WIRELESS PROGRAMMING OF NON-VOLATILE MEMORY WITH NEAR-FIELD UHF COUPLING
First Claim
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1. An apparatus, comprisinga wireless receiver;
- a non-volatile memory;
control logic coupled between the receiver and the non-volatile memory to control writing data into the non-volatile memory;
a wired interface to transfer data into and/or out of the non-volatile memory; and
a first antenna coupled to the wireless receiver to receive a wireless radio frequency signal modulated with data to write into the non-volatile memory, the first antenna having an electrical length of no more than one-half wave length of the received radio frequency wireless signal;
wherein the received wireless signal is to be used to provide operational power to the control logic and to the non-volatile memory during said writing data into the non-volatile memory.
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Abstract
Near-Field UHF wireless coupling may be used to write data into a non-volatile memory in a device, thus allowing for changes to be made to the device after that product has been manufactured. Energy from the received wireless signal may be used to power sufficient circuitry in the device so that the programming does not require an on-board power source such as a battery. In many cases, the device may be programmed after it has been packaged for shipment/sale, without removing the device from the package. In some embodiments, a multi-segment antenna may be used to program multiple such devices at the same time by the same Near-Field UHF signal.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. An apparatus, comprising
a wireless receiver; -
a non-volatile memory; control logic coupled between the receiver and the non-volatile memory to control writing data into the non-volatile memory; a wired interface to transfer data into and/or out of the non-volatile memory; and a first antenna coupled to the wireless receiver to receive a wireless radio frequency signal modulated with data to write into the non-volatile memory, the first antenna having an electrical length of no more than one-half wave length of the received radio frequency wireless signal; wherein the received wireless signal is to be used to provide operational power to the control logic and to the non-volatile memory during said writing data into the non-volatile memory. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A method, comprising:
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receiving a wireless signal through a first antenna, the first antenna having an electrical length of no more than one-half wavelength of the wireless signal; accumulating electrical energy received from the wireless signal through the first antenna; using at least a portion of the accumulated electrical energy to provide operational power to a non-volatile memory; decoding data modulated onto the wireless signal; and writing at least part of the data into the non-volatile memory. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11)
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12. An apparatus, comprising:
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a computer system to simultaneously program multiple devices by wirelessly transmitting programming data to the multiple devices; and an antenna coupled to the computer system, the antenna having multiple segments, each segment to be used to communicate programming data to a separate one of the multiple devices, the programming data to be programmed into a non-volatile memory in each of the multiple devices. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14)
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15. A method, comprising:
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transmitting, through a multi-segment antenna, a wireless signal modulated to encode data to be programmed into a non-volatile memory in each of multiple devices; and receiving at least one backscattered signal from each of the multiple devices to acknowledge correct receipt of the data. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18)
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19. An article comprising:
a tangible machine-readable medium encoded with instructions, which when executed by one or more processors result in performing operations comprising; transmitting, through a multi-segment antenna, a wireless signal modulated to encode data to be programmed into a non-volatile memory in each of multiple devices; and receiving at least one backscattered signal from each of the multiple devices to acknowledge correct receipt of the data; wherein each segment of the antenna is located within one wavelength of an associated one of the multiple devices. - View Dependent Claims (20)
Specification