Vulcan Patents LLC

Interval Licensing LLC

Other

Intel Corporation

Interval Research Corporation

James E Dishman

Oliver Thomas Bayley

Geoffrey M Smith

Mark A McCabe

Bernard J Kerr

John Meron Ananny

Peter A Nee

Seshadri Sathyanarayan

Darren H Yee

Steve H Dohrmann

Interactive radio frequency tags that are responsive to external stimuli to change state are disclosed. The tags preferably include a passive radio frequency transponder, having an antenna, an interface for receiving an external stimulus, and one or more integrated circuits responsive to the external stimulus received at the interface to change the state of the transponder. Also disclosed is a 'sensor tag' which changes state in response to a particular environmental stimulus. In addition, either of these 'button' or &#x201c;sensor&#x201d; features may be combined with an output feature which visually, audibly, tactilely or otherwise signals the state or change of state of an RF tag, or the tag may be designed to produce an output in response to the external stimulus of the RF signal received at the tag's antenna.

Interactive radio frequency tags

Provided are telecommunications devices and systems which incorporate and use radio frequency (RF) tag technology. Telecommunications devices in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention incorporate RF transceivers (readers) which are configured to read associated RF transponders (tags) in order to automatically dial desired telephone numbers without the need for a manual user interface. Tags in systems in accordance with this embodiment of the present invention may be attached to or incorporated with a myriad of items, including picture frames, consumer products and packaging, advertising and promotional material, electronic business cards, record-keeping systems, etc. Devices and systems in accordance with the present invention have a variety of telephony and non-telephony applications.

Radio frequency-controlled telecommunication device

A secure pickup and delivery container includes a lockable door, a control unit, an access element, and an anchoring element, according to one embodiment. The control unit includes a processing element and a memory that can be programmed either on-site or remotely with access privilege information such as identity (e.g. of container, delivery person, etc.), location, date, time, frequency of access, and/or package-specific information. In one embodiment, access privilege information is programmed when an intended recipient of a delivery consummates a point of sale transaction, for example over the Internet or telephone. The access element can be a keypad, a biometric scanner, a card reader, a bar-code reader, and/or a wireless control element to read a programmable token such as a smart card. Delivery personnel can enter access request information into the access element, and if it favorably compares with the access privilege information, the control unit unlocks the door. Notification can be concurrently made via wireline or wireless communications to the intended recipient, who may be situated remote from the secure container. The recipient can optionally return a delivery acknowledgment to the delivery personnel. Details of the delivery transaction can also be recorded electronically on the delivery personnel's token, within the container, or at a remote location.

Methods and apparatus for unattended pickups and deliveries

Provided are RF tags configured to access and/or control electronic media. These tags have a memory programmed to access a particular media source when polled by a RF transceiver connected with (preferably integrated with) a media player. The memory of tags may also be programmed with control parameters relating to the accessed piece of electronic media content. That is, the tags' memories may be written to with information relating to the tag user's preferences with respect to the piece of media, for example parameters such as volume or language for an audiovisual piece of media. Such preferences may be determined, for example, based on previous uses of the media. Or, the memory may register the place in the playback of the media when the tag is removed from the RF field of the RF transceiver so that playback may be resumed from that place when the tag again enters the field and is polled by the transceiver. RF media access and control systems incorporating such tags, and methods of using them are also provided.

Radio frequency tags for media access and control

Growing community of inventors

Portland, OR, United States of America

James E Dishman