Voice Over RFID

• US 20090160645A1
• Filed: 12/20/2007
• Published: 06/25/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/20/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Symbol Technologies, LLC (Zebra Technologies Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Symbol Technologies, Inc. (Zebra Technologies Corporation)
• Inventors: Wulff, Thomas, Duron, Mark, Calvarese, Russell, Sandler, Robert
• Granted Patent: US 8,217,757 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/572.100
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/07749 the record carrier being capable of non-contact communication, e.g. constructional details of the antenna of a non-contact smart card
• 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

Abstract

A wearable mobile computer communicates with a headset worn by an operator using a communication channel established between the computer and a radio frequency identification (“RFID”) tag located in the headset. The headset may be configured for receive only (voice travels only from the computer to the headset) or configured for two-way voice communication. For two-way communication backscatter from the RFID tag is used to carry voice signals.

Claims

1. A mobile computer arrangement, comprising:

a computer including

an radio frequency identification (“

RFID”

) interrogator; and

a RFID antenna; and

a headset constructed and arranged to be worn by an operator, the headset including;

an RFID tag constructed and arranged to communicate with the RFID interrogator in the computer main body;

means for demodulating a voice signal transmitted from the RFID interrogator to the RFID tag; and

a transducer for making the voice signal audible.

2. A computer arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the headset comprises:

a microphone; and

means for modulating a voice signal onto a signal emitted by the RFID tag.

3. A mobile computer arrangement according to claim 1, wherein said RFID interrogator operates in the 900 MHz band of frequencies.

4. A mobile computer arrangement according to claim 1, wherein said RFID interrogator operates in the 13 MHz band of frequencies.

5. A mobile computer arrangement according to claim 1, wherein said RFID interrogator operates in the 2.4 GHz band of frequencies.

6. A mobile computer arrangement according to claim 1, wherein said RFID antenna is tuned in response to radio frequency characteristics of said interrogator.

7. A computer arrangement according to claim 4, wherein said computer comprises a general purpose sub-module constructed and arranged to carry out various computer functions.

8. A computer arrangement according to claim 7 wherein the general purpose sub-module comprises a wireless data communication element and said RFID antenna is tuned to avoid radio frequency interference with said wireless data communication element.

9. A computer arrangement according to claim 1, wherein said RFID interrogator comprises an RFID interrogator transceiver.

10. A computer arrangement according to claim 7, wherein the general purpose sub-module is configured to support data capture functions of the mobile computer.

11. A computer arrangement according to claim 10, wherein the data capture functions include one or more of:

bar code reading;

imaging;

magnetic stripe reading;

global positioning system data receiving;

IrDA communication;

WAN communication;

LAN communication;

wireless communication; and

PAN communication.

12. A computer arrangement according to claim 7, wherein said general purpose sub-module is configured to support data communication functions of the mobile computer.

13. A headset for use with a mobile computer, comprising:

an RFID tag constructed and arranged to receive an RF signal modulated with a voice signal;

a demodulator constructed and arranged to demodulate the voice signal;

audio processing circuits constructed and arranged to amplify the voice signal; and

a transducer for producing an audible signal from the amplified voice signal.

14. A headset according to claim 13 wherein the demodulator comprises an AM radio.

15. A headset according to claim 13 wherein the voice signal is a digital signal.

16. A headset according to claim 13 wherein the voice signal is an analog signal.

17. A headset for use with a mobile computer, comprising:

an RFID module constructed and arranged to receive the modulated digital voice signal and a means to impress a digital voice signal upon a backscatter signal;

a microphone for capturing a voice signal; and

a modulator for modulating the voice signal onto the backscatter signal of the RFID module.

18. A headset according to claim 17 wherein the voice signal modulated onto the backscatter signal of the RFID module is an analog signal.

19. A headset according to claim 17 wherein the voice signal modulated onto the backscatter signal of the RFID module is a digital signal.

20. A headset according to claim 17 wherein the modulator comprises an analog to digital converter and a state machine.

21. A headset according to claim 17 further comprising:

an energy harvesting mechanism constructed and arranged to harvest energy from an RF field produced by an RFID interrogator and convert harvested energy into usable energy to power the headset.

22. A headset according to claim 17 wherein the energy harvesting mechanism comprises a charge pump of an RFID module.

23. A headset for use with a mobile computer, comprising:

an RFID module constructed and arranged to receive an RF signal encoded with digital voice data;

a CODEC constructed and arranged to translate the digital voice data into analog data; and

a transducer for producing an audible signal from the analog data.

24. A headset according to claim 23 further comprising:

a mechanism constructed and arranged to harvest energy from an RF field produced by an RFID interrogator and convert harvested energy into usable energy to power the headset.

25. A headset according to claim 23 wherein the energy harvesting mechanism comprises a charge pump of an RFID module.

26. A method of communicating a voice signal to an interrogator, comprising:

generating an electrical signal corresponding to the voice signal;

modulating an RFID backscatter signal with the electrical signal; and

transmitting the backscatter signal to an interrogator.

27. A method according to claim 26 wherein the electrical signal is an analog signal.

28. A method according to claim 26 wherein the electrical signal is a digital signal and the method further comprises:

digitizing the voice signal into a digitized voice signal; and

encoding the digitized voice signal.

29. A method of communicating a voice signal from an interrogator, comprising:

receiving an interrogator signal modulated by a voice signal;

demodulating the interrogator signal to recover the voice signal; and

driving a speaker transducer to render the voice signal audible.

30. A method according to claim 29 wherein the voice signal is an analog signal.

31. A method according to claim 29 wherein the voice signal is a digitized voice signal and wherein the method further comprises:

decoding the recovered voice signal to form a decoded digitized voice signal; and

generating an analog voice signal based on the decoded digitized voice signal.