Interrogator and tag of wireless communication system

• US 20040150510A1
• Filed: 03/28/2003
• Published: 08/05/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 03/28/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Brother Industries Limited)
• Original Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Brother Industries Limited)
• Inventors: Ohashi, Tsuyoshi, Nagai, Takuya, Taki, Kazunari
• Granted Patent: US 7,224,712 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/10.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/0723 the record carrier comprising an arrangement for non-contact communication, e.g. wireless communication circuits on transponder cards, non-contact smart cards or RFIDs
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/0008 General problems related to the reading of electronic memory record carriers, independent of its reading method, e.g. power transfer
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10069 the collision being resolved in the frequency domain, e.g. by hopping from one frequency to the other frequency hopping or spread spectrum techniques H04B7/00

Abstract

In a wireless communication system including at least one Interrogator and a plurality of Tags, the Interrogator transmits a main carrier signal, and each Tag transmits a reflected signal to the Interrogator in response to reception of the main carrier signal. The Tag Includes a receiving/reflecting system that receives the main carrier transmitted by the Interrogator and transmits the reflected signal to the Interrogator and a modulated subcarrier signal hopping system. The modulated subcarrier signal hopping system is provided with a frequency hopping system that applies frequency hopping to a subcarrier signal, and a subcarrier signal modulating system that modulates the subcarrier signal with a predetermined information signal. The Tag further includes a main carrier modulating system that modulates the main carrier received through the receiving/reflecting system with the modulated subcarrier signal, the modulated main carrier signal being transmitted to the Interrogator through the receiving/reflecting system as the reflected signal.

Claims

1. A Tag for a wireless communication system including at least one Interrogator, the Interrogator transmitting a main carrier signal, said Tag transmitting a reflected signal to the Interrogator in response to reception of the main carrier signal, said Tag comprising:

a receiving/reflecting system that receives the main carrier transmitted by the Interrogator and transmits the reflected signal to the Interrogator;

a modulated subcarrier signal hopping system, which includes;

a frequency hopping system that applies frequency hopping to a subcarrier signal; and

a subcarrier signal modulating system that modulates the subcarrier signal with a predetermined information signal;

a main carrier modulating system that modulates the main carrier received through said receiving/reflecting system with the modulated subcarrier signal modulated by said subcarrier signal modulating system, the modulated main carrier being transmitted to the Interrogator through said receiving/reflecting system as the reflected signal.

2. The Tag according to claim 1, wherein a minimum frequency of the subcarrier signal is greater than a hopping frequency interval of the subcarrier signal hopped by said frequency hopping system.

3. The Tag according to claim 1, an interval of a plurality of main carrier signals that are transmitted by the at least one Interrogator is greater than twice a maximum hopping frequency of the subcarrier signal hopped by said frequency hopping system.

4. The Tag according to claim 1,

wherein all the frequency band of frequency-hopped subcarrier signals used for modulating a first main carrier signal and all the frequency band of frequency-hopped subcarrier signals used for modulating a second main carrier are at least partially overlapped, and

wherein each of the frequency-hopped subcarrier signals used for modulating the first main carrier signal and each of the frequency-hopped subcarrier signals used for modulating the second main carrier are frequency-arranged in accordance with an interleaving relationship.

5. The Tag according to claim 1, wherein an interval of a plurality of main carrier signals transmitted by the at least one Interrogator is a sum of a maximum hopping frequency of frequency-hopped subcarrier signals and a minimum hopping frequency of the frequency-hopped subcarrier signals and a half of an interval of hopping frequencies of the subcarrier signals hopped by the frequency hopping system.

6. The Tag according to claim 1,

wherein a primary side band generated by modulating a first main carrier signal with the subcarrier signal and a secondary side band generated by modulating a second main carrier signal with the subcarrier signal do not collide with each other, and

wherein a minimum hopping frequency, a maximum hopping frequency and a hopping frequency interval of the subcarrier signals which is frequency-hopped by said frequency hopping system, and a frequency interval of first and second main carriers of the at least one Interrogator are determined such that the primary side band, the secondary side band and a side band generated by the first and second main carrier signals do not collide with each other.

