Method and apparatus for the automatic determination of network cable connections using RFID tags and an antenna grid

• US 20050219050A1
• Filed: 03/30/2004
• Published: 10/06/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: RPX Corporation
• Original Assignee: Lucent Technologies, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Martin, Clifford E.
• Granted Patent: US 7,170,393 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/572.100
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/60 Identification of wires in a multicore cable
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/67 Testing the correctness of wire connections in electric apparatus or circuits
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10079 the collision being resolved in the spatial domain, e.g. temporary shields for blindfolding the interrogator in specific directions

Abstract

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags and an antenna grid are used for automatic determination of cable connections. An RF antenna grid is advantageously employed on a device having a plurality of device ports (e.g., cable connection points) which may, for example, be physically organized in a two-dimensional arrangement. Then, when RFID tags are fixed to one or more cable ends, it can advantageously be determined which of the one or more cables are connected to which of the ports on the device. The RF antenna grid may comprise a plurality of individual antennas which are advantageously multiplexed such that a single RFID reader can handle the sensing for all antennas. Also, opposing ends of a given cable may be advantageously provided with RFID tags having related ID codes such that connections which exist between two connected ports of the device may be easily and efficiently determined.

Claims

1. An apparatus adapted to determine connectivity between one or more device ports thereof and one or more cable ends having corresponding RFID tags attached thereto, the apparatus comprising:

a plurality of device ports each adapted to have a cable end connected thereto; and

a plurality of RFID antennas, one or more of said plurality of RFID antennas being in close physical proximity to each of two or more of said plurality of device ports, such that said one or more of said plurality of RFID antennas is able to detect a connection between one of said two or more of said plurality of device ports and a cable end having a corresponding RFID tag attached thereto by sensing said corresponding attached RFID tag.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein one or more of said plurality of device ports is in close physical proximity to each of at least two of said plurality of RFID antennas such that each of said at least two of said plurality of RFID antennas is able to detect a connection between said one or more of said plurality of device ports and a cable end having a corresponding RFID tag attached thereto by sensing said corresponding attached RFID tag.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein each of said plurality of RFID antennas is in said close physical proximity to each of two or more of said plurality of device ports and wherein each of said plurality of device ports is in said close physical proximity to each of at least two of said plurality of RFID antennas.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein the plurality of device ports are arranged in a substantially rectangular arrangement comprising a plural number of columns of device ports and a plural number of rows of device ports.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein said plurality of RFID antennas comprises a number of column antennas equal to the number of columns of device ports and a number of row antennas equal to the number of rows of device ports, and

wherein each column antenna is in said close physical proximity to each of the plurality of device ports in a corresponding one of said columns of device ports and each row antenna is in said close physical proximity to each of the plurality of device ports in a corresponding one of said rows of device ports.

6. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein said plurality of RFID antennas comprises a number of column antennas equal to at least one more than the number of columns of device ports and a number of row antennas equal to at least one more than the number of rows of device ports, and

wherein each column of device ports is in said close physical proximity to a corresponding adjacent pair of two of said column antennas and each row of device ports is in said close physical proximity to a corresponding adjacent pair of two of said row antennas.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising an antenna multiplexer adapted to select one of said plurality of RFID antennas at a time for sensing RFID information, each of said plurality of RFID antennas being connected to said antenna multiplexer.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 further comprising an RFID reader connected to said antenna multiplexer and adapted to read said RFID information received based on said sensing of said RFID antennas.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising:

means for selecting two or more of said RFID antennas in turn for sensing corresponding RFID information; and

means for determining that a cable end is connected to one of said device ports based on said sensed RFID information corresponding to at least two of said RFID antennas.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 further comprising means for communicating across a network said determination that said cable end is connected to said one of said device ports.

11. A method for determining connectivity between one or more of a plurality of device ports and one or more cable ends having corresponding RFID tags attached thereto, the method comprising the steps of:

sensing, with use of a first one of a plurality of RFID antennas, said first RFID antenna being in close physical proximity to each of two or more of said plurality of device ports, whether one or more of said RFID tags attached to said cable ends is in close physical proximity to said first RFID antenna; and

detecting a connection between one of said plurality of device ports which is in close physical proximity to said first RFID antenna and a cable end having a corresponding RFID tag attached thereto based on said step of sensing with use of said first RFID antenna having determined that said corresponding RFID tag attached to said cable end is in close physical proximity to said first RFID antenna.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein at least one of said plurality of device ports which is in close physical proximity to said first RFID antenna is also in close proximity to a second one of said plurality of said RFID antennas, the method further comprising the step of

sensing, with use of said second RFID antenna, whether one or more of said RFID tags attached to said cable ends is in close physical proximity to said second RFID antenna,

and wherein the step of detecting the connection between one of said plurality of device ports and the cable end having the corresponding RFID tag attached thereto comprises

