Customizable Mechanically Programmable RFID Tags

• US 20090058599A1
• Filed: 08/30/2007
• Published: 03/05/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/30/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Symbol Technologies, LLC (Zebra Technologies Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Symbol Technologies, Inc. (Zebra Technologies Corporation)
• Inventors: CALVARESE, Russell
• Granted Patent: US 7,876,222 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/10.100
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/07716 the record carrier comprising means for customization, e.g. being arranged for personalization in batch
• 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

Abstract

A system and method to track a status an item, or steps in a process, via one or more mechanical modifications to an RFID tag. In one embodiment, a plurality of tearable strips are attached to the tag, each strip having an electrical conductor. Each tearable strip may receive a visual or tactile indicia, such as text, a color code, a graphic symbol, or a tactile indicator (such as Braille) to assign a meaning to the strip, where the meaning is associated with the status or condition of the item, or the stage, step, or status or the process. By tearing some strips or all strips, a desired bit pattern may be programmed into a register of the RFID tag. The bit pattern may reflect the status or condition of the item, or the stage, step, or status of a process.

Claims

1. A mechanically modifiable radio frequency identification (RFID) tag, comprising:

a substrate;

an integrated circuit (IC) mounted on or within the substrate;

a register having a plurality of bits; and

a strip coupled to said substrate and associated with at least one bit of said register, the strip having a surface constructed and arranged to receive a visual or tactile indicia;

wherein a mechanical modification of a strip alters a value of its associated register bit.

2. The RFID tag of claim 1, wherein the strip may be customized via said visual or tactile indicia to indicate a significance of said strip for a custom application of said RFID tag.

3. The RFID tag of claim 1, wherein the strip constructed and arranged to receive a label.

4. The RFID tag of claim 1, wherein the strip is constructed and arranged to receive print.

5. The RFID tag of claim 1, wherein the strip is constructed and arranged to receive a tactile element.

6. The RFID tag of claim 1, wherein the strip is constructed and arranged to receive a user-applied indicia.

7. The RFID tag of claim 1, wherein the strip is a tearable strip constructed and arranged such that severing of the tearable strip alters the value of its respective register bit.

8. The RFID tag of claim 7, wherein:

the strip is perforated to facilitate tearing; and

severing along a perforation breaks a conductor of the strip, thereby changing the value of its respective bit.

9. The RFID tag of claim 1, wherein the strip is a punchable strip constructed and arranged such that punching of the strip alters the value of its respective bit.

10. The RFID tag of claim 9, wherein the punching of the punchable strip breaks a conductor of the punchable strip, thereby changing the value of its respective bit.

11. The RFID tag of claim 1, further comprising an adhesive coupled to the RFID tag for attaching the tag to an item.

12. The RFID tag of claim 1, further comprising an adhesive coupled with the strip for attaching the strip to an item.

13. The RFID tag of claim 1, wherein the IC is constructed and arranged to detect at least one of:

a pattern of the bits in the register; and

a time order in which the pattern of bits in the register changes.

14. The RFID tag of claim 13, wherein the tag is constructed and arranged to transmit the bit pattern of the register.

15. The RFID tag of claim 13, wherein the tag is constructed and arranged to transmit the time order in which the pattern of bits in the register changes.

16. The RFID tag of claim 13, wherein the RFID tag is constructed and arranged to transmit an alert signal in response to the detection of a specific pattern or a specific time order.

17. The RFID tag of claim 1, further comprising a control element constructed and arranged to control the value of a bit of said register regardless of the status of an associated strip.

18. The RFID tag of claim 1, further comprising a control element constructed and arranged to change a default value of said bit from a first default value to a second default value different from the first default value.

19. The RFID tag of claim 1 further comprising a strip not associated with a register bit, the status of which is intended to provide only a visual indication of a status of a process.

20. The RFID tag of claim 1 including a plurality of strips associated with respective bits of the register.

21. A mechanically modifiable radio frequency identification (RFID) tag, comprising:

a substrate;

an integrated circuit (IC) mounted on or within the substrate;

a plurality of strips coupled to said substrate;

a register having a plurality of bits, each bit being associated with a respective strip, each bit configured to have a default value associated with a mechanically unmodified state of said respective strip; and

a control element;

wherein;

each strip is constructed and arranged so that a mechanical modification thereof alters a value of its respective bit from the default value to a value different from the default value; and

the control element is constructed and arranged to receive a command to perform at least one of;

modifying the default value of the bit to a modified default value which is different from an initial default value;

or

decoupling said bit from said respective coupled strip and freezing the value of the bit so that said bit decoupled from said strip does not change value in response to the mechanical alteration of the respective strip formerly coupled with the bit.

22. The RFID tag of claim 21, wherein said control element is constructed and arranged to be programmable via a radio frequency (RF) signal with an address of a bit of the plurality of bits and at least one of the modified default value of said bit or an indication to fix decoupled the bit from said respective strip and to the value of said bit.

23. The RFID tag of claim 21, further comprising a control strip constructed and arranged so that mechanically modifying the control strip triggers the control element to at least one of modify said default value of said bit or decoupled the bit and freeze said value of said bit.

24. The RFID tag of claim 21, wherein a least one strip has a surface constructed and arranged to receive a visual or tactile indicia.

