System method and apparatus for identifying and communicating with a plurality of types of radio frequency communication devices

• US 6,172,596 B1
• Filed: 03/05/1997
• Issued: 01/09/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 09/09/1994
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Intermec IP Corporation (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Intermec IP Corporation (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Inventors: McAuliffe, Kevin Patrick, Smyczynski, Richard Michael, Goldman, Kenneth Alan, Heinrich, Harley Kent, Cofino, Thomas Anthony, Cesar, Christian Lenz, Greene, Sharon Louise
• Primary Examiner(s): ZIMMERMAN, BRIAN A
• Application Number:
  US08/811,989
• Time in Patent Office: 1,406 Days
• Field of Search: 340/825.54, 340/572, 340/10.41, 340/10.4, 342/44
• US Class Current: 340/10.41
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/0008 General problems related to the reading of electronic memory record carriers, independent of its reading method, e.g. power transfer
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10039 interrogator driven, i.e. synchronous
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10108 interrogating only those RFIDs that fulfill a predetermined requirement, e.g. selecting all RFIDs having the same speed and moving in a cloud like fashion, e.g. on the same train; interrogating only RFIDs having a certain predetermined temperature, e.g. in the same fridge, another possibility being the active ignoring of a group of tags that fulfill a predetermined requirement, equivalent to the Boolean NOT operation
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 3/00 Registering or indicating the condition or the working of machines or other apparatus, other than vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/28 the pass enabling tracking or indicating presence
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 2201/20 Binding and programming of remote control devices

Abstract

A system, method of use, and a plurality of types of Radio Frequency Transponders (RF Tags). The RF Tags carry a directory or a tag type number which determines the layout of information in the tag memory. The tag type numbers are arranged hierarchically.

Claims

1. An RF tag for communicating with a base station, comprising:

a predefined hardware configuration;

a tag antenna for receiving and sending RF information from and to the base station;

a tag receiver/transmitter for receiving and sending information from and to the tag antenna;

a logic section for receiving and sending information from and to the tag receiver/transmitter;

a first tag memory having data, the data having a layout of information; and

a second tag memory comprising a directory, the directory containing information about the layout of information in the first tag memory including the predefined hardware configuration of the RF tag, where the logic section uses the directory to retrieve the data.

2. An RF tag for communicating with a base station, comprising:

a predefined hardware configuration;

a tag antenna for receiving and sending RF information from and to the base station;

a tag receiver/transmitter for receiving and sending information from and to the tag antenna;

a logic section for receiving and sending information from and to the tag receiver/transmitter;

a first tag memory having data, the data having a layout of information, wherein the logic section retrieves the data; and

a second tag memory consisting of a tag type identifying code, wherein the logic section retrieves the tag type identifying code, the tag type identifying code determining the layout of the information in the data of first tag memory including the predefined hardware configuration of the RF tag.

3. The RF tag of claim 2, wherein the second tag memory is recoded by signals from the base station.

4. The RF tag of claim 2, wherein the second tag memory comprises a first part and a second part, and wherein the first part—

is unrecodable—

by signals from a base station.

5. The RF tag of claim 2, wherein the tag type identifying code is arranged in a hierarchical order.

6. The RF tag of claim 2, wherein the tag type identifying code is a series of bytes in which each successive byte represents a level in a hierarchy of classifications.

7. The RF tag of claim 6, wherein a value of a byte in a first level in the hierarchy defines a fixed memory location in the first tag memory for information fields common to each level below the first level in the hierarchy.

8. A system for communicating information, comprising:

a plurality of Radio Frequency (RF) tags, the plurality of RF tags comprising a plurality of types of tag (tag types), each tag type having a tag type identifying code and a predefined hardware configuration, each tag comprising a tag antenna for sending and receiving RF information to and from a base station, a tag receiver/transmitter for receiving and sending information from and to the tag antenna, a logic section for receiving and sending information from and to the tag receiver/transmitter, a first tag memory having data with a layout of information, the logic section able to retrieve the data, a second tag memory comprising the tag type identifying code, wherein the logic section retrieves the tag type identifying code, the tag type identifying code determining the layout of the information in the first tag memory including the predefined hardware configuration of the RF tag, and;

a base station, the base station comprising a base station receiver/transmitter for sending and receiving RF information to and from a base station antenna, the base station antenna for sending and receiving information to and from an RF tag, a base station computer controlling the base station receiver/transmitter, a base station memory, the base station memory containing the tag type identifying code and the layout of information in the data of the first memory including the predefined hardware configuration of at least one tag type, whereby the base station computer uses the base station memory to determine the layout of information in the data of the first memory including the predefined hardware configuration of at least one of the plurality of RF tags.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the second tag memory is coded and recoded by signals from the base station.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the second tag memory comprises a first part and a second part, and wherein the first part—

not recodable—

by RF signals from the base station.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the base station computer uses a “

look-up table”

to retrieve the location of information contained in the data of the first tag memory of at least one of the plurality of tags, the information retrieved on the basis of the tag type identification code.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the base station computer identifies a location of information stored in the data of the first tag memory of at least one of the plurality of tags, the location identified on the basis of the tag type identification code.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the location of information is the location of a Universal Product Code (UPC) stored in the first tag memory.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the location of information is the location of a security code stored in the first tag memory.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the location of information is the location of a product manufacture date code stored in the first tag memory.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the location of information is the location of a personal identification code stored in the first tag memory.

17. The system of claim 8, wherein the first tag memory has a defined capacity, and wherein the base station computer identifies the defined capacity of memory contained in the first tag memory of at least one of the plurality of tags on the basis of the tag type identification code.

