US 11,875,215 B2 · Near-field communication surface and method for locating on said surface

Abstract

The invention relates to a near-field communication surface intended to communicate with at least one electronic tag. The surface comprises a plurality of antennas, each antenna having a position along an axis, a circuit for reading electronic tags that is connected to said antennas in order to supply them with power and communicate with said electronic tag, and a processing unit controlling the antennas and the circuit for reading electronic tags. The processing unit is configured to activate just one antenna at a time and the reading circuit in order to communicate with said at least one electronic tag, and to locate a position of the electronic tag along the axis according to a number of responses or to a response time from the electronic tag. The invention also relates to the locating method.

Claims14

Dependent claims

Near-field communication surface for communication with at least one electronic ID tag, said surface comprising:

a plurality of antennas, each antenna having a position along a first axis which corresponds to maximum flux of the antenna according to said first axis;
at least one circuit for reading electronic tags that is connected to said antennas in order to supply said antennas with power and communicate with said at least one electronic ID tag;
a processing unit controlling the antennas and the at least one circuit for reading electronic tags, and configured to activate just one antenna at a time and said at least one reader circuit in order to communicate with said at least one electronic ID tag, wherein the processing unit is configured to send commands to at least one electronic ID tag by means of each of the antennas in order to locate a position of said at least one electronic ID tag along the first axis according to a number of responses or to a response time of said at least one electronic ID tag.

Method for locating an electronic ID tag on a near-field communication surface, said surface comprising a plurality of antennas, each antenna having a position according to an axis which corresponds to maximum flux of the antenna according to said axis, and at least one circuit for reading electronic tags that is connected to said antennas in order to supply said antennas with power and communicate with said electronic ID tag, wherein the method comprises:

sending a command to the electronic ID tag by means of a selected antenna from the plurality of antennas;
receiving a response from the electronic ID tag and memorizing the response or the lack of response of the tag, by the selected antenna;
repeating the steps of sending a command and receiving a response, until each of the plurality of antennas has sent at least one command;
and
calculating a position of the electronic ID tag according to a number of responses or to a response time of the electronic tag.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Near-field communication surface and method for locating on said surface

Life of this patent

Near-field communication surface and method for locating on said surface

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims14