Impinj, Inc.

Intermec IP Corporation

International Business Machines Corporation

Impinj, International Ltd.

Intermac Technologies Corporation

Intemec IP Corp.

Harley K Heinrich

Christopher J Diorio

Theron Stanford

Daniel Joseph Friedman

Thomas Anthony Cofino

Ronald A Oliver

John D Hyde

Ronald Lee Koepp

Tan Mau Wu

Michael John Brady

Dah-Weih Duan

Jay A Kuhn

Paul Andrew Moskowitz

Kenneth Alan Goldman

Shailendra Srinivas

Rene D Martinez

Kevin Patrick McAuliffe

Charles J T Peach

Vijay Pillai

Scott A Cooper

Christian Lenz Cesar

Sharon Louise Greene

Alberto Pesavento

Matthew Robshaw

Chad A Lindhorst

Kambiz Rahimi

Paul Jorge Sousa

Robert J Von Gutfeld

Li-Cheng Richard Zai

Alejandro Gabriel Schrott

George Frederick Walker

Richard Joseph Gambino

Glen Walden Johnson

Jaideep Mavoori

Shun Shing Chan

Ian Bardwell-Jones

Gregory T Kavounas

Praveen Chaudhari

Paul F Dietrich

Trieu Can Chieu

Peter George Capek

Venkata S Kodukula

Thomas G Anderl

Brian John Walsh

Charles Peach

Joshua F Ensworth

David E Dieska

Brent A Picasso

Joseph Baird

Matthew J B Robshaw

Lou Ruggiero

Michael J Dacquisto

Yael Gregory Maguire

Pavel Nikitin

Dale L Scott

Jean-Louis Massieu

Ali Afzali-ardakani

Dilip Dinkar Kandlur

Arvind Krishna

Omer Onen

Lawrence Frederick Arnstein

Philip Murphy

Venkata S R Kodukula

Christopher Adam Feild

Shashi Ramamurthy

Shun-Shing Chan

Ron Oliver

Richard Michael Smyczynski

Louis R Ruggiero

Anthony Castellano

Joelle Prince

Rene Dominic Martinez

Kevin G McAuliffe

Michael Louis Pinch

Michael Brent Madrid

Ron Koepp

Paul J Sousa

RFID tag ICs in a population can adjust the impedance values used to backscatter-modulate reply signals to increase the distribution or spread of backscattered signal parameters, thereby facilitating the recovery of collided tag replies. An RFID tag IC may adjust its impedance value(s) based on a reader command or independently.

Controlling RFID tag population backscatter characteristics

An RFID IC may operate at a relatively low clock frequency while impedance matching to an antenna is being tuned to increase the amount of power that the IC can extract from an incident RF wave. A tuning circuit tunes the impedance matching by adjusting a variable impedance coupling the IC and the antenna. The IC may power-up with a low clock frequency or reduce its current clock frequency to a lower clock frequency prior to tuning or during the tuning process, and may increase its clock frequency upon completion of tuning or during the tuning process.

RFID tag clock frequency reduction during tuning

RFID ICs sense and indicate changes in their surrounding environment, such as changes in temperature, humidity, chemical presence, RF signals, and similar. An RFID IC indicates when a significant environmental change has occurred, for example by adjusting the value of a flag, writing data to memory, transmitting a message to an external entity, exiting a sleep state, and/or responding repeatedly to an inventorying reader. In some cases, RFID IC actively notifies an external entity that a significant environmental change has been sensed. For example, RFID IC may alert the external entity by participating in a special inventory process meant for RFID ICs sending environmental change. The RFID IC may alert the external entity by interjecting itself into an inventory round, re-participating in an inventory round, refraining from entering a sleep state after inventorying, and/or adjusting timing of a scheduled reply to communicate with an RFID reader ahead of schedule.

Environment-based RFID IC behavior

RFID inlays or straps may be assembled using impulse heating of metal precursors. Metal precursors are applied to and/or included in contacts on an RFID IC and/or terminals on a substrate. During assembly of the tag, the IC is disposed onto the substrate such that the IC contacts physically contact either the substrate terminals or metal precursors that in turn physically contact the substrate terminals. Impulse heating is then used to rapidly apply heat to the metal precursors, processing them into metallic structures that electrically couple the IC contacts to the substrate terminals.

High-speed RFID tag assembly using impulse heating

A Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) integrated circuit (IC) is at least partially covered by a repassivation layer that is, in turn, at least partially covered by a large, electrically conductive contact pad. The repassivation layer is disposed so as to leave uncovered at least one IC contact. The large contact pad is disposed so as to cover the IC IC contact. The large contact pad forms a first galvanic coupling to the IC contact and a second galvanic coupling to a tag antenna. The surface area of the first galvanic coupling is substantially smaller than the surface area of the second galvanic coupling.

RFID integrated circuits with large contact pads

Embodiments are directed to mitigating power-based impedance changes in Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags. The intrinsic impedance of components in an RFID tag front-end may change as incident RF power on the tag changes, causing the input impedance of the front-end to change and altering the RF properties of the RFID tag. A number of approaches can be used to mitigate input impedance variations due to power variations. One approach involves adjusting the operating point of one or more components in the RFID tag front-end to change their intrinsic impedances so as to counteract or mitigate the RF-power-based input impedance variation.

Impedance-change mitigation in RFID tags

Embodiments are directed to a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) integrated circuit (IC) having a first circuit block electrically coupled to first and second antenna contacts. The first antenna contact is disposed on a first surface of the IC and the second antenna contact is disposed on a second surface of the IC different from the first surface. A substrate of the RFID IC, or a portion of the IC substrate, electrically couples the first circuit block to at least one of the first and second antenna contacts. The IC includes one or more interfaces or barrier regions that at least partially electrically isolate the first circuit block from the rest of the IC substrate.

RFID integrated circuits with antenna contacts on multiple surfaces

Growing community of inventors

Snohommish, WA, United States of America

Harley K Heinrich