Contactless reading system for chip cards placed on objects

• US 7,339,546 B2
• Filed: 04/01/2004
• Issued: 03/04/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 04/02/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Ask S.A. (Paragon Group Limited)
• Original Assignee: Ask S.A. (Paragon Group Limited)
• Inventors: Pangaud, Nicolas, Sabbah, Elias
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen; Hoang V.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Karacsony; Robert
• Application Number:
  US10/550,293
• Publication Number:
  US 20060181470A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,433 Days
• Field of Search: 343/866, 343/867, 343/878, 343/888, 343/892, 343/742, 343/741, 235/385, 340/572.1, 340/572.2
• US Class Current: 343/867
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10336 the antenna being of the near field type, inductive coil
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10881 constructional details of hand-held scanners

Abstract

A contactless reading system, wherein a chip card is fixed on a planar support of an object such as a book (11) for identification by means of the data contained in the chip card, and a mobile reader (16) provided with an antenna in order to read the data of the card. The antenna of the reader (16) consists of a small-sized convolution disposed in a series with a large-sized convolution, which are concentric and which have the same winding direction. A maximum value is obtained for the component (H) of the electromagnetic field produced by the antenna parallel to the antenna at a given distance from the antenna. Maximum reception by the chip card of electromagnetic signals emitted by the antenna is obtained when the antenna is disposed in a perpendicular position in relation to the support of the card and at the given distance from the card.

Claims

1. A contactless reading system, comprising

a plurality of contactless smart cards, wherein each of said contactless smart cards is attached to an object with the aim of identifying this object by means of identification data contained in a chip of the smart card,

a mobile reader equipped with an antenna to read said identification data contained in the chips of said smart cards, wherein said mobile reader comprises a flat antenna support on which is fixed at least three simple antennae connected in series, each antenna comprising a turn of small dimension connected in series with one turn of larger dimension, said turns being circular and concentric and having the same direction of winding, and

wherein a ratio between the diameter of the circular turn of large dimension and the diameter of the circular turn of small dimension connected in series therewith is between 2 and 3,

in order to obtain a maximum value of the component H of the electromagnetic field produced by the antenna parallel to said antenna support so that reception by a smart card of electromagnetic signal transmitted by said antenna is maximum when said antenna support is placed perpendicular to said card,

wherein each turn of larger dimension is wound 270°

and each turn of small dimension is wound 360°

, the antenna wire being wound so as to respect a symmetry of the resulting antenna and to obtain a uniformly distributed electromagnetic field according to radial symmetry.

2. The contactless reading system of claim 1, wherein said mobile reader consists essentially of a flat support on which is fixed three simple antennae.

3. The contactless reading system of claim 1, wherein each object is arranged substantially parallel to a predefined plane.

4. The contactless reading system of claim 3, wherein the objects are books placed on shelves of a library.

5. The contactless reading system of claim 3, wherein said predefined plane is a vertical plane.