Encapsulating commands for RFID tags and RFID readers

• US 9,104,923 B1
• Filed: 12/18/2013
• Issued: 08/11/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/21/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Impinj, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Impinj, Inc.
• Inventors: Stanford, Theron, Diorio, Christopher J., Heinrich, Harley
• Primary Examiner(s): Wang, Jack K
• Application Number:
  US14/133,433
• Time in Patent Office: 601 Days
• Field of Search: 340/10.1, 340/10.5, 340/9.11, 340/10.51, 340/568.8, 713/185
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 7/10009 sensing by radiation using wavelengths larger than 0.1 mm, e.g. radio-waves or microwaves
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10297 arrangements for handling protocols designed for non-contact record carriers such as RFIDs NFCs, e.g. ISO/IEC 14443 and 18092 cryptographic protocols H04L9/00; network security protocols H04L63/00; real-time communication protocols in data switching networks H04L65/00; network protocols for data switching network services H04L67/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags may receive one or more encapsulated commands within the payload of an encapsulating command from an RFID reader. An encapsulated command includes at least a command code and an instruction. A tag may store the encapsulated command(s) or the instruction portion of the encapsulated command(s) for later execution. A sequence of encapsulated commands may be contained within one encapsulating command or spread across multiple encapsulating commands. The sequence of encapsulated commands, or the sequence of instructions associated with the encapsulated commands, may form a program. The tag may execute the instructions or program upon receipt, upon a trigger event, serially or in parallel, and/or may modify the instructions or program by adjusting parameters. The tag may later be told by a reader to execute the instructions or program via another command which, in some cases, may be sent prior to tag singulation.

Claims

1. A method for a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader, comprising:

transmitting an encapsulating command to an RFID tag, the encapsulating command including;

an encapsulating command code denoting the encapsulating command; and

a payload including;

one or more payload commands distinct from the encapsulating command, each payload command including;

a payload command code denoting the payload command; and

one or more instructions configured to cause the tag to perform one or more actions.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the encapsulating command further includes:

a preamble associated with the encapsulating command; and

an error-check code associated with the encapsulating command.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the encapsulating command further includes a parameter related to the one or more actions.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the parameter specifies an order in which to execute the one or more instructions in the one or more payload commands.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

causing the tag to perform at least one from a set of;

determining whether to participate in a subsequent inventory round;

modifying a behavior during a subsequent inventory round; and

storing a result in a tag memory, based at least in part on a result of the one or more actions.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

specifying a trigger event that causes the tag to execute the one or more instructions, the trigger event selected from;

the tag receiving the encapsulated command;

the tag receiving a subsequent command;

a tag power condition;

a tag timer expiration; and

a tag sensor input.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

causing the tag to store the one or more instructions in a tag memory location in response to the encapsulating command.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the encapsulating command is a Select command of the Gen2 Specification.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the encapsulating command is transmitted to the tag prior to transmitting a singulating command to the tag.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the singulating command is a Query/Query-like command.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more instructions are at least one from a set of:

encrypted;

electronically signed;

combined with a message count; and

combined with a message authentication code.

12. A Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader, comprising:

a processing block configured to;

transmit an encapsulating command to an RFID tag, the encapsulating command including;

an encapsulating command code denoting the encapsulating command; and

a payload including;

one or more payload commands distinct from the encapsulating command, each payload command including;

 

a payload command code denoting the payload command; and

 

one or more instructions configured to cause the tag to perform one or more actions.

13. The reader of claim 12, wherein the encapsulating command further includes:

a preamble associated with the encapsulating command; and

an error check code associated with the encapsulating command.

14. The reader of claim 12, wherein the encapsulating command further includes a parameter related to the one or more actions.

15. The reader of claim 14, wherein the parameter specifies an order in which to execute the one or more instructions in the one or more payload commands.

16. The reader of claim 12, wherein the processing block is further configured to:

cause the tag to, based at least in part on a result of the one or more actions, perform at least one of;

determine whether to participate in a subsequent inventory round;

modify a behavior during a subsequent inventory round; and

store the result in a tag memory.

17. The reader of claim 12, wherein the processing block is further configured to:

specify a trigger event that causes the tag to execute the one or more instructions, the trigger event selected from;

the tag receiving the encapsulated command;

the tag receiving a subsequent command;

a tag power condition;

a tag timer expiration; and

a tag sensor input.

18. The reader of claim 12, wherein the processing block is further configured to:

cause the tag to store the one or more instructions in a tag memory location in response to the encapsulating command.

19. The reader of claim 12, wherein the encapsulating command is a Select command of the Gen2 Specification.

20. The reader of claim 12, wherein the processing block is configured to transmit the encapsulating command prior to transmitting a singulating command to the tag.

21. The reader of claim 20, wherein the singulating command is a Query/Query-like command.

22. The reader of claim 12, wherein the one or more instructions are at least one of:

encrypted;

electronically signed;

combined with a message count; and

combined with a message authentication code.

23. A method for a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader, comprising:

transmitting an encapsulating command to a tag, the encapsulating command including;

an encapsulating command code denoting the encapsulating command; and

a payload including;

one or more payload commands distinct from the encapsulating command, each payload command including;

a payload command code denoting the payload command; and

one or more instructions configured to cause the tag to perform one or more actions; and

at least one of;

encrypting the one or more instructions, and

decrypting a result of the one or more actions received from the tag.