(i) determining that said step of sensing with use of said first RFID antenna determined that one of said RFID tags attached to said cable ends is in close physical proximity to said first RFID antenna, and

(ii) determining that said step of sensing with use of said second RFID antenna also determined that said one of said RFID tags attached to said cable ends is in close physical proximity to said second RFID antenna.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein each of said plurality of RFID antennas is in said close physical proximity to each of two or more of said plurality of device ports and wherein each of said plurality of device ports is in said close physical proximity to each of at least two of said plurality of RFID antennas, and wherein the plurality of device ports are arranged in a substantially rectangular arrangement comprising a plural number of columns of device ports and a plural number of rows of device ports.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein said plurality of RFID antennas comprises a number of column antennas equal to the number of columns of device ports and a number of row antennas equal to the number of rows of device ports,

wherein each column antenna is in said close physical proximity to each of the plurality of device ports in a corresponding one of said columns of device ports and each row antenna is in said close physical proximity to each of the plurality of device ports in a corresponding one of said rows of device ports,

and wherein said first RFID antenna comprises one of said column antennas and said second RFID antenna comprises one of said row antennas.

15. The method of claim 13 wherein said plurality of RFID antennas comprises a number of column antennas equal to at least one more than the number of columns of device ports and a number of row antennas equal to at least one more than the number of rows of device ports,

wherein each column of device ports is in said close physical proximity to a corresponding adjacent pair of two of said column antennas and each row of device ports is in said close physical proximity to a corresponding adjacent pair of two of said row antennas,

and wherein said first RFID antenna comprises one of said column antennas, said first RFID antenna in close physical proximity to a given column of device ports, and said second RFID antenna comprises one of said number of row antennas, said second RFID antenna in close physical proximity to a given row of device ports,

the method further comprising the steps of:

sensing, with use of a third one of said plurality of RFID antennas, said third RFID antenna comprising one of said column antennas, said third RFID antenna being in close physical proximity to said given column of device ports to which said first RFID antenna is also in close physical proximity, whether one or more of said RFID tags attached to said cable ends which is in close physical proximity to said first RFID antenna is also in close physical proximity to said third RFID antenna, and

sensing, with use of a fourth one of said plurality of RFID antennas, said fourth RFID antenna comprising one of said number of row antennas, said fourth RFID antenna being in close physical proximity to said given row of device ports to which said second RFID antenna is also in close physical proximity, whether one or more of said RFID tags attached to said cable ends which is in close physical proximity to said second RFID antenna is also in close physical proximity to said fourth RFID antenna,

and wherein the step of detecting the connection between one of said plurality of device ports and the cable end having a corresponding RFID tag attached thereto comprises

(i) said steps of sensing with use of said first and third RFID antennas having each determined that one of said RFID tags attached to said cable ends is in close physical proximity to both said first and third RFID antennas, and

(ii) said steps of sensing with use of said second and fourth RFID antennas having determined that said one of said RFID tags attached to said cable ends is in close physical proximity to both said second and fourth RFID antennas,

said one of said plurality of device ports being located in said given column of device ports and in said given row of device ports.

16. The method of claim 12 further comprising the step of

storing a first set of one or more ID values of said one or more of said RFID tags attached to said cable ends which are in close physical proximity to said first RFID antenna,

storing a second set of one or more ID values of said one or more of said RFID tags attached to said cable ends which are in close physical proximity to said second RFID antenna,

and wherein the step of detecting the connection between one of said plurality of device ports and the cable end having the corresponding RFID tag attached thereto further comprises comparing the first set of stored ID values with the second set of stored ID values to identify one or more ID values in both the first and second sets.

17. The method of claim 11 further comprising the step of selecting said first RFID antenna with the use of an antenna multiplexer adapted to select one of said plurality of RFID antennas at a time for sensing RFID information, each of said plurality of RFID antennas being connected to said antenna multiplexer.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein said step of sensing with use of said first RFID antenna is performed with use of an RFID reader connected to said antenna multiplexer and adapted to read said RFID information received from sensing an RFID antenna.

19. The method of claim 11 further comprising means for communicating across a network said detecting of a connection between said one of said plurality of device ports which is in close physical proximity to said first RFID antenna and said cable end having said corresponding RFID tag attached thereto.

20. The method of claim 11 wherein the step of detecting a connection between one of said plurality of device ports which is in close physical proximity to said first RFID antenna and a cable end having a corresponding RFID tag attached thereto detects a first connection between a first device port and a first cable end having a first RFID tag attached thereto,

the method further comprising the steps of:

detecting a second connection between a second device port and a second cable end having a second RFID tag attached thereto; and

determining that said first device port is connected to said second device port based on a determination that the first cable end and the second cable end are opposing ends of a common cable.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein said step of determining that said first device port is connected to said second device port comprises comparing an ID value of the first RFID tag with an ID value of the second RFID tag and determining that a previously defined relationship exists therebetween.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein said previously defined relationship comprises a difference only in the least significant bit thereof.