Tag assembly with multiple antennas, ICs, and/or sensing elements

• US 10,152,667 B2
• Filed: 02/07/2018
• Issued: 12/11/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/07/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: 3M Innovative Properties Company (3M Company)
• Original Assignee: 3M Innovative Properties Company (3M Company)
• Inventors: Gabriel, Nicholas T., Jesme, Ronald D., Bonifas, Andrew P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Yacob, Sisay
• Application Number:
  US15/890,526
• Publication Number:
  US 20180165561A1
• Time in Patent Office: 307 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 70/78 Moulding material on one side only of the preformed part
• CPC Class Codes: B29K 2083/00 Use of polymers having silicon, with or without sulfur, nitrogen, oxygen, or carbon only, in the main chain, as moulding material
• CPC Class Codes: B29K 2105/20 Inserts
• CPC Class Codes: B29L 2031/3481 Housings or casings incorporating or embedding electric or electronic elements
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/0707 the arrangement being capable of collecting energy from external energy sources, e.g. thermocouples, vibration, electromagnetic radiation G06K19/0702 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10356 using a plurality of antennas, e.g. configurations including means to resolve interference between the plurality of antennas

Abstract

At least some aspects of the present disclosure feature a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag adapted to wirelessly communicate with a remote transceiver. The RFID tag includes a substrate; and first and second circuits disposed on the substrate and comprising respective first and second antennas magnetically coupled to one another. At least some aspects of the present disclosure feature a RFID tag having a plurality of RF circuits, where each RF circuit is electronically coupled to a sensing element.

Claims

1. A radio frequency identification (RFID) tag adapted to wirelessly communicate with a remote transceiver, comprising:

a substrate; and

first and second circuits disposed on the substrate and comprising respective first and second antennas magnetically coupled to one another, the RFID tag having a pre-determined resonant frequency, each one of the first and second circuits in the absence of the other one of the first and second circuits designed to have a resonant frequency different from the pre-determined resonant frequency resulting in the RFID tag having the pre-determined resonant frequency;

a heating element for heating a target area and electrically coupled to the first circuit, the target area having a thermal characteristic; and

first and second sensing elements electrically coupled to the respective first and second circuits and disposed at respective locations different from each other, such that when the heating element is thermally coupled to the target area, the RFID tag wirelessly receives an input power having an input form from a transceiver, the first circuit transforms the input power to a first power and deliver the first power to the heating element, the first and second sensing elements sense a time variation of temperatures at respective locations, and the RFID tag wirelessly transmits to the transceiver a thermal characteristic of the target area based on comparing the time variation of the temperatures at respective locations.

2. The RFID tag of claim 1, wherein the magnitude of the first power has a predefined ratio to the magnitude of the input power.

3. The RFID tag of claim 1 comprising an IC comprising the first circuit, and at least one of the heating element and the first sensing element.

4. The RFID tag of claim 3 further comprising a thermal spreader disposed on a major surface of the IC and adapted to uniformly distribute heat from the heating element across the target area.

5. The RFID tag of claim 4, wherein thermal spreader has a top surface in thermal contact with the major surface of the IC and an opposing bottom surface for thermally contacting the second target area, the major surface of the IC and the top surface of the thermal spreader overlapping one another.

6. The RFID tag of claim 1, wherein a magnitude of a magnetic coupling factor of the magnetically coupled first and second antennas is at least 0.1.

7. The RFID tag of claim 1, wherein the first and second antennas are vertically offset relative to one another in a direction perpendicular to the substrate.

8. The RFID tag of claim 1, wherein in plane view, the first and second antennas overlap one another.

9. The RFID tag of claim 1, wherein the first sensing element and the second sensing element have predefined placements relative to each other.

10. The RFID tag of claim 9, wherein the thermal characteristic of the target area is further based on the predefined placements relative to each other of the first and second sensing elements.

11. A radio frequency identification (RFID) tag adapted to wirelessly communicate with a remote transceiver, comprising:

a substrate; and

first and second circuits disposed on the substrate and comprising respective first and second antennas magnetically coupled to one another, the RFID tag intended to have a pre-determined resonant frequency, each one of the first and second circuits in the absence of the other one of the first and second circuits designed to have a resonant frequency different from the pre-determined resonant frequency resulting in the RFID tag having the pre-determined resonant frequency;

first and second heating elements for heating respective first and second target areas and electrically coupled to the respective first and second circuits, each of the first and second target areas having a thermal characteristic, the thermal characteristic of the first target area being predefined, the thermal characteristic of the second target area being undefined, the first target area disposed on the substrate and thermally coupled to the first heating element, the first heating element and target area thermally isolated from the second heating element and adapted to be thermally isolated from the second target area; and

first and second sensing elements thermally coupled to the respective first and second heating elements for sensing a temperature of the corresponding heating element, such that when the second heating element is thermally coupled to the second target area, the RFID tag wirelessly receives an input power having an input form from a transceiver, the first and second circuits transform the input power to respective first and second powers having respective first and second forms and deliver the first and second powers to the corresponding heating element, the first and second sensing elements sense a time variation of the corresponding heating element temperature, and the RFID tag wirelessly transmits to the transceiver a thermal characteristic of the second target area based on comparing the time variation of the first and second heating elements temperatures.

12. The RFID tag of claim 11, wherein the magnitude of the first power or the second power has a predefined ratio to the magnitude of the input power.

13. The RFID tag of claim 11, wherein at least one of the first form and the second form is different from the input form.

14. The RFID tag of claim 11, wherein the first power, the first power and the second power are in AC form, and wherein the first and second circuits are further configured to transform the input power to circuit powers in DC form and provide circuit powers to the other components in the first and second circuits respectively.

15. The RFID tag of claim 11 comprising an IC comprising the first circuit, and at least one of the first heating element and the first sensing element.

16. The RFID tag of claim 15, further comprising a thermal spreader disposed on a major surface of the IC and adapted to uniformly distribute heat from the second heating element across the second target area.

17. The RFID tag of claim 16, wherein thermal spreader has a top surface in contact with the major surface of the IC and an opposing bottom surface for thermally contacting the second target area, the major surface of the IC and the top surface of the thermal spreader overlapping one another.

18. The RFID tag of claim 11, wherein a magnitude of a magnetic coupling factor of the magnetically coupled first and second antennas is at least 0.1.

19. The RFID tag of claim 11, wherein the first and second antennas are vertically offset relative to one another in a direction perpendicular to the substrate.

20. The RFID tag of claim 11, wherein in plane view, the first and second antennas overlap one another.