RFID switch tag

• US 10,671,904 B2
• Filed: 04/15/2019
• Issued: 06/02/2020
• 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:
  US16/384,643
• Publication Number:
  US 20190244070A1
• Time in Patent Office: 414 Days
• Field of Search: 2354621, 3405728, 340 101, 340 105
• 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 wireless identification device, comprising:

at least one antenna section;

at least one integrated circuit configured to communicate wirelessly with at least one reader; and

a housing comprising the at least one integrated circuit and comprising a switching mechanism configured to change an operational state of the at least one integrated circuit by changing a position of the at least one integrated circuit relative to the at least one antenna section.

2. The wireless identification device of claim 1, further comprising an indicator contained within the housing and configured to indicate a status of the wireless identification device.

3. The wireless identification device of claim 2, wherein the status of the wireless identification device is determined based at least in part on the operational state of the at least one integrated circuit, and wherein the indicator is adapted to display a first color when the at least one integrated circuit is in a first operational state and to display a second color when the at least one integrated circuit is in a second operational state.

4. The wireless identification device of claim 1, wherein the at least one integrated circuit comprises a plurality of integrated circuits, wherein the switching mechanism is configured to change the operational state of each of the integrated circuits based on changing the position of each of the integrated circuits relative to the at least one antenna section.

5. The wireless identification device of claim 4, wherein the operational state of one of the integrated circuits is an activated state while the operational state of the remaining integrated circuits is a deactivated state.

6. The wireless identification device of claim 4, wherein each of the plurality of integrated circuits is adapted to transmit different data to a different system associated with each respective integrated circuit based on the respective operational state of the respective integrated circuit.

7. The wireless identification device of claim 4, wherein the at least one antenna section comprises a plurality of antenna sections wherein one or more of the plurality of integrated circuits are selectively coupled to the plurality of antenna sections.

8. The wireless identification device of claim 7, wherein each of the plurality of integrated circuits adapted to transmit different data to a different system and operate at different operational states when coupled with each of the plurality of integrated circuits.

9. The wireless identification device of claim 1, wherein the at least one antenna section comprises at least one detuned antenna section, wherein the switching mechanism is configured to change the position of the at least one integrated circuit so to couple the at least one integrated circuit to the at least one detuned antenna section to form a tuned wireless transponder.

10. The wireless identification device of claim 9, wherein the at least one detuned antenna section comprises a plurality of detuned antenna sections, wherein the at least one integrated circuit is selectively coupled to each of the detuned antenna sections to form a plurality of tuned wireless transponders.

11. The wireless identification device of claim 10, wherein the at least one integrated circuit is coupled to one of the at least one detuned antenna section to form an associated tuned wireless transponder while the remaining detuned antenna sections remain deactivated.

12. The wireless identification device of claim 10, wherein each of the plurality of detuned antenna sections is adapted to operate at a different operational state when coupled with the at least one integrated circuit.

13. The wireless identification device of claim 1, wherein the housing is adaptable for installation on a surface of a vehicle.

14. The wireless identification device of claim 13, wherein the surface comprises one a front windshield, a sunroof, a moonroof, side door windows, a rearview mirror, rear windshield, and a side mirror.

15. The wireless identification device of claim 1, the at least one integrated circuit communicates with a reader included in a tolling system.

16. The wireless identification device of claim 1, further comprising an RFID module including the integrated circuit.