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback mechanisms where reading results from the gate sensor inform the operation of work table sensors, and vice versa. If the gate sensor misses certain products due to blocking, the work table sensors provide feedback readings that supplement the data, and the system uses this feedback to ensure complete product capture without requiring overly complex real-time coordination.
3Productivity
If RFID tags are read only at the gate, then the process is fast and simple, but product determination accuracy deteriorates due to missing readings
Solution Approach 1:
The gate sensor performs preliminary reading of all products in the shopping basket as the customer enters. This preliminary action captures the majority of product information quickly, establishing a baseline data set that enables fast initial processing while leaving room for supplementary readings at the work table to correct any missed products.
Solution Approach 2:
The reading process continues continuously from the gate through the work table, rather than stopping after a single reading. The system maintains continuous data collection across multiple reading points, ensuring that product determination accuracy improves over time as more data is gathered, while the overall process remains efficient through automated parallel processing.
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
The system ensures high convenience and accurate determination of products to be purchased, even in scenarios where products with blocking characteristics may cause missing readings, by employing a dual-sensing approach that associates product and basket information across different reading points.
Implementation Method 1
a technology of making a payment using a radio frequency identifier (RFID) tag attached to a product
Data Source
AI summary
An information processing apparatus includes: a gate data acquisition unit that acquires product identification information and basket identification information that have been read by a gate sensor; a storage control unit that controls the basket identification information and the product identification information that have been read together by the gate sensor to be stored in a storage device in association with each other; a work table data acquisition unit that acquires product identification information and basket identification information that have been read by a work table sensor; and a purchased product determination unit that determines whether the product to be identified by the product identification information that has been read by the work table sensor is the product to be purchased, based on the basket identification information that has been read by the work table sensor and information stored in the storage device.