RFID READ/WRITE STATION AND A METHOD FOR OPERATING SUCH

• US 20100259367A1
• Filed: 12/11/2007
• Published: 10/14/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/06/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intermec IP Corporation (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Intermec IP Corporation (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Inventors: Küng, Roland
• Granted Patent: US 8,451,096 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/10.300
• 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 7/0095 Testing the sensing arrangement, e.g. testing if a magnetic card reader, bar code reader, RFID interrogator or smart card reader functions properly testing of electrical circuits G01R31/28

Abstract

An RFID read/write station includes read/write equipment with a transmitter, a receiver, a processor unit, and at least one read/write antenna. A first passive electronic tag is coupled via a first coupling element to an output from the transmitter and an input to the receiver with a pre-set coefficient of coupling, while a second passive electronic tag is coupled to a read/write antenna through a second coupling element with a pre-set coefficient of coupling. For the purpose of periodically or aperiodically monitoring the RFID read/write station, an identification of the first and second tags can be made and/or the data content of which can be read.

Claims

1. An RFID read/write station, comprising:

read/write equipment having—

a transmitter,

a receiver,

a processor unit, and

at least one read/write antenna;

a first passive electronic tag coupled via a first coupling element to an output of the transmitter and to an input to the receiver,

wherein the first coupling element has a pre-set coefficient of coupling, and

a second passive electronic tag coupled to the at least one read/write antenna via a second coupling element,

wherein the second coupling element has a pre-set coefficient of coupling, and

wherein the RFID read/write station is configured to periodically or aperiodically monitor itself by—

identifying the first and second passive electronic tags,

reading data stored in first and second passive electronic tags, or

both identifying the first and second passive electronic tags and reading data stored in first and second passive electronic tags.

2. The RFID read/write station according to claim 1, wherein the first coupling element and/or the second coupling element comprise a near-field antenna, which is coupled electrically or magnetically to a transmission signal of the read/write equipment.

3. The RFID read/write station according to claim 1, wherein the first coupling element and/or the second coupling element comprise a directional coupler with an attenuator.

4. The RFID read/write station according to claim 1, wherein the second electronic tag comprises operations of a microprocessor and of at least one sensor, which tag can be the first coupling element and/or the second coupling element comprise a directional coupler with an attenuator.

5. The RFID read/write station according to claim 1, wherein the first and second tags employ a known, specific identification number.

6. The RFID read/write station according to claim 1, wherein the first and second tags inlcude non-volatile memory storing operating data that can be read out by each read/write station.

7. The RFID read/write station according to claim 1, wherein identification numbers of the first and second tags are decodable in the receiver at each read process and upon recognizing these identification numbers, additional electronic tags can be extracted from a data stream in a data filter of the processor unit.

8. The RFID read/write station according to claim 1, wherein when reading the identification numbers of the first and second tags, an associated received-signal strength and a signal-to-noise strength are measurable and can be stored together with the identification numbers in a memory of the processor unit of the read/write equipment.

9. A method for operating a read/write station, wherein the read/write station includes read/write equipment having at least one read/write antenna, a transmitter, a receiver, and a processor unit, the method comprising:

providing a first passive electronic tag coupled to an output of the transmitter and to an input to the receiver;

providing a second passive electronic tag coupled to the read/write antenna,

wherein the first and second passive electronic tags include at least one known identification number;

periodically or aperiodically reading the at least one known identification number from the first and of the second tags

wherein the reading of the at least one known identification number from the first and of the second tags is performed simultaneously with an interrogation process by the RFID read/write station; and

,

evaluating the read/write station based at least in part on the read at least one known identification number from the first and of the second tags.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the identification numbers of the first and second tags are detected, by the processor unit of the read/write equipment, together with an associated, respective reception-signal level during a read process, and are compared with a number of expected reference levels, and a quality estimate is made for the operating status of the read/write station from a number of comparison values between the reception-signal levels and reference levels.

11. The method according to claim 9, further comprising:

detecting the identification numbers of the first and second tags together with received-signal levels and a noise level,

calculating ratios of the received-signal level to the noise level,

determining additional quality measures related to an interference level at an air interface based at least on the calculated ratios,

comparing the additional quality measures to expected reference values based on the coupled tags, and

storing at least one of the additional quality measures, the calculated ratios, and the compared additional quality measures to expected reference values.

12. The method according to claim 9, wherein at start-up, correct wiring of the read/write station is verified in the processor unit or in a controller by recognizing the identification numbers of the first and second tags and associated reception-signal level in the read/write antenna.

13. The method according to claim 9, wherein a number of required operating parameters are interrogated from a non-volatile memory of the first and second tags, and the RFID read/write station is configured independently to correspond to these operating parameters.

14. The method according to claim 9, wherein a network comprising a central controller and a number of RFID read/write stations, when reading, the detected identification number of the first tag, given or transmitted by the RFID read/write stations during start-up of the central controller, is recognized, and that a batch of quality data for this identification number is kept in the controller for managing the RFID read/write stations as a long-term statistic in a database for each RFID read/write station.

15. The method according to claim 9, further comprising receiving a command from the controller, and transferring a number of quality measures by the RFID read/write station to the controller, and tracking at the controller a long-term statistic based on the quality measures.

16. The method according to claim 9, wherein during operation of the read/write station, identification numbers of the first and second tags detected simultaneously in the read process are recognized in the processor and are filtered out of a data stream of additional, interrogated tags, such that the identification numbers are not retransmitted by the read/write station to a parent controller or an application.

17. The method according to claim 9, wherein after replacing a read/write antenna or an RFID read/write station, a new start-up or restart is performed for stored, new identification numbers with aid of the first and second tags, and after inputting these new identification numbers for the first and second tags into a controller, which is performed independently by RFID read/write stations with the aid of a network management-level.