Tag multiplication
First Claim
1. An apparatus for controlling diverse short-range antennas of a near field communications circuit, comprising:
- an antenna selector in a near field communications circuit, coupled to a first short-range antenna and to a second short-range antenna, programmed with antenna selection control software; and
a near field communications logic chip selectively coupled through the antenna selector to either the first antenna or to the second antenna, in response to programmed control of the antenna selector by the antenna selection control software.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An intelligent antenna system for extending the effective communication range of a machine-readable passive tag. The system includes intelligence that allows one of a plurality of extension antennas to be active at any given time in order to both facilitate communications and safeguard the system. The machine-readable tag and antenna system may be embedded in a structure. In a further embodiment, the system may include multiple passive tags that are active in correspondence to a display or advertisement currently being exhibited. The system includes means for operatively coupling a designated machine-readable tag to the embedded antenna network previously described. In a further embodiment of the invention, the machine-readable tag includes combined RFID and NFC functionality where both RFID listening functions and NFC read-write functions are to be available in the same NFC communications logic, where different RFID listening applications require different minimum separation distances between the reader and the NFC communications logic. The NFC communications logic chip is selectively connected to at least three antenna coils, the first antenna coil for operating with a first minimum separation distance between the reader and the NFC communications logic, the second antenna coil for operating with a second minimum separation distance between the reader and the NFC communications logic, and the third antenna coil for reading and writing. In a further embodiment of the invention, matching circuits are included with the respective antenna coils to tune the resonant frequency of the RLC oscillator circuit for each antenna coil in the NFC communications logic.
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Citations
15 Claims
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1. An apparatus for controlling diverse short-range antennas of a near field communications circuit, comprising:
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an antenna selector in a near field communications circuit, coupled to a first short-range antenna and to a second short-range antenna, programmed with antenna selection control software; and
a near field communications logic chip selectively coupled through the antenna selector to either the first antenna or to the second antenna, in response to programmed control of the antenna selector by the antenna selection control software. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A method for controlling diverse short-range antennas of a near field communications circuit, comprising:
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detecting proximity of a reader with either a first antenna or with a second antenna; and
signaling an antenna selector to couple a near field communications chip to an antenna detected as proximate to the reader. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11)
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12. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code embodied in said medium for controlling diverse short-range antennas of a near field communications circuit, comprising:
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a computer readable program code for detecting proximity of a reader with either a first antenna or with a second antenna; and
a computer readable program code signaling an antenna selector to couple a near field communications chip to an antenna detected as proximate to the reader. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15)
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Specification