The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 15, 2004
Filed:
Dec. 12, 2002
Applicant:
Inventor:
Randall B. Smith, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Assignee:
Sun Microsystems, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G08B 1/314 ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
G08B 1/314 ;
Abstract
One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that uses Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags to determine the position of an object. During operation, the system receives signals from an array of RFID tags at an RFID tag reader, wherein a mask of known size and shape is interposed between the array of RFID tags and the RFID tag reader, thereby obscuring signals from a subset of the RFID tags. Next, the system determines the position of the object by analyzing the pattern of obscured RFID tags, wherein the analysis is based on a known spatial relationship between the object, the mask and the array of RFID tags.