Patents Assigned to POSITION IMAGING, INC.
  • Patent number: 11961279
    Abstract: A system and method of identifying and tracking objects comprises registering an identity of a person who visits an area designated for holding objects, capturing an image of the area designated for holding objects, submitting a version of the image to a deep neural network trained to detect and recognize objects in images like those objects held in the designated area, detecting an object in the version of the image, associating the registered identity of the person with the detected object, retraining the deep neural network using the version of the image if the deep neural network is unable to recognize the detected object, and tracking a location of the detected object while the detected object is in the area designated for holding objects.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 13, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2024
    Assignee: Position Imaging, Inc.
    Inventors: Narasimhachary Nallana Chakravarty, Guohua Min, Edward L. Hill, Brett Bilbrey
  • Patent number: 11922246
    Abstract: A luggage tag comprises an indicator; a thin tag body including a radiofrequency (RF) receiver configured to receive an RF signal transmitted by an RF transmitter and a processor in communication with the RF receiver and the indicator, the processor being configured to acquire information from the RF signal that is received by the RF receiver and to turn on the indicator in response to the information acquired from the RF signal; and a coupling unit for coupling the thin tag body of the luggage tag to luggage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 10, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2024
    Assignee: Position Imaging, Inc.
    Inventors: Edward L. Hill, YiFeng Xiong, Narasimhachary Nallana Chakravarty, Brian Martel, Marc Bujold, Brett Bilbrey, Mark R. Ibbotson
  • Patent number: 11886953
    Abstract: A computer vision system for automatic identification, tracking and management of inventory and/or assets, wherein: the computer vision system is programmed with predetermined and configurable image data conditions that identify and capture certain types of movement; the computer vision system is programmed to constantly capture and process image data from one or more sets of sensors to detect the image data conditions; the computer vision system is programmed to trigger the process of identifying all objects and extracting label information from objects present in a field of view of the system if the image data conditions are fulfilled; the computer vision system processes the image data with one or more object detection algorithms and label detection algorithms and generate correspondences between objects and labels identified; and the computer vision system running change detection algorithms and semantic analysis to detect if any object was moved, removed, occluded and if any new objects were added in to
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 12, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2024
    Assignee: Position Imaging, Inc.
    Inventors: Narasimhachary Nallana Chakravarty, Guohua Min, Edward L Hill
  • Patent number: 11774249
    Abstract: Systems and methods for tracking movement of individuals through a building receive, by one or more RF nodes disposed near an entrance to the building, RF signals from RF-transmitting mobile devices carried by persons near the entrance, capture an image of the persons while they are near the entrance, determine an identity and relative distance of each RF-transmitting mobile device from each RF node based on information associated with the RF signals received by that RF node, detect humans in the image, determine a relative depth of each human in the image, and assign the identity of each RF-transmitting mobile device to one of the humans detected in the image based on the relative distance of each RF-transmitting mobile device from each RF node and the relative depth of each human in the image, thereby identifying each individual who to be tracked optically as that individual moves throughout the building.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 12, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 3, 2023
    Assignee: POSITION IMAGING, INC.
    Inventor: Edward L. Hill
  • Patent number: 11637962
    Abstract: An apparatus comprises a mount body by which the apparatus is secured to a structure. A camera assembly includes an image sensor adapted to capture images within its field of view. A lighting assembly houses one or more light sources including a directional light source. A control-board assembly, fixed to the mount body, houses control boards including one or more processors configured to acquire information about an object, to associate a location within the field of view of the image sensor with the object, to point light emitted by the directional light source at the location associated with the object by rotating the lighting assembly and turning the laser assembly, and, based on an image acquired from the camera assembly, to detect change within the field of view of the image sensor corresponding to placement or removal of the object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 9, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 25, 2023
    Assignee: POSITION IMAGING, INC.
    Inventors: Brian Martel, YiFeng Xiong, Drew Anthony Schena, Narasimhachary Nallana Chakravarty, Rafal Piotrowski
  • Patent number: 11506501
    Abstract: Systems and methods for tracking movement of individuals through a building receive, by one or more RF nodes disposed near an entrance to the building, RF signals from RF-transmitting mobile devices carried by persons near the entrance, capture an image of the persons while they are near the entrance, determine an identity and relative distance of each RF-transmitting mobile device from each RF node based on information associated with the RF signals received by that RF node, detect humans in the image, determine a relative depth of each human in the image, and assign the identity of each RF-transmitting mobile device to one of the humans detected in the image based on the relative distance of each RF-transmitting mobile device from each RF node and the relative depth of each human in the image, thereby identifying each individual who to be tracked optically as that individual moves throughout the building.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 4, 2021
    Date of Patent: November 22, 2022
    Assignee: Position Imaging, Inc.
