RADIO FREQUENCY IDENTIFICATION READING BY USING ERROR CORRECTING CODES ON SETS OF TAGS

• US 20100045444A1
• Filed: 08/21/2008
• Published: 02/25/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/21/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Schmidt, Andreas, WEISS FERREIRA CHAVES, LEONARDO, Taherivand, Abraham, Schwuchow, Mathis
• Granted Patent: US 8,542,103 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/10.420
• 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: H04Q 2213/13095 PIN / Access code, authentication

Abstract

A method and a system are described for improved reading of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags using correcting codes on sets of electronic tags. In one embodiment, information is requested from each of a set of electronic tags. The information includes an identification code and a portion of a codeword, the codeword contains a coded message with identification codes of all tags in the set. The information is received from a subset of the set of tags. Portions of the codeword from the received tag information of the subset of tags are assembled. The coded message is constructed from the assembled portions of the codeword. Finally, individually receiving information from a remaining set of the tags in the set of tags.

In one embodiment, the system includes a set of electronic tags and a reading device to request and receive information from each of the set of electronic tags. The information includes an identification code and a portion of a codeword, the codeword contains a coded message with identification codes of all tags in the set. In addition, the system includes a decoding component to decode a number of assembled portions of the codeword and construct the coded message with the identification codes of all tags in the set. An enterprise system processes the received information from all tags in the set.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

requesting information from each of a set of electronic tags, the information includes an identification code and a portion of a codeword, the codeword contains a coded message with identification codes of all tags in the set;

receiving information from a subset of the set of tags;

assembling portions of the codeword from the received tag information from the subset of the set of tags;

constructing the coded message from the assembled portions of the codeword; and

individually receiving information from a remaining set of the tags in the set of tags.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the coded message is encoded using an error correcting code (ECC).

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

splitting the codeword into a plurality of portions, each portion of the codeword is included within the information of each tag in the set of electronic tags.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein each portion of the codeword is included with an address, the address is used to ensure assembling of the portions of the codeword in a specific order.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein constructing the encoded message comprises receiving the identification codes from all tags in the set.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

identifying the remaining set of the tags by comparing the received identification codes from the subset of the set of tags with the identification codes from all tags in the set.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

performing error handling if information from a subset of the remaining set is not received.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the tags in the set are Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags.

9. A computing system comprising:

a set of electronic tags;

a reading device to request and receive information from each of the set of electronic tags, the information includes an identification code and a portion of a codeword, the codeword contains a coded message with identification codes of all tags in the set;

a decoding component to decode a plurality of assembled portions of the codeword and construct the coded message with the identification codes of all tags in the set; and

an enterprise system to process the received information from all tags in the set.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the decoding component runs on the reading device or on the enterprise system.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the message is encoded using an error correcting code (ECC) to generate the codeword.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the codeword is split in a plurality of portions and each portion of the codeword is stored on each tag in the set of tags.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein each part of the codeword is stored with an address on each tag, the address is used to ensure the plurality of portions of the codeword are assembled in a specific order.

14. A machine-readable storage medium, having instructions therein that when executed by the machine, cause the machine to:

request information from each of a set of electronic tags, the information includes an identification code and a portion of a codeword, the codeword contains a coded message with identification codes of all tags in the set;

receive information from a subset of the set of tags;

assemble portions of the codeword from the received tag information from the subset of the set of tags;

construct the coded message from the assembled portions of the codeword; and

individually receive information from a remaining set of the tags in the set of tags.

15. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the coded message is encoded using an error correcting code (ECC).

16. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 14, having instructions that when executed further cause the machine to:

split the codeword into a plurality of portions, each portion of the codeword is included within the information of each tag in the set of electronic tags.

17. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein each portion of the codeword is included with an address, the address is used to ensure assembling of the portions of the codeword in a specific order.

18. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein instructions causing the machine to construct the coded message comprise instructions causing the machine to receive the identification codes from all tags in the set.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, having instructions that when executed further cause the machine to:

identify the remaining set of the tags by comparing the received identification codes from the subset of the set of tags with the identification codes from all tags in the set.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, having instructions that when executed further cause the machine to:

perform error handling if information from a subset of the remaining set is not received.

21. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the tags in the set are Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags.