Passive environmental RFID transceiver

• US 7,446,660 B2
• Filed: 03/22/2006
• Issued: 11/04/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/22/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Posamentier, Joshua
• Primary Examiner(s): TWEEL JR, JOHN ALEXANDER
• Application Number:
  US11/387,160
• Publication Number:
  US 20070222590A1
• Time in Patent Office: 958 Days
• Field of Search: 340/572.1, 340/447, 340/448, 340/10.41, 340/870.16, 340/870.17, 340/539.22, 340/539.26, 340/539.27, 340/539.28, 455/41.1, 455/41.2
• US Class Current: 340/572.1
• CPC Class Codes: G01K 1/024 for remote indication
• CPC Class Codes: G01K 7/32 using change of resonant frequency of a crystal
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/0717 the sensor being capable of sensing environmental conditions such as temperature history or pressure
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/0723 the record carrier comprising an arrangement for non-contact communication, e.g. wireless communication circuits on transponder cards, non-contact smart cards or RFIDs

Abstract

Some embodiments of the invention may incorporate an oscillator circuit into a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag in which the oscillator circuit comprises at least one component that is sensitive to an environmental factor such as temperature or humidity. When the tag responds to an RFID reader, the tag may incorporate the sense environmental parameter into its response by transmitting an oscillating signal whose frequency indicates the value of the parameter. The RFID reader may then determine the parameter by analyzing the resulting analog portion of the waveform in terms of frequency and/or cycle and/or pulse width. In some embodiments, the environmental sensor may be incorporated into the integrated circuit containing the RFID tag circuit.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising

a passive radio frequency identification (RFID) tag circuit comprising an oscillator circuit having a component sensitive to an environmental factor, wherein a frequency of a signal output by the oscillator circuit is indicative of a value of the environmental factor;

wherein a transmission from the RFID tag circuit comprises a first section modulated with an identification code of the RFID tag circuit and a second section modulated with the signal output by the oscillator circuit.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the identification code is encoded as a digital value and the output of the oscillator circuit is encoded as an oscillating analog signal.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the second section includes a first portion indicating a value of the environmental factor and a second portion indicating a value of a second environmental factor.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the component is a thermistor.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the component is a capacitive hygrometer.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a dipole antenna coupled to the RFID tag circuit.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein at least a part of the oscillator circuit is in a same integrated circuit as the RFID tag circuit.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein all of the oscillator circuit is in a same integrated circuit as the RFID tag circuit.

9. An apparatus, comprising

a radio frequency identification (RFID) reader device configured to:

receive a wireless response from a passive RFID tag;

demodulate a first section of the response to determine an identification code for the RFID tag; and

demodulate a second section of the response to determine a first value of a first environmental factor sensed by the RFID tag, wherein the first value is based on at least one parameter selected from a list consisting of a frequency of an oscillating signal derived from the demodulated second section and a pulse width determination of the oscillating signal derived from the demodulated second section.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the RFID reader device is further to demodulate a third section of the response to determine a second value of a second environmental factor sensed by the RFID tag, wherein the second value is based on a signal derived from the demodulated third section.

11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the RFID reader device further comprises an element selected from a list consisting of a dipole antenna and a battery.

12. A method, comprising:

sensing an environmental parameter;

producing an oscillating signal whose frequency is indicative of a value of the sensed environmental parameter; and

transmitting a wireless signal from a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag, a first section of the signal modulated with an identification code for the RFID tag and a second section of the signal modulated with the oscillating signal;

wherein said producing takes place within the RFID tag.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising harvesting electrical power from a received wireless signal to power circuitry of the RFID tag.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein said modulating the first section of the signal comprises modulating the signal with a digital waveform and said modulating the second section of the signal comprises modulating the signal with an oscillating waveform.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein said sensing an environmental parameter comprises at least one of sensing temperature and sensing humidity.

16. A method, comprising:

receiving a wireless response from a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag, the response including a first section modulated with an identification code of the RFID tag and a second section modulated with an oscillating signal whose frequency indicates a value of an environmental factor.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising demodulating the second section to reproduce the oscillating signal.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein said demodulating the second section comprises digitizing the oscillating signal and performing a mathematical operation on the digitized oscillating signal.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising determining the value of the environmental factor by determining a parameter selected from a list consisting of:

1) the frequency of the signal, and

     2) pulse width determination of the signal.

20. An article comprising

a tangible machine-readable medium that contains instructions, which when executed by one or more processors result in performing operations comprising:

receiving a wireless response from a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag, the response including a first section modulated with an identification code of the RFID tag and a second section modulated with an oscillating signal whose frequency indicates a value of an environmental factor.

21. The article of claim 20, wherein the operations further comprise digitizing a demodulated version of the oscillating signal and performing a mathematical operation on the digitized signal to derive the frequency.

22. The article of claim 21, wherein the operation of performing a mathematical operation comprises performing a Fourier Transform.

23. The article of claim 20, wherein the operations further comprise converting the derived frequency to the value of the environmental factor.