Method and Apparatus Pertaining to the Identification of Physical-Local Discrepancies in Statistics-Based RFID-Tag Information

Abstract

These teachings are suitable for use in conjunction with a process having access to both coverage information that maps the coverage area for each of a plurality of RFID-tag readers to physical locations within a given monitored facility and historical-read information for a population of RFID tags, and that uses that historical-read information and that coverage information to automatically determine the physical location of RFID tags. In particular, these teachings generally provide for accessing supplemental information regarding physical locations for at least some of those RFID tags and then comparing the automatically-determined physical location information with the supplemental information to thereby identify physical-location discrepancies. By one approach those physical-location discrepancies are used to adjust the automated process by which the automatically-determined physical location information is automatically determined to thereby improve accuracy of the automated process.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 by a control circuit:
 accessing automatically-determined physical location information as corresponds to a plurality of radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag objects within a given facility, wherein the automatically-determined physical location information is automatically determined using: 
 coverage information that maps an RFID-tag read coverage area for each of a plurality of fixed-location RFID-tag readers to physical locations within the given facility; and 
 historical-read information by the RFID-tag readers as corresponds to at least some of the RFID tags; 
 accessing supplemental information regarding physical locations for at least some of the RFID tags, wherein the supplemental information comprises:
 object location information received through location reviews of the facility from customers; and 
 
 comparing the automatically-determined physical location information with the supplemental information to thereby identify physical-location discrepancies. 
   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the supplemental information further comprises:
 location and inventory information gleaned from handheld-based optical-code readers deployed in the facility. 
 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the historical-read information comprises, at least in part, RFID-system metrics along with tag-specific information and corresponding timestamps as correspond to RFID-tag reader reads of individual ones of at least some of the RFID tags. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3  wherein the RFID-system metrics include at least one of:
 a particular RFID-tag reader; 
 a particular RFID-tag reader antenna; 
 a particular RFID-tag reader logical antenna; 
 a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) value; 
 a received signal phase angle; and 
 a total number of reads. 
 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  wherein comparing the automatically-determined physical location information with the supplemental information to thereby identify physical-location discrepancies comprises comparing the automatically-determined physical location information with the supplemental information to thereby identify physical-location discrepancies of greater than a predetermined magnitude. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5  further comprising:
 using the physical-location discrepancies to adjust an automated process by which the automatically-determined physical location information is automatically determined to thereby improve accuracy of the automated process. 
 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6  wherein using the physical-location discrepancies to adjust an automated process by which the automatically-determined physical location information is automatically determined comprises automatically using the physical-location discrepancies to adjust an automated process by which the automatically-determined physical location information is automatically determined. 
     
     
         8 . An apparatus comprising:
 a plurality of RFID tags with a given facility; and   a control circuit configured to:   access automatically-determined physical location information as corresponds to a plurality of radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags within a given facility, wherein the automatically-determined physical location information is automatically determined using:   coverage information that maps a coverage area for each of a plurality of fixed-location RFID-tag readers to physical locations within the given facility; and   historical-read information as corresponds to at least some of the RFID tags;   access supplemental information regarding physical locations for at least some of the RFID tags, wherein the supplemental information comprises:   information received through location reviews from customers; and   compare the automatically-determined physical location information with the supplemental information to thereby identify physical-location discrepancies.   
     
     
         9 . The apparatus of  claim 8  wherein the supplemental information further comprises:
 information gleaned from handheld-based optical-code readers. 
 
     
     
         10 . The apparatus of  claim 8  wherein the historical-read information comprises, at least in part, RFID-system metrics along with tag-specific information and corresponding timestamps as correspond to RFID-tag reader reads of individual ones of at least some of the RFID tags. 
     
     
         11 . The apparatus of  claim 10  wherein the RFID-system metrics include at least one of:
 a particular RFID-tag reader; 
 a particular RFID-tag reader antenna; 
 a particular RFID-tag reader logical antenna; 
 a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) value; 
 a received signal phase angle; and 
 a total number of reads. 
 
     
     
         12 . The apparatus of  claim 8  wherein the control circuit is configured to compare the automatically-determined physical location information with the supplemental information to thereby identify physical-location discrepancies by comparing the automatically-determined physical location information with the supplemental information to thereby identify physical-location discrepancies of greater than a predetermined magnitude. 
     
     
         13 . The apparatus of  claim 12  wherein the control circuit is further configured to automatically use the physical-location discrepancies to adjust an automated process by which the automatically-determined physical location information is automatically determined to thereby improve accuracy of the automated process.