SWITCHABLE ACTIVE-PASSIVE RFID TAG

• US 20090033463A1
• Filed: 08/05/2007
• Published: 02/05/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/05/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Posamentier, Joshua
• Granted Patent: US 8,451,098 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/10.100
• 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

Abstract

Various embodiments of the invention combine a passive RFID tag with a manually switchable battery for additional transmit range when needed. In some embodiments, connecting the battery may also modify the contents of the data transmitted from the RFID tag. This feature may be particularly useful in applications in which a device generally only needs to identify itself as being in a small area, but may occasionally need to send out an alert with greater range.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag;

a battery coupled to the RFID tag;

a switch coupled between the RFID tag and the battery to switch the RFID tag between a passive mode of operation and an active mode of operation.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the switch comprises a membrane switch.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the switch is selected from a list of switches consisting of a momentary contact switch, a latching switch, and a toggle switch.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the battery comprises a thick film battery.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising an object coupled to the RFID tag, the battery, and the switch, wherein the RFID tag is to operate in the passive mode to identify the object and is to operate in the active mode to send out an alert pertaining to the object.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the object is an object intended for a single use of the active mode of operation.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a patient identification bracelet containing the RFID tag, the battery, and the switch.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the RFID tag is to transmit different data in the active mode of operation than in the passive mode of operation.

9. An article comprising

a tangible machine-readable medium that contains instructions, which when executed by one or more processors result in performing operations comprising:

transmitting a signal to an RFID tag;

receiving a wireless response from the RFID tag; and

determining, from data content of the response, whether the RFID tag is operating in an active mode or a passive mode.

10. The article of claim 9, wherein the operation of determining comprises examining one or more bits of the response to determine if the RFID tag is operating in the active mode or the passive mode.

11. The article of claim 10, wherein the operations further comprise associating the RFID tag with a particular person if the RFID tag is determined to be operating in the passive mode.

12. The article of claim 10, wherein the operations further comprise creating an alert notification if the RFID tag is determined to be operating in the active mode.