RFID Enabled Crate with Wraparound Antenna

• US 20110121972A1
• Filed: 08/25/2010
• Published: 05/26/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avery Dennison Retail Information Services LLC (Avery Dennison Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Avery Dennison Corporation
• Inventors: Isabell, Michael J., PHANEUF, Peter C.
• Granted Patent: US 9,064,163 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/572.8
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 17/0029 the arrangement being specially adapted for wireless interrogation of grouped or bundled articles tagged with wireless record carriers
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10178 including auxiliary means for focusing, repeating or boosting the electromagnetic interrogation field comparable booster antennas integrated on the record carrier itself G06K19/07794

Abstract

A radio frequency identification (RFID) enabled crate (50) includes: a plurality of sides (52); an RFID inlay (54) supported on a first one of the plurality of sides; and an antenna (56) coupled to the RFID inlay (54). Suitably, the antenna (56) extends at least partially across at least a second one of the plurality of sides (52), the second one of the sides being different from the first one where the RFID inlay (54) is located.

Claims

1. A radio frequency identification (RFID) enabled crate comprising:

a plurality of sides;

an RFID inlay supported on a first one of the plurality of sides; and

an antenna coupled to the RFID inlay, said antenna extending at least partially across at least a second one of the plurality of sides, said second one of the sides being different from the first one where the RFID inlay is located.

2. The crate of claim 1, wherein the crate is collapsible.

3. The crate of claim 1, wherein the RFID inlay is a passive ultra-high frequency device.

4. A RFID enable crate, comprising:

a crate having a base portion surrounded by a series of side walls, at least one of the sidewalls having a conductive element contained within the at least one side wall;

a plurality of consumer goods disposed on the base portion of the crate; and

a RFID inlay adhesively attached to the at least one side wall and disposed on the at least one side wall so as to capacitively couple to the conductive element.

5. A RFID enabled crate as recited in claim 4, wherein the plurality of consumer goods are bottles of water.

6. A RFID enabled crate as recited in claim 4, wherein the plurality of consumer goods are canned goods.

7. A RFID enabled crate as recited in claim 4, wherein the RFID inlay is a UHF RFID device.

8. A RFID enabled crate, comprising:

a crate having a base portion surrounded by a series of side walls, with more than two of the sidewalls having a conductive element contained within the sidewalls;

a plurality of consumer goods disposed on the base portion of the crate;

at least one RFID inlay adhesively attached to the at least one side wall having a conductive element and disposed on the at least one side wall so as to capacitively couple to the conductive element.

9. A RFID enabled crate as recited in claim 8, wherein a second RFID inlay is applied to another of the side walls having the conductive element, different from the at least one side wall.

10. A RFID enabled crate as recited in claim 8, wherein each of the side walls has a conductive element contained therein and each of the side walls has a RFID inlay applied thereto and each of the RFID inlays is capacitively coupled to respective conductive elements contained within the sidewalls.