WO2007031852A1 - A radio frequency indentification (rfid) reader - Google Patents

A radio frequency indentification (rfid) reader Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2007031852A1
WO2007031852A1 PCT/IB2006/002533 IB2006002533W WO2007031852A1 WO 2007031852 A1 WO2007031852 A1 WO 2007031852A1 IB 2006002533 W IB2006002533 W IB 2006002533W WO 2007031852 A1 WO2007031852 A1 WO 2007031852A1
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WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
rfid
cellular communications
reader
communications device
radio frequency
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/IB2006/002533
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Gerhard Stephanus Mynhardt
Original Assignee
Sygade Solutions (Proprietary) Limited
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Sygade Solutions (Proprietary) Limited filed Critical Sygade Solutions (Proprietary) Limited
Publication of WO2007031852A1 publication Critical patent/WO2007031852A1/en

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Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01Q—ANTENNAS, i.e. RADIO AERIALS
    • H01Q1/00—Details of, or arrangements associated with, antennas
    • H01Q1/12—Supports; Mounting means
    • H01Q1/22—Supports; Mounting means by structural association with other equipment or articles
    • H01Q1/2208—Supports; Mounting means by structural association with other equipment or articles associated with components used in interrogation type services, i.e. in systems for information exchange between an interrogator/reader and a tag/transponder, e.g. in Radio Frequency Identification [RFID] systems
    • H01Q1/2216—Supports; Mounting means by structural association with other equipment or articles associated with components used in interrogation type services, i.e. in systems for information exchange between an interrogator/reader and a tag/transponder, e.g. in Radio Frequency Identification [RFID] systems used in interrogator/reader equipment
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01Q—ANTENNAS, i.e. RADIO AERIALS
    • H01Q1/00—Details of, or arrangements associated with, antennas
    • H01Q1/12—Supports; Mounting means
    • H01Q1/22—Supports; Mounting means by structural association with other equipment or articles
    • H01Q1/24—Supports; Mounting means by structural association with other equipment or articles with receiving set
    • H01Q1/241—Supports; Mounting means by structural association with other equipment or articles with receiving set used in mobile communications, e.g. GSM
    • H01Q1/242—Supports; Mounting means by structural association with other equipment or articles with receiving set used in mobile communications, e.g. GSM specially adapted for hand-held use
    • H01Q1/243—Supports; Mounting means by structural association with other equipment or articles with receiving set used in mobile communications, e.g. GSM specially adapted for hand-held use with built-in antennas
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01Q—ANTENNAS, i.e. RADIO AERIALS
    • H01Q1/00—Details of, or arrangements associated with, antennas
    • H01Q1/36—Structural form of radiating elements, e.g. cone, spiral, umbrella; Particular materials used therewith
    • H01Q1/38—Structural form of radiating elements, e.g. cone, spiral, umbrella; Particular materials used therewith formed by a conductive layer on an insulating support
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04M1/00—Substation equipment, e.g. for use by subscribers
    • H04M1/72—Mobile telephones; Cordless telephones, i.e. devices for establishing wireless links to base stations without route selection
    • H04M1/724—User interfaces specially adapted for cordless or mobile telephones
    • H04M1/72403—User interfaces specially adapted for cordless or mobile telephones with means for local support of applications that increase the functionality
    • H04M1/72409—User interfaces specially adapted for cordless or mobile telephones with means for local support of applications that increase the functionality by interfacing with external accessories
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04M1/00—Substation equipment, e.g. for use by subscribers
    • H04M1/02—Constructional features of telephone sets
    • H04M1/0202—Portable telephone sets, e.g. cordless phones, mobile phones or bar type handsets
    • H04M1/0206—Portable telephones comprising a plurality of mechanically joined movable body parts, e.g. hinged housings
    • H04M1/0208—Portable telephones comprising a plurality of mechanically joined movable body parts, e.g. hinged housings characterized by the relative motions of the body parts
    • H04M1/0214—Foldable telephones, i.e. with body parts pivoting to an open position around an axis parallel to the plane they define in closed position
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04M1/00—Substation equipment, e.g. for use by subscribers
    • H04M1/72—Mobile telephones; Cordless telephones, i.e. devices for establishing wireless links to base stations without route selection
    • H04M1/724—User interfaces specially adapted for cordless or mobile telephones
    • H04M1/72403—User interfaces specially adapted for cordless or mobile telephones with means for local support of applications that increase the functionality
    • H04M1/72409—User interfaces specially adapted for cordless or mobile telephones with means for local support of applications that increase the functionality by interfacing with external accessories
    • H04M1/72412—User interfaces specially adapted for cordless or mobile telephones with means for local support of applications that increase the functionality by interfacing with external accessories using two-way short-range wireless interfaces

Definitions

  • This invention relates to a radio frequency identification (RFID) reader for reading passive transponders or active transponders.
  • RFID radio frequency identification
  • RFID readers which are able to communicate wirelessly in remote locations such as in livestock tagging, tagging and reading cars which are hired out, reading worker ID badges when reporting to work at sites away from fixed infra structure, such as building sites, and in other general mobile inventory management. Furthermore, in such cases it is mostly a requirement that the reader be compact and portable, battery operated, and logically integrated into a wireless network. In such a case items which are fitted with readable tags would be scanned, and will subsequently be uploaded wirelessly to the applicable database host or application host.
  • the most cost effective methodology would be to communicate the item or tag files from the compact RFID reader via a cellular communications device or cellular communications device modem, such as a GSM modem, and furthermore, to tightly integrate the reader to the cellular communications device.
  • a cellular communications device or cellular communications device modem such as a GSM modem
  • the present invention seeks to address this.
  • a radio frequency identification (RFID) reader comprising:
  • At least one antenna for transmission and reception of radio frequency signals
  • a radio frequency receiver for receiving data back from remote passive RFlD tags
  • an interface for connecting the reader to a cellular communications device so that data received by the RFID reader can be transmitted to the cellular communications device via the interface.
  • the at least one antenna may be located in a moveable antenna housing moveable between a first position and a second position, wherein when the reader is connected to the cellular communications device and the housing is in the first position the antenna is located adjacent a body of the cellular communications device and when the housing is in the second position the antenna extends away from the body of the cellular communications device.
  • the controller may include software loaded thereon which allows the controller to communicate with software on the cellular communications device via the interface.
  • the software of the RFID transmits data to the cellular communications device which data is to be transmitted by the cellular communications device over a cellular communications network.
  • the interface may also include an electrical connector arranged to connect to an electrical connector of the cellular communications device which allows the cellular communications device to connect to external devices.
  • the interface may include a physical connector arranged to connect the RFID reader physically to the cellular communications device.
  • the interface may also include a power connector arranged to supply power to the RFID reader from a battery of the cellular communications device.
  • the controller initiates an RFID read when it receives a read command from the cellular communications device.
  • the read command received from the cellular communications device may include a parameter instructing the controller how long the read cycle should be.
  • the read command received from the cellular communications device may also include a parameter instructing the controller how many RFID tags should be read.
  • a cellular communications device including software thereon, which software is adapted to receive data from a radio frequency identification (RFID) reader connected to the device, which data has been read from an RFID tag, and to transmit the data over a cellular communications network to a central server.
  • RFID radio frequency identification
  • the device may include a memory and wherein the data received from the RFID tag is stored in the memory.
  • the software may receive a read command input by a user of the device and in response transmits a read command to the reader connected to the device.
  • the software may also receive read parameters input by a user of the device in response transmits read parameters to the reader connected to the device.
  • Figure 1 is a perspective view of a radio frequency identification reader connected to a cellular telephone
  • Figure 2 shows the radio frequency identification reader of Figure 1 with the aerial in an extended position to minimize interference from the user's hand;
  • Figure 3 is a schematic block diagram of the components of the cellular telephone and the radio frequency identification reader.
  • Figure 4a-4d is a circuit diagram of one embodiment of the radio frequency identification reader.
