Monitoring an environment using a RFID assembly

• US 20060208879A1
• Filed: 03/01/2005
• Published: 09/21/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/01/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Bratkovski, Alexandre
• Granted Patent: US 7,397,370 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/539.260
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 21/00 Measuring or testing not otherwise provided for

Abstract

An assembly for monitoring an environment includes a RFID tag and at least one sensor assembly. The sensor assembly is configured to sense information regarding the environment around the assembly and convert a sensed event into power to at least partially power operation of the RFID tag.

Claims

1. An assembly for monitoring an environment, the assembly comprising:

a RFID tag; and

at least one sensor assembly configured to sense information regarding the environment around the assembly and convert a sensed event into power to at least partially power operation of the RFID tag.

2. The assembly of claim 1, wherein the RFID tag is configured to transmit information regarding change in the environment around the RFID tag to a processing system.

3. The assembly of claim 2, further comprising:

a first antenna configured to transmit the sensed information, and wherein the processing system comprises a second antenna configured to receive the sensed information.

4. The assembly of claim 1, further comprising:

a battery to provide additional power to the RFID tag.

5. A method of monitoring an environment, the method comprising:

sensing information regarding an event in an environment through at least one radio frequency identification (“

RFID”

) assembly, wherein the at least one RFID assembly is powered at least in part by power generated by the event; and

determining information regarding change in the environment based on the sensed information.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein determining information regarding the change in the environment comprises:

determining at least one of location of the change, type of the change, depth of the change, time the change occurred, evolution of the change and the rate at which the change is evolving.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein determining information regarding the change in the environment comprises using an inverse algorithm to determine information regarding the change.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein sensing the information comprises sensing physical information.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein sensing the information comprises sensing chemical information.

10. The method of claim 5, wherein sensing the information regarding change in an environment comprises sensing information regarding change in at least one of a surface and a multi-dimensional space.

11. The method of claim 5, further comprising placing a continuous distribution of the at least one RFID assembly in the environment.

12. The method of claim 5, wherein the at least one RFID assembly comprises a RFID tag and at least one sensor, said method further comprising:

using at least one of the sensor or a transducer to transform power released during the event into power to power the RFID tag.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

transmitting the sensed information through the RFID tag to a processing system, wherein at least a portion of the determining step is performed at the processing system.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein using the sensor to transform power comprises using a piezoelectric element to transform power.

15. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

transmitting the sensed information and an unique code identifying the at least one RFID assembly to a processing system, wherein at least a portion of the determining step is performed at the processing system.

16. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

preprocessing information in tag electronics of the at least one RFID assembly.

17. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

determining location information for the at least one RFID assembly; and

determining information regarding the change in the environment based upon the location information.

18. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

continuously sensing information regarding the environment from the at least one RFID assembly to monitor the environment.

19. The method of claim 5, wherein the at least one RFID assembly comprises at least one of a plurality of RFID assemblies.

20. The method of claim 5, further comprising providing power to the RFID assembly using a battery.

21. The method of claim 5, further comprising providing power to the RFID assembly using a RFID reader.

22. A system for monitoring an environment, the system comprising:

means for sensing information regarding an environment, wherein the means for sensing information regarding an event in the environment is powered at least in part by power generated by the event; and

means for determining information regarding change in the environment based on the sensed information.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the determined information comprises at least one of location of the change, type of the change, depth of the change, time the change occurred, evolution of the change and the rate at which the change is evolving.

24. A computer program on a computer readable medium and comprising code, that when executed, causes a computer to perform the following:

receiving information sensed by a RFID assembly configured to sense a condition of an environment, wherein the RFID assembly is powered at least in part by power generated by the condition; and

determining information regarding change in the environment based on the sensed information.