Customizable Mechanically Programmable RFID Tags
First Claim
1. A mechanically modifiable radio frequency identification (RFID) tag, comprising:
- a substrate;
an integrated circuit (IC) mounted on or within the substrate;
a register having a plurality of bits; and
a strip coupled to said substrate and associated with at least one bit of said register, the strip having a surface constructed and arranged to receive a visual or tactile indicia;
wherein a mechanical modification of a strip alters a value of its associated register bit.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method to track a status an item, or steps in a process, via one or more mechanical modifications to an RFID tag. In one embodiment, a plurality of tearable strips are attached to the tag, each strip having an electrical conductor. Each tearable strip may receive a visual or tactile indicia, such as text, a color code, a graphic symbol, or a tactile indicator (such as Braille) to assign a meaning to the strip, where the meaning is associated with the status or condition of the item, or the stage, step, or status or the process. By tearing some strips or all strips, a desired bit pattern may be programmed into a register of the RFID tag. The bit pattern may reflect the status or condition of the item, or the stage, step, or status of a process.
25 Citations
42 Claims
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1. A mechanically modifiable radio frequency identification (RFID) tag, comprising:
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a substrate; an integrated circuit (IC) mounted on or within the substrate; a register having a plurality of bits; and a strip coupled to said substrate and associated with at least one bit of said register, the strip having a surface constructed and arranged to receive a visual or tactile indicia; wherein a mechanical modification of a strip alters a value of its associated register bit. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A mechanically modifiable radio frequency identification (RFID) tag, comprising:
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a substrate; an integrated circuit (IC) mounted on or within the substrate; a plurality of strips coupled to said substrate; a register having a plurality of bits, each bit being associated with a respective strip, each bit configured to have a default value associated with a mechanically unmodified state of said respective strip; and a control element; wherein; each strip is constructed and arranged so that a mechanical modification thereof alters a value of its respective bit from the default value to a value different from the default value; and the control element is constructed and arranged to receive a command to perform at least one of; modifying the default value of the bit to a modified default value which is different from an initial default value;
ordecoupling said bit from said respective coupled strip and freezing the value of the bit so that said bit decoupled from said strip does not change value in response to the mechanical alteration of the respective strip formerly coupled with the bit. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. A method for monitoring an item or a process using a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag, wherein the RFID tag comprises:
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a register have a plurality of bits; a plurality of strips, each strip being associated with a respective bit, and each strip being suitable to receive a visual or tactile indicia of a purpose of the strip; the RFID tag being constructed and arranged such that a modification of a strip changes a value of the strip'"'"'s respective register bit; comprising; (a) assigning the RFID tag to at least one of the item, the process, an item associated with the process, a person monitoring the process, a monitoring device associated with the process, an assembly line associated with the process, a monitoring station associated with the process, and a conveyance associated with the process; (b) associating a strip of the plurality of strips with a respective process step or a respective item status; (c) upon performance of a step of the process or a change of the item status, mechanically modifying the strip associated with that step or status; and (d) reading the RFID tag to determine a bit pattern of the register of the RFID tag. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
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37. A method for monitoring an item or a process using a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag, wherein the RFID tag comprises:
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a register have a plurality of bits; a plurality of strips, at least one strip being selectively associated with a respective register bit; the RFID tag being constructed and arranged such that a modification of a strip changes a value of its associated register bit; comprising; (a) assigning the RFID tag to at least one of the item, the process, an item associated with the process, a person monitoring the process, a monitoring device associated with the process, an assembly line associated with the process, a monitoring station associated with the process, and a conveyance associated with the process; (b) associating a strip with a respective process step or a respective item status; (c) modifying at least one of
1) a default value associated with a bit or
2) the association of a bit with a strip thereby controlling the ability of the bit to change value in response to a mechanical modification of a strip associated with the bit;(d) upon performance of a step of the process or a change of the item status, mechanically modifying the strip associated with that step or status; and (e) reading the RFID tag to determine a bit pattern of the register of the RFID tag. - View Dependent Claims (38, 39, 40, 41, 42)
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Specification