Method for detecting the eventual presence of an object by a contactless reader, and corresponding reader

• US 10,298,295 B2
• Filed: 08/30/2018
• Issued: 05/21/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: STMicroelectronics SAS (STMicroelectronics NV)
• Original Assignee: STMicroelectronics SAS (STMicroelectronics NV)
• Inventors: Tramoni, Alexandre
• Primary Examiner(s): Maung, Nay A
• Assistant Examiner(s): Fleming-Hall, Erica L
• Application Number:
  US16/118,175
• Publication Number:
  US 20180375547A1
• Time in Patent Office: 264 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/04 Systems determining presence of a target based on relative movement of target G01S13/56
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10128 the step consisting of detection of the presence of one or more record carriers in the vicinity of the interrogation device
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/72 for local intradevice communication

Abstract

A method can be used for detecting a potential presence of an object by a reader capable of mutually communicating via a contactless communications protocol. An antenna of the reader transmits a magnetic field on a carrier signal having a sub-carrier modulated by a first data sequence. The modulated sub-carrier is non-interpretable by the object. The antenna of the reader receives a signal resulting from the transmission. The reader demodulates the sub-carrier of the resulting signal so as to extract a second data sequence from the resulting signal. The first data sequence and second data sequence are correlated and the potential presence or absence of the object is determined based upon the result of the correlating.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

transmitting, by an antenna of a first communication device, a magnetic field on a carrier signal comprising a modulated sub-carrier, the modulated sub-carrier being a sub-carrier of the carrier signal modulated by a first data sequence, the modulated sub-carrier being non-detectable by a second communication device;

receiving, on the antenna of the first communication device and in response to the transmitting, a resultant signal;

demodulating, in the first communication device and using a demodulation signal having a frequency of the sub-carrier, the resultant signal, the demodulating generating a second data sequence from the resultant signal;

correlating the first data sequence and the second data sequence; and

detecting a potential presence of the second communication device or an absence of the second communication device based upon a result of the correlating.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the modulated sub-carrier is non-interpretable by the second communication device as being a transmission of information from the first communication device.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein a modulation of the sub-carrier by the first data sequence has a modulation index lower than a threshold index compatible with a non-detectability of the modulation by the second communication device.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the modulation index is less than 1%.

5. The method according to claim 3, wherein the modulation index corresponds to a minimum index capable of being demodulated.

6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising detecting the absence of the second communication device when the result of the correlating is greater than or equal to a threshold correlation value, and detecting the potential presence of the second communication device when the result of the correlating is lower than the threshold correlation value.

7. The method according to claim 6, further comprising, prior to transmitting the magnetic field, determining the threshold correlation value in the absence of any second communication device.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein determining the threshold correlation value comprises:

transmitting, by the antenna of the first communication device, the magnetic field on the carrier signal having the sub-carrier modulated by a calibration data sequence;

receiving, on the antenna of the first communication device, a resultant calibration signal resulting from the transmitting;

demodulating, in the first communication device and using a demodulation signal having the frequency of the sub-carrier, the resultant calibration signal, the demodulating generating a third data sequence from the resultant calibration signal; and

correlating the calibration data sequence and the third data sequence to generate a correlation value that is selected as the threshold correlation value.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first communication device and the second communication device respectively comprise a reader and an object capable of mutually communicating via a near-field communications (NFC) protocol.

10. A method for detecting a potential presence or an absence of an object by a reader, the method comprising:

modulating, by the reader, a sub-carrier by a first data sequence to generate a modulated sub-carrier;

transmitting, by an antenna of the reader, a magnetic field on a carrier signal having the modulated sub-carrier, the modulated sub-carrier being non-detectable by the object and non-interpretable by the object as being a transmission of information from the reader, wherein the modulated sub-carrier has a frequency corresponding to a reference frequency associated with a contactless communications protocol;

receiving, on the antenna of the reader and in response to the transmitting, a resultant signal;

demodulating, in the reader, the resultant signal using a demodulation signal having the reference frequency to generate a second data sequence from the resulting signal;

correlating the first data sequence with the second data sequence; and

detecting the potential presence or the absence of the object based upon a result of the correlating.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein a perfect correlation between the first data sequence and the second data sequence is equal to a reference correlation value, the absence of the object being detected when a result of the correlating is less than or equal to the reference correlation value and greater than or equal to a threshold correlation value, and the potential presence of the object is detected when the result of the correlating is lower than the threshold correlation value.

12. The method according to claim 10, further comprising verifying an effective presence of the object in response to detecting the potential presence of the object, wherein the verifying comprises:

transmitting, by the reader, specific identification request information conforming to the contactless communications protocol; and

waiting to receive, from the object, specific acknowledgment information in response to transmission of the specific identification request information.

13. The method according to claim 12, further comprising

verifying the effective presence of the object in response to receiving the specific acknowledgment information from the object.

14. A reader, capable of communicating with an object by a contactless communications protocol via an antenna, the reader comprising:

a modulator configured to modulate a sub-carrier by a first data sequence to generate a modulated sub-carrier, the modulated sub-carrier being non-detectable by the object;

a transmitter configured to transmit, via the antenna, a magnetic field on a carrier signal comprising the modulated sub-carrier;

a receiver configured to receive a resultant signal on the antenna in response to transmission of the magnetic field;

a demodulator configured to demodulate the resultant signal using a demodulation signal having a frequency of the sub-carrier to generate a second data sequence;

a correlator configured to perform a correlation between the first data sequence and the second data sequence; and

an analysis circuit configured to detect a potential presence of the object or an absence of the object based upon on a result of the correlation.

15. The reader according to claim 14, wherein the modulated sub-carrier is non-interpretable by the object as being a transmission of information from the reader.

16. The reader according to claim 15, wherein the modulator is configured to modulate the sub-carrier with a modulation index lower than a threshold index compatible with a non-detectability of the modulation by the object.

17. The reader according to claim 16, wherein the modulator is configured to modulate the sub-carrier with a modulation index less than 1%.

18. The reader according to claim 16, wherein the modulator is configured to modulate the sub-carrier with a modulation index corresponding to a minimum modulation index able to be demodulated by the demodulator.

19. The reader according to claim 14, wherein the analysis circuit is configured to detect the absence of the object when the result of the correlation is greater than or equal to a threshold correlation value, and to detect the potential presence of the object when the result of the correlation is lower than the threshold correlation value.

20. The reader according to claim 14, further comprising a verification circuit configured to verify an effective presence of the object upon detection of the potential presence of the object.