Prior art
5 [0001] The invention lies in the field of locating objects. It relates in particular to a method for
locating an object, to a communication method, to a data collection method and to a method
for locating at least one other object using an object location determined by way of said
method for locating an object. It also relates to devices configured to implement the
mentioned methods. The invention may for example be applied to the traceability of one or
10 more objects, in particular of objects that have been introduced into a distribution circuit as
elements of a batch of objects.
[0002] The traceability of an object may include not only the activity of generating the information
needed and sufficient to ascertain (possibly retrospectively) the life cycle of this object, but
also the possibility of having access to this information. In yet other words, it involves the
15 ability to generate and find, for example by way of a registered identification of an object, a
history that records information relating to the use and the location of said object. Traceability
thus makes it possible, in some situations, to help to track and therefore to find a product from
creation (production) thereof to destruction (consumption) thereof, via transformation steps
that it might have undergone and the routing thereof.
20 [0003] The effectiveness of the traceability of one or more objects thus depends on the ability to
locate the one or more objects in question in space and/or in time. To this end, traceability has
been able to benefit from advances linked to the development of IT and to electronic
miniaturization so as to draw on contactless identification technologies.
[0004] Barcodes affixed to objects have thus been used and continue to be used today. These
25 barcodes may be read using dedicated means equipped with optical readers, and carry
information for identifying the objects with which they are respectively associated.
[0005] Another solution that is also widely used consists in using electronic chips, also called radio
tags, based on RFID (acronym for "Radiofrequency Identification") technology and affixed to
objects that are intended to be traced. RFID technology has certain advantages, including in
30 particular that it is passive (that is to say the chip does not need to be connected to an energy
source to operate), but also that the information contained in such a chip is able to be read
over a greater distance than that able to be contemplated in the case of using barcodes.
[0006] The fact still remains that these object-locating techniques have certain use limits. Indeed,
they require having to deploy dedicated and expensive hardware. Thus, and as was mentioned
35 above, reading barcodes requires using devices equipped with optical readers. RFID chips also
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require the use of dedicated reading devices, for example in the form of portable RFID readers
or else in the form of gates, which may be heavy and complex to install.
Summary of the invention
5 [0007] The present invention aims to rectify all or some of the drawbacks of the prior art, for
example at least some of those set out above. For example, certain embodiments of the
present invention may propose a solution that makes it possible to locate one or more objects
more efficiently (in terms for example of ease of implementation, cost and/or energy
consumption) than certain solutions from the prior art. Such a solution may also, in certain
10 embodiments, help to locate objects outside of any logistics circuit, thus extending the scope
of application within which the traceability of objects is traditionally implemented.
[0008] To this end, and according to a first aspect, the invention relates to a method for locating
an object. Said locating method comprises the following steps:
- obtaining at least one identification datum of at least one object, said at least one
15 identification datum resulting from the backscatter of at least one ambient signal,
- if said at least one ambient signal is transmitted on at least one uplink between at least one
transmitter device and at least one receiver device, determining a location of said at least one
object based on said at least one identification datum and at least one location datum of said
at least one transmitter device, or
20 - if said at least one ambient signal is transmitted on at least one downlink between at least
one transmitter device and at least one receiver device, determining a location of said at least
one object based on said at least one identification datum and at least one location datum of
said at least one receiver device.
[0009] The locating method according to the invention is therefore based on the fact that one or
25 more identification data respectively associated with one or more objects may be generated by
an ambient backscatter communication technology.
[0010] The use of this backscatter technology does not require the deployment of particular
hardware elements in order to be implemented, except for one or more transmitter devices
able to backscatter one or more ambient signals so as to generate data (for example said
30 identification data), and may therefore be readily adapted to certain embodiments of the
invention.
[0011] Indeed, the one or more ambient signals may be transmitted by hardware elements
present in the environment of the objects (cell phone, base stations, etc.), or by hardware
elements implementing certain embodiments of the invention. In the same way, the
35 identification data generated by ambient backscatter may also be collected by hardware
elements present in the environment of the objects (cell phone, base stations, etc.), for
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example off-the-shelf hardware elements, or hardware elements implementing certain
embodiments of the invention.
[0012] Additionally, in certain embodiments, the location data may also be generated and/or
collected by hardware elements present in the environment of the objects.
5 [0013] Certain embodiments of the invention may therefore help to provide advantages in terms
of saving on hardware insofar as they may be based at least partially on information obtained
using hardware already available in the environment of the objects. Consequently, certain
embodiments of the invention may therefore help to avoid, or in any case to limit, the use of a
workforce dedicated to locating one or more objects. In particular, some of the
10 abovementioned hardware elements, present in the environment of the objects, may belong to
any users.
[0014] Added to this is the fact that ambient backscatter communication technology is a
technology that is energy-efficient and easy to deploy.
[0015] Owing for example to the abovementioned features (potential saving on hardware and
15 workforce), certain embodiments of the invention may help to extend the detection, locating
and traceability of one or more objects beyond the field of logistics, and therefore beyond any
logistics process.
[0016] "Logistics process" refers here to all manipulations of objects and changes of owners or
managers of these objects. Such a logistics process may for example make it possible to
20 generate, using the identifications respectively attached to the objects, a history of traceability
events, which may be stored in one or more information systems, such as for example a server
acting as a database dedicated to this purpose. This history may help to retrace the
movements of the objects over their life cycle during the logistics process, for example
following successive identifications during steps of production, storage, order preparation
25 and/or grouping together with other objects (such as for example objects of the same kind
grouped together in the form of batches), shipping, delivery with the objects being ungrouped,
etc.
[0017] It is possible for example to imagine the case of a first product acting as object within the
sense of the invention, this first product being marketed at a point of sale. This first product,
30 which is now on sale, has therefore left the field of logistics. Nevertheless, by placing a
transmitter device (or "tag") on this first product such that an identification datum of this first
product is able to be generated by ambient backscatter, it is possible to locate said first
product by way of certain embodiments of the invention.
[0018] For example, a smartphone belonging to a potential buyer of other products present at the
35 point of sale may receive, in addition to an ambient signal transmitted by a base station, said
identification datum of the first product and transmit it to a device configured to determine a
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location of the first product on the basis of said identification datum of the first product and a
location datum of said smartphone.
[0019] According to another example, the smartphone may be the source of the ambient signal
from which the identification datum of the first product is generated by ambient backscatter.
5 Again, the location of the first product may be determined using a device configured for this
purpose and in possession of said identification datum of the first product and a location
datum of said smartphone. In this example, certain embodiments may be implemented without
requiring implementation of the invention in the smartphone at the source of the ambient
signal.
10 [0020] Thus, certain embodiments of the locating method of the present invention may therefore,
unlike certain solutions from the prior art, make it possible to locate one or more objects
without it being necessary to resort to actions (gestures) performed specifically and
deliberately by operators trained for this purpose. It also becomes apparent from these
considerations that the locating of objects, with the aim of providing traceability thereof, may
15 be extended, in certain embodiments, outside the conventional circuits of the field of logistics
(production, storage, order preparation, grouping together of products, shipping, delivery,
etc.). In this way, certain embodiments of the locating method of the present invention may
help to locate an object once it leaves the field of logistics, for example following a purchase at
a distribution point, and thus help to ensure traceability thereof.