Radio frequency identity (RFID) chip electrically and communicatively coupled to motherboard of mobile communication device

• US 9,454,723 B1
• Filed: 04/04/2013
• Issued: 09/27/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/04/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: T-Mobile Innovations LLC (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Communications Company LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Cordes, Kevin R., Loman, Clinton H., Mantel, Brian D., Paczkowski, Lyle W., Steele, Kenneth R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Wyche, Myron K
• Application Number:
  US13/857,139
• Time in Patent Office: 1,272 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/0727 the arrangement being a circuit facilitating integration of the record carrier with a hand-held device such as a smart phone of PDA
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/77 for interrogation

Abstract

A radio frequency identity (RFID) chip. The RFID chip comprises an antenna to receive and transmit information signals and to receive power radiated by a radio frequency power source, an electrical power induction component coupled to the antenna, a radio transceiver coupled to the antenna, a memory, a connector that is configured for connecting the RFID chip into a communication bus of a circuit board and to a battery derived source of power provided by the circuit board, and a processor coupled to the connector, the memory, and the radio transceiver, wherein the processor is configured to read from the memory and to provide the information read from the memory to the radio transceiver for transmitting and to read from the connector and write the information read from the connector to the memory.

Claims

1. A mobile communication device, comprising:

a motherboard comprising a communication bus;

a cellular radio frequency transceiver communicatively coupled to the communication bus;

an antenna coupled to the cellular radio frequency transceiver;

a processor connected to the communication bus; and

a radio frequency identity chip that comprises a non-transitory memory and is communicatively coupled to the communication bus via one or more write lines having at least an electrical or mechanical cutout interposed between at least a portion of the non-transitory memory and the communication bus, wherein the radio frequency identity chip is configured to provide wireless read access to the non-transitory memory, and is configured to provide the communication bus with write access to the non-transitory memory.

2. The mobile communication device of claim 1, wherein the radio frequency identity chip is configured to restrict write access to at least one portion of the non-transitory memory to the communication bus.

3. The mobile communication device of claim 1, wherein the radio frequency identity chip further comprises a radio frequency transceiver, and wherein the radio frequency identity chip is configured to allow write access to a dynamic portion of the non-transitory memory via the radio frequency transceiver.

4. The mobile communication device of claim 1, wherein the non-transitory memory of the radio frequency identity chip includes a static portion and a dynamic portion, wherein the electrical or mechanical cutout comprises a fuse, a switch, or a combination therein, and wherein write access is disabled to the static portion or dynamic portion responsive to the fuse being blown or lack of a write enable signal asserted via the electrical or mechanical cutout over the communication bus.

5. The mobile communication device of claim 1, wherein the non-transitory memory of the radio frequency identity chip stores a biographical digest containing information about the manufacturing of the mobile communication device, about the initial as-manufactured configuration of the mobile communication device, and about the current configuration of the mobile communication device.

6. The mobile communication device of claim 5, wherein the non-transitory memory comprises a static portion and a dynamic portion, wherein the information about the manufacturing and about the initial as-manufactured configuration of the mobile communication device is stored in the static portion, and wherein the information about the current configuration of the mobile communication device is stored in the dynamic portion.

7. The mobile communication device of claim 5, wherein a write line associated with the static portion of the non-transitory memory of the radio frequency identity chip has a blowable fuse that is configured to disable writing to the static portion of the memory subsequent to the fuse being blown.

8. The mobile communication device of claim 1, wherein the motherboard further comprises an address bus, wherein the radio frequency identity chip is connected to the address bus, and wherein the memory of the radio frequency identity chip is written to by first asserting an address mapped to the memory of the radio frequency identity chip and then asserting data to be written to the memory of the radio frequency identity chip over the communication bus.

9. The mobile communication device of claim 8, wherein the motherboard further comprises a strobe line, wherein the radio frequency identity chip is connected to the strobe line, and wherein the radio frequency identity chip stores the data in the memory of the radio frequency identity chip in response to the strobe line being strobed.

10. A mobile communication device, comprising:

a motherboard comprising a communication bus;

a cellular radio frequency transceiver communicatively coupled to the communication bus;

an antenna coupled to the cellular radio frequency transceiver;

at least one write line having an electrical or mechanical cutout interposed between a portion of a non-transitory memory in a radio frequency identity chip and the communication bus;

a processor connected to the communication bus; and

the radio frequency identity chip that comprises the non-transitory memory and is connected to the communication bus via the at least one write line and configured to;

provide the communication bus with write access to the non-transitory memory,

operate in a first mode when receiving electrical power derived from a battery of the mobile communication device, and

operate in a second mode when electrical power derived from a battery is not available and when receiving electrical power derived from a radio frequency power source.

11. The mobile communication device of claim 10, wherein the non-transitory memory of the radio frequency identity chip comprises a plurality of portions, wherein the communication bus has write access to the at least some of the plurality of portions of the non-transitory memory of the radio frequency identity chip, and wherein the radio frequency identity chip is configured to disable write access to at least one portion of the non-transitory memory by blowing a blowable fuse of the electrical or mechanical cutout subsequent to an initial write access via the communication bus.

12. The mobile communication device of claim 11, wherein a first portion of the plurality of portions of the memory of the radio frequency identity chip is a static portion and a second portion of the plurality of portions of memory is a dynamic portion.

13. The mobile communication device of claim 12, wherein the non-transitory memory of the radio frequency identity chip is configured to store a biographical digest that encodes information about the manufacturing in the static portion and information about the current configuration of the mobile communication device in the dynamic portion.

14. The mobile communication device of claim 12, wherein the radio frequency identity chip comprises a near field communication radio transceiver that has write access to the dynamic portion of memory of the radio frequency identity chip.

15. The mobile communication device of claim 14, wherein the radio frequency identity chip comprises a processor that is configured to arbitrate between concurrent write access requests from the near field communication radio transceiver and from the communication bus.

16. The mobile communication device of claim 10, wherein the radio frequency identity chip transmits information to a scanner in signal communication with the mobile communication device at a first data rate when operating in the first mode and transmits information to the scanner at a second data rate when operating in the second mode, wherein the first data rate is faster than the second data rate.

17. The mobile communication device of claim 12, wherein a write functionality of the static portion is separately disableable from a write functionality of the dynamic portion.

18. The mobile communication device of claim 17, wherein the write functionality of the static portion is disableable by blowing at least one fuse of the radio frequency identity chip.

19. The mobile communication device of claim 13, wherein the information about the manufacturing is stored in the static portion via the communication bus.

20. The mobile communication device of claim 19, wherein the information about the current configuration of the mobile communication device is stored in the dynamic portion via at least one of the communication bus or near field transceiver of the radio frequency identity chip.