Remote communication device and system for communication

• US 7,710,239 B2
• Filed: 06/04/2004
• Issued: 05/04/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/06/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Stemco Products, Inc. (Enpro Industries Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Stemco LLC (Enpro Industries Incorporated)
• Inventors: Kranz, Mark J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Brown; Vernal U
• Application Number:
  US10/861,119
• Publication Number:
  US 20040246100A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,160 Days
• Field of Search: 340/10.1, 340/825.69, 340/825.72, 340/10.4, 340/10.2, 340/10.32, 340/10.5, 340/10.3, 340/825.58, 340/825.73, 340/825.731, 340/10.6, 370/320, 455/375, 455/17, 455/23, 455/154.1
• US Class Current: 340/10.1
• 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
• 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 7/10069 the collision being resolved in the frequency domain, e.g. by hopping from one frequency to the other frequency hopping or spread spectrum techniques H04B7/00

Abstract

Remote communication devices (i.e., radio frequency identification (RFID) tag) and systems for communicating between one or more RFID tags and a reader using a frequency modulation method to encode binary data are disclosed herein. For example, a remote communication device includes an antenna operable to receive and backscatter a carrier signal, wherein the backscattered carrier signal further comprises a secondary signal within an identification bandwidth. The remote communication device also includes a signal processing circuit coupled to the antenna, the signal processing circuit comprising at least one encoding circuit operable to encode binary data into the backscattered carrier signal by periodically modulating the frequency of the secondary signal from one encoding frequency to another one of 2ⁿ+1 encoding frequencies within the identification bandwidth, wherein n is an integer greater than or equal to 1.

Claims

1. A remote communication device comprising:

an antenna operable to receive and backscatter a carrier signal, wherein the backscattered carrier signal further comprises a secondary signal having frequencies within an identification bandwidth that is selected from a plurality of distinct identification bandwidths based on information in the received carrier signal; and

a signal processing circuit coupled to the antenna, the signal processing circuit comprising at least one encoding circuit operable to encode binary data into the backscattered carrier signal by periodically modulating the frequency of the secondary signal from one encoding frequency to another one of 2ⁿ+1 encoding frequencies within the identification bandwidth, wherein

n is an integer greater than or equal to 1, and wherein

binary data is encoded into the backscattered carrier signal without any delay resultant from simultaneous backscattered signals of other remote communication devices.

2. The remote communication device of claim 1, wherein n represents the number of bits of data encoded by a change from one encoding frequency to another encoding frequency.

3. The remote communication device of claim 1, wherein the carrier signal and the secondary signal comprise radio frequency signals.

4. The remote communication device of claim 1, wherein n is an integer from 1 to 5.

5. The remote communication device of claim 1, wherein the antenna and the signal processing circuit are configured to generate a supply voltage from the carrier signal.

6. The remote communication device of claim 1, wherein the signal processing circuit is further operable to activate and deactivate upon receipt of remote activation and deactivation signals, respectively.

7. The remote communication device of claim 1, further comprising a sensor coupled to the signal processing circuit, wherein the signal processing circuit is further operable to receive a sensor signal from the sensor, encode the sensor signal, and include the encoded sensor signal in the secondary signal.

8. A reader comprising:

an antenna operable to receive a plurality of backscattered signals from a plurality of remote communication devices, wherein

each backscattered signal comprises a carrier signal and a secondary signal, wherein the secondary signal comprises a series of up to 2ⁿ+1 encoding frequencies within an identification bandwidth of a plurality of distinct identification bandwidths; and

a receiving circuit coupled to the antenna operable to extract data from each of the backscattered signals from two or more remote communications devices simultaneously by converting a change from one encoding frequency to another encoding frequency in the secondary signal of each backscattered signal into n bits of binary data, wherein

n is an integer greater than or equal to 1, and wherein

the receiving circuit is operable to extract data simultaneously from each of the backscattered signals, the secondary signal of each backscattered signal comprising encoding frequencies within an identification bandwidth that is different for each of the remote communications devices.

9. The reader of claim 8, wherein the backscattered signal comprises radio frequency signals.

10. The reader of claim 8, wherein the receiving circuit comprises at least one processing circuit operable to extract data from each of the backscattered signals, wherein each at least one processing circuit is operable to process a secondary signal within a predetermined identification bandwidth.

11. The reader of claim 8, wherein n is an integer from 1 to 5.

12. The reader of claim 8, further comprising a transmitting circuit coupled to the antenna, wherein the transmitting circuit is operable to transmit a carrier signal to the plurality of remote communication devices.

13. The reader of claim 12, wherein the antenna comprises a transmitting antenna coupled to the transmitting circuit and a receiving antenna coupled to the receiving circuit.

14. The reader of claim 12, wherein the transmitting circuit is operable to transmit a carrier signal that regularly hops to a different frequency.

15. The reader of claim 8, wherein the receiving circuit oversamples each of the backscattered signals and extracts data therefrom.

16. The reader of claim 8, further comprising:

a transmitting circuit coupled to the reader antenna, wherein the transmitting circuit and the reader antenna are operable to transmit a carrier signal to the plurality of remote communication devices, the transmitting circuit further operable to provide a global command that is modulated onto the carrier signal, the global command instructing each remote communication device within receiving range of the antenna to each use a set of encoding frequencies that are different for each remote communication device.

