System for multi-standard RFID tags

• US 20050083180A1
• Filed: 11/08/2004
• Published: 04/21/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 01/06/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Neology Incorporated (OEP Technologie BV)
• Original Assignee: Sirit Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: Davidson, Wiliam E., Horwitz, Clifford A.
• Granted Patent: US 7,196,613 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/10.400
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/0008 General problems related to the reading of electronic memory record carriers, independent of its reading method, e.g. power transfer
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10297 arrangements for handling protocols designed for non-contact record carriers such as RFIDs NFCs, e.g. ISO/IEC 14443 and 18092 cryptographic protocols H04L9/00; network security protocols H04L63/00; real-time communication protocols in data switching networks H04L65/00; network protocols for data switching network services H04L67/00

Abstract

A reader for a radio frequency identification system capable of simultaneously reading tags operating a multiple frequencies. The reader includes a radio frequency module for each operating frequency of the tags. The radio frequency modules are coupled to a bus which is connected to an interrogator control module. Each of the radio frequency modules receives the return signal from the tags at the associated operating frequency and converts the return signal into a pulse sequence. The interrogator control module locks to and decodes the pulse sequence according to the protocol associated with the tag type.

Claims

1-17. -17. (canceled)

18. A radio identification interrogator associated with a plurality of protocols including a first protocol and a second protocol different from the first protocol, comprising:

a first radio frequency (RF) module being associated with its own frequency band and having a receiver and a frequency source, the frequency source of the first RF module having a frequency within the frequency band for the first RF module, the receiver of the first RF module configured to receive a return signal associated with the frequency band of the first RF module and associated with the first protocol from the plurality of protocols;

a second radio frequency (RF) module being associated with its own frequency band and having a receiver and a frequency source, the frequency source of the second RF module having a frequency within the frequency band for the second RF module and different from the frequency of the frequency source of the first RF module, the receiver of the second RF module configured to receive a return signal associated with the frequency band of the second RF module and associated with the second protocol from the plurality of protocols; and

a decoder coupled to the receiver of the radio frequency module, the decoder having a first output channel and a second output channel, the first output channel being associated with the first protocol from the plurality of protocols, the second output channel being associated with the second protocol from the plurality of protocols.

19. The radio identification interrogator of claim 18, wherein:

the frequency band of the first RF module is substantially within one from group of a first frequency band between 100 KHz and 200 KHz, a second frequency band substantially at 13.56 MHz, a third frequency band between 458 MHz and 917 MHz, and a fourth frequency band substantially at 2.45 GHz; and

the frequency band of the second RF module is substantially within a remaining one from the group of the first frequency band between 100 KHz and 200 KHz, the second frequency band substantially at 13.56 MHz, the third frequency band between 458 MHz and 917 MHz, and the fourth frequency band substantially at 2.45 GHz.

20. The radio identification interrogator of claim 18, wherein:

the frequency band of the first RF module is substantially within one from a group of a first frequency band between 100 KHz and 200 KHz, a second frequency band substantially at 13.56 MHz, a third frequency band between 458 MHz and 917 MHz, and a fourth frequency band substantially at 2.45 GHz;

the frequency band of the second RF module is substantially within a remaining frequency band from the group of the first frequency band between 100 KHz and 200 KHz, the second frequency band substantially at 13.56 MHz, the third frequency band between 458 MHz and 917 MHz, and the fourth frequency band substantially at 2.45 GHz; and

the frequency of the frequency source of the first RF module differs from the frequency of the frequency source of the second RF module such that a beat frequency is higher than a maximum of a data rate associated with the return signal of the first RF module and a data rate associated with the return signal the second RF module.

21. The radio identification interrogator of claim 18, wherein:

the frequency band of the first RF module is substantially within one from a group of a first frequency band having an upper limit of 200 KHz, a second frequency band substantially at 13.56 MHz, a third frequency band substantially at 2.45 GHz, and a fourth frequency band having a lower limit of 458 MHz and excluding the third frequency band; and

the frequency band of the second RF module is substantially within a remaining frequency band from the group of the first frequency band having an upper limit of 200 KHz, the second frequency band substantially at 13.56 MHz, the third frequency band substantially at 2.45 GHz, and the fourth frequency band having the lower limit of 458 MHz and excluding the third frequency band.

22. The radio identification interrogator of claim 18, wherein:

the first protocol is associated with a digital identifier stored on a first tag; and

the second protocol is associated with a digital identifier stored on a second tag different from the first tag.

23. The radio identification interrogator of claim 18, wherein:

the first protocol is associated with a digital identifier stored on a first tag, the digital identifier stored on the first tag having a message length; and

the second protocol is associated with a digital identifier stored on a second tag different from the first tag, the digital identifier stored on the second tag having a message length different from the message length of the digital identifier stored on the first tag.

24. The radio identification interrogator of claim 18, wherein:

the decoder includes a field programmable gate array associated with the first output channel and the second output channel, the field programmable gate array is configured to receive a pulse stream associated with the first output channel and a pulse stream associated with the second output channel.

25. The radio identification interrogator of claim 18, wherein:

the first output channel and the second output channel are configured to operate in parallel, the first output channel is configured to produce a pulse stream without a carrier frequency, the second output channel is configured to produce a pulse stream without a carrier frequency; and

the decoder includes a field programmable gate array associated with the first output channel and the second output channel, the field programmable gate array configured to receive the pulse stream associated with the first output channel and the pulse stream associated with the second output channel.

26. The radio identification interrogator of claim 18, wherein:

the frequency source of the first RF module is configured to remove a carrier frequency of the return signal of the first RF module;

the frequency source of the second RF module is configured to remove a carrier frequency of the return signal of the second RF module; and

the frequency of the frequency source for the first RF module differs from the frequency of the frequency source of the second RF module.

