Intermediate frequency broadcast of emulated passive RFID signal from a computing device

• US 9,419,687 B1
• Filed: 01/17/2014
• Issued: 08/16/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/22/2011
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Brian K. Buchheit
• Original Assignee: Brian K. Buchheit
• Inventors: Buchheit, Brian K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Khan, Omer S
• Application Number:
  US14/158,384
• Time in Patent Office: 942 Days
• Field of Search: 340/10.3
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/0724 the arrangement being a circuit for communicating at a plurality of frequencies, e.g. for managing time multiplexed communication over at least two antennas of different types
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/0725 the arrangement being a circuit for emulating a plurality of record carriers, e.g. a single RFID tag capable of representing itself to a reader as a cloud of RFID tags
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/72 for local intradevice communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/77 for interrogation

Abstract

A radio frequency signal is transmitted by a powered mobile device that emulates a signal of a passive radio frequency identification (RFID) device signal. The emulated signal is transmitted at an intermediate frequency communication (IFC) range, which is at least a magnitude of five greater than a range at which the passive RFID device is able to receive the radio frequency signal from a NFC reading device (referred to as an NFC range). The NFC reading device responds to the transmission signal from the powered mobile device as if an equivalent signal containing the transmission information were sent from the passive RFID device. This permits a powered mobile device to emulate a passive RFID device at an expanded range.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

recording transmission information specific to a passive RFID device within a non-transitory storage medium of a powered mobile device, wherein the powered mobile device comprises one or more processors, program instructions stored in the non-transitory storage medium, a battery, and a touch-screen display for human-to-device interactions, wherein the passive RFID device is an unpowered device that is able to gain temporarily power through electromagnetic induction to transmit a radio frequency signal to a near field communication (NFC) reading device, wherein the NFC reading device transmits a radio frequency signal received by passive RFID devices, which include said passive RFID device, used to power the passive RFID devices through electromagnetic induction;

during a programming stage for emulating the radio frequency signal, the powered mobile device recording signals being sent to the NFC reading device along with signal specific timing information, wherein the timing information is used as part of a communication sequence, when emulating passive RFID signals exchanged with the NFC reading device, wherein when the powered mobile device is outside an NFC range of the NFC reading device, the timing information is used to emulate the communication sequence within an intermediate frequency communication (IFC) range;

configuring the powered mobile device for the intermediate frequency communication range, wherein the intermediate frequency range is at least a magnitude of five times greater than the NFC range at which the passive RFID device is able to receive the radio frequency signal from the NFC reading device; and

transmitting a transmission signal with the transmission information encoded within, wherein the transmitting is from the powered mobile device to the NFC reading device, wherein the transmitting occurs when the powered mobile device is outside the NFC range but within the IFC range, wherein the transmission signal emulates a passive RFID signal that would have been generated by the passive RFID device if the passive RFID device were placed within the NFC range of the NFC reading device, wherein the transmission signal is one of a plurality signals transmitted by the powered mobile device to the NFC reading device, wherein the plurality of signals are transmitted by the powered mobile device in accordance with the timing information of the programming stage, wherein the NFC reading device responds to the transmission signal from the powered mobile device as if an equivalent signal containing the transmission information were sent from the passive RFID device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein communications protocols and data exchange formats of the data contained within the transmission signal from the powered mobile device as well as a frequency used for the transmission signal conforms to an International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 14443 based standard.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

wherein the transmitting of the transmission signal by the powered mobile device occurs automatically responsive to the receiving of the radio frequency signal without requiring manual interactions by a user of the powered mobile device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the powered mobile device comprises a global positioning signal (GPS) component, said method further comprising:

detecting, by one of the processors of the powered mobile device executing a subset of the program instructions, based on a current position of the powered mobile device as determined by positioning data from the GPS component, that the powered mobile device has entered within IFC range of the NFC reading device, wherein the transmitting of the transmission signal by the powered mobile device occurs automatically responsive to the detecting that the current position is within IFC range of the NFC reading device without requiring manual interactions by a user of the powered mobile device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the IFC range is a range between one foot and ten yards.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the transmission signal is generated by a WIFI transceiver of the powered mobile device.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors do not process information of a radio frequency signal generated by the NFC reading device as part of the communication sequence when the powered mobile device is in IFC range and is emulating the passive RFID signals using the plurality of signals and the timing information.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the transmitting of the transmission signal occurs in response to a user received input via the touch-screen to manually emulate the passive RFID signals exchanged with the NFC reading device using the powered mobile device operating outside the NFC range.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein an ability to emulate the passive RFID signal of the passive RFID device results from installation of a passive-RFID-device-emulation application on the powered mobile device, wherein upon being installed on the powered mobile device, the passive-RFID-device-emulation application is available within a set of user selectable applications accessible via the touch-screen.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuring of the IFC range establishes a user-configured maximum range, which is less than a range at which hardware of the powered mobile device is technologically able to operate, which is established for security purposes.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

presenting a graphical user interface upon the touch-screen display of the powered mobile device, wherein the graphical user interface is for emulating the passive RFID device using the powered mobile device, wherein the recording, the configuring, and the transmitting occur in response to user-to-machine interactions occurring via the graphical user interface.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the powered mobile device emulates a plurality of different passive RFID devices used with a plurality of different NFC reading devices, wherein the powered mobile device records different transmission information for emulating each of the different passive RFID devices.

