Stochastic communication protocol method and system for radio frequency identification (RFID) tags based on coalition formation, such as for tag-to-tag communication
First Claim
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1. A method, comprising:
- forming clusters of distributed data carriers;
for each of said clusters, identifying a bridge data carrier that is operable to communicate with a bridge data carrier of another of said clusters by defining a bridge zone as a region where a power output level from said at least one of said data carriers in a first cluster, which is sensed by another one of said data carriers in a second cluster, exceeds a cumulative power that is sensed by said another one of said data carriers from all of the data carriers in the first cluster by a threshold value;
enabling communication between data carriers of the different clusters via the identified bridge data carrier, at least some of said data carriers including batteryless passive data carriers, wherein each data carrier in the cluster is operable to communicate with the respective bridge data carrier; and
forming coalitions of clusters of distributed data carriers based on the enabled communication between the data carriers of the different clusters, each coalition of clusters including at least two of the clusters of distributed data carriers.
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Abstract
Data carriers (such as RFID tags) are formed into clusters of data carriers. Each cluster has at least one bridge data carrier that can communicate with a bridge data carrier of another cluster, thereby allowing data carriers in each cluster to communicate directly or indirectly with each other using a stochastic communication protocol method. Direct tag-to-tag communication capability is provided between data carriers in each cluster and/or between clusters. The data carriers can backscatter and modulate a carrier wave from a source, thereby using the backscattered and modulated carrier wave to convey data to each other.
224 Citations
39 Claims
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1. A method, comprising:
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forming clusters of distributed data carriers; for each of said clusters, identifying a bridge data carrier that is operable to communicate with a bridge data carrier of another of said clusters by defining a bridge zone as a region where a power output level from said at least one of said data carriers in a first cluster, which is sensed by another one of said data carriers in a second cluster, exceeds a cumulative power that is sensed by said another one of said data carriers from all of the data carriers in the first cluster by a threshold value; enabling communication between data carriers of the different clusters via the identified bridge data carrier, at least some of said data carriers including batteryless passive data carriers, wherein each data carrier in the cluster is operable to communicate with the respective bridge data carrier; and forming coalitions of clusters of distributed data carriers based on the enabled communication between the data carriers of the different clusters, each coalition of clusters including at least two of the clusters of distributed data carriers. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A system, comprising:
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At least a first and second clusters of distributed data carriers, wherein for each of said first and second clusters, a bridge data carrier is identified that is operable to link with a bridge data carrier of another of said first and second clusters; and means for enabling communication between the data carriers of the first and second clusters, some of said data carriers including batteryless passive carriers, wherein said bridge data carrier is identified according to a region where a power output level from a first data carrier in the first cluster, which is sensed by a second data carrier in the second cluster, exceeds a cumulative power that is sensed by said second data carrier from all of the data carriers in the first cluster by a threshold value. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26)
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27. A system, comprising:
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a plurality of clusters of distributed data carriers, some of said data carriers including batteryless passive data carriers; and for each of said clusters, a bridge data carrier that is operable to link with a bridge data carrier of another of said clusters to enable communication between data carriers of the clusters, said communication including modulation of a backscattered carrier wave to convey interrogation and return signals between data carriers of the clusters, wherein the modulation of the backscattered carrier wave is initiated by; receiving power from the carrier wave; and monitoring for a query signal associated with the carrier wave for a period of time, wherein when the query signal is not detected after expiration of the period of time, generating and sending the interrogation signal to query the second of said data carriers; and when the query signal is detected prior to expiration of the period of time, responding to the query signal, and wherein the bridge data carriers are determined based at least in part on a region where a power output level from a first data carrier in a first cluster, which is sensed by a second data carrier in a second cluster, exceeds a cumulative power that is sensed by said second data carrier from all of the data carriers in the first cluster by a threshold value. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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33. An article of manufacture, comprising:
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a storage medium usable with a plurality of distributed data carriers arranged into clusters, the storage medium having instructions stored thereon that are executable by a processor associated with a first passive data carrier to provide communication between passive ones of said data carriers, by; receiving a carrier wave; starting a timer; monitoring for an interrogation signal; when the interrogation signal is not received before expiration of the timer, generating the interrogation signal by modulating the carrier wave; sending the interrogation signal to at least a second data carrier; and continuing to send the interrogation signal to the second data carrier until a response signal is received from the second data carrier, wherein the storage medium further includes instructions stored thereon that are executable by said processor to provide communication between passive ones of said data carriers, by identifying a bridge data carrier associated with the cluster of the second data carrier based at least in part on a cumulative output power level of at least some of the data carriers in the cluster of the second data carrier, wherein the bridge data carrier is identified based at least in part on a region where a power output level from the bridge data carrier sensed by one of data carriers in the cluster of the first data carrier exceeds the cumulative power output level of all the data carriers in the cluster of the second data carrier, that is sensed by the one of the data carriers in the cluster of the first data carrier, by a threshold value. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39)
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Specification