Saving power in a battery powered system having a touch sensor and an RFID tag reader
First Claim
1. A method of saving power in a battery powered device that includes a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag reader and a touch sensor, said method comprising:
- providing a touch sensor that can perform proximity and touch sensing;
providing a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag reader for reading data from an RFID tag, wherein the touch sensor and the RFID tag reader are disposed in the battery powered device;
maintaining the RFID tag reader in a deactivated state while using the touch sensor to scan for detection of the RFID tag;
activating the RFID tag reader only after detecting the RFID tag using proximity sensing of the touch sensor;
reading the RFID tag that was detected by the touch sensor by using the activated RFID tag reader; and
deactivating the RFID tag reader after reading the RFID tag in order to conserve power in the battery powered device by only actively scanning for RFID tags using the touch sensor and not the RFID tag reader.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method that combines RFID tag reader circuitry and a touch sensor, wherein the system and method may reduce power consumption of a battery powered system by detecting the presence of an RFID tag by using a lower power consumption touch sensor instead of scanning for the RFID tag by using higher power RFID tag detection and reading circuitry, controlling activation and deactivation of the RFID tag detection and reading circuitry when the touch sensor has detected the presence of the RFID tag, and reconfiguring sensor electrodes so that the electrodes may form a touch sensor or an antenna as needed.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method of saving power in a battery powered device that includes a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag reader and a touch sensor, said method comprising:
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providing a touch sensor that can perform proximity and touch sensing; providing a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag reader for reading data from an RFID tag, wherein the touch sensor and the RFID tag reader are disposed in the battery powered device; maintaining the RFID tag reader in a deactivated state while using the touch sensor to scan for detection of the RFID tag; activating the RFID tag reader only after detecting the RFID tag using proximity sensing of the touch sensor; reading the RFID tag that was detected by the touch sensor by using the activated RFID tag reader; and deactivating the RFID tag reader after reading the RFID tag in order to conserve power in the battery powered device by only actively scanning for RFID tags using the touch sensor and not the RFID tag reader. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A battery powered system that includes a radio frequency identification tag reader and a touch sensor, said system comprised of:
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a touch sensor that can perform proximity and touch sensing, wherein the touch sensor can use proximity sending to detect an RFID tag; a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag reader for reading data from the RFID tag; and a processor for maintaining the RFID tag reader in a deactivated state while using the touch sensor to scan for detection of the RFID tag, activating the RFID tag reader only when the touch sensor detects the RFID tag, deactivating the RFID tag reader after data has been read from the RFID tag and using the touch sensor to scan for another RFID tag, thereby conserving power of the battery powered system by not using the RFID tag reader to detect the presence of the RFID tag. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method of saving power in a battery powered system that includes a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag reader and a touch sensor, said method comprising:
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providing a touch sensor that can perform proximity and touch sensing; providing a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag reader for reading data from an RFID tag, wherein the touch sensor and the RFID tag reader are disposed in the battery powered device; maintaining the RFID tag reader in a deactivated state while using the touch sensor to scan for detection of the RFID tag; providing a processor for activating the RFID tag reader and deactivating the touch sensor only after detecting the RFID tag using proximity sensing of the touch sensor; reading the RFID tag that was detected by the touch sensor by using the activated RFID tag reader; and reactivating the touch sensor and deactivating the RFID tag reader after reading the RFID tag in order to conserve power in the battery powered system by only actively scanning for RFID tags using the touch sensor and not the RFID tag reader. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification