RFID switch tag

• US 10,262,253 B2
• Filed: 06/01/2018
• Issued: 04/16/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 05/06/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Neology Incorporated (OEP Technologie BV)
• Original Assignee: Neology Incorporated (OEP Technologie BV)
• Inventors: Mullis, Joe, Nyalamadugu, Sheshi
• Primary Examiner(s): Trail, Allyson N
• Application Number:
  US15/996,345
• Publication Number:
  US 20180276520A1
• Time in Patent Office: 319 Days
• Field of Search: 235482, 705 734, 3405735, 340 58
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/041 Constructional details G06K19/06 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/07345 by activating or deactivating at least a part of the circuit on the record carrier, e.g. ON/OFF switches
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/07701 the record carrier comprising an interface suitable for human interaction
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/07703 the interface being visual
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/07715 the interface being used to indicate that the record carrier is active, e.g. a blinking light to indicate that the record carrier is busy communicating with a secondary device or busy computing
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/07745 Mounting details of integrated circuit chips
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/07754 the connection being galvanic
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/07773 Antenna details antennas for wireless devices, e.g. RFID tags, in general H01Q1/22
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/07794 the record carrier comprising a booster or auxiliary antenna in addition to the antenna connected directly to the integrated circuit
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/2225 used in active tags, i.e. provided with its own power source or in passive tags, i.e. deriving power from RF signal

Abstract

Various embodiments of RFID switch devices are disclosed herein. Such RFID switch devices advantageously enable manual activation/deactivation of the RF module. The RFID switch device may include a RF module with an integrated circuit adapted to ohmically connect to a substantially coplanar conductive trace pattern, as well as booster antenna for extending the operational range of the RFID device. The operational range of the RFID switch device may be extended when a region of the booster antenna overlaps a region of the conductive trace pattern on the RF module via inductive or capacitive coupling. The RFID switch device may further include a visual indicator displaying a first color if the RFID switch device is in an active state and/or a second color if the RFID switch device is in an inactive state.

Claims

1. A switchable radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag device comprising:

at least one RFID module positioned on a first plane;

at least one antenna section positioned on a second plane; and

a housing comprising a first triangular-shaped member and a second triangular-shaped member, the first and second triangular-shaped members rotatable between a plurality of positions relative to each other, the housing adapted to selectively activate and deactivate the at least one RFID module by rotating a position of the at least one antenna section relative to the at least one RFID module based on rotating the first triangular-shaped member between the plurality of positions relative to the second triangular-shaped member.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the at least one RFID module is disposed within the first triangular-shaped member and the at least one antenna section is disposed within the second triangular-shaped member.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein the at least one RFID module is disposed within the second triangular-shaped member and the at least one antenna section is disposed within the first triangular-shaped member.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein the at least one RFID module comprises a plurality of RFID modules, wherein each of the plurality of RFID modules are selectively activated and deactivated based on rotating the first triangular-shaped member relative to the second triangular shaped member.

5. The device of claim 4, wherein one of the plurality of RFID modules is activated while the remaining RFID modules are deactivated.

6. The device of claim 4, wherein each of the plurality of RFID modules is adapted to transmit different data to a different system associated with each respective RFID module of the plurality of RFID modules.

7. The device of claim 1, wherein the at least one antenna section comprises at least one detuned antenna section, wherein the at least one RFID module is coupled to the at least one detuned antenna section to form a tuned RFID tag based on rotating the first triangular-shaped member between the plurality of positions relative to the second triangular-shaped member.

8. The device of claim 7, wherein the at least one detuned antenna section comprises a plurality of detuned antenna sections, wherein the at least one RFID module is selectively coupled to each of the detuned antenna sections to form a plurality of tuned RFID tags.

9. The device of claim 8, wherein the at least one RFID module is coupled to one of the at least one detuned antenna section to form an associated tuned RFID tag while the remaining detuned antenna sections remain deactivated.

10. The device of claim 8, wherein each of the plurality of detuned antenna sections is adapted to operate at a different frequency when coupled with the at least one RFID module.

11. The device of claim 1, wherein the at least one RFID module comprises a plurality of RFID modules and the at least one antenna section comprises a plurality of antenna sections.

12. The device of claim 1, wherein the housing comprises a visual indicator adapted to display an indication of when the at least one RFID module is activated.

13. The device of claim 12, wherein the visual indicator is further adapted to display a second indication when the at least one RFID module is deactivated.

14. The device of claim 1, wherein the second triangular-shaped member is stationary, and the first triangular-shaped member is rotatable between the plurality of positions.

15. The device of claim 14, wherein RFID tag device is disposed within a vehicle and a surface of the second triangular-shaped member is affixed to a windshield of a vehicle, wherein the surface of the second triangular-shaped member comprises a window adapted to display a visual indicator indicative of whether the at least one RFID is activated or deactivated.

16. The device of claim 15, wherein the first triangular-shaped member comprises a surface including an icon viewable from inside the vehicle and adapted to visually indicate whether the at least one RFID module is activated or deactivated.

17. A switchable radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag device comprising:

a first triangular-shaped member comprising a RFID module;

a second triangular-shaped member comprising a detuned antenna section; and

a switching mechanism adapted to rotate the first triangular-shaped member relative to the second triangular-shaped member between at least a first and second position, wherein the RFID module is coupled to the detuned antenna section in a first position to form a tuned RFID module.

18. The device of claim 17, wherein the RFID module is inoperable in the second position.

19. The device of claim 17, wherein the first triangular-shaped member comprises a plurality of RFID modules, wherein each of the plurality of RFID modules are selectively coupled to the detuned antenna section based on rotating the first triangular-shaped member relative to the second triangular shaped member.

20. The device of claim 17, wherein the second triangular-shaped member comprises a plurality of detuned antenna sections, wherein the RFID module is selectively coupled to each of the detuned antenna sections to form a plurality of tuned RFID tags based on rotating the first triangular-shaped member relative to the second triangular shaped member.