Multichannel transponder and a method of determining a most strongly coupled channel or more strongly coupled channels
First Claim
1. A transponder comprising:
- a multichannel front-end circuit, each channel of the multichannel front-end circuit including;
a resonant circuit associated with a respective antenna and configured and arranged to produce, in use, an input voltage;
a conditioning circuit configured to provide a conditioned input voltage from the input voltage, the conditioned input voltage representing a voltage envelope for the input voltage, anda comparator configured to compare the conditioned input voltage with a reference voltage;
wherein the front-end circuit further comprises;
a variable load circuit connectable to the resonant circuit, anda controller circuit configured to, in use;
vary a variable load value for the variable load circuit,detect an output from each of the comparators at different variable load values, anddetermine, based upon the detected outputs at the different variable load values, relative coupling strengths for the channels of the multichannel front-end circuit.
10 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A transponder is disclosed comprising a multichannel front-end circuit; each channel of the multichannel front-end circuit a resonant circuit associated with a respective antenna and producing, in use, an input voltage; a conditioning circuit configured to provide a conditioned input voltage from the input voltage, and a comparator configured to compare the conditioned input voltage with a reference voltage; wherein the front-end circuit further comprises: a variable load connectable across each of the resonant circuits, and a controller configured to, in use, vary the variable load and detect an output from each of the comparators.
A method of operating such a transponder to determine a most strongly coupled channel, or more strongly coupled channels, is also disclosed.
-
Citations
13 Claims
-
1. A transponder comprising:
-
a multichannel front-end circuit, each channel of the multichannel front-end circuit including; a resonant circuit associated with a respective antenna and configured and arranged to produce, in use, an input voltage; a conditioning circuit configured to provide a conditioned input voltage from the input voltage, the conditioned input voltage representing a voltage envelope for the input voltage, and a comparator configured to compare the conditioned input voltage with a reference voltage; wherein the front-end circuit further comprises; a variable load circuit connectable to the resonant circuit, and a controller circuit configured to, in use; vary a variable load value for the variable load circuit, detect an output from each of the comparators at different variable load values, and determine, based upon the detected outputs at the different variable load values, relative coupling strengths for the channels of the multichannel front-end circuit. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
-
-
8. A method of operating a transponder having a multichannel front-end circuit, and being in an electromagnetic field, wherein each channel comprises a resonant circuit associated with a respective antenna, the method comprising:
-
varying a load across each of the resonant circuits; deriving a conditioned input voltage from a respective voltage across each of the resonant circuits; comparing the conditioned input voltage with a predetermined reference voltage to determine a load at which the input voltage drops below the predetermined reference voltage; and determining, in response to the comparing, relative coupling strengths between the channels of the front-end circuit. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
-
Specification