7. The Tag according to claim 1, wherein an interval between a plurality of main carrier signals transmitted by the at least one Interrogator is equal to maximum hopping frequency and minimum hopping frequency of the frequency-hopped subcarrier signals frequency-hopped by said frequency hopping system, one of hopping patterns which are chronologically symmetric being used for frequency hopping.

8. The Tag according to claim 1, further comprising:

a hopping pattern determining system that determines a hopping pattern for the subcarrier signal in accordance with identification information of the Interrogator; and

a starting phase determining system that determines a starting phase of the hopping to be used for frequency hopping the subcarrier signal in accordance with the identification information of the Interrogator.

9. The Tag according to claim 1, further, comprising:

a numerical control oscillator used to apply the frequency hopping to the subcarrier signal; and

a subcarrier signal modulator that varies one of phase, frequency and amplitude of a signal generated by said numerical control oscillator in accordance with a predetermined information signal.

10. The Tag according to claim 1,

wherein said frequency hopping system is capable of applying the frequency hopping to the subcarrier signal with a plurality of hopping frequency intervals, and

wherein said Tag further includes a hopping frequency interval selecting system that selects one of the plurality of hopping frequency intervals.

11. The Tag according to claim 10,

wherein said hopping frequency selecting system selects a hopping frequency interval that is narrower than a predetermined width in an area where the subcarrier signal has a low frequency, and

wherein said hopping frequency interval selecting system selects a hopping frequency interval that is wider than a predetermined width in an area where the subcarrier signal has a high frequency.

12. The Tag according to claim 10, wherein said hopping frequency interval selecting system selects a predetermined hopping frequency interval from among a plurality of hopping frequency intervals based on an amount of data to be transmitted.

13. The Tag according to claim 10,

wherein said hopping frequency interval selecting system selects a hopping frequency interval that is narrower than a predetermined width when a data rate of data to be transmitted is small, and

wherein said hopping frequency interval selecting system selects a hopping frequency interval that is wider than a predetermined width when a data rate of data to be transmitted is high.

14. The Tag according to claim 10, further comprising a power supply condition detecting system that detects a power supply condition to said Tag, wherein said hopping frequency interval selecting system selects a hopping frequency interval based on the power supply condition detected by said power supply condition detecting system.

15. The Tag according to claim 10, further comprising a power supply condition detecting system that detects a power supply condition to said Tag, wherein said hopping frequency interval selecting system selects a hopping frequency interval narrower than a predetermined interval if said power supply condition detecting system detects that the power supply condition is worse than a predetermined condition.

16. The Tag according to claim 10, further including a hopping frequency interval control system that controls said hopping frequency interval selecting system to initially selects a hopping frequency interval narrower than a predetermined interval, said hopping frequency interval control system controlling said hopping frequency interval selecting system to select a hopping frequency interval wider than the predetermined interval if said Tag receives a data transmission request from the Interrogator.

17. An Interrogator for a wireless communicating system including at least one Interrogator and a plurality of Tags, the Interrogator transmitting a main carrier signal, each of the Tags transmitting a reflected signal to the Interrogator in response to reception of the main carrier signal, said Interrogator comprising:

a transmitting system that transmits the main carrier signal;

a reflected signal receiving system that receives a reflected signal, each of the Tags generating the reflected signal by modulating the main carrier transmitted from said Interrogator and received by the Tags;

a demodulating system that demodulates the reflected signal received by said reflected signal receiving system to output a demodulated signal; and

a data detection system that detects data from the demodulating signal,

wherein said demodulating system simultaneously receives signals within a predetermined band including all the hopping frequency ranges defined by minimum hopping frequency and maximum hopping frequency of a subcarrier signal and applies demodulation to the received signals,

wherein said data detection system includes;

a band dividing system that divides the demodulated signal into a plurality of bands to generate a divided band signal for each of the plurality of bands;

a decoding system that decodes the divided band signal to obtain data for each of the plurality of bands;

a sorting system that extracts frames from the divided band signals and sorts the extracted frames in accordance with a predetermined condition; and

a connecting system that connects the sorted frames chronologically.

18. The Interrogator according to claim 17, wherein said band dividing system includes:

A/D converting system that converts the demodulated signals into a series of digital values to obtain digital demodulated signals;

a frequency domain converting system that converts the digital demodulated signal into frequency domain signals;

a hopping band dividing system that divides the frequency domain signals by predetermined hopping frequency bands.

