RF communications apparatus and manufacturing method therefor
DCFirst Claim
1. A radio-frequency (RF) communications apparatus (10) comprising:
- a planar dielectric substrate (92);
an RF circuit (54) mounted on said planar dielectric substrate;
a conductive loop (56) formed as a first conductive trace on said planar dielectric substrate, said conductive loop having a feed point (96) coupled to said RF circuit by a second conductive trace (97) on said planar dielectric substrate; and
a tuning capacitor (26) formed as first and second juxtaposed conductive pads (26′
, 26″
) located on opposing sides of said planar dielectric substrate, said first conductive pad being in contact with a first portion (94) of said conductive loop and said second conductive pad being in contact with a second portion (99) of said conductive loop so that said conductive loop and said tuning capacitor together form a loop antenna (25), said tuning capacitor having a hole (27), said hole having a size selected to tune said loop antenna.
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Litigations
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Accused Products
Abstract
Described herein are a transient event detector (35) comprising electrical circuitry (50) suitable to detect a transient event, and a container (34) having a wall with at least two electrically conductive contacts (23, 44) electrically connected to the electrical circuitry (50), each of the at least two electrically conductive contacts (23, 44) being electrically isolated from each other, and a movable electrically conductive piece (36) that intermittently connects at least two of the at least two electrically conductive contacts when the electrically conductive piece (36) is in motion. An RF circuit (54) couples to a loop antenna (25) having a tuning capacitor (26) formed as conductive pads (26′, 26″) juxtaposed on opposing sides of a planar dielectric substrate (92). The tuning capacitor (26) has a hole (27) through it, and the hole has a size that is selected to cause the loop antenna (25) to exhibit a desired resonance frequency.
59 Citations
32 Claims
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1. A radio-frequency (RF) communications apparatus (10) comprising:
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a planar dielectric substrate (92); an RF circuit (54) mounted on said planar dielectric substrate; a conductive loop (56) formed as a first conductive trace on said planar dielectric substrate, said conductive loop having a feed point (96) coupled to said RF circuit by a second conductive trace (97) on said planar dielectric substrate; and a tuning capacitor (26) formed as first and second juxtaposed conductive pads (26′
, 26″
) located on opposing sides of said planar dielectric substrate, said first conductive pad being in contact with a first portion (94) of said conductive loop and said second conductive pad being in contact with a second portion (99) of said conductive loop so that said conductive loop and said tuning capacitor together form a loop antenna (25), said tuning capacitor having a hole (27), said hole having a size selected to tune said loop antenna. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A method of manufacturing a radio-frequency (RF) communications apparatus comprising:
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forming (140) conductive patterns (22) on a printed wiring board (82) to include a loop antenna (25) having a tuning capacitor (26) with first and second conductive pads (26′
, 26″
) juxtaposed on opposing sides of said printed wiring board and a conductive loop (56) having first and second portions (94, 99) respectively contacting said first and second conductive pads;measuring capacitance (230) of a feature (190) on said printed wiring board, said feature exhibiting a capacitance proportional to a capacitance exhibited by said tuning capacitor; selecting (234) a hole size in response to said measuring activity; and forming (236) a hole through said tuning capacitor, said hole exhibiting said hole size. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. A radio-frequency (RF) communications apparatus (10) for use as an asset tag configured to be attached to a container (68) from which bulk product (66) is dispensed by tilting said container, said apparatus comprising:
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a planar dielectric substrate (92); an RF circuit (54) mounted on said planar dielectric substrate; a conductive loop (56) formed as a first conductive trace on said planar dielectric substrate, said conductive loop having a feed point (96) coupled to said RF circuit by a second conductive trace (97) on said planar dielectric substrate; a tuning capacitor (26) formed as first and second juxtaposed conductive pads (26′
, 26″
) located on opposing sides of said planar dielectric substrate, said first conductive pad being in contact with a first portion (94) of said conductive loop and said second conductive pad being in contact with a second portion (99) of said conductive loop so that said conductive loop and said tuning capacitor together form a loop antenna (25), said tuning capacitor having a hole (27), said hole having a size selected to tune said loop antenna;a tilt sensor (406); and a control circuit (402) coupled to said RF circuit and to said tilt sensor, said control circuit being configured to determine a duration for which said container is tilted, said duration describing a quantity of said bulk product dispensed from said container, and to cause data describing said duration to be transmitted through said RF circuit and said loop antenna. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31, 32)
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Specification