US 10,833,732 B2Granted

System for extending the range of near field communication of an electronic device to communicate with an object over a user skin

OwnerWolfgang Richter, Faranak Zadehinventors

Life of this patent

Estimating the term…

Loading patent…

Abstract

Disclosed is a system which extends NFC near field communication over a user's skin by converting electromagnetic signals into modulated alternating electric fields and vice versa. A modified patch is attached to an NFC device, which gets energized from its electromagnetic resonance which may contain data. The patch uses the energy to create an alternating electric field which couples into and spreads over a user's skin. The user may approach or touch objects which then get energized by the alternating electric field. The objects have a tag which modulates the electric field with data back over the user's skin to the patch, which then demodulates the data to modulate the NFC communication of the NFC device for further processing.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A system for extending range of near field communication (NFC) of an electronic NFC device to communicate with an object over a user's skin, the system comprising:

a patch attached to the electronic NFC device;
and
a tag attached to the object for communicating with the patch using the near field communication of the electronic NFC device over the user's skin;
wherein the patch comprising:
a coupling coil to interchange electromagnetic energetic signals containing data received from the electronic NFC device;
a capacitor resonating with the coupling coil at near-field frequency;
a converter generates DC from the electromagnetic energetic signals from the electronic NFC device;
a frequency generator for generating a frequency;
a first electrode couples capactively with the user's skin;
a converter modulator to convert electromagnetic energetic signals from the near field communication of the electronic NFC device into data modulation, further the convertor modulator modulates the data with an alternating electric field of the frequency which emits from the first electrode;
a data demodulator to extract data from a modulating alternating electric field received from the tag in proximity of the user;
a filter/mixer propagates the frequency generated by the frequency generator and further communicates de-(modulated) data via the alternating electric field;
a switchable load unit modulates data received from the data demodulator and communicates to the electronic device through the near field communication;
and
a first floating electrode couples to earth's ground to close the electric circuit;
wherein the tag comprising:
a second electrode to receive the modulated alternating electric field emitted from the first electrode over the user's skin;
a modulator powered from the received alternating electric field, further communicates changes in the electric field over the second electrode, further the modulator modulates the alternating electric field with an identification ID and object data received from the filter mixer over the user's skin using the first electrode;
and
a second floating electrode which couples the alternating electric field to the earth's ground potential.

17 more elements

A system for extending range of near field communication (NFC) of an electronic NFC device to communicate with an object over a user's skin, the system comprising:

a patch attached to the electronic NFC device;
a tag attached to an object for communicating with the patch using the near field communication of the electronic NFC device over the user's skin;
and
a hub to power the tag and further the hub creates an alternating electric field;
wherein the patch comprising:
a coupling coil to interchange electromagnetic energetic signals containing data received from the electronic NFC device;
a capacitor resonating with the coupling coil at near-field frequency;
a converter generates DC from the electromagnetic energetic signals from the electronic NFC device;
a data demodulator to extract data from a modulating alternating electric field received from the tag in proximity of the user;
a switchable load unit modulates the data received from the data demodulator and communicates to the electronic NFC device through the near field communication;
and
a first floating electrode couples to earth's ground to close the electric circuit;
wherein the hub comprising:
a frequency generator for generating a frequency;
an electrode couples capactively with the tag;
a filter mixer resonates the frequency generated by the frequency generator and further communicates de-(modulated) data via the alternating electric field emitted from the electrode;
wherein the tag comprising:
a second electrode to receive the modulated alternating electric field emitted from the electrode;
a modulator powered from the received alternating electric field, further communicates changes in the electric field over the second electrode, further the modulator modulates the alternating electric field with an identification ID and object data received from the filter mixer using the electrode;
and
a second floating electrode couples the alternating electric field to the earth's ground potential.

18 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 16/738,333Filed 9 Jan 2020 · us provisional application
Priority: 9 Jan 2019
Published: US 2020/0220576 A19 Jul 2020
Granted: 10 Nov 2020
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification9 codes

H04W 4/80
Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor: services using short range communication, e.g. near-field…
H04B 5/22
Characterised by the transmission technique; characterised by the transmission medium: capacitive coupling
H04B 5/26
Inductive coupling: using coils
H04B 5/45
Characterised by components specially adapted for near-field transmission: transponders