Contactless data transmission and receiving device with a synchronous demodulator

• US 6,028,503 A
• Filed: 11/04/1997
• Issued: 02/22/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 11/05/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Quotainne Enterprises LLC
• Original Assignee: US Philips Corporation (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Preishuberpflugl, Josef, Watzinger, Hubert, Spiess, Bernhard, Arnold, Siegfried
• Primary Examiner(s): Holloway, III, Edwin C.
• Application Number:
  US08/963,940
• Time in Patent Office: 840 Days
• Field of Search: 340/825.54, 340/10.4, 342/42, 342/95, 375/344, 307/10.5
• US Class Current: 340/10.4
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/758 using a signal generator powered by the interrogation signal
• 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 transmission and receiving device for contact data transmission between the device and a transponder. The transmission and receiving device has an antenna resonant circuit, a synchronous demodulator, a measuring unit, a control unit, and a reference signal generator. In operation, the device and the transponder are inductively coupled to each other through the antenna resonance circuit of the device and an antenna resonance circuit in the transponder. In response to an interrogation by the device, the transponder sends a load modulated digital signal to the device. The synchronous demodulator detects digital response data contained in the load modulated digital signal. The measuring unit measures a phase shift between a reference signal generated by the reference signal generator and a resonance signal generated in the antenna resonance circuit in the device by the sent load modulated digital signal. The control unit controls the synchronous demodulator such that the synchronous demodulator changes its demodulation mode between amplitude demodulation and phase demodulation, in dependence of the measured phase shift.

Claims

1. A transmission and receiving device for contactless data transmission between the device and a transponder, the transmission and receiving device comprising a drive stage for generating a drive signal and a first antenna resonant circuit which includes a coil and a capacitor, the transponder comprising a second antenna resonance circuit, the drive signal being supplied to the first antenna resonance circuit, an RF signal occurring in the first antenna resonance circuit corresponding to the drive signal, and the RF signal being modulateable by load modulation in dependence on data to be transmitted to the transmission and receiving device by a transponder, the transmission and receiving device comprising an evaluation unit to which the RF signal is supplied for the purpose of evaluation, the evaluation unit being arranged to determine data contained in the RF signal due to the load modulation, and the transmission and receiving device comprising a measuring unit for determining measurement values of an electric variable which occurs in the first antenna resonant circuit, and a control unit for generating control information in dependence on the measurement values determined, characterized in that the evaluation unit is implemented as a synchronous demodulator which samples the RF signal at sampling instants for the purpose of demodulation, that the measuring unit is arranged to determine a respective phase shift between a reference signal and the electric variable, that the control unit and the synchronous demodulator are interconnected, that the control information generated by the control unit is applied to the synchronous demodulator, and that the sampling instants are automatically influenced by the control information in accordance with the determined phase shift, so as to adapt the sampling instances to a mode change of the synchronous demodulator between an amplitude demodulation mode and a phase demodulation mode.

2. A transmission and receiving device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the measuring unit is connected to the drive stage, the drive signal being the reference signal.

3. A transmission and receiving device as claimed in claim 2, wherein the measuring unit is arranged to determine a respective period of time t_c as the measurement value corresponding to the phase shift between the drive signal and the voltage across the capacitor of the antenna resonant circuit.

4. A transmission and receiving device as claimed in claim 3, wherein the control unit is arranged to determine a respective period of time t_s in conformity with the formule t_s =2(t_c +t_k), where t_k is a correction constant and the period of time t_s corresponds to the respective phase shift between the drive signal and the sampling instants T_S, and that the control unit is arranged to supply the synchronous demodulator with control information which is dependent on the period of time t_s determined so that the synchronous demodulator samples the RF signal at the sampling instants T_S.

5. A transmission and receiving device as claimed in claim 4, wherein the transmission and receiving device includes a correction data memory in which the correction constant t_k can be stored during an initialization operation, and that the correction constant t_k stored in the correction data memory is applied to the control unit in order to influence a sampling instant T_S to be expected.

6. A transmission and receiving device as claimed in claim 4, wherein the transmission and receiving device includes an input terminal via which the transmission and receiving device receives the correction constant t_k, that the input terminal is connected to the control unit and that the correction constant t_k, supplied via the input terminal, is applied to the control unit in order to influence a sampling instant T_S to be expected.

7. A transmission and receiving device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the antenna resonant circuit includes a tuning unit for changing the self-resonant frequency of the antenna resonant circuit, the control unit is connected to the tuning unit and is arranged to tune the antenna resonant circuit to a given nominal self-resonant frequency and to apply the control information to the tuning unit in order to change the self-resonant frequency of the antenna resonant circuit, the tuning unit being tunable merely by applying control information from the control unit to the tuning unit only once.

8. A transmission and receiving device for contactless data communication between the device and a transponder through resonant coupling of a first antenna resonant circuit comprised in said device and a second antenna resonant circuit comprised in said transponder, said device comprising:

transmit means for transmitting modulated first data to said transponder, said transmit means comprising a driver stage for driving said first antenna resonant circuit with said modulated first data; and

receive means for receiving amplitude modulated second data from said transponder in response to said modulated first data,

said receive means comprising a synchronous demodulator for sampling said received modulated second data at sampling instants, said synchronous demodulator being coupled to said driver stage and receiving a reference signal from said driver stage,

said receive means further comprising a measurement and control unit which is coupled to said driver stage, to said synchronous detector, and to said first antenna resonant circuit, said measurement and control unit being arranged for measuring a phase shift between said reference signal and an electric signal occurring in said first antenna resonant circuit due to reception of said modulated second data signal, and for controlling said sampling instants relative to a phase of said reference signal in dependence of said measured phase shift, so as to cause a mode change of said synchronous demodulator between an amplitude demodulation mode and a phase demodulation mode.