Communication station for inventorizing transponders by means of selectable memory areas of the transponders

• US 7,786,846 B2
• Filed: 11/22/2005
• Issued: 08/31/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Quotainne Enterprises LLC
• Original Assignee: NXP B.V. (NXP Semiconductors NV)
• Inventors: Cernusca, Michael, Amtmann, Franz
• Primary Examiner(s): Zimmerman; Brian A
• Assistant Examiner(s): Jiang; Yong Hang
• Application Number:
  US11/287,019
• Publication Number:
  US 20060097851A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,743 Days
• Field of Search: 340/5.32, 340/5.31, 340/10.32, 340/572.1, 340/10.3, 340/10.1, 340/10.31, 340/10.4, 340/10.42, 340/10.51, 340/10.41
• US Class Current: 340/10.51
• 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 19/073 Special arrangements for circuits, e.g. for protecting identification code in memory protection against unauthorised use of computer memory G06F12/14
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/00 Methods or arrangements for sensing record carriers, e.g. for reading patterns methods or arrangements for marking the record carrier in digital fashion G06K1/00; pattern recognition G06F18/00; arrangements for image or video recognition or understanding G06V10/00; character recognition, recognising digital ink or document-oriented image-based pattern recognition G06V30/00
• 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

Abstract

A communication station (1) and a transponder (2) are designed in such a way that an inventorizing operation can be performed using various memory areas (36, 37, 38, 39, 40), which are provided in an addressable memory (35) of the transponder (2), and in which different identification data (UIDDATA, USERDATA) is stored.

Claims

1. A communication station for contactless communication with a plurality of transponders, the communication station comprising:

inventorizing command generation means to initiate an inventorizing operation to uniquely identify at least one transponder of the plurality of transponders, wherein the inventorizing operation corresponds to control information which includes an inventorizing command data block (IVTDB) comprising;

a memory area selection data block (DSELDB) which identifies a selectable address data memory area of at least two selectable address data memory areas on an addressable memory on the at least one transponder;

wherein a first address data memory area of the at least two selectable address data memory areas corresponds to a unique identification data block (UIDDATA) which is assigned by a manufacturer of the at least one transponder and uniquely identifies the at least one transponder; and

wherein a second address data memory area of the at least two selectable address data memory areas corresponds to a typical user data block (USERDATA) that is different from the unique identification data block and which is assigned by a user of the at least one transponder and uniquely identifies the at least one transponder;

modulation means coupled to the inventorizing command generation means, the modulation means to provide a modulation output in connection with the control information; and

transmission means coupled to the modulation means, the transmission means to transmit a signal in connection with the modulation output.

2. A communication station as claimed in claim 1, wherein the memory area selection data block is selectable from among a set of memory area selection data blocks corresponding to the selectable address data memory areas.

3. A communication station as claimed in claim 1, wherein the control information comprises a mask data block, the mask data block signaling which one or more parts of the unique identification data block and/or the typical user data block are selected for use in executing the inventorizing operation.

4. A communication station as claimed in claim 3, further comprising receiving means, the receiving means providing for receiving at least one inventorizing signal, the inventorizing signal being responsive to a transmission parameter signaled, at least in part, via the mask data block.

5. A communication station as claimed in claim 1, further comprising receiving means, the receiving means providing for receiving at least one inventorizing signal, the inventorizing signal being representative, at least in part, of the selected unique identification data block and/or the typical user data block.

6. A communication station as claimed in claim 5, wherein the receiving means provides for receiving the at least one inventorizing signal responsive to a transmission parameter, the transmission parameter being signaled, at least in part, via the control information.

7. A communication station as claimed in claim 1, further comprising receiving means, the receiving means providing for receiving at least one inventorizing signal, the inventorizing signal being responsive to a transmission parameter, the transmission parameter being signaled, at least in part, via the control information.

8. A communication station as claimed in claim 7, wherein the control information signals the transmission parameter in relation to at least one of (a) at least one address of the addressable memory and (b) one or more parts, or all, of at least the selected unique identification data block and/or the typical user data block.

9. A communication station as claimed in claim 1, wherein the control information signals some or all of the plurality of transponders for inventorizing in the inventorizing operation.

