Method and Apparatus for Power Management for a Radio Frequency Identification System
AssigneeGolba LLC
InventorMehran Moshfeghi
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method and device of power management for a networked radio frequency identification (“RFID”) system are disclosed. The described power management methods reduce the power consumption of battery-operated RFD) readers and RFD tags. These power conservation methods increase the RFID system's hours of operation and decrease the cost by allowing the RFID readers and tags to function for a longer period of time before requiring charging or replacement of their batteries.
Claims18
1-14. (canceled)
A method for transmitting information relating to radio frequency identification (“RFID”) in an RFID reader, comprising:
- obtaining location information from a global positioning system (“GPS”);
- calculating a current location of said RFID reader according to said location information;
- retrieving a plurality of active RF reading zones relating to said current location of said RFID reader from a storage location of said RFID reader;
- determining whether said current location of said RFID reader is within said at least one zone of said plurality of active RF reading zones;
- and
- switching at least a portion of components of said RFID reader into a sleep state to conserve power if said current location of said RFID reader is outside of any of said plurality of active RF reading zones.
19-27. (canceled)
A method for transmitting information relating to radio frequency identification (“RFID”) in an RFID system, comprising:
- identifying a first tag to be read;
- transmitting a first transmission power to read said first tag;
- transmitting a second transmission power which is higher frequency than said first transmission power to read said first tag if said first transmission power fails to read said first tag;
- and
- storing said second transmission power together with an identification of said first tag in a memory unit of an RFID reader for subsequent reads if said second transmission power reads said first tag correctly.
31-46. (canceled)
A method of controlling power consumption of a radio frequency identification (“RFID”) system by an RFID application, The RFID system comprising an RFID reader communicatively coupled to a plurality of tags, the RFID reader comprising a battery, the plurality of tags comprising a set of ultra high frequency (UHF) tags and a set of low frequency (LF) tags, the RFID application capable of utilizing data from either UHF tags or LF tags, the method comprising:
- determining a battery level of the RFID reader;
- when the battery level is below a predetermined threshold, reading data from the active LF tags and placing the UHF tags into a sleep state;
- when the battery level is not below the predetermined threshold, reading data from the passive UHF tags and placing the LF tags into a sleep state;
- and
- sending the data read from the tags to the RFID application.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.