  • the example embodiments described below address the problem of using RFID readers in remote locations by quickly and easily converting an existing commercially available cellular communications device, such as a cellular telephone, to be used as an RFID reader so that the cellular communications device can be used as the remote transmission module utilizing its inherent wireless transmission capability. Also, part of the RFID reader application software can be executed on the cellular telephone.
  • a commercially available cellular communications device in the form of a cellular telephone 40 is illustrated including a radio frequency identification (RFlD) reader 42 according to the present invention.
  • RFID radio frequency identification
  • the reader 42 includes at least one antenna 44 which is mounted in an individual part of the plastic housing and is connectable to the cellular telephone.
  • the housing is moveable between a first position in which it is located adjacent the body of the cellular telephone and a second position in -which it extends away from the body of the cellular telephone.
  • the antenna may be a single antenna for both transmitting and receiving or there may be a separate antenna for transmitting and a separate antenna for receiving located within one housing.
  • the antenna housing may be connected with a hinge allowing it to be clipped open, thereby exposing the antenna without the users hand covering it.
  • the antenna housing can slide out of the main reader module housing, which is clipped onto a cellular telephone, thereby exposing the antenna without the user's hand covering it.
  • the commercially available cellular telephone 40 must have the following capabilities:
  • Electrical interface to external devices must be available. This must also allow the external device to effect communications to the applicable cellular network, and preferably should also provide battery power to the external device.
  • Physical connector suitable to allow external devices to be able to be securely fitted to the cellular telephone enclosure so that it will result in a single coherent unit.
  • a variety of commercially available cellular telephones are suitable.
  • the MotorolaTM i85S phone from the MotorolaTM iDen range of phones is used.
  • This cellular telephone has a serial asynchronous data interface to external peripherals, and also supplies the phone's battery voltage to the expansion interface connector. Peripheral devices can therefore be operated from the cellular telephone's battery.
  • the RFlD reader 42 circuitry is housed in it's own compact compartment, with an interface that includes an electrical connector 46 which connects the reader board directly to the 185s cellular telephone expansion connector.
  • the interface includes a physical connector to allow the reader to be physically connected to the cellular telephone.
  • An RFID Read and Write application will be stored on the cellular telephone. This application is written in J2ME, and is downloaded with the tools provided by Motorola or is downloaded over the air. If the user needs to read RFID tags, the application is selected via the cellular telephone's user interface on a similar basis to how it allows user added applications to be selected. Once selected, the application is executed. Messages on the screen will request the user to press a specific key, typically 0, in order to read a tag. The application then sends a Read command to the reader module 42 processor, which starts a read activity. A Read command will typically contain 2 parameters. The first is an indicator, normally in steps of 0.1 second, of how long the read cycle should be. The second is how many tags should be read, normally set to one. This is to allow the read cycle, which draws significant surges of current, to be as short as possible.
  • FIGS 4a to 4d show a typical RFID backscatter reader, as used in this embodiment.
  • Other reader types including readers for active transponders operating at different frequencies and using different air protocols, may also be used.
  • the reader architecture is largely air protocol independent in terms of the various UHF backscatter tag types that exists. Nevertheless the reader will include a radio frequency transmitter for activating remote passive RFID tags and a radio frequency receiver for receiving data back from remote passive RFID tags.
  • the reader module operates at 915Mhz and uses an RFM HO1045 915 Mhz oscillator.1.
  • the oscillator output is split into 2 signals via a Mini Circuits RF splitter type SBTC-2-10 2.
  • One output goes to the RF power output stage, the other output becomes the local oscillator input for the receiver block.
  • the RF power output amplifier 3 is an RFMD RF2104 device. It conveniently provides a power output level control input. This is used for amplitude modulating the output carrier signal, which is required for powering the remote RFID transponder if it is a passive type, and also for communicating commands to the RFID transponder.
  • the output carrier is matched via a matching circuit, before driving an output antenna 4.
