FIELD OF THE INVENTION:
The present invention relates to an automated material tracking system at
manufacturing units and sites to track metallic items packed in wooden boxes using
RFID.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION:
Material packed in wooden boxes/ crates are stacked in a closed store for dispatching
them to various sites, based on the user's requirement. There is a common opening/
gate for the store for entry and exit of the materials through the same gate.
The box during dispatch from the manufacturing division is opened at the exit gate
and all the items in the box are matched with the dispatch list. After reaching the site
the box is opened again at the entry gate of the site and all the items are checked
again to ensure correct matching with the previous list of items. This method is
cumbersome and time consuming. With the use of RFID technology the cycle time and
human effort is reduced by 50%.
RFID finds its applications in many areas for tracking, locating and accounting of
assets in closed stores, open yards and many other areas where accuracy on inventory
management plays an important role.
No attempts have been made till now to identify and track the metallic objects packed
in wooden boxes which is essential as many manufacturing units sends materials
particularly small and machined components by packing them in wooden boxes. It has
been the practice for the site authorities to open the box at the time of receiving, to
ensure the availability of the actual quantity of the material listed in the packing slip.
This exercise can be eliminated if the items packed in the wooden boxes are assigned
with RFID tags and the tags can be read by a stationary (RFID Fixed Antennae Portal)
or a Hand-Held RFID reader to counter check the items packed in the boxes without
even opening the boxes.
In view of this, few inventions have been developed which relates to yard management.
US 7786844 B2 discloses a system and method for detecting RFID tagged items being
moved by a mobile asset/ vehicle, the method comprising of actuating an RFID reader
coupled to the mobile asset/ vehicle to read identifications of proximately located RFID
tagged items a first time at a first location after loading of the mobile asset/ vehicle and

storing a first set of read RFID tagged items, the first set of read RPID tagged items
including RFID tagged item loaded onto the mobile asset/ vehicle and RFID tagged
items not loaded on
US 6669089 B2 claims a forklift RFID system, comprising of at least one RFID antenna
positioned on a fixed portion of the forklift, at least one RFID antenna positioned on a
portion of the forklift that is vertically movable with respect to the fixed portion, a user
interface including a touch-panel display; and software adapted to provide information
to the display describing which RFID tags have been interrogated by the antennas.
WO 2007/023274 A2 consists of an RFID portal arrangement for detecting the
passage of RFID tags past the portal arrangement, comprising first and second
antenna means operable to communicate with tags passing the portal arrangement,
and control means operable to conduct, a sequence of transactions with each RFID
tag, while passing the arrangement, and to determine the sequence of antenna means
used for the sequence to recover information relating to the direction of movement of
the corresponding RFID tag relative to the portal arrangement.
US 2008/0249883 A1 states about Self-checkout kiosk for enabling a patron to
purchase product carrying an RFID identification tag, comprising a portal through
which the patron must exit from a vending area in which product is stored and
available for purchase, a self-checkout station within the vending area enabling the
patron to complete a purchase transaction prior to exiting the vending area through
the portal, said portal carrying at least one RFID reading means for detecting product
being transferred through the portal, and security means responsive to transfer of the
product through the portal without a patron completing a purchase transaction using
the self-checkout means.
The prior arts do not provide a system for tracking the metallic items packed in closed
wooden boxes using RFID fixed antenna portal.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION:
An object of the invention is to provide an automatic tracking system for tracking
objects.
An object of the invention is to track and check the items packed in wooden boxes
during dispatch and receipt of box.
Yet another object of the invention is to avoid manual checking of the packaged items.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS:
Fig 1 shows the Flow diagram of the method in accordance to the invention.
Fig 2 shows the box to be tracked in accordance to the invention.
Fig 3 Shows the RFID portal in accordance to the invention.
Fig 4 shows the operational feature according to the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFFERED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION:
The individual components/ group of companies is RFID tagged first [1]. The box
containing the items is also RFID tagged and this RFID tag stores the packing list of
the items packed inside it. All components along with respective RFID tags is packed
in wooden boxes [8] for shipping to site. An RFID portal [11] containing six RFID fixed
antennae [9] (the number of antennae depends on the exit gate size and read range of
individual antenna) will be established at the exit gate of the manufacturing unit/store
to read and capture the data from the RFID tags. A suitable wired/ wireless
communication system will established to transfer the data being read by the fixed
RFID readers [10] to a database system. One RFID reader [10] will be connected to
three RFID antennae [9].
At receiving station, similar physical arrangement [13] of tag reading and database
connectively is made to scan the box without opening it, with accurate data.
At the manufacturing unit's dispatch cell/store, the tags are assigned to material
using a Hand Held Reader and a list of material with all the appropriate details, List 1
[2]. The tagged items will be packed in the wooden boxes and one RFID tag will be
assigned to each individual box containing the whole list of material packed inside it.
These boxes are then dispatched to site.
The wooden box is scanned at the exit gate of the manufacturing unit [3]. The Fixed
Antenna/ Reader set up will read the tags assigned to the materials packed in wooden
boxes and the box when the containers/ boxes are processed / moved outside the exit
gates of the factory/store. A complete list of tags being read by the fixed antenna/
reader setup is generated and displayed on the visual screen (List 2).
The two lists (List 1, List 2) are compared [4] by comparator and if any mismatch is
found, the system generates a visual signal (Error message). Then the box is rechecked
using the HH reader [5] to find the missing/ extra item. If still there is mismatch then
the box is dismantled and scanned using HH reader [6] to find the mismatch and the
items in the box will be adjusted according to the packing list [1].

The dispatch information along with the dispatch list is automatically sent to the
receiving end through LAN, and the same list is stored in receiver's database for that
particular box.
At the site entry gate, the box will be identified with the tag assigned to it. Each and
every box will be scanned using the fixed reader portal against its unique ID (box tag)
and a list will be generated [7]. This list will automatically be compared with the list
uploaded in the server and stored in the tag that was assigned at dispatch end.
If any mismatching is found, then the system generates an error message. Then the
HH reader is used to scan the complete box to find out mismatch. If still mismatch is
there the box is opened and scanned using HH reader to obviate the irregularities.

WE CLAIM:
1. An automatic material tracking method for tracking materials enclosed in a
package, which may be metallic materials, the said method comprising the
steps of:
assigning RFID tag to each material;
enlisting the plurality of material, assigned as first list;
- packaging the plurality of material each comprising the RFID tag enclosed in
a package which may be wooden;
generating a second list by means of a reader (Fixed antennae portal) , the
said plurality of material being within the package;
first comparing the said first list and second list and generating a verified
list at the dispatch end;
generating a third list at a receiving end by means of a reader (Fixed
antennae portal), the said plurality of material being within the package;
second comparing the said third list with the verified list;
wherein the first comparison and second comparison outputs and confirms
the definite count of materials within the package without dismantling the
package.
2. An automatic material tracking method as claimed in claim 1, wherein enlisting
of material is done by a handheld reader.
3. An automatic material tracking method as claimed in claim 1, wherein
generating of the second list and the third list is done by RFID fixed antenna
portal.

4. An automatic material tracking method as claimed in claim 1, wherein visual
signal is enabled during events of error.