Checkpoint Systems, Inc.

Other

Iotera, Inc.

Ben J Wild

Upamanyu Madhow

Kannan Ramchandran

Artem Tkachenko

Robert A Barton

Steve Wang

Robert G Barton

Ravneet Bajwa

Artem Tkachenco

Rob Barton

The present technology may be directed a system for determining an angle and distance between a positioning node and secondary device using a plurality of acoustic transmitters to transmit acoustic ranging signals that are modulated using ranging sequences, respectively. The system includes an acoustic receiver to detect the acoustic ranging signals, and a signal processor to calculate times of arrival and a plurality of aliased angles of arrival of the acoustic ranging signals. An anti-aliasing module may select an angle of arrival from the calculated plurality of aliased angles using the times of arrival of the acoustic ranging signals. A time of flight may be calculated from a comparison of times of arrival for radio signals and the acoustic signals. The time of flight may be used to calculate the distance between the positioning node and secondary device.

Device positioning using acoustic and radio signals

A mobile device is described for tracking an object and sensing an environment of the object. The mobile device includes a circuit board that is loaded with radio frequency (RF) transmitters and receivers for finding the device position and communicating data about the device, the ambient environment of the device, and/or the position of the device. Sensor on the device may measure data about the device and about the ambient environment of the device. Flexible antennas increases the effective volume for a plurality of antennas for increased range and/or reduced power. An adjustable impedance circuit provides for real-time tuning and impedance matching of the antennas.

Circuit and antenna design for small form factor internet of things devices

A system and method for enabling low-powered RFID communication that includes at an RFID tag listening for a periodic signal containing beacon signals; synchronizing the internal clock to those beacon signals; identifying access points from the beacon signals; selecting an access point; sending a join request to the access point; identifying the tag to the access point; receiving an assigned time slot; and communicating with the access point in that time slot.

Methods for enabling low-power RFID communication

A tag communication method includes providing a tag reader operating at a first frequency and having transmit and receive antenna ports, providing a frequency converter module having transmit and receive plugs adapted to directly mate with the transmit and receive ports, and directly mating the transmit plug with the transmit port and the receive plug with the receive port. A transmit signal at the first frequency is received from the reader by the converter module by way of the directly mated transmit plug and converted to a second frequency differing from the first frequency to provide a converted transmit signal which is transmitted to the tag. A receive signal is received from the tag at the second frequency and converted to the first frequency to provide a converted receive signal which is applied by the conversion module to the reader by way of the directly mated receive plug.

RFID converter module

Methods and systems for localizing an asset using the modulated backscatter from an asset tag and one or more marker tags are described. The system includes the reader, a location module and one or more marker tags. The location estimates for the asset tag are based partially on a prior knowledge of the location of each of the one or more marker tags. The location for each marker tag may be stored in a database. The location module determines a location estimate for the asset tag using the estimated parameters of the modulated backscatter signals received from one or more marker tags and from the asset tag. Using the known locations of the marker tags, a location estimate of the asset tag can be determined. The location estimate may be a relative location, an absolute location, and/or may be a zone including the marker tags. A mobile reader using the marker tags can localize asset tags throughout a large area and may, for example, take an inventory of assets throughout the large area.

Localizing tagged assets using modulated backscatter

A backscatter tag system including a tag having tag circuitry and a reader for transmitting a command signal to the tag includes an energizer node for transmitting an energy signal to the tag to energize the tag and provide energy for operating the tag circuitry and for emitting a backscatter signal by the tag. The energizer node includes an energizer receiver for receiving the command signal from the reader to provide a received command signal and an energizer transmitter for transmitting the received command signal from the reader to the tag. The energizer node transmits both the energy signal and the received command signal to the tag. The energizer transmitter can transmit a sinusoidal signal, a frequency hopping signal, a spread spectrum signal, or a frequency shifted signal to the tag. The backscatter tag circuitry can include a processor.

RFID repeater for range extension in modulated backscatter systems

A method and apparatus for building a long range RFID system is disclosed. A new signaling structure called Block Pseudo Noise is described that allows for more computationally efficient decoding. A novel approach to synchronize the RFID reader local oscillator with the RFID tag oscillator using an on board GPS receiver on the RFID tags and RFID reader is also disclosed. A novel positioning technique called Asynchronous Time Difference of Arrival used to located RFID tags is also disclosed.

Long range radio frequency identification system

A localization method for use in a tag communication system includes associating a supertag having a plurality of tags with an item, reading backscatter signals from the tags of the plurality of tags to provide a plurality of backscatter signals, estimating a signal parameter of the backscatter signals of the plurality of backscatter signals to provide a plurality of derived signal parameters, and localizing the item in accordance with the plurality of derived signal parameters. The backscatter signals are read by a tag reader having a single antenna and the item is localized in accordance with an antenna array technique performed upon the plurality of derived signal parameters. The backscatter signals are read with an antenna array to provide a further plurality of derived signal parameters for each tag of the plurality of tags, and the item is localized in accordance with the further pluralities of derived signal parameters.

Localization using virtual antenna arrays in modulated backscatter RFID systems

In an RFID system with existing reader and tags communicating with each other, appliqu&#xe9;s derive information by listening to this communication to yield significant performance benefits, while not affecting the communication between the existing nodes. For example, an appliqu&#xe9; capable of receiving beamforming can estimate the angle of arrival of the signal emitted by a tag, thereby providing information that can be used to localize the tag. An appliqu&#xe9; may be connected to an existing reader by means of an existing port, such as to an antenna port or to an Ethernet port. The information from appliqu&#xe9;s can be integrated with that obtained from existing nodes at either the appliqu&#xe9;s, or further up the hierarchy in middleware.

Applique nodes for performance and functionality enhancement in radio frequency identification systems

Systems and methods for beamforming in radio frequency identification (RFID) applications are disclosed. A beamforming system uses a distributed architecture and techniques for antenna beamforming using a feedback control loop to direct radio frequency (RF) energy onto a specific region, referred to as an interrogation zone, which includes a calibration node where one or more RFID tags may be located. The distributed architecture of the beamforming system is resistant to fading and shadowing effects, providing accurate RFID reader operation even in environments with multi-path reflections or environmental changes, such as people moving around or changes in the location of equipment.

Growing community of inventors

Sunnyvale, CA, United States of America

Ben J Wild