RFID Shelf Tagging System for Interference-Free Product Location
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional methods for confirming product locations on shelves using RFID technology often result in malfunctions due to adjacent shelf interference, requiring additional apparatus to prevent wave interference and leading to inconvenient manual data recording.
Innovation Solution
A method and system utilizing RFID tags and readers on each shelf, with an RFID server analyzing signals to determine product presence and status, reducing radio wave intensity to minimize interference and prevent errors, and outputting alarms when necessary.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If conventional RFID readers are used to confirm product locations on shelves, then product location information can be obtained, but adjacent shelf interference causes reading errors and malfunctions
Solution Approach 1:
The system divides the shelf monitoring function into two separate components: location tags attached to shelves and product tags attached to products. The reader selectively reads either location tags or product tags based on the intended function, preventing interference between adjacent shelf readings and improving both efficiency and accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
Location tags serve as intermediary elements between the reader and the shelf structure. These tags enable the reader to identify shelf locations without directly reading product tags, thereby preventing adjacent shelf interference and improving reading reliability while maintaining productivity.
2Reliability
If additional apparatus are installed to prevent radio wave interference between adjacent shelves, then reading accuracy improves, but system complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The RFID reader is designed to perform multiple functions: it can read both location tags on shelves and product tags on products using the same hardware. This eliminates the need for additional interference-prevention apparatus while maintaining reading accuracy, thereby reducing system complexity without sacrificing reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses the existing RFID infrastructure to serve dual purposes: location identification and product tracking. By making the reader multi-functional and using location tags as intermediaries, the system prevents adjacent shelf interference without requiring additional specialized apparatus, thus avoiding increased device complexity.
3Device complexity
If manual data recording is used to track product locations, then system simplicity is maintained, but operational efficiency and time consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system replaces manual mechanical data recording with automated RFID electronic identification. The reader automatically reads location tags and product tags, and the server processes the data electronically, eliminating manual recording operations while maintaining system simplicity. This substitution dramatically improves operational efficiency without significantly increasing device complexity.
4Area of stationary object
If RFID readers read all tags in range including adjacent shelves, then coverage is maximized, but location determination accuracy decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements local quality by assigning different functional roles to different tags: location tags on shelves provide shelf identification information, while product tags on products provide product identification. The reader and server work together to interpret which tag type is being read, enabling accurate location determination even when reading tags from adjacent shelves, thus maintaining both coverage and precision.
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
Enables accurate, real-time product location confirmation on shelves without the need for additional apparatus, reducing costs and improving operational efficiency by preventing adjacent shelf interference and detecting errors.
Implementation Method 1
a reader included in each shelf and reading an RFID signal
Data Source
AI summary
Present invention relates to method for confirming location of product using RFID. Method for confirming location of product on a shelf in a product location confirmation system including: a plurality of shelf areas; a location tag which is provided at each shelf and transmits an RFID signal; a reader which is provided at each shelf and reads the RFID signal; and a server for analyzing the information collected through the reader comprises the steps of: the reader confirming whether a location tag signal is received; the server determining the absence of the product on the corresponding shelf when the location tag signal is received; the reader confirming whether a product tag signal as the RFID signal transmitted from the product is received when the location tag signal is not received; and the server determining the presence of the product within the corresponding shelf when the product tag signal is received.