18. The system of claim 8, wherein the base station computer identifies commands recognized by at least one of the plurality of tags on the basis of the tag type identification code.

19. The system of claim 8, wherein the base station computer identifies measurement capabilities of at least one of the plurality of tags on the basis of the tag type identification code.

20. The system of claim 8, wherein the tag type identifying code is arranged in a hierarchical order.

21. The system of claim 8, wherein the tag type identifying code is a series of bytes in which each successive byte represents a level in a hierarchy of classifications.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein a first level in the hierarchy defines a fixed memory location in the first tag memory for information fields common to each level below the first level in the hierarchy.

23. A base station for communicating with a plurality of Radio Frequency (RF) tags, the plurality of tags comprising a plurality of types of tags (tag types), each tag type having a predefined hardware configuration, each tag of each tag type having a first tag memory, the first tag memory having a layout of information, each tag of each tag type having a second tag memory, the second tag memory consisting of a tag type identifying code, the tag type identifying code determining the layout of information in the first tag memory including the predefined hardware configuration of the RF tag, comprising:

a base station antenna for send and receiving information to and from an RF tag;

a base station receiver/transmitter for sending and receiving RF information to and from the base station antenna;

a base station computer controlling the base station receiver/transmitter;

a base station memory, the base station memory containing the tag type identifying code and the layout of information in the data of the first memory and the predefined hardware configuration of at least one tag type, whereby the base station computer uses the base station memory to determine the layout of information in the data of the first memory including the predefined hardware configuration of at least one of the plurality of RF tags.

24. The base station of claim 23, wherein the base station computer uses a “

look-up table”

to retrieve the location of the information contained in the data of the first tag memory of at least one of the plurality of tags on the basis of the tag type identification code.

25. The base station of claim 23, wherein the base station computer identifies a location of information stored in the first tag memory of the at least one of the plurality of tags on the basis of the tag type identification code.

26. The base station of claim 25, wherein the location of information is the location of a Universal Product Code (UPC) stored in the first tag memory.

27. The base station of claim 25, wherein the location of information is the location of a security code stored in the first tag memory.

28. The base station of claim 25, wherein the location of information is the location of a product manufacture date code stored in the first tag memory.

29. The base station of claim 25, wherein the location of information is the location of a personal identification code stored in the first tag memory.

30. The base station of claim 23, wherein the base station computer identifies the amount of memory contained in the first tag memory of at least one of the plurality of tags on the basis of the tag type identification code.

31. The base station of claim 23, wherein the base station computer identifies commands recognized by at least one of the plurality of tags on the basis of the tag type identification code.

32. The base station of claim 23, wherein the base station identifies measurement capabilities of at least one of the plurality of tags on the basis of the tag type identification code.

33. A method of storing and communicating information, comprising:

communicating a tag type identifying code between an RF tag and a base station, the tag type identifying code determining a layout of information contained in a first memory including a predefined hardware configuration of each tag of a type of RF tags, the tag type identifying code stored in a second memory of each tag of each type of RF tags.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein the tag type identifying code is arranged in a hierarchical order.

35. The method of claim 33, wherein the tag type identifying code is a series of bytes in which each successive byte represents a level in a hierarchy of classifications.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein a first level in the hierarchy defines a fixed memory location in the first tag memory for information fields common to each level below the first level in the hierarchy.

37. The method of claim 33, wherein the tag type identifying code of the tag is transmitted from the tag to the base station, further comprising;

transmitting data contained in the first memory of the RF tag to the base station; and

retrieving information from the data using the layout of information determined by the tag type identifying code.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein the information retrieved is a universal product code (UPC) number.

39. The method of claim 38, wherein the UPC code is retrieved on the basis of one byte of the tag type identifying code.

40.The method of claim 37, wherein the information retrieved is a security code.

41. The method of claim 33, further comprising;

comparing a first tag type identifying code transmitted from the base station to the tag with a second tag type identifying code stored in the second memory of the RF tag.

45. The method of claim 33, wherein a tag type code is transmitted from the base station to the tag, further comprising;

writing the tag type identifying code to the second memory of the RF tag.

40. The method of claim 40, wherein the security code is retrieved on the basis of one byte of the tag type identifying code.

42. The method of claim 42, further comprising;

transmitting data contained in the first memory of the RF tag to the base station if the first and second tag type identifying codes are identical; and

retrieving information from the data using the layout of information determined by the tag type identifying code.

43. The method of claim 42, further comprising;

transmitting data and a data address from the base station to the tag;

writing the data to the data address in the first memory of the RF tag if the first and the second tag type identifying codes are identical.

44. The method of claim 42, further comprising;

transmitting data from the tag to the base station if the first and second tag type identifying codes are identical and if a security code in the tag memory is set.

46. The method of claim 46, further comprising;

transmitting data and a data address from the base station to an RF tag; and

writing the data to the data address in the first memory of the RF tag.

47. A method of storing and communicating information, comprising:

communicating a tag type identifying code between a base station and an RF tag, the tag type identifying code determining a command set recognized by the RF tag including a predefined hardware configuration of the RF tag, the tag type identifying code stored in a memory of the RF tag.

48. The method of claim 48, further comprising;

transmitting a command from the base station to the RF tag; and

executing the command if the tag type identifying code determines that a command is recognized by the RF tag.

49. A method of storing and communicating information comprising:

communicating a tag type identifying code between a base station and an RF tag, the tag type identifying code determining a measurement capability of the RF tag including a predefined hardware configuration of the RF tag, the tag type identifying code stored in a memory of the RF tag.