Methods and systems for automatic device provisioning in an RFID network using IP multicast
First Claim
1. A method of provisioning a radio frequency identification (“
- RFID”
) device, the method comprising;
reading an affixed RFID Tag associated with the RFID device;
transmitting a first data packet via Internet Protocol (IP) multicasting containing data stored on the affixed RFID Tag, the first data packet indicating one of a plurality of personality classes of RFID devices, the one of the plurality of personality classes of RFID devices being a personality class in which the RFID device is classified; and
receiving a second data packet containing configuration parameters that correspond to the one of a plurality of personality classes of RFID devices, wherein the configuration parameters enable automatic provisioning of the RFID device for a specific function performed by the RFID devices in the one of the plurality of personality classes.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Methods and systems for automatic provisioning of RFID devices in an RFID network are described. A device, such as a Reader, has within its read field a special EPC Identity (ID) Tag that is specifically encoded for that Reader. When the Reader boots up, it reads the special ID Tag. The Tag has fields formatted according to the EPCglobal standards and certain bits within one of the fields indicates that the Tag is an EPC ID Tag and the data contained in the Tag will be used to provision the Reader. The Reader transmits an IP multicast packet containing data from the Tag to a network device referred to as a personality class appliance which receives the IP multicast packet. Thus, the Reader is an IP multicast sender and the appliance is an IP multicast receiver. Upon receiving the packet, the appliance retrieves configuration parameters for the Reader. These parameters collectively make up a personality class for the Reader. The personality data are transmitted back to the Reader via a unicast message. Once the Reader receives the configuration data, it provisions itself, becomes connected to the RFID network, and is ready for operation. RFID Readers and other devices can be provisioned automatically for a specific role when turned on, without requiring any manual configuration or data entry.
143 Citations
23 Claims
-
1. A method of provisioning a radio frequency identification (“
- RFID”
) device, the method comprising;reading an affixed RFID Tag associated with the RFID device; transmitting a first data packet via Internet Protocol (IP) multicasting containing data stored on the affixed RFID Tag, the first data packet indicating one of a plurality of personality classes of RFID devices, the one of the plurality of personality classes of RFID devices being a personality class in which the RFID device is classified; and receiving a second data packet containing configuration parameters that correspond to the one of a plurality of personality classes of RFID devices, wherein the configuration parameters enable automatic provisioning of the RFID device for a specific function performed by the RFID devices in the one of the plurality of personality classes. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
- RFID”
-
8. A method of provisioning a radio frequency identification (“
- RFID”
) device, the method comprising;receiving a first data packet via Internet Protocol (IP) multicast from the RFID device having a specific role performed by one of a plurality of classes of RFID devices; reading a value in the first data packet, the value indicating the one of the plurality of classes of RFID devices to which the RFID device belongs; retrieving configuration parameters for the one of a plurality of classes of RFID devices based on the value in the first data packet; and transmitting the configuration parameters to the RFID device, wherein the configuration parameters enable automatic provisioning of the RFID device to perform for the specific role of the one of the plurality of classes of RFID devices. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11)
- RFID”
-
12. A radio frequency identification (“
- RFID”
) Tag comprising;a first field for identifying the RFID Tag as a certain type of Tag; a second field for classifying an associated RFID device as one of a plurality of personality classes of RFID devices; and a third field for storing a serial number that uniquely identifies the RFID Tag; wherein the tag is affixed to the RFID device. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
- RFID”
-
19. A radio frequency identification (“
- RFID”
) network comprising;at least one RFID device having a read field; at least one Electronic Product Code (EPC) Tag associated with the at least one RFID device and within the read field of the device, wherein the at least one EPC Tag associated with the at least one RFID device includes a field indicating one of a plurality of personality classes of RFID devices; and a network component having access to configuration parameters for the at least one RFID device such that a different set of configuration parameters is stored in association with each one of the plurality of personality classes of RFID devices, wherein connectivity between the RFID device and the network device is Internet Protocol (IP) multicast enabled. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21)
- RFID”
-
22. A radio frequency identification (RFID) device comprising:
-
an Electronic Product Code (EPC) Tag storing a first value indicating that the EPC Tag is an Identity Tag and a second value indicating a personality class of the device, the personality class of the device being one of a plurality of personality classes; and a destination Internet Protocol (IP) multicast address of an external source from which configuration parameters for the personality class of the device are to be obtained.
-
-
23. A personality class appliance comprising:
-
a first storage area storing a plurality of personality class values, each of the plurality of personality class values identifying a different one of a plurality of personality classes; a second storage area storing configuration parameters for configuring readers such that each of the readers is configured according to one of the plurality of personality classes, wherein the second storage area stores a different set of configuration parameters for each of the plurality of personality class values; and a third storage area storing pairings of Electronic Product Code (“
EPC”
) Identity Tag serial number and one of the plurality of personality class values.
-
Specification