INTERFERENCE-REDUCING RFID READER

• US 20180137314A1
• Filed: 11/16/2016
• Published: 05/17/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/16/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avery Dennison Retail Information Services LLC (Avery Dennison Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Avery Dennison Retail Information Services LLC (Avery Dennison Corporation)
• Inventors: ROTH, Mark W.
• Granted Patent: US 10,360,418 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10009 sensing by radiation using wavelengths larger than 0.1 mm, e.g. radio-waves or microwaves
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10316 using at least one antenna particularly designed for interrogating the wireless record carriers antennas in general H01Q1/22

Abstract

An RFID reader apparatus designed to limit interference in a role of auditing individual RFID tagged or labeled items in areas of surrounding dense RIFD transponder populations. Such an RFID reader apparatus may include an RFID reader, a specialized antenna, and an enclosure, which may be constructed from ferrous material and which may be configured to hold the RFID reader and the specialized antenna in separate compartments. The enclosure may have one or more shelves, which may also be constructed from ferrous material. The RFID reader apparatus may also have a lid constructed from non-ferrous material. The RFID reader apparatus may be fitted to the bottom of an auditing workstation, for example with screws or other connectors, or may be placed within an auditing workstation specifically equipped to accommodate it.

Claims

1. An RFID reader apparatus, comprising:

an enclosure, the enclosure having a backplate and a plurality of sidewalls extending upwards from the perimeter of the backplate, one of the plurality of sidewalls having a reader slot formed therein, each of the plurality of sidewalls further comprising a flange extending outward from the top of the sidewall, each flange having a plurality of connection sites;

an inner antenna tray, the inner antenna tray sized to fit within an enclosure cavity defined by the plurality of sidewalls, the disposition of the inner antenna tray in the enclosure cavity defining a cable slot on the plane of the inner antenna tray, the cable slot permitting the passage of a cable from a top side of the inner antenna tray to a bottom side of the inner antenna tray;

an antenna, the antenna sized to fit within a top enclosure cavity defined by the plurality of sidewalls and the inner antenna tray and disposed on the top side of the inner antenna tray, the antenna configured to broadcast and receive radio-frequency signals;

a user console, the user console comprising a user interface and an RFID printer; and

an RFID reader sized to fit within the reader slot, the RFID reader comprising a processor and a memory, the memory comprising computer code executable by the processor to cause the RFID reader to communicate with one or more RFID tags in the field of operation of the antenna, capture data belonging to the one or more RFID tags, and interpret the data belonging to the one or more RFID tags, the RFID reader further comprising a data port.

2. The RFID reader apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a lid formed from a non-ferrous material, the lid being sized to fit within an opening in the enclosure defined by the plurality of sidewalls.

3. The RFID reader apparatus of claim 1, wherein the enclosure and the inner antenna tray are each formed from ferrous material.

4. The RFID reader apparatus of claim 1, wherein the inner antenna tray further comprises a recessed portion adapted to hold the antenna.

5. The RFID reader apparatus of claim 1, further comprising an external power supply configured to be coupled to a power supply port disposed on the RFID reader.

7. The RFID reader apparatus of claim 1, wherein the antenna is a near-field UHF antenna.

6. (canceled)

8. An auditing workstation system for auditing RFID tagged items, comprising:

an RFID reader apparatus, the RFID reader apparatus comprising;

an enclosure, the enclosure having a backplate and a plurality of sidewalls extending upwards from the perimeter of the backplate, one of the plurality of sidewalls having a reader slot formed therein;

an inner antenna tray, the inner antenna tray sized to fit within an enclosure cavity defined by the plurality of sidewalls, the disposition of the inner antenna tray in the enclosure cavity defining a cable slot on the plane of the inner antenna tray, the cable slot permitting the passage of a cable from a top side of the inner antenna tray to a bottom side of the inner antenna tray;

an antenna, the antenna sized to fit within a top enclosure cavity defined by the plurality of sidewalls and the inner antenna tray and disposed on the top side of the inner antenna tray, the antenna configured to broadcast and receive radio-frequency signals; and

an RFID reader sized to fit within the reader slot, the RFID reader comprising a processor and a memory, the memory comprising computer code executable by the processor to cause the RFID reader to communicate with one or more RFID tags in the field of operation of the antenna, capture data belonging to the one or more RFID tags, and interpret the data belonging to the one or more RFID tags, the RFID reader further comprising a data port;

a user console, the user console comprising a user interface and an RFID printer; and

a workstation platform, the workstation platform comprising a working surface constructed from non-ferrous material;

wherein the RFID reader apparatus is located at a position directly below the working surface and is positioned such that the antenna is oriented upward.

9. The auditing workstation system for auditing RFID tagged items of claim 8, wherein each of the plurality of sidewalls of the RFID reader apparatus further comprises a flange extending outward from the sidewall, each flange having a plurality of connection sites;

and

wherein the RFID reader apparatus is secured to the workstation platform by connectors disposed in the plurality of connection sites.

10. The auditing workstation system for auditing RFID tagged items of claim 8, wherein the RFID reader apparatus is disposed within a hollow cavity within the workstation platform.

11. The auditing workstation system for auditing RFID tagged items of claim 8, wherein the RFID reader apparatus further comprises a lid formed from non-ferrous material, the lid being sized to snugly fit within an opening in the enclosure defined by the plurality of sidewalls.

12. The auditing workstation system for auditing RFID tagged items of claim 8, wherein the enclosure and the inner antenna tray of the RFID reader apparatus are each formed from ferrous material.

13. The auditing workstation system for auditing RFID tagged items of claim 8, wherein the inner antenna tray of the RFID reader apparatus further comprises a recessed portion adapted to hold the antenna.

14. The auditing workstation system for auditing RFID tagged items of claim 8, further comprising an external power supply configured to be coupled to a power supply port disposed on the RFID reader.

16. The auditing workstation system for auditing RFID tagged items of claim 8, wherein the antenna of the RFID reader apparatus is a near-field UHF antenna.

15. (canceled)

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the dynamic scanner comprises at least one of a dynamic scanning tunnel (DST) and a high-density read chamber (HDRC).

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the auditing workstation system further comprises a user console, the user console comprising a user interface and an RFID printer;

and

wherein the step of detecting, with the RFID reader apparatus, a source of the variant number of RFID tags further comprises displaying, on the user interface, a comparison of an expected scan result for an item and a detected scan result for the item.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the method further comprises:

printing, from the RFID printer, a corrected RFID tag for an item;

affixing the corrected RFID tag to the item; and

repacking the carton with one or more items including the item with the corrected RFID tag.

17. A method of using an RFID reader apparatus, comprising:

detecting, with a dynamic scanner, a carton having an abnormal number of RFID tags;

diverting the carton to an auditing workstation system, the auditing workstation system comprising;

an RFID reader apparatus, the RFID reader apparatus comprising;

an enclosure, the enclosure having a backplate and a plurality of sidewalls extending upwards from the perimeter of the backplate, one of the plurality of sidewalls having a reader slot formed therein;

an inner antenna tray, the inner antenna tray sized to fit within an enclosure cavity defined by the plurality of sidewalls, the disposition of the inner antenna tray in the enclosure cavity defining a cable slot on the plane of the inner antenna tray, the cable slot permitting the passage of a cable from a top side of the inner antenna tray to a bottom side of the inner antenna tray and the inner antenna tray further comprises a recessed portion adapted to hold the antenna;

an antenna, the antenna sized to fit within a top enclosure cavity defined by the plurality of sidewalls and the inner antenna tray and disposed on the top side of the inner antenna tray, the antenna configured to broadcast and receive radio-frequency signals;

an RFID reader sized to fit within the reader slot, the RFID reader comprising a processor and a memory, the memory comprising computer code executable by the processor to cause the RFID reader to communicate with one or more RFID tags in the field of operation of the antenna, capture data belonging to the one or more RFID tags, and interpret the data belonging to the one or more RFID tags, the RFID reader further comprising a data port; and

a workstation platform, the workstation platform comprising a working surface constructed from non-ferrous material;

wherein the RFID reader apparatus is located directly below the working surface and is positioned such that the antenna is oriented upward; and

wherein a read zone is defined on a portion of the working surface directly above the RFID reader apparatus;

removing one or more items from the carton;

scanning the one or more items through the read zone;

detecting, with the RFID reader apparatus, a source of variant number of RFID tags, comprising at least one of;

a variant number of items or an item having a variant number of RFID tags; and

repacking the carton with one or more items.