US-20260127559-A1 - TRAINING OF VISION DETECTION SYSTEMS USING RFID TAGS

US20260127559A1US 20260127559 A1US20260127559 A1US 20260127559A1US-20260127559-A1

Abstract

A recycling-material sorting system includes an image capture system, an RFID reader system, and a vision detection system. A controller receives item identifier information from an RFID IC associated with a recyclable item through the RFID reader system. If the controller is able to derive recycling information for the recyclable item, it is used to sort the recyclable item. The item identifier information is further used to train a vision detection system regardless of whether the recycling information can be derived for the recyclable item or not.

Inventors

Christopher J. Diorio

Assignees

IMPINJ, INC.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260507
Application Date: 20240516

Claims (10)

1 . A recycling-material sorting system comprising: an image capture system configured to capture images of potentially recyclable items; a radio frequency identification (RFID) reader system configured to communicate with RFID integrated circuits (ICs) associated with the items; a vision detection system configured to identify item classes from the images of the items based on at least one supervised learning algorithm; and a controller configured to: receive, from the RFID reader system, a first item identifier for a first potentially recyclable item, wherein: the RFID reader system retrieves the first item identifier from an RFID IC associated with the first item, and the first item identifier indicates at least a first item class for the first item; receive, from the image capture system, a first image of the first item captured by the image capture system; provide training set data including the first item class and the first image to the vision detection system for training the supervised learning algorithm; receive, from the image capture system, a second image of a second potentially recyclable item; provide the second image to the vision detection system, wherein the vision detection system identifies the first item class from the second image and provides the identified first item class to the controller; and use at least the identified first item class to determine recycling information for the second item.
2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the first item identifier includes the first item class or is used to derive the first item class.
3 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the controller is further configured to derive the first item class from the first item identifier using a database.
4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the first item class includes the recycling information.
5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the first item class is a Global Trade Item Number (GTIN).
6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the first item identifier is shared among multiple items and therefore does not uniquely identify the first item.
7 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to, if the RFID reader system retrieves a second item identifier from a second RFID IC associated with the second item: receive the second item identifier; use at least the identified first item class and the second item identifier to determine the recycling information; and include the second image and an item class derived from the second item identifier in the training set data provided to the vision detection system.
8 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the recycling information indicates at least one of: whether the second item is recyclable; and a composition of the second item.
9 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the RFID reader system selects on a recycling indicator before retrieving the first item identifier from the RFID IC.
10 . A method for a recycling-material sorting system, the method comprising: capturing images of potentially recyclable items through an image capture system; communicating with radio frequency identification (RFID) integrated circuits (ICs) associated with the potentially recyclable items through an RFID reader system; identifying item classes from the images of the potentially recyclable items based on at least one supervised learning algorithm through a vision detection system; and through a controller: receiving, from the RFID reader system, a first item identifier for a first potentially recyclable item, wherein: the RFID reader system retrieves the first item identifier from an RFID IC associated with the first item, and the first item identifier indicates at least a first item class for the first item; receiving, from the image capture system, a first image of the first item captured by the image capture system; providing training set data including the first item class and the first image to the vision detection system for training the supervised learning algorithm; receiving, from the image capture system, a second image of a second potentially recyclable item; providing the second image to the vision detection system, wherein the vision detection system identifies the first item class from the second image and provides the identified first item class to the controller; and using at least the identified first item class to determine recycling information for the second item.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 63/502,976 filed on May 18, 2023. The disclosures of the provisional application are hereby incorporated by reference for all purposes. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION One of the approaches to address worsening environmental challenges is to increase recycling. Different types of recyclable items need to be processed differently. One approach is to ask consumers and other refuse producers to sort their recyclables before collection. Another approach is single-stream recycling, where multiple types of recyclables such as newspaper, cardboard, plastic, aluminum, are placed in a single container for recycling. These recyclables are collected and taken to a recycling facility to be sorted. The challenge with single stream recycling is sorting the recyclables at the recycling facility with reasonable cost. Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) systems typically include RFID readers, also known as RFID reader/writers or RFID interrogators, and RFID tags. RFID systems can be used in many ways for locating and identifying objects to which the tags are attached. RFID systems are useful in product-related and service-related industries for tracking objects being processed, inventoried, or handled. In such cases, an RFID tag is usually attached to an individual item, or to its package. The RFID tag typically includes, or is, a radio-frequency (RF) integrated circuit (IC). In principle, RFID techniques entail using an RFID reader to inventory one or more RFID tags, where inventorying involves singulating a tag, receiving an identifier from a tag, and/or acknowledging a received identifier (e.g., by transmitting an acknowledge command). “Singulated” is defined as a reader singling-out one tag, potentially from among multiple tags, for a reader-tag dialog. “Identifier” is defined as a number identifying the tag or the item to which the tag is attached, such as a tag identifier (TID), electronic product code (EPC), etc. An “inventory round” is defined as a reader staging RFID tags for successive inventorying. The reader transmitting an RF wave performs the inventory. The RF wave is typically electromagnetic, at least in the far field. The RF wave can also be predominantly electric or magnetic in the near or transitional near field. The RF wave may encode one or more commands that instruct the tags to perform one or more actions. The operation of an RFID reader sending commands to an RFID tag is sometimes known as the reader “interrogating” the tag. In typical RFID systems, an RFID reader transmits a modulated RF inventory signal (a command), receives a tag reply, and transmits an RF acknowledgement signal responsive to the tag reply. A tag that replies to the interrogating RF wave does so by transmitting back another RF wave. The tag either generates the transmitted back RF wave originally, or by reflecting back a portion of the interrogating RF wave in a process known as backscatter. Backscatter may take place in a number of ways. The reflected-back RF wave may encode data stored in the tag, such as a number. The response is demodulated and decoded by the reader, which thereby identifies, counts, or otherwise interacts with the associated item. The decoded data can denote a serial number, a price, a date, a time, a destination, an encrypted message, an electronic signature, other attribute(s), any combination of attributes, and so on. Accordingly, when a reader receives tag data it can learn about the item that hosts the tag and/or about the tag itself. An RFID tag typically includes an antenna section, a radio section, a power-management section, and frequently a logical section, a memory, or both. In some RFID tags the power-management section includes an energy storage device such as a battery. RFID tags with an energy storage device are known as battery-assisted, semi-active, or active tags. Other RFID tags can be powered solely by the RF signal they receive. Such RFID tags do not include an energy storage device and are called passive tags. Of course, even passive tags typically include temporary energy-and data/flag-storage elements such as capacitors or inductors. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter. Examples are directed to using RFID systems for recyclable sorting. In a single stream recycling facility, mixed recyclable items are sorted into groups of items that can be processed together. The sorting may involve RFID systems and/or vision detection. For example, recyclable items may have associated RFID tags. An RFID system (e.g., one or more RFID readers and/or an RFID netwo