    Inventor: Edward L. Hill
  • Patent number: 11501244
    Abstract: Methods and systems for tracking a package within an area obtain package identification information from a scannable medium associated with the package and image information of the area acquired by an optical sensing device. Image processing detects the presence and location of an object in the area that matches the package based on a comparison of the package identification information obtained from the scannable medium with the image information of the area acquired by the optical sensing device. The package is registered as being present in the area at the location of the detected object in response to detecting a match between the object and the package.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 5, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 15, 2022
    Assignee: Position Imaging, Inc.
    Inventors: Edward L. Hill, Rafal Piotrowski, Harry Lee Deffebach, III, Krenar Komoni
  • Patent number: 11436553
    Abstract: Methods and systems for tracking an object comprise a horizontal surface upon which objects are to be placed, a weight sensor disposed on one side of the horizontal surface, and a processor in communication with the weight sensor. The processor is adapted to detect a change in weight measured by the weight sensor, to associate the detected weight change with an identified object and with a location on the horizontal surface, and to confirm whether a cause of the weight change at the location on the horizontal surface corresponds to a proper handling of the identified object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 8, 2016
    Date of Patent: September 6, 2022
    Assignee: POSITION IMAGING, INC.
    Inventors: Shahzad Farooq Kirmani, Alex Seiger
  • Patent number: 11416805
    Abstract: A package tracking system comprises a package room for holding packages intended for delivery to one or more package recipients, an optical sensing device positioned to capture one or more images of each package brought to the package room, one or more light sources, and a computing system including a processor, memory, and executable code stored on the memory. The processor executes the executable code to detect a presence and location of a given package held in the package room based on the one or more images captured by the optical sensing device and on package identification information relating to the given package. The processor further executes the executable code to cause the one or more light sources to shine on or near the given package in the package room to provide light-based guidance specific to the given package.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 26, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 16, 2022
    Assignee: POSITION IMAGING, INC.
    Inventors: Rafal Piotrowski, Edward L. Hill
  • Patent number: 11361536
    Abstract: A system and method of identifying and tracking objects comprises registering an identity of a person who visits an area designated for holding objects, capturing an image of the area designated for holding objects, submitting a version of the image to a deep neural network trained to detect and recognize objects in images like those objects held in the designated area, detecting an object in the version of the image, associating the registered identity of the person with the detected object, retraining the deep neural network using the version of the image if the deep neural network is unable to recognize the detected object, and tracking a location of the detected object while the detected object is in the area designated for holding objects.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2022
    Assignee: Position Imaging, Inc.
    Inventors: Narasimhachary Nallana Chakravarty, Guohua Min, Edward L. Hill, Brett Bilbrey
  • Publication number: 20220151361
    Abstract: A luggage tag includes an electronic ink display screen affixed to a surface of the luggage tag. Tag memory of the tag stores a unique identifier. An antenna receives an electromagnetic signal. Circuitry of the tag captures energy and acquires data from the electromagnetic signal received by the antenna and powers the electronic ink display with the captured energy. A processor receives the data acquired by the circuitry from the electromagnetic signal and produces an image on the electronic ink display using the acquired data if the acquired data includes a match to the unique identifier stored in the memory.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 31, 2022
    Publication date: May 19, 2022
    Applicant: Position Imaging, Inc.
    Inventors: Edward L. Hill, YiFeng Xiong, Narasimhachary Nallana Chakravarty, Brian Martel, Marc Bujold, Brett Bilbrey
  • Patent number: 11226395
    Abstract: A tracking system uses a mobile reader or scanner that scans, for example through a barcode reader, a passive tag reader, a probe, input, camera, or an active RF tag communication reader, and records item (asset or inventory) data. After being recorded, this item data and other relevant data is sent by radio transmission to a receiver network in the tracking system. The receiver network has at least two receivers (or at least two receiver antennae). The scanner location data, calculated by comparing the signal information at each receiver antenna receiving the radio transmission, is then used to register and record the location data of the scanned item.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 18, 2022
    Assignee: POSITION IMAGING, INC.
    Inventors: Edward L. Hill, Harry Lee Deffebach, III
  • Patent number: 11175375
    Abstract: An RF position tracking system for wirelessly tracking the three-dimensional position of a tracked object. The tracked object has at least one mobile antenna and at least one inertial sensor. The system uses a plurality of base antennas which communicate with the mobile antenna using radio signals. The tracked object also incorporates the inertial sensor to improve position stability by allowing the system to compare position data from radio signals to data provided by the inertial sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 16, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 16, 2021
    Assignee: POSITION IMAGING, INC.
