Column based antenna array employing antenna field shaping for use in the automatic determination of network cable connections using RFID tags

• US 20070247284A1
• Filed: 04/11/2006
• Published: 10/25/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 04/11/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Lucent Technologies, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Lucent Technologies, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Tran, Cuong, Ng, Wee, Martin, Clifford
• Application Number:
  US11/401,995
• Publication Number:
  US 20070247284A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/10.100
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10316 using at least one antenna particularly designed for interrogating the wireless record carriers antennas in general H01Q1/22
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/2216 used in interrogator/reader equipment
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 1/149 Wireguides in connector blocks

Abstract

A method and apparatus for the automatic determination of cable connections on a patch panel employs a reduced number of RFID antennas. A plurality of RFID antennas, each positioned so as to be in close proximity to each of a set of device ports of a patch panel, each comprises a series of resonators that correspond to the individual device ports (i.e., cable connector locations) in the set. The resonators may comprise in-line circuitry within the antennas, or other means for producing given impedance values at the cable connector locations. In operation, the power supplied to a given antenna is varied (e.g., in a step-wise fashion), so that the antenna field may be advantageously shaped to include a given subset of the device ports in the set and to exclude the others, thereby allowing the system to read individual RFID tags (connected to particular device ports) selectively.

Claims

1. An apparatus for use in determining connectivity between one or more device ports comprised in a patch panel and one or more cable ends having corresponding RFID tags attached thereto, the one or more cable ends being connected to corresponding ones of said one or more device ports of said patch panel, the apparatus comprising one or more RFID antennas, each of said RFID antennas being in close physical proximity to each of two or more of said plurality of device ports and comprising a plurality of resonators for providing a predetermined impedance at each of a corresponding plurality of predetermined locations along said RFID antenna, each of said plurality of resonators associated with a corresponding one of said device ports in close physical proximity to said RFID antenna.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said RFID antennas comprise Beverage antennas.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein said plurality of resonators comprised in said RFID antennas produce a tapered power distribution.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein said plurality of resonators comprises a plurality of resonator circuits electrically in series with each other.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein each of said resonator circuits comprises an inductor and a capacitor electrically in series with each other.

9. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein said plurality of resonators comprises a plurality of open-ended wire stubs.

10. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein said plurality of resonators comprises a plurality of dielectric resonators.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said device ports comprised in said patch panel 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.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein each of said RFID antennas is in close physical proximity to each device port in a corresponding one of said columns of said device ports.

2. The apparatus of claim further comprising an RFID reader for applying power at a given power level to said RFID antennas, to sense said RFID tags attached to cable ends which are connected to said corresponding ones of said one or more device ports of said patch panel.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein said RFID reader comprises means for applying power at a plurality of different power levels to each of said RFID antennas, wherein applying power at different ones of said power levels to a given one of said RFID antennas senses RFID tags attached to cable ends which are connected to different subsets of said two or more device ports in close physical proximity to said given RFID antenna.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein said different power levels comprise a sequence of monotonically increasing power level values, wherein each successive one of said power levels in said sequence, when applied to said given RFID antenna, senses RFID tags attached to cable ends which are connected to a subset of said two or more device ports in close physical proximity to said given RFID antenna which consists of all of the device ports in close physical proximity to said given RFID antenna which were included in said subset of said two or more device ports in close physical proximity to said given RFID antenna for which RFID tags attached to cable ends connected thereto were sensed by a previous one of said power levels in said sequence, and which further consists of one additional device port in close physical proximity to said given RFID antenna which was not included in said subset of said two or more device ports in close physical proximity to said given RFID antenna for which RFID tags attached to cable ends connected thereto were sensed by said previous one of said power levels in said sequence.

13. A method for determining connectivity between one or more device ports comprised in a patch panel and one or more cable ends having corresponding RFID tags attached thereto, the one or more cable ends being connected to corresponding ones of said one or more device ports of said patch panel, the method for use with an apparatus comprising one or more RFID antennas, each of said RFID antennas being in close physical proximity to each of two or more of said plurality of device ports and comprising a plurality of resonators for providing a predetermined impedance at each of a corresponding plurality of predetermined locations along said RFID antenna, each of said plurality of resonators associated with a corresponding one of said device ports in close physical proximity to said RFID antenna, the method comprising the steps of:

applying power at a first power level to a given one of said RFID antennas to sense RFID tags attached to cable ends which are connected to a first subset of said two or more device ports in close physical proximity to said given RFID antenna;

increasing said first power level by a predetermined amount to determine a second power level;

applying power at the second power level to the given one of said RFID antennas to sense RFID tags attached to cable ends which are connected to the second subset of said two or more device ports in close physical proximity to said given RFID antenna, said second subset of said two or more device ports in close physical proximity to said given RFID antenna consisting of all of the device ports in close physical proximity to said given RFID antenna which were included in said first subset of said two or more device ports in close physical proximity to said given RFID antenna and further consisting of one additional device port in close physical proximity to said given RFID antenna which was not included in said first subset of said two or more device ports in close physical proximity to said given RFID antenna; and

identifying an RFID tag attached to a cable end which is connected to said additional device port in close physical proximity to said given RFID antenna which was not included in said first subset of said two or more device ports in close physical proximity to said given RFID antenna, said identifying based on said RFID tag attached to a cable end which is connected to said additional device port in close physical proximity to said given RFID antenna having been sensed when said second power level was applied to the given one of said RFID antennas but not having been sensed when said first power level was applied to the given one of said RFID antennas.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein said RFID antennas comprise Beverage antennas and wherein said plurality of resonators comprised in said RFID antennas produce a tapered power distribution.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein said plurality of resonators comprises a plurality of resonator circuits electrically in series with each other.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein each of said resonator circuits comprises an inductor and a capacitor electrically in series with each other

17. The method of claim 14 wherein said plurality of resonators comprises a plurality of open-ended wire stubs.

18. The method of claim 14 wherein said plurality of resonators comprises a plurality of dielectric resonators.

19. The method of claim 13 wherein said device ports comprised in said patch panel 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.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein each of said RFID antennas is in close physical proximity to each device port in a corresponding one of said columns of said device ports.