RFID Tag Information Communicating Device

• US 20060202800A1
• Filed: 05/25/2006
• Published: 09/14/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 11/25/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
• Original Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
• Inventors: Ohashi, Tsuyoshi, Ushiyama, Kentaro
• Granted Patent: US 7,969,283 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/10.100
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 17/0025 the arrangement consisting of a wireless interrogation device in combination with a device for optically marking the record carrier
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/0701 at least one of the integrated circuit chips comprising an arrangement for power management
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/0715 the arrangement including means to regulate power transfer to the integrated circuit
• 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 7/10217 parameter settings controlling the transmission power of the interrogator

Abstract

The RFID tag information communicating device is provided with a cartridge constructed in such a manner that a plurality of RFID circuit elements are stored and can be sequentially taken out therefrom, and an antenna for performing transmitting/receiving operations in a radio communicating operation between the own antenna and an antenna of a sequentially derived RFID circuit element, first access information for accessing RFID tag information of an IC circuit part is produced by a signal processing circuit; and the produced first access information is transmitted by a transmitting portion so as to access the RFID tag information of the IC circuit part. After the access operation is carried out, a control circuit judges as to whether or not the access operation can succeed, and controls a magnitude of transmission power from the transmitting portion in response to this judgment result.

Claims

1. An RFID tag information communicating device:

a device antenna for performing a transmitting/receiving operation in a radio communicating operation between a tag antenna of a specific RFID circuit element and the own antenna among a plurality of RFID circuit elements each having an IC circuit part for storing a predetermined information and said tag antenna connected to said IC circuit part and for transmitting/receiving information;

first information transmitting means for transmitting first access information which accesses RFID tag information of said IC circuit part via said device antenna to said tag antenna in a non-contact manner so as to access said RFID tag information of said IC circuit part; and

first power control means for setting a magnitude of transmission power from said first information transmitting means in response to said access operation.

2. An RFID tag information communicating device according to claim 1, further comprising:

access information producing means for producing said first access information; and

first judging means for judging as to whether or not an access operation to said IC circuit part can succeed after said access operation has been executed; and

wherein;

said first information transmitting means transmits said first access information produced by said access information producing means via said device antenna to said tag antenna in the non-contact manner so as to access said RFID tag information of said IC circuit part; and

said first power control means controls the magnitude of the transmission power from said first information transmitting means in response to the access success/failure judging result obtained in said first judging means.

3. An RFID tag information communicating device according to claim 2 wherein:

said first power control means increases the magnitude of the transmission power from said first information transmitting means in a stepwise manner in response to the access success/failure judging result obtained in said first judging means in such a case that said first judging means judges a failure of the access operation until said first judging means judges a success of the access operation.

4. An RFID tag information communicating device according to claim 2, further comprising:

first information receiving means operated in such a manner that after said first access information has been transmitted by said first information transmitting means, a first reply signal transmitted from said IC circuit part in response to said transmitted first access information is received via said tag antenna by said device antenna in the non-contact manner and the received first response signal is read; and

wherein

said first judging means judges a total number of accessible RFID circuit elements located in a communication range by checking as to whether or not the first reply signal read by said first information receiving means is present; and

said first power control means controls the magnitude of the transmission power from said first information transmitting means in response to said judgment result.

5. An RFID tag information communicating device according to claim 4 wherein:

said first power control means increases the transmission power from said first information transmitting means in the stepwise manner in response to the judgment result of said first judging means in the case that said first judging means judges that a total number of accessible RFID circuit elements is equal to 0 piece until said first judging means judges that the total number of the accessible RFID circuit element is equal to at least 1 piece.

6. An RFID tag information communicating device according to claim 5 wherein:

said first power control means decreases the transmission power from said first information transmitting means in the stepwise manner in the case that said first judging means judges that a total number of accessible RFID circuit elements is larger than, or equal to 2 pieces until said first judging means judges that the total number of the accessible RFID circuit element is equal to 1 piece.

7. An RFID tag information communicating device according to claim 5 wherein;

said first power control means stores/learns a magnitude of transmission power of said first information transmitting means in the case that said first judging means judges that a total number of accessible RFID circuit elements is equal to 1 piece, and further increases the transmission power from said first information transmitting means from a value corresponding to said stored/learned transmission power value with respect to an RFID circuit element which is newly derived from said RFID circuit element storage means after said RFID circuit element being judged as the accessible element.

8. An RFID tag information communicating device according to claim 7 wherein:

said first power control means increases the transmission power from said first information transmitting means in the stepwise manner from said stored/learned transmission power value with respect to said newly derived RFID circuit element.