13. A system comprising:

one or more processors;

one or more non-transitory storage mediums; and

program instructions stored on the one or more non-transitory storage mediums, wherein the one or more processors execute the program instructions to;

record transmission information specific to a passive RFID device for a powered mobile device, wherein the passive RFID device is an unpowered device that is able to gain temporarily power through electromagnetic induction to transmit a radio frequency signal to a near field communication (NFC) reading device, wherein the NFC reading device transmits a radio frequency signal received by passive RFID devices, which include said passive RFID device, used to power the passive RFID devices through electromagnetic induction;

during a programming stage for emulating the radio frequency signal, record signals being sent to the NFC reading device along with signal specific timing information, wherein the timing information is used as part of a communication sequence, when emulating the passive RFID signal exchanged with the NFC reading device, wherein when the powered mobile device is outside an NFC range of the NFC reading device, the timing information is used to emulate the communication sequence within an intermediate frequency communication (IFC) range;

configure the powered mobile device for the intermediate frequency communication range, wherein the intermediate frequency range is at least a magnitude of five times greater than the NFC range at which the passive RFID device is able to receive the radio frequency signal from the NFC reading device; and

transmit a transmission signal with the transmission information encoded within, wherein the transmitting is from the powered mobile device to the NFC reading device, wherein the transmitting occurs when the powered mobile device is outside the NFC range but within the IFC range, wherein the transmission signal emulates a passive RFID signal that would have been generated by the passive RFID device if the passive RFID device were placed within the NFC range of the NFC reading device, wherein the transmission signal is one of a plurality signals transmitted by the powered mobile device to the NFC reading device, wherein the plurality of signals are transmitted by the powered mobile device in accordance with the timing information of the programming stage, wherein the NFC reading device responds to the transmission signal from the powered mobile device as if an equivalent signal containing the transmission information were sent from the passive RFID device.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein communications protocols and data exchange formats of the data contained within the transmission signal from the powered mobile device as well as a frequency used for the transmission signal conforms to an International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 14443 based standard.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the transmission signal is generated by a WIFI transceiver of the powered mobile device.

15. A computer program product comprising:

one or more non-transitory storage mediums,

program instructions stored on the one or more non-transitory storage mediums, wherein the program instructions are able to be executed by one or more processors execute the program instructions to;

record transmission information specific to a passive RFID device for a powered mobile device, wherein the passive RFID device is an unpowered device that is able to gain temporarily power through electromagnetic induction to transmit a radio frequency signal to a near field communication (NFC) reading device, wherein the NFC reading device transmits a radio frequency signal received by passive RFID devices, which include said passive RFID device, used to power the passive RFID devices through electromagnetic induction;

during a programming stage for emulating the radio frequency signal, record signals being sent to the NFC reading device along with signal specific timing information, wherein the timing information is used as part of a communication sequence, when emulating the passive RFID signal exchanged with the NFC reading device, wherein when the powered mobile device is outside an NFC range of the NFC reading device, the timing information is used to emulate the communication sequence within an intermediate frequency communication (IFC) range;

configure the powered mobile device for the intermediate frequency communication range, wherein the intermediate frequency range is at least a magnitude of five times greater than the NFC range at which the passive RFID device is able to receive the radio frequency signal from the NFC reading device; and

transmit a transmission signal with the transmission information encoded within, wherein the transmitting is from the powered mobile device to the NFC reading device, wherein the transmitting occurs when the powered mobile device is outside the NFC range but within the IFC range, wherein the transmission signal emulates a passive RFID signal that would have been generated by the passive RFID device if the passive RFID device were placed within the NFC range of the NFC reading device, wherein the transmission signal is one of a plurality signals transmitted by the powered mobile device to the NFC reading device, wherein the plurality of signals are transmitted by the powered mobile device in accordance with the timing information of the programming stage, wherein the NFC reading device responds to the transmission signal from the powered mobile device as if an equivalent signal containing the transmission information were sent from the passive RFID device.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the IFC range is a range between one foot and ten yards.

18. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the powered mobile device comprises a global positioning signal (GPS) component, said computer program product further comprising program instructions stored on the one or more non-transitory storage mediums, wherein the program instructions are able to be executed by one or more processors execute the program instructions to:

detect, based on a current position of the powered mobile device as determined by positioning data from the GPS component, that the powered mobile device has entered within IFC range of the NFC reading device, wherein the transmitting of the transmission signal by the powered mobile device occurs automatically responsive to the detecting that the current position is within IFC range of the NFC reading device without requiring manual interactions by a user of the powered mobile device.

19. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein an ability to emulate the passive RFID signal of the passive RFID device results from installation of a passive-RFID-device-emulation application on the powered mobile device, wherein upon being installed on the powered mobile device, the passive-RFID-device-emulation application is available within a set of user selectable applications accessible via the touch-screen.

20. The computer program product of claim 15, further comprising program instructions stored on the one or more non-transitory storage mediums, wherein the program instructions are able to be executed by one or more processors execute the program instructions to present a graphical user interface upon the touch-screen display of the powered mobile device, wherein the graphical user interface is for emulating the passive RFID device using the powered mobile device, wherein the transmitting of the transmission signal occur in response to user-to-machine interactions occurring via the graphical user interface.