  • the RF PA output level varies according to the analog signal at the PC input. This level is varied by the Processor 25 in order to effect carrier modulation and control. To conserve battery power, the battery DC voltage to the transmitter is turned on only when a Read command is received, and then only for the period or number of tag reads as sent by the cellular telephone based application. The transmitter is therefore only enabled for a short period of time. Additionally, the power output will typically be limited to 200 mW to 500 mW, again to conserve battery power.
  • the reader module 42 uses separate antennae for transmission and reception of backscatter data. However, it is also possible to use a single antenna utilizing a typical antenna circulator to couple both the transmit output, and the receive input to the same shared antenna.
  • the ' antennae are slim line, compact patch antennae, similar to that which is commonly used at 915 MHz. Ceramic patch antennae can be used to achieve higher gain and directionality, while being smaller.
  • the transmitter uses a 50 ohms patch antenna 4 to energize the transponders in its field.
  • the separate receive antenna 12 is a 50 ohms patch antenna, normally placed in such a position to optimize reception.
  • the received signal is band pass filtered 7 to remove unwanted signals and noise.
  • the received signal is split into 2 signals with no phase shift between the outputs.
  • a Mini Circuits RF splitter type SBTC-2-10 is used for this purpose.
  • the quadrature splitter used is a Mini Circuits type QBA-12.
  • the quadrature phase shifted outputs are connected to two double balanced mixers 9 and 11 respectively. Each mixer provides the sum and difference signals between the local oscillator input, and the back scatter modulated received signal, which is effectively directly down converted. Two outputs are therefore obtained, being the I or in phase signal, and the Q or quadrature shifted signal.
  • Each output is AC coupled via a capacitor 12 to remove the DC component from the signal.
  • the resultant signal is then passed through a low pass filter in order to recover the difference signal.
  • the response of the low pass filter is changed for different air protocols having different data rates. For example, it is typically set to be 3 dB down at 300 kHz to allow the fastest data rate when used with the iP-X air protocol, as used by the EM Marin 4222 transponder chip.
  • the output signals from the low pass filters are further amplified 17, using industry standard single supply operational amplifiers, before being amplitude demodulated via a diode capacitor combination 18. The time constant is chosen to accommodate the proper data pattern and data rate.
  • the resultant signals are then converted to digital signals by CMOS Schmidt triggers 18, before being connected to the timer inputs on the processor 25.
  • a simple operational amplifier based peak detector 19 is used to determine the received RF signal level, the resultant I and Q signal levels are applied to analog to digital inputs on the controlling processor (signals 21 and 22).
  • Controller in the form of the processor 25, such as the Hitachi H82238 16 bit processor, contains internal flash memory for the embedded software, as well as internal SRAM for stack space, random and dynamically changing data etc.
  • Demodulating the I and Q input signals into the proper data is done in software according to the particular air protocol data pattern implementation.
  • the data is effectively FSK encoded at a data rate up to 140 kbits/second.
  • the input pulse period is therefore measured on a pulse- by-pulse basis to extract bit cell period, which will determine data one's and zeroes.
  • Different air protocols such as the iP-X protocol, may use MFM or other methodologies. Software can in all cases be used to demodulate and extract the data.
  • the processor controls the RF carrier amplitude via a PWM output 29 where the mark space ratio varies according to the required DC voltage.
  • a low pass filter 30 converts the digital waveform to an analog level, which is buffered by an operation amplifier before being applied to the RF PA power control pin (signal 5).
  • the reader module processor performs the RFID data reading, as well as handling the anti collision air protocol for the particular RFID tags. This is done in software by assembling the received data bits, undertaking CRC checking on the data to ensure that it is correct. For Reader Talk First protocols, such as ePC class 1 , the ePC tag will be commanded to go into Quiet mode, in order to allow other tags to communicate with the reader module.
  • the tag's data is sent to the cellular telephone based application. Here it is displayed and processed for later uploading to the host computer via the cellular telephone's wireless link.
  • the cellular telephone reader application will often have a small database, which will convert the tag data to a different linked descriptor.
  • a local portable printer 48 (illustrated in Figure 3) can be used to print reports or slips using the tag data, by using the normal cellular telephone print capability. This is often achieved via the cellular telephone's iRDa link, or BlueTooth wireless link.
  • the present invention provides a method to allow RFID antennae to be used with a cellular telephone without the user's hand covering the antenna, thereby causing loss of performance, by arranging the antenna in such a way that it can be moved into a usable position while the antenna is still physically and electrically connected to the combined cellular telephone and RFID reader.

Abstract

A radio frequency identification (RFID) reader includes at least one antenna for transmission and reception of radio frequency signals. A radio frequency transmitter is used for activating remote passive RFID tags and a radio frequency receiver is used for receiving data back from remote passive RFID tags. A controller controls the reader. An interface is used for connecting the reader to a cellular communications device so that data received by the RFID reader can be transmitted to the cellular communications device via the interface.

Description

A RADIO FREQUENCY IDENTIFICATION (RFID) READER
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a radio frequency identification (RFID) reader for reading passive transponders or active transponders.
It is often necessary to use RFID readers which are able to communicate wirelessly in remote locations such as in livestock tagging, tagging and reading cars which are hired out, reading worker ID badges when reporting to work at sites away from fixed infra structure, such as building sites, and in other general mobile inventory management. Furthermore, in such cases it is mostly a requirement that the reader be compact and portable, battery operated, and logically integrated into a wireless network. In such a case items which are fitted with readable tags would be scanned, and will subsequently be uploaded wirelessly to the applicable database host or application host.
The most cost effective methodology would be to communicate the item or tag files from the compact RFID reader via a cellular communications device or cellular communications device modem, such as a GSM modem, and furthermore, to tightly integrate the reader to the cellular communications device. However, since the bulk of users already own standard cellular communications device in the form of cellular telephones, the requirement exists therefore to logically, electrically and physically attach an RFID reader to standard cellular telephones or similar cellular communications devices.
In addition, difficulties in adding an RFID antenna or antennas to existing cellular telephones exist, especially when considering the compact nature of existing cellular telephone and the need to avoid the users hand from covering the RFID antenna while in operation to increase RFID performance.
The present invention seeks to address this. SUMMARY
According to a first example embodiment there is provided a radio frequency identification (RFID) reader comprising:
at least one antenna for transmission and reception of radio frequency signals;
a radio frequency transmitter for activating remote passive RFID tags;
a radio frequency receiver for receiving data back from remote passive RFlD tags;
a controller for controlling the reader; and
an interface for connecting the reader to a cellular communications device so that data received by the RFID reader can be transmitted to the cellular communications device via the interface.
The at least one antenna may be located in a moveable antenna housing moveable between a first position and a second position, wherein when the reader is connected to the cellular communications device and the housing is in the first position the antenna is located adjacent a body of the cellular communications device and when the housing is in the second position the antenna extends away from the body of the cellular communications device.
The controller may include software loaded thereon which allows the controller to communicate with software on the cellular communications device via the interface. The software of the RFID transmits data to the cellular communications device which data is to be transmitted by the cellular communications device over a cellular communications network.
The interface may also include an electrical connector arranged to connect to an electrical connector of the cellular communications device which allows the cellular communications device to connect to external devices.
In addition, the interface may include a physical connector arranged to connect the RFID reader physically to the cellular communications device.
The interface may also include a power connector arranged to supply power to the RFID reader from a battery of the cellular communications device.
The controller initiates an RFID read when it receives a read command from the cellular communications device.
The read command received from the cellular communications device may include a parameter instructing the controller how long the read cycle should be.
The read command received from the cellular communications device may also include a parameter instructing the controller how many RFID tags should be read.
According to a second example embodiment there is provided a cellular communications device including software thereon, which software is adapted to receive data from a radio frequency identification (RFID) reader connected to the device, which data has been read from an RFID tag, and to transmit the data over a cellular communications network to a central server. The device may include a memory and wherein the data received from the RFID tag is stored in the memory.
The software may receive a read command input by a user of the device and in response transmits a read command to the reader connected to the device.
