Multibit magnetic radio frequency tag using micromechanics
First Claim
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1. A system for remotely identifying an object, said system comprising:
- apparatus for being attached to said object and for being remotely interrogated to give information regarding said object, said apparatus including;
a substrate;
a plurality of arms each fixed at an end thereof to said substrate to form respective cantilevers, each of said plurality of arms having respectively different physical dimensions, and each being coated with a soft magnetic coating to define a respective resonant frequency; and
means for biasing said plurality of arms;
means for exciting said plurality of arms to cause at least some of said plurality of arms to generate harmonic magnetic oscillations defining a predetermined code associated with said object,said exciting means comprising at least one of means for producing resonant acoustic excitation and means for producing radio frequency magnetic excitation, wherein, in the presence of said acoustic external excitation, said at least some of said plurality of arms generate said oscillations, wherein, in the presence of said magnetic excitation, said at least some of said plurality of said arms generate said oscillation and wherein, in the presence of both of said magnetic external excitation and said acoustic external excitation, said at least some of said plurality of arms generate said oscillations; and
means for remotely sensing said harmonic magnetic oscillations to detect said predetermined code.
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Abstract
A radio frequency (RF) multibit tag structure useful for identifying objects of interest is described. An array of thin cantilevers of slightly different lengths produced by differential etching are coated with a soft magnetic material which upon interrogation with an RF magnetic field vibrate at their resonant frequencies in the presence of an appropriate bias or direct current (DC) field. The oscillating magnetic fields generated by the vibrating bars and the stationary DC field can be readily detected by a receiver and processed to determine the code of the tag and thus provide information related to the object.
69 Citations
19 Claims
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1. A system for remotely identifying an object, said system comprising:
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apparatus for being attached to said object and for being remotely interrogated to give information regarding said object, said apparatus including; a substrate; a plurality of arms each fixed at an end thereof to said substrate to form respective cantilevers, each of said plurality of arms having respectively different physical dimensions, and each being coated with a soft magnetic coating to define a respective resonant frequency; and means for biasing said plurality of arms; means for exciting said plurality of arms to cause at least some of said plurality of arms to generate harmonic magnetic oscillations defining a predetermined code associated with said object, said exciting means comprising at least one of means for producing resonant acoustic excitation and means for producing radio frequency magnetic excitation, wherein, in the presence of said acoustic external excitation, said at least some of said plurality of arms generate said oscillations, wherein, in the presence of said magnetic excitation, said at least some of said plurality of said arms generate said oscillation and wherein, in the presence of both of said magnetic external excitation and said acoustic external excitation, said at least some of said plurality of arms generate said oscillations; and means for remotely sensing said harmonic magnetic oscillations to detect said predetermined code. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. An apparatus for attachment to an object and for being remotely interrogated to give multibit information regarding said object, said apparatus comprising:
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a substrate; a plurality of arms each fixed at an end thereof to said substrate each to form respective cantilevers, each of said plurality of arms being coated with a soft magnetic coating and at least some of said plurality of arms are being set with respectively different physical dimensions so that said arms each define a predetermined resonant frequency corresponding to a bit upon being subjected to excitation, to thereby provide said multibit information; and means for biasing said plurality of arms, wherein, upon reception of at least one of acoustic and magnetic external excitation, said at least some of said plurality of arms generate harmonic magnetic oscillations defining a predetermined code related to said information, wherein, in the presence of said acoustic external excitation, said at least some of said plurality of arms generate said oscillations, and wherein, in the presence of said magnetic excitation, said at least some of said plurality of said arms generate said oscillations, and wherein, in the presence of both of said magnetic external excitation and said acoustic external excitation, said at least some of said plurality of arms generate said oscillations. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method of remotely sensing an identifier coupled to an article, said method comprising the steps of:
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providing said identifier for said article, said identifier containing predetermined information regarding said article, said identifier comprising a plurality of arms each fixed at an end thereof to a substrate to form respective cantilevers, and each having a soft magnetic coating thereon, such that at least some of said arms are dimensionally tuned to produce resonant frequencies that correspond to multiple bits of said predetermined information related to said article; exciting said plurality of arms by at least one of acoustic excitation and magnetic excitation to cause said at least some of said plurality of arms to generate harmonic magnetic oscillations defining a predetermined code corresponding to said predetermined information having multiple bits, wherein, in the presence of said acoustic external excitation, said at least some of said plurality of arms generate said oscillations, wherein, in the presence of said magnetic excitation, said at least some of said plurality of said arms generate said oscillations, and wherein, in the presence of both of said magnetic external excitation and said acoustic external excitation, said at least some of said plurality of arms generate said oscillations; and detecting said harmonic magnetic oscillations to detect said predetermined code. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19)
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Specification