RFID bridge antenna

• US 20070222604A1
• Filed: 03/23/2006
• Published: 09/27/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/23/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Rommelmann, Heiko, Rodriguez, Alberto, Bell, Scott, Phipps, William
• Granted Patent: US 7,642,916 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/572.700
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/07749 the record carrier being capable of non-contact communication, e.g. constructional details of the antenna of a non-contact smart card
• 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 7/10178 including auxiliary means for focusing, repeating or boosting the electromagnetic interrogation field comparable booster antennas integrated on the record carrier itself G06K19/07794

Abstract

An RFID bridge antenna is positioned between a tag antenna associated with a tag and a reader antenna associated with a reader. The bridge includes at least two RF antenna elements spaced apart from one another and coupled together by an electrical conductor. The first RF antenna element is located proximate to the tag antenna and the second RF antenna element is located proximate to the reader antenna. An electromagnetic carrier signal transmitted by the reader antenna is received by one of the RF antenna element and retransmitted to the tag antenna by the other RF antenna element, increasing the distance over which the tag can communicate with the reader. Where the tag is attached to a packaged object, the RFID bridge antenna may be included in the package to allow wireless data communication between the tag and a reader. The reader may also be located external to the package. For example, one of the RF antenna elements may be attached to a label on the package, allowing data stored in the tag to be extracted by the external reader. The object may be a module, also known as a customer replaceable unit (CRU), and the tag may be configured as a customer replaceable unit monitor (CRUM).

Claims

1. An RFID bridge antenna adapted to be placed between a tag having a tag antenna and a reader having a reader antenna comprising, in combination:

at least two RF antenna elements spaced apart from one another and coupled together by an electrical conductor, the first RF antenna element being located proximate to said tag antenna and the second RF antenna element being located proximate to said reader antenna, the arrangement being such that an electromagnetic carrier signal transmitted by said reader antenna is received by said first RF antenna element and retransmitted by said second RF element to said tag antenna, thereby increasing the distance over which said tag can communicate with said reader.

2. The bridge antenna of claim 1, wherein said RF antenna elements are electromagnetically coupled together by a low radiation loss RF conductor selected from:

a shielded, flexible, co-axial cable and an open twin lead cable.

3. The bridge antenna of claim 2, wherein said RF antenna elements are coils formed by one or more loops of electrically conductive material.

4. The bridge antenna of claim 3, wherein said RF antenna coils are tuned to a resonate frequency by at least one of:

stray capacitance in the antenna and capacitance associated with a charge storage element electrically coupled to the antenna.

5. The bridge antenna of claim 3, wherein at least one of said RF antenna coils is supported on a substrate.

6. The bridge antenna of claim 5, wherein the substrate includes at least one of:

a portion of a package, a label for a package and a PC board.

7. The bridge antenna of claim 6, wherein the tag is secured to hardware for electrostatographic printing, and the hardware for electrostatographic printing is disposed in the package.

8. The bridge antenna of claim 5, wherein the substrate is a PC board and the electrically conductive coil is embedded within the surface of said PC board.

9. The bridge antenna of claim 8, wherein at least two electrically conductive coils are embedded within said PC board along with one of:

a low loss, open wire twin lead cable and a strip line electromagnetically coupling said coils together on said board.

10. The bridge antenna of claim 5, wherein the electrically conductive coil is formed from a conductive ink applied to the substrate.

11. The bridge antenna of claim 5, wherein the tag is disposed within an object, and the substrate is secured to the object.

12. The bridge antenna of claim 5, wherein the substrate is secured to the reader.

13. The bridge antenna of claim 1, wherein the carrier signal is a radio frequency carrier signal, the tag is a radio frequency identification tag, and the reader is a radio frequency identification reader.

14. A package for at least one object, the object having a tag associated therewith for wirelessly communicating data with a reader, the tag having a tag antenna and the reader having a reader antenna, said package including:

an RFID bridge antenna comprising, in combination;

at least two RF antenna elements spaced apart from one another and coupled together by an electrical conductor, the first RF antenna element being located proximate to said tag antenna and the second RF antenna element being located proximate to said reader antenna, the arrangement being such that an electromagnetic carrier signal transmitted by said reader antenna is received by said first RF antenna element and retransmitted by said second RF antenna element to said tag antenna, thereby increasing the distance over which said tag can communicate with said reader.