19. The Interrogator according to claim 18, wherein said demodulating system further includes a time domain converting system that applies an inverse conversion to the signals divided by the predetermined hopping frequency bands to obtain time domain signals.

20. The Interrogator according to claim 17, further including:

a collision detector that detects a collision as a plurality of Tags reply using the same subcarrier frequency;

a collision subcarrier signal notifying system that notifies the frequency of the subcarrier signal causing the collision if the collision detector detects the collision.

21. In combination, an Interrogator and a plurality of Tag for a wireless communicating, the Interrogator transmitting a main carrier signal, each of said Tags transmitting a reflected signal to said Interrogator in response to reception of the main carrier signal,

said Tag comprising:

a receiving/reflecting system that receives the main carrier transmitted by the Interrogator and transmits the reflected signal to the Interrogator;

a modulated subcarrier signal hopping system, which includes;

a frequency hopping system that applies frequency hopping to a subcarrier signal; and

a subcarrier signal modulating system that modulates the subcarrier signal with a predetermined Information signal;

a main carrier modulating system that modulates the main carrier received through said receiving/reflecting system with the modulated subcarrier signal modulated by said subcarrier signal modulating system, the modulated main carrier being transmitted to the Interrogator through said receiving/reflecting system as the reflected signal,

wherein said frequency hopping system is capable of applying the frequency hopping to the subcarrier signal with a plurality of hopping frequency intervals, and

wherein said Tag further includes a hopping frequency interval selecting system that selects one of the plurality of hopping frequency intervals,

said Interrogator comprising;

a reflected signal receiving system that receives a reflected signal, each of the Tags generating the reflected signal by modulating the main carrier transmitted from said Interrogator and received by the Tags;

a demodulating system that demodulates the reflected signal received by said reflected signal receiving system to output a demodulated signal;

a data detection system that detects a data signal from the demodulating signal;

a reception control system that controls said reflected signal receiving system to received a reflected signal modulated with a subcarrier signal having a hopping frequency interval narrower than a predetermined interval in a normal state; and

an identification information judging system that judges identification information of the Tag in accordance with the data signal detected by said data detection system,

wherein, if said identification information judging system judges the identification information of said Tag, said reception control system controls said reflected signal receiving system to receive reflected signals modulated using the all ranges of hopping frequency intervals.

22. In combination, an Interrogator and a plurality of Tag for a wireless communicating, the Interrogator transmitting a main carrier signal, each of said Tags transmitting a reflected signal to said Interrogator in response to reception of the main carrier signal,

said Tag comprising:

a receiving/reflecting system that receives the main carrier transmitted by the Interrogator and transmits the reflected signal to the Interrogator;

a modulated subcarrier signal hopping system, which includes;

a frequency hopping system that applies frequency hopping to a subcarrier signal; and

a subcarrier signal modulating system that modulates the subcarrier signal with a predetermined information signal;

a main carrier modulating system that modulates the main carrier received through said receiving/reflecting system with the modulated subcarrier signal modulated by said subcarrier signal modulating system, the modulated main carrier being transmitted to the Interrogator through said receiving/reflecting system as the reflected signal,

wherein said frequency hopping system is capable of applying the frequency hopping to the subcarrier signal with a plurality of hopping frequency intervals, and

wherein said Tag further includes a hopping frequency interval selecting system that selects one of the plurality of hopping frequency intervals,

said Interrogator comprising;

a reflected signal receiving system that receives a reflected signal, each of the Tags generating the reflected signal by modulating the main carrier transmitted from said Interrogator and received by the Tags;

a demodulating system that demodulates the reflected signal received by said reflected signal receiving system to output a demodulated signal;

a data detection system that detects a data signal from the demodulating signal;

a demodulation control system that controls said demodulating system to demodulate a reflected signal modulated with a subcarrier signal having a hopping frequency interval narrower than a predetermined interval in a normal state; and

an identification information judging system that judges identification information of the Tag in accordance with the data signal detected by said data detection system,

wherein, if said identification information judging system judges the identification information of said Tag, said demodulation control system controls said demodulating system to demodulate reflected signals modulated using the all ranges of hopping frequency intervals.