Methods and system for enhanced RFID direction finding
AssigneeZebra Technologies Corporation
InventorsBenjamin J. Bekritsky, Michael J. Koch, Charles Burton Swope
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
At least some embodiments of the present invention are directed to RFID reader systems, readers, and/or arrangements configured to estimate a directional bearing of an RFID tag. In an embodiment, the present invention is an RFID arrangement configured communicate with an RFID tag via a primary transmit and receive signals and to contemporaneously determine a plurality of RSSI levels of the RFID tag over a 360-degree azimuth range via a plurality of secondary receive signals.
Claims30
An arrangement for estimating bearings of radio frequency (RF) identification (RFID) tags, the arrangement comprising:
- a housing;
- a transceiver assembly positioned at least partially within the housing, the transceiver assembly being communicatively coupled to a plurality of antenna elements;
- and
- a controller communicatively coupled to the transceiver assembly, the controller configured to:
- instruct the transceiver assembly to:
- transmit, via at least some of the plurality of antenna elements, a primary transmit signal;
- to receive, via at least some of the plurality of antenna elements, a primary receive signal, a receipt of the primary receive signal at least partially overlapping in time with a transmission of the primary transmit signal;
- and
- to receive, via at least some of the plurality of antenna elements, a plurality of secondary receive signals, a receipt of the plurality of secondary receive signals at least partially overlapping in time with the transmission of the primary transmit signal,
- wherein the primary transmit signal and the primary receive signal are used to communicate with an RFID tag within a predetermined zone pursuant to a predetermined communication protocol, and
- wherein the plurality of secondary receive signals are used to determine a plurality of signal strengths of a response from the RFID tag, each of the plurality of signal strengths being associated with one of the plurality of secondary receive signals;
- and
- estimate a bearing of the RFID tag based on at least some of the plurality of signal strengths of the response from the RFID tag.
A method of estimating bearings of radio frequency (RF) identification (RFID) tags, the method comprising:
- transmitting, via a transceiver assembly, a primary transmit signal;
- receiving, via the transceiver assembly, a primary receive signal, the operation of receiving the primary receive signal at least partially overlapping in time with the operation of transmitting the primary transmit signal;
- communicating, via the primary transmit signal and the primary receive signal, with an RFID tag within a predetermined zone pursuant to a predetermined communication protocol;
- receiving, via the transceiver assembly, a plurality of secondary receive signals, the operation of receiving the plurality of secondary receive signals at least partially overlapping in time with the operation of transmitting the primary transmit signal;
- determining, via a controller communicatively coupled to the transceiver assembly, from the plurality of secondary receive signals, a plurality of signal strengths of a response from the RFID tag, each of the plurality of signal strengths being associated with one of the plurality of secondary receive signals;
- and
- estimating a bearing of the RFID tag based on at least some of the plurality of signal strengths of the response from the RFID tag.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.