Systems and methods for laser tuning and attaching rfid tags to products

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2022391657-A1
Application number	US-202217819983-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Aug 16, 2022
Priority date	Sep 18, 2019
Publication date	Dec 8, 2022
Grant date	—

Abstract

Aspects of the present disclosure relate to methods and systems for laser turning and attaching RFID tags to products. Such methods and systems may include a memory and a processor coupled to the memory. The methods and systems may include determining a characteristic of a conductive trace on a substrate to be incorporated into an item to configure a tag performance in view of at least one of a dielectric property or a tuning property of the item. The methods and systems may further include a laser to alter the conductive trace on the substrate to have the characteristic to define an antenna for the tag. The methods and systems may further include an attaching device configured to attach a communications enabled device to the substrate so as to form an electrical connection between the communications enabled device and the antenna to form the tag.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method for producing a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag, comprising:
altering a conductive trace by removing a portion of conductive material of the conductive trace using a laser to have a characteristic to define an antenna for the RFID tag; and
attaching a communications enabled device so as to form an electrical connection between the communications enabled device and the antenna to form the RFID tag;
wherein the removing the portion of the conductive material in an area of the conductive trace using the laser includes at least one of decreasing a thickness of the conductive trace, decreasing a width of the conductive trace, reducing an individual length of the conductive trace in an isolated state, or decreasing a height of the conductive trace while leaving a remaining portion in the area of the conductive material.

2 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising determining the characteristic of the conductive trace to be incorporated into an item to configure a tag performance in view of at least one of a dielectric property or a tuning property of the item.

3 . The method according to claim 2 , further comprising determining at least one of the dielectric property or the tuning property of the item using a look up table, sensor data, or a pre-determined value, prior to determining the characteristic of the conductive trace.

4 . The method according to claim 2 , wherein the determining, and the attaching are performed before the item is fabricated.

5 . The method according to claim 2 , wherein the determining, and the attaching are performed during fabrication of the item.

6 . The method according to claim 2 , furthering comprising coating one or both sides of the RFID tag with a flexible fluid resistive material.

7 . The method according to claim 6 , wherein the flexible fluid resistive material is configured to be visibly altered by the laser.

8 . The method according to claim 7 , further comprising applying heat, via the laser, to visibly alter the flexible fluid resistive material thereby generating at least one of a change in color or a change in pattern on the flexible fluid resistive material.

9 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the characteristic of the conductive trace comprises at least one of a thickness, a width, a height, or a location.

10 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising forming the conductive trace on a substrate with an initial characteristic different from the characteristic determined.

11 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising affixing the RFID tag to an item.

12 . The method according to claim 11 , further comprising applying an adhesive, and heating the adhesive by the laser to heat weld or cure the adhesive to affix the RFID tag to the item.

13 . A system, comprising:
a memory; a processor coupled to the memory and configured to determine a characteristic of a conductive trace; a laser configured to alter the conductive trace by removing a portion of a conductive material of the conductive trace to have the characteristic to define an antenna for a tag; and an attaching device configured to attach a communications enabled device to form an electrical connection between the communications enabled device and the antenna to form the tag;
wherein the removing the portion of the conductive material in an area of the conductive trace using the laser includes at least one of decreasing a thickness of the conductive trace, decreasing a width of the conductive trace, reducing an individual length of the conductive trace in an isolated state, or decreasing a height of the conductive trace while leaving a remaining portion in the area of the conductive material.

14 . The system according to claim 13 , wherein the determined characteristic of the conductive trace is to be incorporated into an item to configure performance of the tag in view of at least one of a dielectric property or a tuning property of the item.

15 . The system according to claim 14 , wherein at least one of the dielectric property or the tuning property of the item are determined using a look up table, sensor data, or a pre-determined value, prior to determining the characteristic of the conductive trace.

16 . The system according to claim 13 , wherein the characteristic of the conductive trace comprise at least one of a thickness, a width, a height, or a location.

17 . The system according to claim 13 , wherein one or both sides of the tag is coated with a flexible fluid resistive material.

18 . The system according to claim 17 , wherein the flexible fluid resistive material is configured to be visibly altered by the laser.

19 . The system according to claim 18 , wherein the laser is configured to apply heat to visibly alter the flexible fluid resistive material to generating a change in at least one of a color or a pattern of the flexible fluid resistive material.

20 . The system according to claim 13 , wherein the laser is further configured to heat and affix the tag onto an item.

21 . The system according to claim 13 , further comprising an applicator to apply the conductive trace to a the substrate, wherein the substrate comprises a flexible substrate.

22 . The system according to claim 21 , wherein the flexible substrate comprises at least one of plastic, TPU, silk, cotton, or paper.

23 . The system according to claim 13 , wherein the attaching device is configured to apply an adhesive to affix the tag to an item.

24 . The system according to claim 23 , further comprising a light source configured to apply a light to heat the adhesive to heat weld or cure the adhesive to affix the tag to the item.

Assignees

• Sensormatic Electronics Llc

Inventors

• Trivelpiece Steve E
• Bergman Adam S
• Shahidi Amin
• West George H
• Petersen Bjoern
• Vilaça João
• Chandramowle Gopal
• Garcia Carlos Gomez
• Sequeira Melwyn F

Classifications

• G06K19/07758 Primary

  arrangements for adhering the record carrier to further objects or living beings, functioning as an identification tag · CPC title

• G06K19/027 Primary

  the material being suitable for use as a textile, e.g. woven-based RFID-like labels designed for attachment to laundry items (markings attached to laundry items in general D06F93/00) · CPC title

• G06K19/0726

  the arrangement including a circuit for tuning the resonance frequency of an antenna on the record carrier · CPC title

• G06K19/07718

  the record carrier being manufactured in a continuous process, e.g. using endless rolls · CPC title

• G06K19/07773

  Antenna details (antennas for wireless devices, e.g. RFID tags, in general H01Q1/22) · CPC title