ARTICLE CASE WITH RFID TAG AND RFID SYSTEM

• US 20080094222A1
• Filed: 10/04/2007
• Published: 04/24/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/23/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Kaoru, Fukuda
• Granted Patent: US 7,683,786 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/572.7
• CPC Class Codes: A45C 15/00 Purses, bags, luggage or other receptacles covered by groups A45C1/00 - A45C11/00, combined with other objects or articles A45C1/08, A45C3/14, A45C11/321, A45C13/28 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A45C 5/04 Trunks; Travelling baskets
• CPC Class Codes: B65D 2203/10 Transponders
• CPC Class Codes: E05G 1/005 Portable strong boxes, e.g. which may be fixed to a wall or the like E05G1/08, E05G1/14 take precedence; devices to prevent theft or loss of bags, trunks, baskets, or the like A45C13/18; coin boxes for coin freed apparatus G07F9/06
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/0723 the record carrier comprising an arrangement for non-contact communication, e.g. wireless communication circuits on transponder cards, non-contact smart cards or RFIDs
• 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

The present invention is directed to an article case for accessing information on an RFID tag attached to an article enclosed in the case, and an RFID system using the case. An article case in accordance with an embodiment includes: a built-in antenna communicating with the RFID tag attached to the article; and a communication structure connected to the built-in antenna and disposed on an outer surface of the case, for communicating with an external RFID reader/writer.

Claims

1. An article case for accessing information on an RFID tag attached to an article enclosed in the case, comprising:

a built-in antenna communicating with the RFID tag attached to the article; and

a communication structure connected to the built-in antenna and disposed on an outer surface of the case, for communicating with an external RFID reader/writer.

2. The article case according to claim 1, wherein the communication structure comprises an external coaxial connector.

3. The article case according to claim 2, wherein the built-in antenna serves as a transmitting-receiving antenna of the external RFID reader/writer.

4. The article case according to claim 1, wherein the communication structure comprises an intermediary transmitting-receiving antenna.

5. The article case according to claim 4, wherein the intermediary transmitting-receiving antenna comprises at least one patch antenna.

6. The article case according to claim 1, wherein the case is formed of metal.

7. The article case according to claim 1, wherein the built-in antenna is opposed to an antenna of the RFID tag attached to the article.

8. The article case according to claim 1, wherein the built-in antenna comprises at least one patch antenna mounted to an inner surface of the case.

9. The article case according to claim 8, wherein the case is formed of metal, and wherein the built-in antenna is directly mounted to the inner surface of the case via an insulator, the metal case constituting a grounding conductor face of the patch antenna.

10. The article case according to claim 1, further comprising an internal coaxial connector connected to the built-in antenna, wherein the internal coaxial connector and the communication structure are connected together via a coaxial cable.

16. The RFID system according to claim 1, further comprising:

a storage unit in which article information is stored; and

a computer connected between the storage unit and the RFID reader/writer, for processing the article information.

11. An RFID system comprising:

at least one article case for accessing information on an RFID tag attached to an article enclosed in the case, the case comprising a built-in antenna communicating with the RFID tag attached to the article and a communication structure connected to the built-in antenna and disposed on an outer surface of the case; and

an RFID reader/writer comprising a read/write mechanism and a transmitting-receiving antenna, the RFID reader/writer being connected to the communication structure to access the RFID tag.

12. The RFID system according to claim 11, wherein the communication structure comprises an external coaxial connector, an intermediary transmitting-receiving antenna, or a combination thereof.

13. The RFID system according to claim 12, wherein the read/write mechanism of the RFID reader/writer is directly connected to the external coaxial connector via a coaxial cable.

14. The RFID system according to claim 12, further comprising an intermediary transmitting-receiving antenna separate from the case, the intermediary transmitting-receiving antenna being connected to the external coaxial connector.

15. The RFID system according to claim 14, wherein the intermediary transmitting-receiving antenna comprises at least one of a patch antenna, a horn antenna, and a parabolic antenna.

17. A method for managing an article, comprising:

obtaining a case, the case including a built-in antenna for communicating with an RFID tag attached to an article enclosed within the case, with an external coaxial connector or an intermediary patch antenna connected to the built-in antenna and disposed on an outer surface of the case;

disposing the article in the case such that a face of the article to which the RFID tag is attached is opposed to an antenna face of the built-in antenna;

obtaining an RFID reader/writer for accessing the RFID tag;

connecting the RFID reader/writer to the external coaxial connector of the case with a coaxial cable or bringing an antenna of the RFID reader/writer close to the intermediary patch antenna, with the antenna of the RFID reader/writer opposed to the intermediary patch antenna, thereby enabling communication; and

causing the built-in antenna to generate radio waves via the coaxial cable or the intermediary patch antenna to resonate an antenna of the RFID tag with the radio waves such that the RFID reader/writer accesses the RFID tag attached to the article.

18. The method according to claim 17, further comprising:

connecting an intermediary antenna separate from the case to the external coaxial connector, and bringing the antenna of the RFID reader/writer close to the intermediary antenna, with the antenna of the RFID reader/writer opposed to the intermediary antenna, thereby enabling communication.