27. An apparatus, comprising:

a radio frequency module having a transmitter and a receiver, the transmitter being configured to send an output signal, the receiver being configured to receive a return signal associated with the output signal and associated with a first tag parameter value; and

a decoder coupled to the receiver of the radio frequency module, the decoder having a first output channel associated with the first tag parameter value and a second output channel associated with a second tag parameter value different from the first tag parameter value, the first output channel being configured to decode the return signal based on the first tag parameter value and a cyclical redundancy check, the second output channel being configured to decode a signal associated with the second tag parameter value and a cyclical redundancy check.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein:

the first tag parameter value being associated with one tag parameter from a group of an encoding scheme, a data rate and a message length; and

the second tag parameter value being associated with the tag parameter.

29. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein:

the return signal is associated with a plurality of tag parameter values including the first tag parameter value, each tag parameter value from the plurality of tag parameter values for the return signal is uniquely associated with a tag parameter from a group of an encoding scheme, a data rate and a message length; and

the signal associated with the second output channel is associated with a plurality of tag parameter values including the second tag parameter value.

30. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein:

the first tag parameter value being associated with one tag parameter from a group of an encoding scheme, a data rate and a message length; and

the second tag parameter value being associated with a remaining tag parameter from the group of the encoding scheme, the data rate and the message length.

31. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein:

the first tag parameter value is associated with a digital identifier stored on a first tag; and

the second tag parameter value is associated with a digital identifier stored on a second tag different from the first tag.

32. The apparatus of claim 27, the radio frequency module is a first radio frequency (RF) module, the apparatus further comprising:

a second radio frequency (RF) module coupled to the decoder, the second RF module having a transmitter and a receiver, the transmitter of the second RF module being configured to send an output signal, the receiver of the second RF module being configured to receive a return signal associated with the output signal associated with the transmitter of the second RF modulator and associated with the second tag parameter value.

33. A radio identification interrogator associated with a plurality of protocols including a first protocol and a second protocol different from the first protocol, comprising:

a first radio frequency (RF) module being associated with its own frequency band and having a receiver, the receiver of the first RF module configured to receive a return signal associated with the frequency band of the first RF module and associated with the first protocol from the plurality of protocols, the frequency band of the first RF module is within one from group of a first frequency band having an upper limit of 200 KHz, a second frequency band substantially at 13.56 MHz, a third frequency band substantially at 2.45 GHz, and a fourth frequency band having a lower limit of 458 MHz and excluding the third frequency band, and;

a second radio frequency (RF) module being associated with its own frequency band and having a receiver, the receiver of the second RF module configured to receive a return signal associated with the frequency band of the second RF module and associated with the second protocol from the plurality of protocols, the frequency band of the second RF module is within a remaining one from the group of the first frequency band between 100 KHz and 200 KHz, the second frequency band substantially at 13.56 MHz, the third frequency band substantially at 2.45 GHz, and the fourth frequency band having the lower limit of 458 MHz and excluding the third frequency band; and

a decoder coupled to the receiver of the radio frequency module, the decoder having a first output channel and a second output channel, the first output channel being associated with the first protocol from the plurality of protocols, the second output channel being associated with the second protocol from the plurality of protocols.

34. The radio identification interrogator of claim 33, wherein:

the first protocol is associated with a digital identifier stored on a first tag, the digital identifier stored on the first tag having a message length; and

the second protocol is associated with a digital identifier stored on a second tag different from the first tag, the digital identifier stored on the second tag having a message length different from the message length of the digital identifier stored on the first tag.

35. The radio identification interrogator of claim 33, wherein:

the decoder includes a field programmable gate array associated with the first output channel and the second output channel, the field programmable gate array is configured to receive a pulse stream associated with the first output channel and a pulse stream associated with the second output channel.

36. The radio identification interrogator of claim 33, wherein:

the first RF module includes a frequency source associated with a frequency within the frequency band for the first RF module, the frequency source of the first RF module configured to remove a carrier frequency of the return signal of the first RF module;

the second RF module includes a frequency source associated with a frequency within the frequency band for the second RF module, the frequency source of the second RF module configured to remove a carrier frequency of the return signal of the second RF module; and

the frequency of the frequency source for the first RF module differs from the frequency of the frequency source of the second RF module.

37. The radio identification interrogator of claim 33, further comprising:

a third radio frequency (RF) module being associated with its own frequency band and having a receiver, the receiver of the third RF module configured to receive a return signal associated with the frequency band of the third RF module and associated with a third protocol from the plurality of protocols, the frequency band of the third RF module is within one frequency band of the first frequency band between 100 KHz and 200 KHz, the second frequency band substantially at 13.56 MHz, the third frequency band substantially at 2.45 GHz, and the fourth frequency band having the lower limit of 458 MHz and excluding the third frequency band.

38. The radio identification interrogator of claim 33, further comprising:

a third radio frequency (RF) module being associated with its own frequency band and having a receiver, the receiver of the third RF module configured to receive a return signal associated with the frequency band of the third RF module and associated with a third protocol from the plurality of protocols, the frequency band of the third RF module is within one frequency band of the first frequency band between 100 KHz and 200 KHz, the second frequency band substantially at 13.56 MHz, the third frequency band substantially at 2.45 GHz, and the fourth frequency band having the lower limit of 458 MHz and excluding the third frequency band,

the first RF module includes a frequency source associated with its own frequency from the frequency band of the first RF module, the third RF module includes a frequency source associated with its own frequency from the frequency band of the third RF module, the frequency of the frequency source of the first RF module differs from the frequency of the frequency source of the third RF module such that a beat frequency is higher than a maximum of