RFID SYSTEM WITH CONFIGURABLE RF PORT

• US 20130342318A1
• Filed: 06/26/2012
• Published: 12/26/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/26/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Eastman Kodak Company
• Original Assignee: Eastman Kodak Company
• Inventors: Hinman, Mark P., Zogg, Edward, Sharma, Abhishek
• Granted Patent: US 8,933,787 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/10.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/07327 Passive means, e.g. Faraday cages Faraday-type protection of electric circuits in general H05K9/00

Abstract

An active RFID tag has an antenna inside RF-blocking enclosure having a port with a selected shortest dimension. An RFID reader located outside the enclosure at a reader position transmits a downlink RF signal through the port as a directional RF signal on a downlink carrier frequency corresponding to a downlink wavelength smaller than the selected shortest dimension. The port is selectively configured so that the directional downlink RF signal can pass through the port in an access mode during a selected access time interval and are attenuated by at least 60 dB in a restricted mode during a selected restricted time interval that does not overlap with the access time interval.

Claims

1. An RFID system, comprising:

a) an RF-blocking enclosure having a port with a selected shortest dimension, the enclosure configured so that a downlink RF signal of a selected downlink power passing through the port from a selected direction provides a received power at a selected antenna location in the enclosure;

b) an active RFID tag including a controller and an interior antenna coupled to the controller and located at the selected antenna location, the tag responsive to a selected RF downlink frequency range, wherein the received power is not less than a receive sensitivity of the active RFID tag;

c) an RFID reader located outside the enclosure at a reader position, the RFID reader adapted to transmit the downlink RF signal as a directional RF signal on a downlink carrier frequency corresponding to a downlink wavelength smaller than the selected shortest dimension, the downlink carrier frequency being within the selected RF downlink frequency range;

d) a gate adapted to selectively configure the port so that the directional RF signal transmitted by the reader in the selected direction can pass through the port in an access mode during a selected access time interval and is attenuated by at least 60 dB in a restricted mode during a selected restricted time interval that does not overlap with the access time interval.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the enclosure has at least one RF-reflecting interior surface positioned so that the directional downlink RF signal from the reader at the reader position reflects off the interior surface before reaching the selected antenna location.

3. The system according to claim 1, further including a controller adapted to automatically control the gate.

4. The system according to claim 3, further including a non-RFID-active object to which the RFID tag is affixed and a sensor for detecting that the non-RFID-active object is in a selected location, wherein the controller causes the gate to configure the port in the access mode when the sensor detects the object in the location.

5. The system according to claim 4, wherein the reader is responsive to the sensor to transmit the downlink RF signal when the sensor detects the object in the selected location.

6. The system according to claim 1, wherein the port is rectangular and the gate includes an iris with open diameter greater than the long diagonal of the port.

7. The system according to claim 3, wherein the controller changes between the access mode and the restricted mode at times determined by a pseudo-random sequence.

8. The system according to claim 7, wherein the pseudo-random sequence is determined by a secret key exchange between the controller and the reader.

9. The system according to claim 1, wherein the downlink wavelength is at least ten times a smallest exterior dimension of the enclosure.

10. The system according to claim 1, wherein an interior surfaces of the enclosure is RF-absorbing or -attenuating.

11. The system according to claim 3, wherein the reader is adapted to detect transmissions from other readers and to signal the controller, and the controller responds to the signal by configuring the port in the restricted mode.