SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MULTIPLE READING INTERFACE WITH A SIMPLE RFID ANTENNA
First Claim
1. A multi-field antenna which is able to receive a signal over one field selected from a plurality of different fields of the antenna, the multi-field antenna comprising:
- a first magnetic loop;
a first tuner to tune the first magnetic loop to provide a first volume field for reading data;
a second magnetic loop;
a second tuner to tune the second magnetic loop to provide a second volume field for reading data, the second volume field being smaller than the first volume field;
a first metallic element configured to cover at least a portion of the second magnetic loop;
a switch to configure the first tuner and the second tuner to select the one field of the plurality of fields; and
an interface to connect the multi-field antenna with a signal processing device operable to receive and process the signal.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A multi-field antenna able to receive a signal over one field selected from a plurality of different fields of the antenna includes an interface to connect the antenna to a signal processing device, such as an RFID reader, to receive and process the signal. The antenna includes a first magnetic loop configured to be tuned by a first tuner to provide a first volume field for reading data; a second magnetic loop configured to be tuned by a second tuner to provide a second volume field for reading data, the second volume field being smaller than the first volume field; and a switch to configure the first tuner and the second tuner to select the one field from the plurality of fields. The multi-field antenna can have a wide volume field selected to detect items within a large area and then the multi-field antenna can be switched to select a smaller volume field to detect items within a substantially smaller area. In a preferred embodiment, the multi-field antenna further includes; a first metallic element configured to cover at least a portion of the second magnetic loop, the first metallic element comprising a slot extending from one end of the first metallic element to a point proximal an opposite end of the first metallic element. Also preferably, the multi-field antenna can also create a point volume field, smaller than the second volume field, to localize detected objects within a still smaller area.
-
Citations
22 Claims
-
1. A multi-field antenna which is able to receive a signal over one field selected from a plurality of different fields of the antenna, the multi-field antenna comprising:
-
a first magnetic loop; a first tuner to tune the first magnetic loop to provide a first volume field for reading data; a second magnetic loop; a second tuner to tune the second magnetic loop to provide a second volume field for reading data, the second volume field being smaller than the first volume field; a first metallic element configured to cover at least a portion of the second magnetic loop; a switch to configure the first tuner and the second tuner to select the one field of the plurality of fields; and an interface to connect the multi-field antenna with a signal processing device operable to receive and process the signal. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
-
-
14. A mobile computer device comprising:
-
an RFID reader; memory having stored instructions; a microprocessor configured to implement the stored instructions for receiving and processing a signal from the RFID reader; and a multi-field antenna connected to the RFID reader, the multi-field antenna operable to receive a signal over one field selected from a plurality of different fields of the multi-field antenna and comprising; a first magnetic loop; a first tuner to tune the first magnetic loop to provide a first volume field for reading data from RFID tags; a second magnetic loop; a second tuner to tune the second magnetic loop to provide a second volume field for reading data from RFID tags, the second volume field being smaller than the first volume field; a first metallic element configured to cover at least a portion of the second magnetic loop; and a switch to configure the first tuner and the second tuner to select the one field from the plurality of fields. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17)
-
-
18. A method of locating a target object from among a plurality of objects, each object including a wireless communication transponder, comprising the steps of:
-
i) selecting a first field for a multi-field antenna operating with a wireless transmission interrogator, the first field being relatively large in volume; ii) with the selected first field, receiving signals from wireless communication transponders from at least two objects; iii) determining a first estimate of the location of the target object from the received signals within the first field; and iv) selecting a second field for the multi-field antenna, the second field being smaller in volume than the first field and determining a second estimate of the location of the target object within the second field, the second estimate being at least as accurate as the first estimate. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22)
-
Specification