15. The package of claim 14, wherein the reader and its associated reader antenna is positioned inside said package.

16. The package of claim 15, wherein at least two objects are contained within said package, one of which is located in close proximity to said reader and the other of which is located at a remote position relative to said reader, the tag associated with the object in close proximity to said reader being able through its tag antenna to wirelessly communicate data with said reader, and the tag associated with the object located at said remote position being able through said RFID bridge antenna to wirelessly communicate data with said reader.

17. The package of claim 14, wherein the reader and its associated reader antenna is external to said package.

18. The package of claim 17, wherein at least two objects are contained within said package, and wherein said package further includes,

a first RFID bridge antenna having one of its RF antenna elements attached to a portion of said package and readable by said external reader and the other of its RF antenna elements in close proximity to the tag associated with one of said objects, and

a second RFID bridge antenna also having one of its RF antenna elements attached to a portion of said package and readable by said external reader and the other of its RF antenna elements in close proximity to the tag associated with the other of said objects.

19. The package of claim 18, wherein the package further includes a third RFID bridge antenna having one of its RF antenna elements in close proximity to the tag associated with one of said objects and the other of said RF antenna elements in close proximity to the tag associated with the other of said objects, said third RFID bridge antenna enabling communication between the tags associated with both objects while the external reader is placed proximate to only one of said RF antenna elements attached to a potion of said package.

20. The package of claim 18, wherein said one of the RF antenna elements of said first or second RFID bridge antennas is printed directly onto the exterior surface of said package.

21. The package of claim 18, wherein said one of the RF antenna elements of said first or second RFID bridge antennas is mounted onto a substrate which is attached to the exterior portion of said package.

22. The package of claim 21, wherein said substrate is selected from:

a label and a PC board.

23. The package of claim 22, wherein said label is formed at least in part from a conductive ink.

24. The package of claim 14, wherein the object includes hardware for electrostatographic printing.

25. A method for increasing a distance over which a tag can communicate with a reader, the method comprising:

positioning an RFID bridge antenna between a tag antenna associated with a tag and a reader antenna associated with a reader, wherein the bridge antenna comprises at least two RF antenna elements spaced apart from one another and coupled together by an electrical conductor, placing one of said RF antenna elements proximate to said tag antenna and the other of said RF antenna element proximate to said reader antenna, whereby an electromagnetic carrier signal transmitted by said reader antenna is received by said one of said RF antenna elements and is retransmitted by said other RF antenna element to said tag antenna, increasing the distance over which the tag can communicate with the reader.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the tag is secured to an object, and positioning the RFID bridge antenna includes:

placing the object in a package along with the RFID bridge antenna.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the tag is secured to an object disposed within a package, and positioning the RFID bridge antenna includes:

attaching one of said RF antenna elements to a surface on said package and placing the other of said RF elements proximate to the tag antenna associated with said tag.

28. The method of claim 26, wherein the tag is disposed within an object, and positioning the RFID bridge antenna includes attaching one of said RF elements to the object.

29. A machine comprising, in combination:

at least one module for operating said machine, said module including a tag associated therewith, the tag including a tag antenna coupled to an integrated circuit device having data related to said module, the tag being configured to superimpose the data from the integrated circuit device onto an electromagnetic carrier signal generated by a reader having a reader antenna; and

an RFID bridge antenna associated therewith, the bridge antenna including at least two RF antenna elements coupled together by a conductor, one of which antenna elements is located proximate to said tag antenna and the other of which antenna elements is located proximate to said reader antenna, thereby increasing the distance over which the tag can communicate with the reader.

30. The machine of claim 29, wherein the machine is a printing apparatus and wherein the module includes printing hardware.

31. The machine of claim 30, wherein the module is one of:

a marking material supply module and a marking device module.

32. The machine of claim 31, wherein the marking material supply module includes at least one of:

toner, liquid ink, solid ink, oil, and cleaning fluid.

33. The machine of claim 31, wherein the marking device module includes at least one of:

an image receptor, a fusing device, and a printhead.

34. The machine of claim 32, wherein the module is contained in a package and wherein the RFID bridge antenna is attached to said package.