Systems and methods for providing quality of service to RFID

• US 7,978,050 B2
• Filed: 05/30/2007
• Issued: 07/12/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Golba LLC
• Original Assignee: Golba LLC
• Inventors: Moshfeghi, Mehran
• Primary Examiner(s): Wu, Daniel
• Assistant Examiner(s): RUSHING, MARK S
• Application Number:
  US11/809,013
• Publication Number:
  US 20080297312A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,504 Days
• Field of Search: 340/572.1, 340/10.1, 340/10.2, 340/10.3, 340/10.4, 340/568.1, 340/572.4, 370/314, 370/329, 370/348, 370/455, 709/207
• US Class Current: 340/10.2
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10009 sensing by radiation using wavelengths larger than 0.1 mm, e.g. radio-waves or microwaves
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10227 loading programming parameters or programs into the interrogator, e.g. for configuring the interrogator
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2433 Allocation of priorities to traffic types
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2491 Mapping quality of service [QoS] requirements between different networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/61 taking into account QoS or priority requirements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/10 Flow control between communication endpoints
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/24 Negotiating SLA [Service Level Agreement]; Negotiating QoS [Quality of Service]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/04 Registration at HLR or HSS [Home Subscriber Server]

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention include systems and methods for providing Quality of service to RFID. In one embodiment the present invention includes a method of providing quality of service in an RFID network comprising storing RFID priority information corresponding to the RFID network, wherein the RFID network comprises one or more tags and one or more readers mapping the RFID priority information into priority information corresponding to a second network.

Claims

1. A method of providing quality of service in an RFID first network comprising a set of tags and a set of readers, the RFID first network communicatively coupled to a second network, the method comprising:

at a reader, receiving data from a tag in response to an RFID request;

retrieving RFID priority information corresponding to said RFID first network;

determining an RFID priority level corresponding to the RFID first network for the RFID request based on the retrieved RFID priority information;

mapping the determined RFID priority level to a second network priority level corresponding to the second network, wherein the mapped second network priority level is different from the determined RFID priority level; and

sending an RFID response comprising the data and the second network priority level to the second network.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein retrieving the RFID priority information comprises retrieving the RFID priority information stored on the tag.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein retrieving the RFID priority information comprises retrieving the RFID priority information stored on the reader.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the RFID priority information comprises a priority level of the tag and a priority level of the reader, wherein retrieving the RFID priority information comprises retrieving the priority level of the tag and the priority level of the reader.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein retrieving the RFID priority information comprises retrieving the RFID priority information stored on the second network.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the RFID priority information stored on the second network is cached on an access point of the second network.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the RFID priority information is stored on one or more readers.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the RFID priority information is based on attributes of the RFID first network.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the attributes of the RFID first network include a location of the reader or an application type that is supported by the reader.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the second network is a wired local area network, a wireless local area network, or a cellular network.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the mapping the RFID priority level to the second network priority level comprises converting the RFID priority level to a priority level of the second network by applying a mapping algorithm to the RFID priority level.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the RFID priority level mapped to the second network priority level based on the RFID priority level determined for the RFID request, a number of available RFID priority levels, and a number of available second network priority levels.

13. The method of claim 2 further comprising modifying the RFID priority information that is stored on the tag.

14. The method of claim 3 further comprising updating the RFID priority information stored on the reader with the retrieved RFID priority information when the retrieved RFID priority information is different from the RFID priority information stored on the reader.

15. The method of claim 13 further comprising transmitting the modified RFID priority information on the tag to one or more other readers of the RFID first network.

34. The method of claim 1, wherein the RFID request is a first RFID request and the RFID priority level is a first RFID priority level, wherein the first RFID request is processed before a second RFID request having a second RFID priority level that is lower than the first RFID priority level and is processed after a third RFID request having a third RFID priority level that is higher than the first RFID priority level.

35. The method of claim 1, wherein the second network comprises a set of access points and routers, wherein the access points and routers process a plurality of RFID responses in an order based on second network priority levels associated with the plurality of RFID responses.

16. A method of providing quality of service in an RFID first network comprising a set of RFID readers, the RFID first network communicatively coupled to a second network, the method comprising:

receiving, at an RFID reader, a plurality of RFID requests from the second network;

determining an RFID priority level for each of the plurality of RFID requests; and

executing the plurality of RFID requests at said RFID reader in an order based on the RFID priority levels determined for the plurality of the RFID requests, wherein a first RFID request is executed before a second RFID request when an RFID priority level associated with the first RFID request is higher than an RFID priority level associated with the second RFID request.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the RFID priority levels determined for the RFID requests correspond to the RFID first network, the method further comprising receiving a second network priority level for each of the plurality of RFID requests from the second network, wherein determining the RFID priority level for each particular RFID request comprises determining the RFID priority level based on the second network priority level received for the particular RFID request.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein determining the RFID priority level comprises retrieving a priority level of the RFID reader.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the RFID priority level of the RFID reader is stored external to the RFID reader.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the RFID first network further comprises a set of RFID tags, wherein the RFID reader retrieves data from an RFID tag in response to each RFID request, wherein determining comprises:

for each particular RFID request, retrieving a priority level of the RFID tag that is associated with the particular RFID request; and

determining the RFID priority level of the particular RFID request based on the priority level of the RFID tag associated with the particular RFID request.

21. The method of claim 18, wherein the RFID priority levels of the plurality of RFID requests are based on the retrieved priority level of the RFID reader.