25. The RFID tag of claim 21, wherein said strip comprises at least one of:

a tearable strip, wherein the mechanical modification comprises severing the strip; and

a punchable strip, wherein the mechanical modification comprises punching the strip.

26. The RFID tag of claim 21, wherein:

the strip further comprises a continuous conductor coupled to the respective bit associated with the strip; and

the conductor is breached by at least one of severing the strip or punching the strip.

27. The RFID tag of claim 21, wherein the IC is constructed and arranged to detect at least one of:

a pattern of the bits in the register; and

a time order in which the pattern of bits in the register changes.

28. The RFID tag of claim 27, wherein the tag is constructed and arranged to transmit at least one of:

the bit pattern of the register;

the time order in which the pattern of bits changes;

an alert in response to a specific bit pattern;

or

an alert in response to a specific time order in which the pattern of bits changes.

29. The RFID tag of claim 21, further comprising at least one of an adhesive element of the RFID tag and an adhesive element of the strip.

30. A method for monitoring an item or a process using a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag, wherein the RFID tag comprises:

a register have a plurality of bits;

a plurality of strips, each strip being associated with a respective bit, and each strip being suitable to receive a visual or tactile indicia of a purpose of the strip;

the RFID tag being constructed and arranged such that a modification of a strip changes a value of the strip'"'"'s respective register bit;

comprising;

(a) assigning the RFID tag to at least one of the item, the process, an item associated with the process, a person monitoring the process, a monitoring device associated with the process, an assembly line associated with the process, a monitoring station associated with the process, and a conveyance associated with the process;

(b) associating a strip of the plurality of strips with a respective process step or a respective item status;

(c) upon performance of a step of the process or a change of the item status, mechanically modifying the strip associated with that step or status; and

(d) reading the RFID tag to determine a bit pattern of the register of the RFID tag.

31. The method of claim 30, further comprising:

configuring the strip of the RFID tag to be automatically modified upon the performance of the step or change of status associated with the strip.

32. The method of claim 30, further comprising:

detecting at least one of a particular pattern of bits in the register or a particular order in which the strips are modified.

33. The method of claim 30, further comprising at least one of modifying a default value associated with a bit or an ability of a bit to change value in response to a mechanical modification of the strip associated with the bit.

34. The method of claim 33, further comprising:

(i) accepting via a radio frequency (RF) link of the RFID tag an identification of a bit of the plurality of bits;

(ii) accepting via the RF link an indication of whether a default state of the bit is to be changed or whether the value of the bit is to be rendered unchangeable; and

(iii) responsive to the data accepted via steps (i) and (ii), assigning to the identified bit a new default state which is different from the current default state of the identified bit or rendering the value of the identified bit as unchangeable.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein step (iii) further comprises:

(iv) storing in a memory of the RFID tag the identification of the identified bit from step 34(i) and the indication from step 34(ii);

(v) upon detecting a mechanical modification of a control strip of the RFID tag, assigning to the identified bit the new default state or rendering the value of the identified bit as unchangeable.

36. The method of claim 30, further comprising labeling each strip to signify at least one of the process step associated with the strip or the item status associated with the strip.

37. A method for monitoring an item or a process using a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag, wherein the RFID tag comprises:

a register have a plurality of bits;

a plurality of strips, at least one strip being selectively associated with a respective register bit;

the RFID tag being constructed and arranged such that a modification of a strip changes a value of its associated register bit;

comprising;

(a) assigning the RFID tag to at least one of the item, the process, an item associated with the process, a person monitoring the process, a monitoring device associated with the process, an assembly line associated with the process, a monitoring station associated with the process, and a conveyance associated with the process;

(b) associating a strip with a respective process step or a respective item status;

(c) modifying at least one of

     1) a default value associated with a bit or

     2) the association of a bit with a strip thereby controlling the ability of the bit to change value in response to a mechanical modification of a strip associated with the bit;

(d) upon performance of a step of the process or a change of the item status, mechanically modifying the strip associated with that step or status; and

(e) reading the RFID tag to determine a bit pattern of the register of the RFID tag.

38. The method of claim 37, further comprising:

configuring the strip of the RFID tag to be automatically modified upon the performance of the step or change of status associated with the strip.

39. The method of claim 37, further comprising:

detecting at least one of a particular pattern of bits in the register or a particular order in which the strips are modified.

40. The method of claim 37, further comprising labeling each strip to signify at least one of a process step associated with the strip or an item status associated with the strip.

41. The method of claim 37, wherein step (c) further comprises:

(i) accepting via a radio frequency (RF) link of the RFID tag an identification of a bit of the plurality of bits;

(ii) accepting via the RF link an indication of whether a default state of the bit is to be changed or whether the bit is to be associated or disassociated with a strip; and

(iii) responsive to the data accepted via steps (i) and (ii), assigning to the identified bit a new default state which is different from the default state of the identified bit or disassociating the bit with a strip.

42. The method of claim 41, wherein step (iii) further comprises:

(iv) storing in a memory of the RFID tag the identification of the identified bit from step 41(i) and the indication from step 41(ii);

(v) upon detecting a mechanical modification of a control strip of the RFID tag, assigning to the identified bit the new default state or decoupling the bit.