Excess radio-frequency (RF) power storage and power sharing RF identification (RFID) tags, and related connection systems and methods

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9563832-B2
Application number	US-201313836342-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 15, 2013
Priority date	Oct 8, 2012
Publication date	Feb 7, 2017
Grant date	Feb 7, 2017

Abstract

Excess radio-frequency (RF) power storage and power sharing RF Identification (RFID) tags, and related RFID tag connection systems and methods are disclosed. The excess RF power storage and power sharing RFID tags and related RFID tag connection systems and methods in embodiments disclosed herein allow connected RFID tags to store excess energy derived from excess received RF power in a shared energy storage device. In this manner, an individual RFID tag or a group of connected RFID tags in the RFID tag connection system can continue operation during temporary times when sufficient RF power is not being received from a RFID reader. Sharing stored energy derived from excess received RF power in a shared energy storage device among connected RFID tags in a RFID tag connection system can significantly mitigate problems of RF power interruption.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A RFID tag connection system, comprising:
a first RFID tag comprising at least one first antenna configured to receive first RF power in received first wireless RF signals, a first energy storage device configured to store excess energy derived from excess received first RF power, and one or more first energy sharing conductors coupled to the first energy storage device; and
a second RFID tag comprising at least one second antenna configured to receive second RF power in received second wireless RF signals, and one or more second energy sharing conductors;
the first energy storage device forming a shared energy storage device when the one or more first energy sharing conductors of the first RFID tag are connected to the one or more second energy sharing conductors of the second RFID tag;
the first RFID tag further comprises a first power manager configured to store excess energy derived from the excess received first RF power in the shared energy storage device if the received first RF power exceeds a first operational threshold power for the first RFID tag; and
the second RFID tag further comprises a second power manager configured to store excess energy derived from excess received second RF power in the shared energy storage device if the received second RF power exceeds a second operational threshold power for the second RFID tag.

2. The RFID tag connection system of claim 1 , wherein:
the second RFID tag further comprises a second energy storage device coupled to the one or more second energy sharing conductors, the second energy storage device configured to store excess energy derived from excess received second RF power; and
the first energy storage device coupled to the second energy storage device to form the shared energy storage device when the one or more first energy sharing conductors of the first RFID tag are connected to one or more second energy sharing conductors of the second RFID tag.

3. The RFID tag connection system of claim 2 , wherein:
the second RFID tag further comprises a second energy storage device configured to store excess energy derived from excess received second RF power; and
the first energy storage device coupled to the second energy storage device forms the shared energy storage device when the one or more first energy sharing conductors of the first RFID tag are connected to one or more second energy sharing conductors of the second RFID tag.

4. The RFID tag connection system of claim 1 , wherein the first power manager is further configured to access the stored excess energy in the shared energy storage device to provide power to operate the first RFID tag if the received first RF power from the at least one first antenna is less than the first operational threshold power for the first RFID tag.

5. The RFID tag connection system of claim 4 , wherein the second power manager is further configured to access the stored excess energy in the shared energy storage device to provide power to operate the second RFID tag if the received second RF power from the at least one second antenna is less than the second operational threshold power for the second RFID tag.

6. The RFID tag connection system of claim 1 , wherein the first power manager is further configured to operate the first RFID tag with the received first RF power from the at least one first antenna if the received first RF power meets or exceeds the first operational threshold power for the first RFID tag.

7. The RFID tag connection system of claim 6 , wherein the second power manager is further configured to operate the second RFID tag with the received second RF power from the at least one second antenna if the received second RF power meets or exceeds the second operational threshold power for the second RFID tag.

8. The RFID tag connection system of claim 1 , wherein the shared energy storage device is comprised of a first capacitor bank comprised of at least one first capacitor, and the second energy storage device is comprised of a second capacitor bank comprised of at least one second capacitor.

9. The RFID tag connection system of claim 1 , wherein:
the first RFID tag further comprises one or more first communications conductors;
the second RFID tag further comprises one or more second communications conductors; and
the first RFID tag is further configured to send first communication signals to the second RFID tag when the one or more first communications conductors of the first RFID tag are electrically connected to the one or more second communications conductors of the second RFID tag.

10. The RFID tag connection system of claim 9 , wherein the first RFID tag is configured to send an identity of the first RFID tag to the second RFID tag when the one or more first communications conductors of the first RFID tag are electrically connected to the one or more second communications conductors of the second RFID tag.

11. The RFID tag connection system of claim 9 , wherein the second RFID tag is further configured to send second communication signals to the first RFID tag when the one or more first communications conductors of the first RFID tag are electrically connected to the one or more second communications conductors of the second RFID tag.

12. The RFID tag connection system of claim 11 , wherein the second RFID tag is configured to send an identity of the second RFID tag to the first RFID tag when the one or more first communications conductors of the first RFID tag are electrically connected to the one or more second communications conductors of the second RFID tag.

13. The RFID tag connection system of claim 1 , further comprising a third RFID tag comprising at least one third antenna configured to receive third RF power from received third wireless RF signals, and one or more third energy sharing conductors;
the third RFID tag further comprises a third power manager configured to store excess energy derived from excess received third RF power in the shared energy storage device if the received third RF power exceeds a third operational threshold power for the third RFID tag.

14. The RFID tag connection system of claim 13 , wherein:
the third RFID tag further comprises a third energy storage device coupled to the one or more third energy sharing conductors, the third energy storage device configured to store excess energy derived from excess received third RF power; and
the third energy storage device coupled to the first energy storage device forms the shared energy storage device when the one or more third energy sharing conductors of the third RFID tag are connected to either: the one or more first energy sharing conductors of the first RFID tag or the one or more second energy sharing conductors of the second RFID tag.

15. A method of sharing stored excess RF power storage between RFID tags, comprising:
receiving first RF power in first wireless RF signals received by at least one first antenna of a first RFID tag comprising one or more first energy sharing conductors coupled to a first energy storage device;
receiving second RF power in second wireless RF signals received by at least one second antenna of a second RFID tag comprising one or more second energy sharing conductors;
connecting the one or more first energy sharing conductors of the first RFID tag to the one or more second energy sharing conductors of the second RFID tag to form at least a portion of a shared energy storage device from the first energy storage device;
storing excess energy derived from excess received first RF power in the shared energy storage device if the received first RF power exceeds a firs

Assignees

• Corning Inc

Inventors

• Downie John David
• Sutherland James Scott
• Trice James Patrick
• Wagner Richard Edward
• Whiting Matthew Scott

Classifications

• G06K19/0715 Primary

  the arrangement including means to regulate power transfer to the integrated circuit · CPC title

• G06K19/0704

  the battery being rechargeable, e.g. solar batteries · CPC title

• G06K19/0705

  the battery being connected to a power saving arrangement · CPC title

• G06K19/07749

  the record carrier being capable of non-contact communication, e.g. constructional details of the antenna of a non-contact smart card · CPC title