Wireless sensor reader
First Claim
1. A wireless sensor reader comprising:
- an antenna for transmitting a plurality of excitation pulses to a wireless sensor;
at least one receiver for receiving a ring signal from said wireless sensor in response to said excitation pulses, said receiver including at least one filter to filter said ring signal received from said wireless sensor,wherein said filter defines a passband window to allow a frequency bandwidth to be received by the reader,wherein said passband window may be defined to pass only a frequency band that corresponds to a parametric range, andwherein an ambient pressure sensor is in communication with said filter to at least partially define the passband window of a resonant frequency value to optimize itself for operation based on said passband window.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A wireless sensor reader is provided to interface with a wireless sensor. The wireless sensor reader transmits an excitation pulse to cause the wireless sensor to generate a ring signal. The wireless sensor reader receives and amplifies the ring signal and sends the signal to a phase-locked loop. A voltage-controlled oscillator in the phase-locked loop locks onto the ring signal frequency and generates a count signal at a frequency related to the ring signal frequency. The voltage-controlled oscillator is placed into a hold mode where the control voltage is maintained constant to allow the count signal frequency to be determined. The reader uses an ambient reading or other information to select a subset of the possible ring signal frequencies, and tunes or adjusts its circuits and algorithms to focus on that subset.
221 Citations
22 Claims
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1. A wireless sensor reader comprising:
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an antenna for transmitting a plurality of excitation pulses to a wireless sensor; at least one receiver for receiving a ring signal from said wireless sensor in response to said excitation pulses, said receiver including at least one filter to filter said ring signal received from said wireless sensor, wherein said filter defines a passband window to allow a frequency bandwidth to be received by the reader, wherein said passband window may be defined to pass only a frequency band that corresponds to a parametric range, and wherein an ambient pressure sensor is in communication with said filter to at least partially define the passband window of a resonant frequency value to optimize itself for operation based on said passband window. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 22)
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12. A wireless sensor reader comprising:
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a transmit circuit configured to generate an excitation pulse to cause a wireless sensor to emit a ring signal; an antenna configured to transmit said excitation pulse and receive said ring signal; a phase-locked loop circuit configured to receive said ring signal, said phase-locked loop circuit including a voltage-controlled oscillator configured to generate a count signal at a frequency related to said ring signal frequency; a circuit for identifying a set of possible frequency values of said ring signal for an individual reading; wherein said phase-locked loop circuit is capable of being placed in a sample mode to receive said ring signal and adjust the frequency of said count signal based on the frequency of said ring signal; wherein at least one of said transmit circuit, said phase-locked loop circuit, said antenna, and said voltage-controlled oscillator is tunable to the identified set of possible frequency values; and wherein said circuit defines a passband window to allow a frequency bandwidth to be received by the reader, and wherein the passband window may be defined to pass only a frequency band that corresponds to a parametric range. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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Specification