Coupling in and to rfid smart cards
AssigneeFeinics Amatech Nominee Limited
InventorsDavid Finn, Klaus Ummenhofer
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A data carrier such as a smart card comprising an antenna module (AM) and a booster antenna (BA). The booster antenna (BA) has an outer winding (OW) and an inner winding (IW), each of which has an inner end (IE) and an outer end (OE). A coupler coil (CC) is provided, connecting the outer end (OE, b) of the outer winding (OW) and the inner end (IE, e) of the inner winding (IW). The inner end (IE, a) of the outer winding (OW) and the outer end (OE, f) of the inner winding (IW) are left un-connected (free floating). The coupler coil (CC) may have a clockwise (CW) or counter-clockwise (CCW) sense which is the same as or opposite to the sense (CW or CCW) of the outer and inner windings. Various configurations of booster antennas (BA) are disclosed.
Claims20
A data carrier component comprising:
- a substrate (CB) having at least one surface and a periphery;
- and
- a booster antenna (BA) disposed on at least one surface of the substrate (CB) and extending around the periphery of the substrate (CB);
- wherein the booster antenna (BA) comprises an outer winding (OW) having an outer end (b) and an inner end (a) and an inner winding (IW) having an outer end (f) and an inner end (e);
- and
- a coupler coil (CC) disposed on the card body (CB) and having two ends (c, d), one of which is connected with the outer winding (OW), the other of which is connected with the inner winding (IW);
- characterized in that:
- the one end (c) of the coupler coil (CC) is connected with the outer end (b) of the outer winding (OW);
- the other end (d) of the coupler coil (CC) is connected with the inner end (e) of the inner winding (IW);
- and
- the inner end (a) of the outer winding (OW) and the outer end (f) of the inner winding (IW) are left unconnected.
A method of improving RF coupling between an external reader and a data carrier, the data carrier comprising:
- providing a substrate (CB);
- providing a booster antenna (BA) on the substrate (CB) comprising an outer winding (OW) and an inner winding (IW) disposed around the periphery of the substrate (CB), and a coupler coil (CC) connected to ends of the outer winding (OW) and inner winding (IW);
- and
- providing an antenna module (AM) having an RFID chip (CM) and a module antenna (MA) on the substrate (CB);
- characterized in that:
- the booster antenna (BA) is configured as a quasi-dipole antenna with the outer winding (OW) and inner winding (IW) connected in reverse phase with one another.
Smart card comprising a card body (CB), a booster antenna (BA) in the card body (CB) and an antenna module (AM) disposed on the card body, characterized in that:
- the booster antenna is disposed primarily at the periphery of the card body, and a portion of the booster antenna is routed towards an interior area of the card body, to achieve at least an approximately 90° enclosure of the antenna module in a coupling area of the card body.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.