Systems and methods for an inductive communication interface

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9800693-B2
Application number	US-201414466129-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 22, 2014
Priority date	Jan 28, 2014
Publication date	Oct 24, 2017
Grant date	Oct 24, 2017

Abstract

A method is described. The method includes enabling and configuring poll mode for a near field communication (NFC) data exchange format (NDEF) radio frequency (RF) interface configuration. The method also includes determining that a remote NFC endpoint includes an NFC forum tag once an NFC controller (NFCC) has successfully completed protocol activation. The method further includes performing activation operations based on an RF protocol of the NFC forum tag.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
enabling and configuring poll mode for a near field communication (NFC) data exchange format (NDEF) radio frequency (RF) interface configuration that enables an NFC controller (NFCC) of an electronic device to interact with a device host (DH) of the electronic device, wherein the DH sends an RF_DISCOVER_CMD message to the NFCC to enable poll mode for the NDEF RF interface, and wherein the RF_DISCOVER_CMD message comprises configurations with RF technology and mode values of at least one of NFC_A_PASSIVE_POLL_MODE, NFC_B_PASSIVE_POLL_MODE, and NFC_F_PASSIVE_POLL_MODE;
determining that a remote NFC endpoint comprises an NFC forum tag once the NFCC has successfully completed protocol activation; and
performing activation operations based on an RF protocol of the NFC forum tag.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the NDEF RF interface defines linkage of operations to NFC forum type 1-4 tag operation specifications to perform transfers.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein if the RF protocol of the NFC forum tag is PROTOCOL_T1T, then performing activation operations comprises:
identifying the NFC forum tag as an NFC forum type 1 tag;
performing version treatment; and
confirming the presence of an NDEF message in the NFC forum tag.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein if the RF protocol of the NFC forum tag is PROTOCOL_T2T, then performing activation operations comprises:
performing version treatment; and
performing an NDEF detection procedure.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein if the RF protocol of the NFC forum tag is PROTOCOL_T3T, then performing activation operations comprises:
performing version treatment; and
performing NDEF detection.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein if the RF protocol of the NFC forum tag is PROTOCOL_T4T, then performing activation operations comprises:
performing version treatment; and
performing an NDEF detection procedure.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
detecting the presence of an NDEF message on the remote NFC endpoint; and
sending an RF_INTF_ACTIVATED_NTF message to the DH with activation parameters.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising determining a current state of the NFC forum tag based on the NDEF message length and the NFC forum tag attributes when the DH receives the RF_INTF_ACTIVATED_NTF message.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising retrieving a complete NDEF message from an NFC forum tag based on an NDEF get command.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising storing a complete NDEF message on an NFC forum tag based on an NDEF put command.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising changing read access for an NDEF message on the remote NFC endpoint based on an NDEF read access command.

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising changing write access for an NDEF message on the remote NFC endpoint based on an NDEF write access command.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising refraining from using the NDEF RF interface when the presence of an NDEF message is not detected on the remote NFC endpoint.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the DH elects to use one of an ISO-DEP RF interface, an aggregated frame RF interface and a frame RF interface.

15. The method of claim 1 , further comprising sending an NFC forum controller interface (NCI) data message with a descriptor field set to a value of NDEF_OPERATION_INVALID and no parameters when the NFCC receives an NCI data message that does not conform to format requirements.

16. The method of claim 1 , further comprising sending an NCI data message with a descriptor field set to a value of NDEF_OPERATION_DISALLOWED and no parameters when an NDEF operation fails and the NFCC is able to determine that the failure is because the NDEF operation is not allowed given a current state of the NFC forum tag.

17. The method of claim 1 , further comprising sending an NCI data message with a descriptor field set to a value of NDEF_OPERATION_OVERFLOW and no parameters when an NDEF put operation fails and the NFCC is able to determine that the failure is due to not enough space on the NFC forum tag.

18. The method of claim 1 , further comprising sending an NCI data message with a descriptor field set to a value of NDEF_OPERATION_FAILED and no parameters when an NDEF operation fails and the NFCC is unable to determine a reason for the failure.

19. The method of claim 1 , wherein when the NFCC detects at least one of a transmission error, a protocol error and a timeout error, the NFCC retransmits the last command subject to a configured retry limit.

20. The method of claim 1 , further comprising instructing the NFCC to read an existing NDEF message from the NFC forum tag.

21. The method of claim 1 , further comprising instructing the NFCC to write a new NDEF message to the NFC forum tag.

22. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method is performed by the electronic device, and wherein the electronic device comprises NFC functionality.

23. The method of claim 22 , wherein the electronic device comprises the DH.

24. The method of claim 23 , wherein the DH recognizes at least one of an NFC target device and an NFC tag when within range of a coverage area for NFC communication.

25. The method of claim 1 , wherein the NDEF RF interface defines mechanisms by which access control for an NDEF message on the remote NFC endpoint can be changed.

26. The method of claim 1 , wherein the NDEF RF interface defines a number of error scenarios and responses to these error scenarios.

27. An apparatus, comprising:
a processor;
memory in electronic communication with the processor; and
instructions stored in the memory, the instructions being executable by the processor to:
enable and configure poll mode for a near field communication (NFC) data exchange format (NDEF) radio frequency (RF) interface configuration that enables an NFC controller (NFCC) of an electronic device to interact with a device host (DH) of the electronic device, wherein the DH sends an RF_DISCOVER_CMD message to the NFCC to enable poll mode for the NDEF RF interface, and wherein the RF_DISCOVER_CMD message comprises configurations with RF technology and mode values of at least one of NFC_A_PASSIVE_POLL_MODE, NFC_B_PASSIVE_POLL_MODE, and NFC_F_PASSIVE_POLL_MODE;
determine that a remote NFC endpoint comprises an NFC forum tag once the NFCC has successfully completed protocol activation; and
perform activation operations based on an RF protocol of the NFC forum tag.

28. The apparatus of claim 27 , further comprising instructions executable to retrieve a complete NDEF message from an NFC forum tag based on an NDEF get command.

29. The apparatus of claim 27 , further comprising instructions executable to store a complete NDEF message on an NFC forum tag based on an NDEF put command.

30. The apparatus of claim 27 , further comprising instructions executable to change read access for an NDEF message on the remote NFC endpoint based on an NDEF read access command.

31. The apparatus of claim 27 , further comprising instructions executable to change write access for an NDEF message on the remote NFC endpoint based on an NDEF write access command.

32. The apparatus of claim 27 , further comprising instructions executable to send an NFC forum controller inter

Assignees

• Qualcomm Inc

Inventors

• Hillan John
• Chingalande Dubai
• Gillespie Alan

Classifications

• H04L69/08 Primary

  Protocols for interworking; Protocol conversion · CPC title

• H04W4/008

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04B5/0025

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04B5/70 Primary

  specially adapted for specific purposes · CPC title

• H04W4/80

  Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication · CPC title