Nxp B.v.

Harald Helfried Robert

Francesco Antonetti

Dariusz Adam Mastela

David Knabl

Disclosed is a circuit apparatus including an input section configured to receive an electromagnetic (EM) transmission, a voltage divider section configured to divide the EM transmission into a plurality of voltage levels, a rectifier portion configured to rectify AC power received in the EM transmission, and a load configured to receive DC power from the rectifier portion, wherein one level of the voltage divider section is configured to supply power to a radio frequency identification integrated circuit (RFID-IC).

Power harvesting for RFID/NFC-applications

Embodiments of a radio frequency identification (RFID) reader are provided herein, which include an RFID interrogator; a detection surface for a game piece, the detection surface comprising a plurality of reader antennas in a geometric arrangement; and antenna switching circuitry coupled between the RFID interrogator and the plurality of reader antennas; wherein the antenna switching circuitry is configured to consecutively activate each one of the plurality of reader antennas for at least a detection time window, and wherein the RFID interrogator is configured to: for each reader antenna, detect whether a response signal is received by the reader antenna during the detection time window, and determine a geometric orientation of the game piece based on a subset of reader antennas that received the response signal.

RFID orientation detection

Aspects of the present disclosure are directed to an antenna, various implementations and methods therefor. Various embodiments are amenable to implementation with a receiver circuit that harvests power using energy from a radio frequency (RF) signal received, and a near-field communication (NFC) circuit. A first antenna collects and presents the RF signal to the receiver circuit, and a second antenna communicates NFC signals for the NFC circuit using an antenna portion shared with the first antenna.

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Graz, Austria

Harald Helfried Robert