22. The method of claim 16, wherein the RFID first network comprises a set of RFID tags, wherein the RFID reader retrieves data from an RFID tag in response to each RFID request, wherein determining comprises:

for each particular RFID request, retrieving a priority level of an RFID tag that is associated with the particular RFID request and a priority level of the RFID reader; and

determining the RFID priority level for the particular RFID request based on the priority level of the RFID tag and the priority level of the RFID reader.

36. A method of claim 16, wherein the RFID first network comprises a set of RFID tags, wherein executing the plurality of RFID requests comprises retrieving, for each RFID request, data from one of the set of RFID tags.

37. A method of claim 36, wherein executing the plurality of RFID requests further comprises sending, for each RFID request, the retrieved data to the second network.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein the RFID reader is communicatively coupled to the second network via two communication channels, wherein the data retrieved for the first RFID request is sent to the second network through a first communication channel and the data retrieved for the second RFID request is sent to the second network through a second communication channel that is slower than the first communication channel based on the RFID priority levels associated with the first and second RFID requests.

39. The method of claim 16, wherein each of the plurality of RFID requests is associated with a second network priority level corresponding to the second network, wherein the second network comprises an access point that sends the plurality of RFID requests to a set of RFID readers in an order that is based on the second network priority levels associated with the plurality of RFID requests, wherein a first RFID request is sent to a first RFID reader before a second RFID request is sent to a second RFID reader when the second network priority level associated with the first RFID request is higher than the second network priority level associated with the second RFID request.

40. The method of claim 16, wherein each of the plurality of RFID requests is associated with a second network priority level corresponding to the second network, wherein the second network comprises an access point that sends the plurality of RFID requests to a plurality of RFID readers in an order that is based on the second network priority levels associated with the plurality of RFID requests, wherein a first RFID request is sent to an RFID reader before a second RFID request when the second network priority level associated with the first RFID request is higher than the second priority level associated with the second RFID request.

41. The method of claim 16, wherein each of the plurality of RFID requests and each of a plurality of data items is associated with a second network priority level corresponding to the second network, wherein the second network comprises an access point that sends the plurality of data items and the plurality of RFID requests to a set of RFID readers in an order that is based on the second network priority levels associated with the plurality of data items and the plurality of RFID requests, wherein the access point sends the plurality of RFID requests to the set of RFID readers before sending the plurality of data items to the set of RFID readers when the second network priority levels associated with the plurality of the RFID requests are higher than the second network priority levels associated with the plurality of data items.

42. The method of claim 16, wherein each of the plurality of RFID requests and each of a plurality of data items is associated with a second network priority level corresponding to the second network, wherein the second network comprises an access point that sends the plurality of data items to a plurality of receivers in the second network and sends the plurality of RFID requests to a set of RFID readers in the RFID first network, wherein the second network priority levels associated with the plurality of RFID requests are higher than the second network priority level associated with the plurality of data items, wherein the access point sends the plurality of RFID requests to the set of RFID readers before sending the plurality of data items to the receivers.

23. A system including an RFID first network for providing quality of service, the RFID first network comprising:

a set of RFID readers communicatively coupled to a second network over a communication channel; and

a set of RFID tags communicatively coupled to at least one RFID reader in the set of RFID readers, wherein the set of RFID readers is configured to receive a plurality of RFID requests from the second network and process the plurality of RFID requests in an order based on a plurality of RFID priority levels that are associated with the plurality of RFID requests, wherein a first RFID request is processed before a second RFID request when an RFID priority level of the first RFID request is higher than an RFID priority level of the second RFID request.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein an RFID reader processes an RFID request by retrieving data from an RFID tag and sending the data to the second network via the communication channel.

25. The system of claim 23, wherein the set of RFID readers is further configured to map the RFID priority level of each of the plurality of RFID requests to a second network priority level corresponding to the second network.

26. The system of claim 23, wherein the RFID priority levels of the plurality of RFID requests are stored on the set of RFID readers.

27. The system of claim 24, wherein the RFID priority level of the RFID request takes into account of a priority level of the RFID tag.

28. The system of claim 24, wherein the RFID priority level of the RFID request takes into account of a priority level of the RFID reader.

29. The system of claim 23, wherein the set of RFID readers are multimode readers, and wherein at least one RFID reader in the set of RFID readers transmits and receives information related to a first RFID request using a first communication channel based on a first RFID priority level of the first RFID request, and wherein the at least one RFID reader transmits and receives information related to a second RFID request using a second communication channel based on a second RFID priority level of the second RFID request, wherein the second RFID priority level is higher than the first RFID priority level and the second communication channel is faster than the first communication channel.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein the first communication channel is a communication channel between the at least one RFID reader and another RFID reader, and the second communication channel is a communication channel between the at least one RFID reader and the second network.

43. The system of claim 23, wherein the set of RFID readers comprises a particular multimode reader communicatively coupled to the second network via two different communication channels, wherein the particular multimode reader transmits and receives information related to a plurality of RFID requests using one of the two communication channels that has a lower network usage cost than the other communication channel.

44. The system of claim 43, wherein the particular multimode reader has two radio transmitters, each radio transmitter associated with one of the two different communication channels.

45. The system of claim 23, wherein the set of RFID readers comprises a particular multimode reader communicatively coupled to the second network via two different communication channels, wherein the particular multimode reader transmits and receives information related to a plurality of RFID requests using one of the two communication channels that provides a quality of service required by the plurality of RFID requests.

31. The method of 4, wherein determining the RFID priority level comprises performing a calculation based on the priority level of the tag and the priority level of the reader.

32. The method of 4, wherein the RFID priority level of the RFID request is a higher of the priority level of the tag and the priority level of the reader.

33. The method of 4, wherein the RFID priority level of the RFID request is an average of the priority level of the tag and the priority level of the reader.