The software may also receive read parameters input by a user of the device in response transmits read parameters to the reader connected to the device.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Figure 1 is a perspective view of a radio frequency identification reader connected to a cellular telephone;
Figure 2 shows the radio frequency identification reader of Figure 1 with the aerial in an extended position to minimize interference from the user's hand;
Figure 3 is a schematic block diagram of the components of the cellular telephone and the radio frequency identification reader; and
Figure 4a-4d is a circuit diagram of one embodiment of the radio frequency identification reader.
DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS
The example embodiments described below address the problem of using RFID readers in remote locations by quickly and easily converting an existing commercially available cellular communications device, such as a cellular telephone, to be used as an RFID reader so that the cellular communications device can be used as the remote transmission module utilizing its inherent wireless transmission capability. Also, part of the RFID reader application software can be executed on the cellular telephone.
Referring to Figures 1 to 3 of the accompanying drawings, a commercially available cellular communications device in the form of a cellular telephone 40 is illustrated including a radio frequency identification (RFlD) reader 42 according to the present invention.
The reader 42 includes at least one antenna 44 which is mounted in an individual part of the plastic housing and is connectable to the cellular telephone. The housing is moveable between a first position in which it is located adjacent the body of the cellular telephone and a second position in -which it extends away from the body of the cellular telephone. It will be appreciated that the antenna may be a single antenna for both transmitting and receiving or there may be a separate antenna for transmitting and a separate antenna for receiving located within one housing.
The antenna housing may be connected with a hinge allowing it to be clipped open, thereby exposing the antenna without the users hand covering it. Alternatively the antenna housing can slide out of the main reader module housing, which is clipped onto a cellular telephone, thereby exposing the antenna without the user's hand covering it.
In any event, the commercially available cellular telephone 40 must have the following capabilities:
Electrical interface to external devices must be available. This must also allow the external device to effect communications to the applicable cellular network, and preferably should also provide battery power to the external device. Ability to load, store and execute user software on the cellular telephone, typically in J2ME.
Physical connector suitable to allow external devices to be able to be securely fitted to the cellular telephone enclosure so that it will result in a single coherent unit.
A variety of commercially available cellular telephones are suitable. For example, the Motorola™ i85S phone from the Motorola™ iDen range of phones is used. This cellular telephone has a serial asynchronous data interface to external peripherals, and also supplies the phone's battery voltage to the expansion interface connector. Peripheral devices can therefore be operated from the cellular telephone's battery.
The RFlD reader 42 circuitry is housed in it's own compact compartment, with an interface that includes an electrical connector 46 which connects the reader board directly to the 185s cellular telephone expansion connector.
The interface includes a physical connector to allow the reader to be physically connected to the cellular telephone.
An RFID Read and Write application will be stored on the cellular telephone. This application is written in J2ME, and is downloaded with the tools provided by Motorola or is downloaded over the air. If the user needs to read RFID tags, the application is selected via the cellular telephone's user interface on a similar basis to how it allows user added applications to be selected. Once selected, the application is executed. Messages on the screen will request the user to press a specific key, typically 0, in order to read a tag. The application then sends a Read command to the reader module 42 processor, which starts a read activity. A Read command will typically contain 2 parameters. The first is an indicator, normally in steps of 0.1 second, of how long the read cycle should be. The second is how many tags should be read, normally set to one. This is to allow the read cycle, which draws significant surges of current, to be as short as possible.
Figures 4a to 4d show a typical RFID backscatter reader, as used in this embodiment. Other reader types, including readers for active transponders operating at different frequencies and using different air protocols, may also be used. The reader architecture is largely air protocol independent in terms of the various UHF backscatter tag types that exists. Nevertheless the reader will include a radio frequency transmitter for activating remote passive RFID tags and a radio frequency receiver for receiving data back from remote passive RFID tags.
The reader module operates at 915Mhz and uses an RFM HO1045 915 Mhz oscillator.1.
The oscillator output is split into 2 signals via a Mini Circuits RF splitter type SBTC-2-10 2. One output goes to the RF power output stage, the other output becomes the local oscillator input for the receiver block.
