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:
Oct. 10, 2017
Filed:
Mar. 09, 2016
The United States of America As Represented BY the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Washington, DC (US);
Patrick W. Fink, Missouri City, TX (US);
Gregory Y. Lin, Friendswood, TX (US);
Timothy F. Kennedy, Sugar Land, TX (US);
Phong H. Ngo, Friendswood, TX (US);
Abstract
Methods, apparatuses and systems for radio frequency identification (RFID)-enabled information collection are disclosed, including an enclosure, a collector coupled to the enclosure, an interrogator, a processor, and one or more RFID field sensors, each having an individual identification, disposed within the enclosure. In operation, the interrogator transmits an incident signal to the collector, causing the collector to generate an electromagnetic field within the enclosure. The electromagnetic field is affected by one or more influences. RFID sensors respond to the electromagnetic field by transmitting reflected signals containing the individual identifications of the responding RFID sensors to the interrogator. The interrogator receives the reflected signals, measures one or more returned signal strength indications ('RSSI') of the reflected signals and sends the RSSI measurements and identification of the responding RFID sensors to the processor to determine one or more facts about the influences. Other embodiments are also described.