Autonomous authentication of a reader by a radio frequency identity (RFID) device

• US 9,460,573 B1
• Filed: 02/27/2014
• Issued: 10/04/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 02/27/2014
• 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., Paczkowski, Lyle W., Steele, Kenneth R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Nam V
• Application Number:
  US14/192,316
• Time in Patent Office: 950 Days
• Field of Search: 340/10.1, 340/5.6, 340/5.61, 340/5.62, 340/5.63, 705/26.3
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/00 Record carriers for use with machines and with at least a part designed to carry digital markings
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/07309 Means for preventing undesired reading or writing from or onto record carriers
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10138 the step consisting of determining the type of record carrier, e.g. to determine if the record carrier is an RFID tag of the long or short range type, or to determine the preferred communication protocol of the RFID tag
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/21 having a variable access code
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/27 with central registration
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/28 the pass enabling tracking or indicating presence

Abstract

A radio frequency identity (RFID) tag. The tag comprises a processor, a memory, wherein the memory stores private information and public information, and a radio transceiver configured to receive a request for information from an RFID reader and to transmit a reply to the request for information. The tag further comprises an application stored in the memory that, when executed by the processor, parses a request for information from the RFID reader received by the radio transceiver, and determines whether the RFID reader is authorized to receive the private information. When the RFID reader is determined to be authorized, the application reads the private information from the memory and sends the private information to the radio transceiver to transmit; when the RFID reader is determined to not be authorized, the application reads the public information and sends the public information to the radio transceiver to transmit.

Claims

1. A method of a radio frequency identity (RFID) tag authenticating a tag reader before transmitting information to the tag reader, comprising:

receiving, by an RFID tag coupled or adhered to an object, a request signal for information from a tag reader, wherein the request signal comprises an authentication token;

parsing, by an application executing on a logic processor of the RFID tag, the request signal to extract the authentication token from the request signal;

analyzing, by the application on the RFID tag, the authentication token to determine whether the tag reader is authorized to receive biographical information about the object that is stored in a memory of the RFID tag by comparing the authentication token to a plurality of different authentication codes stored in the memory of the RFID tag corresponding to a plurality of authentication tokens of tag readers to which the RFID tag is configured to transmit the biographical information, wherein the biographical information comprises static information about an initial state of the object and dynamic information about a current state of the object;

determining, by the application on the RFID tag, whether the tag reader is authorized to receive the biographical information based on the comparison, wherein the tag reader is authorized to receive the biographical information when the authentication token matches one of the plurality of different authentication codes stored in the memory of the RFID tag;

in response to a determination by the application on the RFID tag that the tag reader is authorized, transmitting, by a radio transceiver of the RFID tag, the biographical information to the tag reader; and

in response to a determination by the application on the RFID tag that the tag reader is not authorized to receive the biographical information, transmitting, by the radio transceiver of the RFID tag, one of a null value or a tag identity (TID) to the tag reader.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by a second tag reader, a request signal to write to the RFID tag;

parsing, by the application on the RFID tag, the request signal to write to the RFID tag;

analyzing, by the application on the RFID tag, the request signal to write to the RFID tag to determine if the second tag reader is authorized to write to the RFID tag;

determining, by the application on the RFID tag, whether the second tag reader is authorized to write to the RFID tag; and

in response to a determination by the application on the RFID tag that the second tag reader is authorized to write to the RFID tag, writing updated information received from the second tag reader to the memory of the RFID tag.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising, after the updated information is written to the memory of the RFID tag by the second tag reader, destroying at least some write control lines of the memory of the RFID tag.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of different authentication codes correspond to a plurality of different types of tag readers.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the plurality of different authentication codes are associated with different access privileges to access the biographical information stored in the memory of the RFID tag.

6. The method of claim 4, further comprising receiving additional authentication codes and identification of corresponding information access associated with each of the additional authentication codes from an electronic device which the RFID tag is communicatively coupled to.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the object to which the RFID tag is coupled or adhered comprises one of a mobile phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a media player, a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a notebook computer, a television, a printer, a copier, or a refrigerator.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the biographical information comprises at least one of error codes associated with the object to which the RFID tag is coupled or adhered or a date of prior service performed on the object to which the RFID tag is coupled or adhered.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the biographical information is encrypted before it is transmitted by the radio transceiver to the tag reader.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to receiving the request signal, transmitting, by the RFID tag, the one of the null value or the TID to the reader while the RFID tag completes the parsing, the analyzing, and the determining, wherein the RFID tag continues to transmit the one of the null value or the TID to the tag reader in response to the determination by the application on the RFID tag that the tag reader is not authorized to receive the biographical information.

11. A radio frequency identity (RFID) tag, comprising:

a logic processor;

a memory, wherein the memory comprises biographical information about an object to which the RFID tag is one of coupled or adhered and a plurality of authentication codes corresponding to a plurality of authentication tokens of tag readers to which the RFID tag is configured to transmit the biographical information, and wherein the biographical information comprises static information about an initial state of the object and dynamic information about a current state of the object;

a radio transceiver configured to receive a request signal for the biographical information from an RFID reader and to transmit a reply to the request signal for the biographical information; and

an application stored in the memory of the RFID tag that, when executed by the logic processor;

parses a request signal from a tag reader to extract an authentication token from the request signal,

analyze the authentication token to determine whether the tag reader is authorized to receive biographical information stored in the memory of the RFID tag by comparing the authentication token to the plurality of different authentication codes stored in the memory of the RFID tag,

determine whether the tag reader is authorized to receive the biographical information based on the comparison, wherein the tag reader is authorized to receive the biographical information when the authentication token matches one of the plurality of different authentication codes stored in the memory of the RFID tag,

in response to a determination that the tag reader is authorized, reads the biographical information from the memory and sends the biographical information to the radio transceiver to transmit to the tag reader, and

in response to a determination that the tag reader is not authorized to receive the biographical information, reads one of a null value or a tag identity (TID) and sends the one of the null value or the TID to the radio transceiver to transmit to the tag reader.

12. The RFID tag of claim 11, wherein the biographical information comprises at least one of error codes associated with the object to which the RFID tag is coupled or adhered or a date of prior service performed on the object to which the RFID tag is coupled or adhered.

13. The RFID tag of claim 11, wherein the biographical information is encrypted before it is sent to the radio transceiver to transmit to the tag reader.

14. The RFID tag of claim 11, wherein the object to which the RFID tag is coupled or adhered comprises one of a mobile phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a media player, a laptop computer, a notebook computer, a tablet computer, a wearable computer, a headset computer, a television, a copying machine, a printer, and a refrigerator.

15. The RFID tag of claim 11, wherein the plurality of different authentication codes correspond to a plurality of different types of tag readers.

16. The RFID tag of claim 15, wherein the plurality of different authentication codes are associated with different access privileges to access the biographical information stored in the memory of the RFID tag.