The RF power output amplifier 3 is an RFMD RF2104 device. It conveniently provides a power output level control input. This is used for amplitude modulating the output carrier signal, which is required for powering the remote RFID transponder if it is a passive type, and also for communicating commands to the RFID transponder. The output carrier is matched via a matching circuit, before driving an output antenna 4.
The RF PA output level varies according to the analog signal at the PC input. This level is varied by the Processor 25 in order to effect carrier modulation and control. To conserve battery power, the battery DC voltage to the transmitter is turned on only when a Read command is received, and then only for the period or number of tag reads as sent by the cellular telephone based application. The transmitter is therefore only enabled for a short period of time. Additionally, the power output will typically be limited to 200 mW to 500 mW, again to conserve battery power.
The reader module 42 uses separate antennae for transmission and reception of backscatter data. However, it is also possible to use a single antenna utilizing a typical antenna circulator to couple both the transmit output, and the receive input to the same shared antenna. The' antennae are slim line, compact patch antennae, similar to that which is commonly used at 915 MHz. Ceramic patch antennae can be used to achieve higher gain and directionality, while being smaller.
The transmitter uses a 50 ohms patch antenna 4 to energize the transponders in its field.
The separate receive antenna 12 is a 50 ohms patch antenna, normally placed in such a position to optimize reception.
The received signal is band pass filtered 7 to remove unwanted signals and noise. An LFCN-1000 bandpass filter, with a center frequency at 915 MHz, is used.
The received signal is split into 2 signals with no phase shift between the outputs. A Mini Circuits RF splitter type SBTC-2-10 is used for this purpose.
A RF splitter 10 with one output phase shifted by 90 degrees, and the other with a zero degrees phase shift, is use to provide quadrature local oscillator outputs. The quadrature splitter used is a Mini Circuits type QBA-12. The quadrature phase shifted outputs are connected to two double balanced mixers 9 and 11 respectively. Each mixer provides the sum and difference signals between the local oscillator input, and the back scatter modulated received signal, which is effectively directly down converted. Two outputs are therefore obtained, being the I or in phase signal, and the Q or quadrature shifted signal.
Each output is AC coupled via a capacitor 12 to remove the DC component from the signal.
The resultant signal is then passed through a low pass filter in order to recover the difference signal. The response of the low pass filter is changed for different air protocols having different data rates. For example, it is typically set to be 3 dB down at 300 kHz to allow the fastest data rate when used with the iP-X air protocol, as used by the EM Marin 4222 transponder chip. The output signals from the low pass filters are further amplified 17, using industry standard single supply operational amplifiers, before being amplitude demodulated via a diode capacitor combination 18. The time constant is chosen to accommodate the proper data pattern and data rate. The resultant signals are then converted to digital signals by CMOS Schmidt triggers 18, before being connected to the timer inputs on the processor 25. A simple operational amplifier based peak detector 19 is used to determine the received RF signal level, the resultant I and Q signal levels are applied to analog to digital inputs on the controlling processor (signals 21 and 22).
Controller in the form of the processor 25, such as the Hitachi H82238 16 bit processor, contains internal flash memory for the embedded software, as well as internal SRAM for stack space, random and dynamically changing data etc.
Demodulating the I and Q input signals into the proper data is done in software according to the particular air protocol data pattern implementation. For example, for ePC class 1 the data is effectively FSK encoded at a data rate up to 140 kbits/second. The input pulse period is therefore measured on a pulse- by-pulse basis to extract bit cell period, which will determine data one's and zeroes. Different air protocols, such as the iP-X protocol, may use MFM or other methodologies. Software can in all cases be used to demodulate and extract the data.
The processor controls the RF carrier amplitude via a PWM output 29 where the mark space ratio varies according to the required DC voltage. A low pass filter 30 converts the digital waveform to an analog level, which is buffered by an operation amplifier before being applied to the RF PA power control pin (signal 5).
