Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Tag

• US 20110303751A1
• Filed: 06/08/2011
• Published: 12/15/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/15/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Convergence Systems Limited
• Original Assignee: Convergence Systems Limited
• Inventors: LAI, Kin Yue Albert, GARRETT, Jerry, CHAN, Yi Wah
• Granted Patent: US 8,308,073 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/492
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/027 the material being suitable for use as a textile, e.g. woven-based RFID-like labels designed for attachment to laundry items markings attached to laundry items in general D06F93/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/0701 at least one of the integrated circuit chips comprising an arrangement for power management
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/07758 arrangements for adhering the record carrier to further objects or living beings, functioning as an identification tag
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/2225 used in active tags, i.e. provided with its own power source or in passive tags, i.e. deriving power from RF signal
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/273 Adaptation for carrying or wearing by persons or animals
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 7/00 Loop antennas with a substantially uniform current distribution around the loop and having a directional radiation pattern in a plane perpendicular to the plane of the loop
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 9/285 Planar dipole H01Q9/065 takes precedence; patch antenna H01Q9/0407
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/49 Method of mechanical manufacture

Abstract

A radio frequency identification (RFID) tag is disclosed as including an integrated circuit and at least one antenna connected with the integrated circuit, wherein the antenna is formed of an at least partly metalized thread.

Claims

1. A radio frequency identification (RFID) tag including an integrated circuit and at least one antenna connected with said integrated circuit, wherein said at least one antenna is formed of an at least partly metalized thread.

2. The RFID tag according to claim 1 wherein said RFID tag is a passive RFID tag.

3. The RFID tag according to claim 1 wherein said integrated circuit is a flip chip integrated circuit mounted on a piece of FR4 printed circuit board with a plurality of metalized holes, wherein said antenna is connected with at least one of said metalized holes.

4. The RFID tag according to claim 1 wherein said integrated circuit is covered by a covering selected from the group consisting of glue, a piece of malleable conformable plastic material to make the integrated circuit water-proof, and a piece of cloth.

5. The RFID tag according to claim 3 wherein said flip chip integrated circuit is mounted on a piece of plastic inlay or on a piece of cloth.

6. The RFID tag according to claim 3 wherein two pairs of at least partly metalized thread antennas are connected to said flip chip integrated circuit.

7. The RFID tag according to claim 1 wherein said antenna is a loop style antenna.

8. The RFID tag according to claim 1 wherein said RFID tag is electrically connected with and powered by a battery.

9. The RFID tag according to claim 1 wherein said tag includes a plurality of threads and at least two of said threads are of different colours.

10. A method of attaching at least one radio frequency identification (RFID) tag to an object, wherein said RFID tag includes an integrated circuit and at least one antenna connected with said integrated circuit, wherein said at least one antenna is formed of an at least partly metalized thread, said method including sewing or weaving at least said at least partly metalized thread of said RFID tag to said object.

11. The method according to claim 10, further comprising a step of sewing a plurality of said RFID tags onto at least two different parts of said object.

12. The method according to claim 10 wherein said object is a clothing item, and wherein a first part of said thread is sewn on a label of said clothing item and a second part of said thread is sewn on said clothing item.

13. The method according to claim 10 wherein said object is an animal, and said thread is sewn onto a part of said animal.

14. The method according to claim 13 wherein said body part is an ear lobe or a fin.

15. The method according to claim 10 wherein said object is a shoe lace.

16. The method according to claim 10 further comprising a step of covering a centre part of said integrated circuit with hard plastic.

17. A method of attaching at least one radio frequency identification (RFID) tag to an object, wherein said RFID tag includes an integrated circuit and at least one antenna connected with said integrated circuit, wherein said at least one antenna is formed of an at least partly metalized thread, said method including positioning said thread through or around said object or a part of said object.

18. The method according to claim 17 further comprising a step of attaching a price tag onto said tag.

19. The method according to claim 17 wherein said object is a watch, a jewelry item or an animal.

20. The method according to claim 19 wherein the object is an animal and further comprising the steps of surrounding a body part of said animal with said thread, and housing said integrated circuit within a cloth or paper based card.

21. A method of forming a tamper-destruct seal for an object, said method including providing at least one radio frequency identification (RFID) tag, wherein said RFID tag includes an integrated circuit and at least one antenna connected with said integrated circuit, wherein said at least one antenna is formed of an at least partly metalized thread, and associating said thread with said object.

22. The method according to claim 21 wherein said object is a document and said thread of said RFID tag is positioned through at least one hole of said document.

23. The method according to claim 21 wherein said object is a cover for a container and said thread of said RFID tag is fixedly connected with a breakable part of said cover.