10. A transponder enabled to support inventorization, comprising:

control logic;

a transceiver coupled to the control logic; and

an addressable memory coupled to the control logic, wherein the addressable memory comprises;

a first memory area to store a unique identification data block (UIDDATA) which is assigned by a manufacturer of the transponder to uniquely identify the transponder; and

a second memory area to store a typical user data block (USERDATA) that is different from the unique identification data block and which is assigned by a user of the transponder to uniquely identify the transponder;

wherein the control logic is configured to send the unique identification data block and/or the typical user data block to a communication station in response to an inventorizing operation initiated by the communication station, wherein the inventorizing operation corresponds to control information which includes an inventorizing command data block (IVTDB) comprising a memory area selection data block (DSELDB) which identifies the first or second memory area of the addressable memory on the transponder.

11. The transponder of claim 10, wherein the transceiver is enabled to receive the control information and, depending at least in part on the control information, the control logic is enabled to retrieve the unique identification data block from the first memory area, the typical user data block from the second memory area, or a memory address of the second memory area from an address data memory area.

12. The transponder of claim 11, wherein the control logic is enabled to retrieve the typical user data block from the second memory area based on the memory address of the second memory area from the address data memory area.

13. The transponder of claim 11, wherein the control logic, depending at least in part on the control information, is enabled to select among one or more of the unique identification data block, the typical user data block, and the memory address of the second memory area, or parts thereof, and the transceiver is enabled to transmit an inventorizing signal representative of the so-selected identification data.

14. The transponder of claim 11, wherein the transceiver is enabled to transmit an inventorizing signal depending on some or all of the unique identification data block, the typical user data block, and the memory address of the second memory area.

15. The transponder of claim 11, wherein the transceiver is enabled to transmit an inventorizing signal in accordance with a transmission parameter, the transmission parameter depending at least in part on the control information.

16. The transponder of claim 15, wherein the transmission parameter comprises at least one of a starting time of time windows, a number of time windows, an encoding type for the transmission signal, or a subcarrier signal for modulating the transmission signal.

17. The transponder of claim 15, wherein the transmission parameter depends, at least in part, on at least one of (a) at least one addressing associated with at least one of the first memory area, the second memory area, and the address data memory area, and (b) one or more parts, or all, of the unique identification data block, the typical user data block, and the memory address of the second memory area.

18. The transponder of claim 11, wherein the transceiver is enabled to transmit an inventorizing signal exclusive of retrieved identification data.

19. The transponder of claim 11, wherein the control logic retrieves at least one of the unique identification data block from the first memory area and the typical user data block from the second memory area, exclusive of retrieval of the memory address of the second memory area from the address data memory area.

20. An integrated circuit, comprising:

a transceiver circuit adapted to be coupled to a coil disposed external to the integrated circuit;

control logic coupled to the transceiver circuit;

an addressable memory coupled to the control logic, wherein the addressable memory comprises;

a first memory area to store a unique identification data block (UIDDATA) which is assigned by a manufacturer of the transponder to uniquely identify the transponder; and

a second memory area to store a typical user data block (USERDATA) that is different from the unique identification data block and which is assigned by a user of the transponder to uniquely identify the transponder;

wherein the control logic is configured to send the unique identification data block and/or the typical user data block to a communication station in response to an inventorizing operation initiated by the communication station, wherein the inventorizing operation corresponds to control information which includes an inventorizing command data block (IVTDB) comprising a memory area selection data block (DSELDB) which identifies the first or second memory area of the addressable memory on the transponder.

21. The integrated circuit of claim 20, wherein the control logic is enabled to retrieve at least one of the unique identification data block from the first memory area, the typical user data block from the second memory area, or a memory address of the second memory area from an address data memory area.

22. The integrated circuit of claim 21, wherein the control logic is enabled to retrieve the typical user data block from the second memory area based on the memory address of the second memory area from the address data memory area.

23. The integrated circuit of claim 21, wherein the control logic is enabled to select among one or more of the unique identification data block from the first memory area, the typical user data block from the second memory area, and the memory address of the second memory area from the address data memory area, or parts thereof

24. The integrated circuit of claim 20, wherein at least one of the control logic and transceiver is enabled to formulate a transmission parameter responsive to at least one of (a) at least one addressing associated with at least one of the first memory area, the second memory area, and an address data memory area, and (b) one or more parts, or all, of the unique identification data block, the typical user data block, and the memory address of the second memory area.