The reader module processor performs the RFID data reading, as well as handling the anti collision air protocol for the particular RFID tags. This is done in software by assembling the received data bits, undertaking CRC checking on the data to ensure that it is correct. For Reader Talk First protocols, such as ePC class 1 , the ePC tag will be commanded to go into Quiet mode, in order to allow other tags to communicate with the reader module.
Once a tag has been successfully read, the tag's data is sent to the cellular telephone based application. Here it is displayed and processed for later uploading to the host computer via the cellular telephone's wireless link. The cellular telephone reader application will often have a small database, which will convert the tag data to a different linked descriptor. In addition a local portable printer 48 (illustrated in Figure 3) can be used to print reports or slips using the tag data, by using the normal cellular telephone print capability. This is often achieved via the cellular telephone's iRDa link, or BlueTooth wireless link. Thus it will be appreciated that the present invention provides a method to allow RFID antennae to be used with a cellular telephone without the user's hand covering the antenna, thereby causing loss of performance, by arranging the antenna in such a way that it can be moved into a usable position while the antenna is still physically and electrically connected to the combined cellular telephone and RFID reader.

Claims

CLAIMS:
1. A radio frequency identification (RFID) reader comprising:
at least one antenna for transmission and reception of radio frequency signals;
a radio frequency transmitter for activating remote passive RFID tags;
a radio frequency receiver for receiving data back from remote passive RFID tags;
a controller for controlling the reader; and
an interface for connecting the reader to a cellular communications device so that data received by the RFID reader can be transmitted to the cellular communications device via the interface.
2. A radio frequency identification (RFID) reader according to claim 1 wherein the at least one antenna is located in a moveable antenna housing moveable between a first position and a second position, wherein when the reader is connected to the cellular communications device and the housing is in the first position the antenna is located adjacent a body of the cellular communications device and when the housing is in the second position the antenna extends away from the body of the cellular communications device.
3. A radio frequency identification (RFID) reader according to claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the controller includes software loaded thereon which allows the controller to communicate with software on the cellular communications device via the interface.
4. A radio frequency identification (RFID) reader according to claim 3 wherein the software of the RFID transmits data to the cellular communications device which data is to be transmitted by the cellular communications device over a cellular communications network.
5. A radio frequency identification (RFID) reader according to any preceding claim wherein the interface includes an electrical connector arranged to connect to an electrical connector of the cellular communications device which allows the cellular communications device to connect to external devices.
6. A radio frequency identification (RFID) reader according to any preceding claim wherein the interface includes a physical connector arranged to connect the RFID reader physically to the cellular communications device.
7. A radio frequency identification (RFID) reader according to any preceding claim wherein the interface includes a power connector
, arranged to supply power to the RFID reader from a battery of the cellular communications device.
8. A radio frequency identification (RFID) reader according to any preceding claim wherein the controller initiates an RFID read when it receives a read command from the cellular communications device.
9. A radio frequency identification (RFID) reader according to claim 8 wherein the read command received from the cellular communications device includes a parameter instructing the controller how long the read cycle should be.
10. A radio frequency identification (RFID) reader according to claim 8 or claim 9 wherein the read command received from the cellular communications device includes a parameter instructing the controller how many RFID tags should be read.
11. A cellular communications device including software thereon, which software is adapted to receive data from a radio frequency identification (RFID) reader connected to the device, which data has been read from an RFID tag, and to transmit the data over a cellular communications network to a central server.
12. A cellular communications device according to claim 11 wherein the device includes a memory and wherein the data received from the RFID tag is stored in the memory.
13. A cellular communications device according to claim 11 or claim 12 wherein the software receives a read command input by a user of the device and in response transmits a read command to the reader connected to the device.
14. A cellular communications device according to any one of claims 11 to 13 wherein the software receives read parameters input by a user of the device in response transmits read parameters to the reader connected to the device.
PCT/IB2006/002533 2005-09-16 2006-09-14 A radio frequency indentification (rfid) reader WO2007031852A1 (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

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US71795705P 2005-09-16 2005-09-16
US60/717,957 2005-09-16

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