17. A communication system comprising:

a plurality of remote communication devices,

wherein

each remote communication device comprises;

a remote communication device antenna operable to receive and backscatter a carrier signal, wherein the backscattered carrier signal further comprises a secondary signal having frequencies within an identification bandwidth that is selected from a plurality of distinct identification bandwidths; and

a signal processing circuit coupled to the remote communication device antenna, the signal processing circuit comprising at least one encoding circuit operable to encode binary data into the backscattered carrier signal by periodically modulating the frequency of the secondary signal from one to another one of 2ⁿ+1 encoding frequencies within the selected identification bandwidth, and

a reader comprising;

a reader antenna operable to receive the plurality of backscattered carrier signals from the plurality of remote communication devices, and

a receiving circuit coupled to the reader antenna operable to extract data from each of the backscattered carrier signals from two or more remote communications devices at least partially simultaneously by converting change from one encoding frequency to another encoding frequency in the secondary signal of each backscattered carrier signal into n bits of binary data,

wherein n is an integer greater than or equal to 1, and

wherein the receiving circuit of the reader is operable to extract data simultaneously from each of the backscattered signals, the secondary signal of each backscattered signal comprising encoding frequencies within an identification bandwidth that is different for each of the remote communications devices.

18. The communication system of claim 17, wherein the receiving circuit of the reader comprises at least one processing circuit operable to extract data from each of the backscattered signals, wherein each at least one processing circuit is operable to process a secondary signal within a predetermined identification bandwidth.

19. The communication system of claim 17, wherein the reader further comprises a transmitting circuit coupled to the reader antenna, wherein the transmitting circuit and the reader antenna are operable to transmit a carrier signal to the plurality of remote communication devices.

20. The communication system of claim 19, wherein the reader antenna comprises a transmitting antenna coupled to the transmitting circuit and a receiving antenna coupled to the receiving circuit.

21. The communication system of claim 19, wherein the transmitting circuit and the reader antenna are operable to transmit a carrier signal that regularly hops to a different frequency.

22. The communication system of claim 17, wherein the carrier signal and the backscattered carrier signal comprise radio frequency signals.

23. The communication system of claim 17, wherein the remote communication device antenna and the signal processing circuit are configured to generate a supply voltage from the carrier signal.

24. The communication system of claim 17, wherein the signal processing circuit of the remote communication devices is further operable to activate and deactivate upon receipt of remote activation and deactivation signals, respectively.

25. The communication system of claim 17, wherein the remote communication devices further comprise a sensor coupled to the signal processing circuit, wherein the signal processing circuit is further operable to receive a sensor signal from the sensor, encode the sensor signal, and include the encoded sensor signal in the secondary signal.

26. The communication system of claim 17, wherein n is an integer from 1 to 5.

27. A method for communication between a remote communication device and a reader comprising:

transmitting a carrier signal from the reader;

receiving the carrier signal at two or more remote communication devices;

selecting, at each remote communication device, a set of encoding frequencies, from a plurality of sets of encoding frequencies, that are to be used to encode data;

backscattering the carrier signal at each remote communication device, wherein the backscattered carrier signal further comprises a secondary signal within an identification bandwidth that is selected from a plurality of distinct identification bandwidths;

encoding binary data into the backscattered signal at each remote communication device by periodically modulating the secondary signal from one to another of the selected encoding frequencies within the identification bandwidth;

simultaneously receiving the backscattered carrier signals from at least two remote communication devices at a reader; and

extracting data from each backscattered carrier signal.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the step of extracting data from the backscattered carrier signal comprises removing the carrier signal and converting each change from one encoding frequency to another encoding frequency of the selected set of encoding frequencies into binary data.

29. The method of claim 27, wherein the binary data encoded into the backscattered carrier signal is provided by a sensor.

30. The method of claim 27, wherein the step of transmitting a carrier signal comprises regularly hopping the carrier signal to a different frequency.

31. The method of claim 27, wherein each set of encoding frequencies includes 2ⁿ+1 encoding frequencies within the identification bandwidth n is an integer from 1 to 5 representing the number of bits that are encoded in each change from one encoding frequency to another encoding frequency.

32. The method of claim 27, wherein the step of receiving the backscattered carrier signal comprises receiving a plurality of backscattered carrier signals from a plurality of remote communications devices, and

wherein the step of extracting data from the backscattered carrier signal comprises extracting data simultaneously from each of the plurality of backscattered signals.

33. The method of claim 27, wherein the step of selecting a set of encoding frequencies is based on a random jump between sets of encoding frequencies.

34. A method for receiving data from a plurality of remote communication devices at a reader comprising:

transmitting a carrier signal to at least a first remote communications device and a second remote communications device;

receiving backscattered signals from each remote communication device, each backscattered signal comprising a secondary signal having frequencies within an identification bandwidth that is selected from a plurality of distinct identification bandwidths, the secondary signal comprising a set of encoding frequencies; and

extracting data from each received signal, wherein data is extracted simultaneously from each of the backscattered signals, the secondary signal of each backscattered signal comprising encoding frequencies within an identification bandwidth that is different for each of the remote communications devices.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein the step of extracting data from each backscattered carrier signal comprises removing the carrier signal and converting each change from one encoding frequency to another encoding frequency in the secondary signal into binary data.

36. The method of claim 34, wherein the binary data encoded into each backscattered carrier signal is provided by a sensor.

37. The method of claim 34, wherein the step of transmitting a carrier signal comprises instructing each of the first and second remote communications devices to use a selected set of encoding frequencies.

38. The method of claim 34, wherein the step of transmitting a carrier signal comprises regularly hopping the carrier signal to a different frequency.

39. The method of claim 34, wherein each set of encoding frequencies includes 2ⁿ+1 encoding frequencies within the identification bandwidth n is an integer from 1 to 5 representing the number of bits that are encoded in each change from one encoding frequency to another encoding frequency.