Stacked tire RFID reader system and method
First Claim
1. A toroidal product management system for reading an electronic identification tag, comprising:
- a plurality of toroidal manufactured products individually aligned within a moveable vertical stack, each manufactured product having the electronic identification tag secured to the manufactured product, the identification tag positioned to operatively electronically transmit data to an antenna element positioned within a toroidal opening of the manufactured product;
a read station positioned to accept the moveable vertical stack therein,an elongate read wand positioned within the read station in a substantially vertical orientation, the read wand sized lengthwise to operatively simultaneously extend into the toroidal opening of each manufactured product within the read station;
the antenna element being secured to the read wand and positioned by the read wand within the toroidal openings at a location operative to receive an electronic transmission from the electronic identification tag of each manufactured product within the vertical stack.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A product management system and method for reading electronic identification tags from a vertical stack of tires. Each tire has an electronic identification tag secured at a position to operative to electronically transmit data to an antenna element positioned internally within a toroidal opening of each tire in the stack. An elongate read wand is positioned in a substantially vertical orientation within the aligned toroidal openings of the tires. The antenna element is carried by the read wand and is thus positioned by the read wand to receive an electronic transmission from each electronic identification tag in the aligned tire stack. The read wand may be ceiling-mounted, floor mounted, or hand held.
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Citations
13 Claims
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1. A toroidal product management system for reading an electronic identification tag, comprising:
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a plurality of toroidal manufactured products individually aligned within a moveable vertical stack, each manufactured product having the electronic identification tag secured to the manufactured product, the identification tag positioned to operatively electronically transmit data to an antenna element positioned within a toroidal opening of the manufactured product; a read station positioned to accept the moveable vertical stack therein, an elongate read wand positioned within the read station in a substantially vertical orientation, the read wand sized lengthwise to operatively simultaneously extend into the toroidal opening of each manufactured product within the read station; the antenna element being secured to the read wand and positioned by the read wand within the toroidal openings at a location operative to receive an electronic transmission from the electronic identification tag of each manufactured product within the vertical stack. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A method of managing toroidal product identification by reading an electronic identification tag, comprising:
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attaching an electronic identification tag to each of a plurality of toroidal products at a position operative to electronically transmit data to an antenna element, the toroidal products each having a toroidal opening therethrough; stacking the plurality of toroidal products into a vertical stack aligning the toroidal openings of the toroidal products; positioning a read station to accept the vertical stack of toroidal products therein; positioning an elongate read wand within the read station, the read wand having an antenna element secured thereto to receive an electronic transmission from the electronic identification tags of the plurality of toroidal products; positioning the read wand within the toroidal openings of the toroidal products within the vertical stack, the read wand having a lengthwise dimension extending from an uppermost toroidal product within the vertical stack to a lowermost product within the vertical stack; and placing the antenna element of the read wand into a reading proximity with the identification tags of the stacked toroidal products, with the antenna element located in a fixed reading position within the toroidal openings of the plurality of toroidal products within the vertical stack. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13)
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Specification