Transponder

• US 8,816,825 B2
• Filed: 05/04/2012
• Issued: 08/26/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/05/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Maxim Integrated Products, Inc. (Analog Devices, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Maxim Integrated Products, Inc. (Analog Devices, Inc.)
• Inventors: Akbari-Dilmaghani, Rahim
• Primary Examiner(s): Bugg, George
• Assistant Examiner(s): Labbees, Edny
• Application Number:
  US13/464,244
• Publication Number:
  US 20120280795A1
• Time in Patent Office: 844 Days
• Field of Search: 340/5.61, 340/10.1, 340/10.34, 3405721-5729, 340/5.2, 343/867, 235/375, 336/83
• US Class Current: 340/10.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/07749 the record carrier being capable of non-contact communication, e.g. constructional details of the antenna of a non-contact smart card
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/07767 the first and second communication means being two different antennas types, e.g. dipole and coil type, or two antennas of the same kind but operating at different frequencies
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10009 sensing by radiation using wavelengths larger than 0.1 mm, e.g. radio-waves or microwaves
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/3241 particular used in keyless entry systems
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 7/00 Loop antennas with a substantially uniform current distribution around the loop and having a directional radiation pattern in a plane perpendicular to the plane of the loop

Abstract

Proposed is a transponder for receiving a wireless electromagnetic interrogation signal and for transmitting a wireless electromagnetic response signal with a first coil acting as an antenna for generating a first wired electrical receive signal from the interrogation signal, and with at least one further coil acting as an antenna for generating a further wired electrical receive signal from the interrogation signal, wherein an axis of the first coil and an axis of the further coil are aligned differently in the space, wherein in each case one full-wave rectifier for rectifying the respective receive signal is assigned to the coils, wherein a summing element for summing up the rectified receive signals generated by the full-wave rectifiers is provided in order to generate in this manner a pulsating sum signal, the frequency of which corresponds to twice the frequency of the interrogation signal.

Claims

1. A transponder for receiving a wireless electromagnetic interrogation signal and transmitting a wireless electromagnetic response signal, comprising:

a first coil, coupled to receive the interrogation signal, the first coil acting as an antenna and generating a first wired electrical receive signal from the interrogation signal;

at least one further coil, coupled to receive the interrogation signal, the at least one further coil acting as an antenna and generating a second wired electrical receive signal from the interrogation signal, wherein an axis of the first coil and an axis of each of the at least one further coil are aligned differently in the space;

a plurality of full-wave rectifiers, coupled to the first coil and the at least one further coil, the plurality of full-wave rectifiers rectifying the first and second wired electrical receive signals; and

a summing element, coupled to the plurality of full-wave rectifiers, the summing element summing up the rectified first and second wired electrical receive signals generated by the plurality of full-wave rectifiers and generating a pulsating sum signal, the frequency of the pulsating sum signal being corresponding to twice the frequency of the interrogation signal.

2. The transponder according to claim 1, wherein a total of three coils is provided, the axes of the three coils are arranged perpendicular to each other.

3. The transponder according to claim 1, wherein a comparator is coupled to the summing element and compares the pulsating sum signal with a reference signal in order to generate a first clock signal, the frequency of the first clock signal being corresponding to twice the frequency of the interrogation signal.

4. The transponder according to claim 3, wherein a low pass filter filters the pulsating sum signal, and generates a filtered pulsating sum signal (RS) that is further used as the reference signal by the comparator.

5. The transponder according to claim 3, wherein the first clock signal is fed to a frequency divider to generate a second clock signal with a lower frequency.

6. The transponder according to claim 5, wherein the frequency divider is a frequency halver so that the frequency of the second clock signal is equal to the frequency of the interrogation signal.

7. The transponder according to claim 1, wherein a limites is applied to limit the amplitude of each of the first and second wired electrical receive signal.

8. The transponder according to claim 1, wherein an amplifier is coupled to amplify each of the first and second wired electrical receive signal.

9. The transponder according to claim 8, wherein the amplifier is formed as a structural unit.

10. The transponder according to claim 1, wherein a voltage-to-current converter is coupled to each of the first coil and the at least one further coils in order to feed each of the first and second wired electrical receive signals as a current signal to the summing element.

11. The transponder according to claim 10, wherein the voltage-to-current converters is an operational transconductance amplifiers.

12. The transponder according to claim 1, wherein said transponder is at least partially implemented as CMOS-integrated circuit.