    Inventors: Edward L. Hill, Mark Schneider
  • Patent number: 11132004
    Abstract: Vehicles and methods of navigating vehicles comprise at least three receiver antennae configured to receive radio frequency (RF) signals from one or more RF-transmitting antennae coupled to an object, receiver circuitry coupled to the receiver antennae to acquire the RF signals and to determine timing information from the acquired RF signals, memory storing information related to fixed distances between each receiver antenna and each other receiver antenna, a processor configured to determine a relative position of the vehicle with respect to the one or more RF-transmitting antennae based on the stored information related to the fixed distances between each receiver antenna and each other receiver antenna and on the timing information determined by the receiver circuitry, and a control system configured to control operation of the vehicle in response to the relative position of the vehicle with respect to the one or more RF-transmitting antennae determined by the processor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 14, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 28, 2021
    Assignee: POSITION IMAGING, INC.
    Inventors: Edward L. Hill, Brett Bilbrey, Harry Lee Deffebach, III, Krenar Komoni
  • Patent number: 11120392
    Abstract: A system and method for calibrating location and orientation of a directional light source relative to a field of view of an optical device includes a directional light source that directs light to points on a virtual grid overlaying the field of view of the optical device. The optical device captures an image for each point on the virtual grid at which the directional light source directs light. A light dot is located in a plurality of captured images. The location and orientation of the directional light source are calibrated relative to the field of view of the optical device based on coordinates of each located light dot and on relative coordinates of the optical device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 11, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 14, 2021
    Assignee: POSITION IMAGING, INC.
    Inventors: Drew Anthony Schena, Guohua Min
  • Patent number: 11107337
    Abstract: An apparatus for helping locate an item of interest in or near a building comprises an indicator and a body with a pair of pincers adapted to operate in opposition to grasp or be placed on or near the item of interest. The body houses a radiofrequency (RF) receiver configured to receive RF signals transmitted by an RF transmitter, and a processor in communication with the RF receiver and the indicator. The processor is configured to acquire information from the RF signals that are received by the RF receiver and to turn on the indicator in response to the information acquired from the RF signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 3, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 31, 2021
    Assignee: POSITION IMAGING, INC.
    Inventors: Edward L. Hill, YiFeng Xiong, Narasimhachary Nallana Chakravarty, Brian Martel, Marc Bujold, Brett Bilbrey
  • Patent number: 11089232
    Abstract: An apparatus comprises a mount body by which the apparatus is secured to a structure. A camera assembly includes an image sensor adapted to capture images within its field of view. A lighting assembly houses one or more light sources including a directional light source. A control-board assembly fixed to the mount body, houses control boards including one or more processors configured to acquire information about an object, to associate a location within the field of view of the image sensor with the object, to point light emitted by the directional light source at the location associated with the obj ect by rotating the lighting assembly and turning the laser assembly, and, based on an image acquired from the camera assembly, to detect change within the field of view of the image sensor corresponding to placement or removal of the object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 13, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 10, 2021
    Assignee: POSITION IMAGING, INC.
    Inventors: Brian Martel, YiFeng Xiong, Drew Anthony Schena, Narasimhachary Nallana Chakravarty, Rafal Piotrowski
  • Patent number: 11057590
    Abstract: A shelving system has at least one shelf, a camera fixed at a distance from the at least one shelf such that a field of view of the camera faces the at least one shelf and closely encompasses the at least one shelf, and a controller in communication with the camera. The controller has a processor adapted to receive images captured by the camera within the camera's field of view and to determine from the images whether a particular object has been placed on, moved, or removed from the at least one shelf.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 6, 2021
    Assignee: POSITION IMAGING, INC.
    Inventors: Alex Seiger, Shahzad Farooq Kirmani, Edward L. Hill
  • Patent number: 11022443
    Abstract: Systems and methods for tracking movement of individuals through a building receive, by one or more RF nodes disposed near an entrance to the building, RF signals from RF-transmitting mobile devices carried by persons near the entrance, capture an image of the persons while they are near the entrance, determine an identity and relative distance of each RF-transmitting mobile device from each RF node based on information associated with the RF signals received by that RF node, detect humans in the image, determine a relative depth of each human in the image, and assign the identity of each RF-transmitting mobile device to one of the humans detected in the image based on the relative distance of each RF-transmitting mobile device from each RF node and the relative depth of each human in the image, thereby identifying each individual who to be tracked optically as that individual moves throughout the building.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 1, 2021
    Assignee: POSITION IMAGING, INC.
    Inventor: Edward L. Hill
  • Patent number: 10853757
    Abstract: A package tracking system includes a package room for holding packages intended for delivery to one or more package recipients. One or more optical sensing devices are positioned to capture one or more images of each package brought to the package room and of each person handling that package at the package room. A computing system includes a processor and memory. The processor detects a presence and location of a given package held in the package room based on the one or more images captured by the one or more optical sensing devices and on package identification information relating to the given package. The processor produces a record of transactions involving the given package. The record includes the one or more images of the given package and of each person who handled the given package captured by the one or more optical sensing devices, and when each transaction occurred.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 26, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 1, 2020
    Assignee: POSITION IMAGING, INC.
    Inventors: Edward L. Hill, Rafal Piotrowski