9. An RFID tag information communicating device according to claim 7 wherein:

said first power control means increases the transmission power from said first information transmitting means in the stepwise manner from a value smaller than said stored/learned transmission power value by a predetermined value with respect to said newly derived RFID circuit element.

10. An RFID tag information communicating device according to claim 7 wherein:

in the case that said RFID circuit element storage means is replaced, said first power control means initializes said stored/learned transmission power value.

11. An RFID tag information communicating device according to claim 2, further comprising:

first information receiving means operated in such a manner that after said first access information has been transmitted by said first information transmitting means, a first reply signal transmitted from said IC circuit part in response to said transmitted first access information is received via said tag antenna by said device antenna in the non-contact manner and the received first response signal is read; and

access confirmation instruction transmitting means for transmitting a confirmation instruction signal for confirming as to whether or not an access operation can access via said device antenna to said tag antenna in a non-contact manner after said first access information has been transmitted by said first information transmitting means; and

wherein;

said first information receiving means receives information read from said IC circuit part in response to said confirmation instruction signal via said tag antenna by said device antenna in the non-contact manner, and reads the received information; and

said first judging means inputs both the information which is produced by said access information producing means and transmitted by said first information transmitting means, and the information which is read from said IC circuit part and read by said first information receiving means, and judges as to whether or not said access operation can succeed by checking as to whether or not said transmitted information is coincident with said read information.

12. An RFID tag information communicating device according to claim 11, further comprising:

instruction transmission power control means for controlling the transmission power from said access confirmation instruction transmitting means.

13. An RFID tag information communicating device according to claim 12 wherein:

said instruction transmission power control means continuously makes the magnitude of the transmission power from said access confirm instruction transmitting means irrespective of the magnitude of the transmission power from said first information transmitting means.

14. An RFID tag information communicating device according to claim 12 wherein:

said instruction transmission power control means makes the magnitude of the transmission power from said access confirmation instruction transmitting means substantially equal to the magnitude of the transmission power from said first information transmitting means.

15. An RFID tag information communicating device according to claim 11, further comprising:

second information transmitting means for transmitting second access information via said device antenna to said tag antenna in the non-contact manner, said second access information confirming as to whether or not an accessible RFID circuit element is present in a communication range;

second information receiving means for receiving a second reply signal transmitted from said IC circuit part in response to said second access information via said tag antenna by said device antenna in a non-contact manner, and for reading said received second reply signal;

second judging means for judging a total number of accessible RFID circuit elements located in the communication range by checking as to whether or not there is such a response signal read by said second information receiving means; and

second power control means for controlling the magnitude of the transmission power from said second information transmitting means in response to the judgment result by said second judging means.

16. An RFID tag information communicating device according to claim 15 wherein:

said second power control means stepwisely increases the transmission power from said second information transmitting means in response to the judgment result made by said second judging means in the case that said second judging means judges that a total number of accessible RFID circuit elements is equal to 0 piece, until said second judging means judges that the total number of the accessible RFID circuit elements is equal to at least 1 piece.

17. An RFID tag information communicating device according to claim 16 wherein:

said second power control means stepwisely decreases the transmission power from said second information transmitting means in the case that said second judging means judges that a total number of accessible RFID circuit elements is larger than, or equal to 2 pieces, until said second judging means judges that the total number of the accessible RFID circuit elements is equal to 1 piece.

18. An RFID tag information communicating device according to claim 16 wherein:

in the case that said second judging means judges that a total number of accessible RFID circuit elements is equal to 1 piece, said first information transmitting means specifies said tag antenna of the accessible RFID circuit element, and transmits said first access information.

19. An RFID tag information communicating device according to claim 16 wherein:

said first power control means stepwisely increases transmission power from said first information transmitting means to said tag antenna of said specified one RFID circuit element from such a value which corresponds to the magnitude of the transmission power of said second access information when said second judging means previously specifies that said RFID circuit element is accessible.

20. An RFID tag information communicating device according to claim 19 wherein:

said first power control means stepwisely increases transmission power from said first information transmitting means to said tag antenna of said specified one RFID circuit element from such a value which is equal to the magnitude of the transmission power of said second access information when said second judging means previously specifies that said RFID circuit element is accessible.

21. An RFID tag information communicating device according to claim 19 wherein:

said first power control means stepwisely increases transmission power from said first information transmitting means to said tag antenna of said specified one RFID circuit element from such a value which is larger than the magnitude of the transmission power of said second access information when said second judging means previously specifies that said RFID circuit element is accessible.

