RF Identification System with Restricted Range
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method of adjusting the 2-way communication range of an RFID system to assist a human operator to individually handle and interrogate a plurality of tagged objects, such as suitcases, that each include an RFID tag transceiver. An RFID interrogator transceiver is mounted on the human operator. The 2-way communication range between the interrogator transceiver and the tag transceivers is adjusted to only slightly exceed the closest distance between the interrogator and the tag while the operator is handling the tagged object. Preferably, the 2-way communication range is short enough that other tagged objects will remain outside the communication range and will not respond to messages from the interrogator. Another aspect of the invention is a method of verifying whether an object to be transported has reached its intended destination. In this aspect, an interrogator transceiver at a first destination interrogates an RFID tag transceiver on the object, and in response the tag transmits its intended destination.
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Citations
40 Claims
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1-27. -27. (canceled)
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28. A system for tracking an object, the system comprising:
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a database configured to store information regarding a plurality of RFID tags;
a first interrogator configured to communicatively couple to the database, the first interrogator configured to utilize identification information received from one or more RFID tags to update the database with information regarding the one or more RFID tags; and
a second interrogator configured to communicatively couple to the database and be positioned remotely from the first interrogator and the database, the second interrogator configured to utilize the identification information received from the one or more RFID tags to update the database with status information regarding the one or more RFID tags, wherein the first interrogator and the second interrogator are configured to receive information from the database associated with the one or more RFID tags. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34)
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35. A system to track a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag, the system comprising:
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a database storing information associated with the RFID tag;
an RFID tag attached to an item to be tracked, the RFID tag having a first antenna, communications circuitry, and a first memory, the communications circuitry including circuitry to receive a first request and to communicate a first response, the first request comprising a request for an identifier stored in the first memory and the first response comprising the identifier; and
an interrogator having a second antenna and a processing unit, the processing unit being configured to cause the second antenna to transmit the first request and to receive the first response, the interrogator being communicatively coupled to the database and configured to use the identifier to access the database and to retrieve a destination of the RFID tag. - View Dependent Claims (36, 37, 38, 39, 40)
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Specification