22. An RFID tag information communicating device according to claim 16 wherein:

said second power control means stores/learns a magnitude of transmission power of said second information transmitting means in the case that said second judging means judges that a total number of accessible RFID circuit elements is equal to 1 piece, and further, stepwisely increases the transmission power from said second information transmitting means from such a value which corresponds to said stored/learned transmission power value with respect to an RFID circuit element which is newly derived from said RFID circuit element storage means after said RFID circuit element being judged as the accessible circuit element.

23. An RFID tag information communicating device according to claim 22 wherein:

said second power control means stepwisely increases the transmission power from said second information transmitting means from said stored/learned transmission power value with respect to said newly derived RFID circuit element.

24. An RFID tag information communicating device according to claim 22 wherein:

said second power control means stepwisely increases the transmission power from said second information transmitting means from such a value which is smaller than said stored/learned transmission power value by a predetermined value with respect to said newly derived RFID circuit element.

25. An RFID tag information communicating device according to claim 22 wherein:

said second power control means initializes said stored/learned transmission power value in the case that said RFID circuit element storage means is replaced.

26. An RFID tag information communicating device according to claim 18 wherein:

in the case that said second judging means judges that a total number of accessible RFID circuit elements is larger than, or equal to 2 pieces, said first information transmitting means specifies said tag antenna of such an RFID circuit element that a signal strength of a reply signal received by said second information receiving means becomes maximum, and transmits thereto said first access information.

27. An RFID tag information communicating device according to claim 1 wherein:

said first information transmitting means includes;

position detecting signal transmitting means for transmitting a position detecting signal for detecting a position of said RFID circuit element as said first access information via said device antenna to said tag antenna in the non-contact manner; and

writing information transmitting means for transmitting RFID tag information to be written into said IC circuit part as said first access information via said device antenna to said tag antenna in the non-contact manner; and

said first power control means sets a magnitude of transmission power of said writing information transmitting means based upon a reply signal which is returned from said IC circuit part in response to said position detecting signal by said position detecting signal transmitting means.

28. An RFID tag information communicating device according to claim 27, further comprising:

reply signal receiving means for receiving said reply signal via said tag antenna by said device antenna in the non-contact manner;

wherein;

said writing information transmitting means transmits said RFID tag information to be written in said IC circuit part based upon said reply signal received by said reply signal receiving means via said device antenna to said tag antenna in the non-contact manner.

29. An RFID tag information communicating device according to claim 27, further comprising:

feeding means capable of feeding said RFID circuit element in such a manner that said RFID circuit element is approached close to said device antenna.

30. An RFID tag information communicating device according to claim 29, further comprising:

first control means for controlling a feeding speed of said RFID circuit element by said feeding means.

31. An RFID tag information communicating device according to claim 30 wherein:

said first control means changes the feeding speed of said feeding means when said RFID circuit element fed by said feeding means is reached to a predetermined range in the vicinity of said device antenna.

32. An RFID tag information communicating device according to claim 31 wherein:

said first control means reduces the feeding speed of said feeding means when said RFID circuit element fed by said feeding means is reached to a predetermined range in the vicinity of said device antenna.

33. An RFID tag information communicating device according to claim 27, further comprising:

second control means for controlling the transmission power by said position detecting signal transmitting means in a variable manner.

34. An RFID tag information communicating device according to claim 28, further comprising:

third control means for controlling a time duration defined after said reply signal has been received by said reply signal receiving means until said RFID tag information is transmitted by said writing information transmitting means in a variable manner.

35. An RFID tag information communicating device according to claim 27, further comprising:

fourth control means for controlling the transmission power by said writing information transmitting means in a variable manner.

36. An RFID tag information communicating device according to claim 30, further comprising:

judging means for judging as to whether or not the writing operation to said IC circuit part can succeed after the transmitting operation by said writing information transmitting means has been executed; and

wherein;

said first control means control in a variable manner any one of said corresponding feeding speed, the transmission power of said position detecting signal, and the transmission power of said writing information in response to the result of the writing success/failure judgment made by said judging means.

37. An RFID tag information communicating device according to claim 30, further comprising:

a housing;

a cartridge holder unit provided on said housing, for detachably holding a cartridge equipped with said plurality of RFID circuit elements; and

information detecting means for detecting parameter information which is formed in said cartridge in correspondence with a tag attribute parameter and a communication parameter of said corresponding RFID circuit elements; and

wherein;

said first control means control in a variable manner any one of said corresponding feeding speed, the transmission power of said position detecting signal, and the transmission power of said writing information in response to a detection signal of said information detecting means.