Two-dimensional antenna configuration
Inventors
Davidowitz, Hananel • Coradetti, Thomas • Altman, Theodore • Kovnatsky, Ilya
Assignees
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Publication Number
US-8378827-B2
Publication Date
2013-02-19
Expiration Date
Abstract
In one embodiment, an antenna configuration for locating RFID tags has two sets of (mutually orthogonal) elongated reader coils, where each elongated reader coil corresponds to two or more different possible locations of RFID tags, and each possible location is associated with one reader coil in each of the two sets. The identities and locations of RFID tags can be determined by (sequentially) energizing the different sets of reader coils and correlating the recorded responses from RFID tags. In one application, the antenna configuration is used at the box level of a cold storage system for biological samples having one or more freezers, each freezer having one or racks, each rack receiving one or more boxes, each box receiving one or more sample containers, where, in addition to the biological sample, each sample container has a unique passive RFID tag.
Core Innovation
The invention relates to an RFID cold-storage system for biological samples in which each sample container has a passive RFID tag, and each box contains a two-dimensional distribution of possible locations mapped to a corresponding two-dimensional grid of slot locations for receiving samples. Identity and location of the RFID tags in the two-dimensional distribution are determined using an antenna configuration and associated reader coils.
The antenna configuration comprises a first set of elongated reader coils, each associated with a different column of possible locations, and a second set of elongated reader coils, each associated with a different row of possible locations. Each possible location in the two-dimensional distribution corresponds to a single elongated reader coil in the first set and a single elongated reader coil in the second set, and control electronics energize each elongated reader coil and record the identity of RFID tags responding to each energized reader coil.
To inhibit inadvertent reads from neighboring reader coils, the control electronics inject a signal into one or more neighboring reader coils that neighbor an energized reader coil, where the injected signal inhibits RFID tags associated with the corresponding neighboring reader coil from being read by the energized reader coil. The document further describes expanded regions interconnected by contracted regions in each elongated reader coil, with conductors forming expanded regions further apart than conductors forming contracted regions, and alternative antenna configurations and slot or region geometries for the two-dimensional distribution.
Claims Coverage
Across the provided independent claims, the coverage centers on mapping a two-dimensional distribution of possible RFID-tag locations using two sets of elongated reader coils associated with rows and columns, recording the identity of responding RFID tags while controlling neighboring-coil interference, and constraining the two-dimensional distribution to box slot patterns, including sector-shaped annular and radial arrangements in at least one independent claim.
Two-dimensional row/column reader-coil mapping for RFID tag identity and location
An antenna configuration for determining identity and location of RFID tags in a two-dimensional distribution of possible locations, comprising a first set of elongated reader coils associated with different columns and a second set of elongated reader coils associated with different rows, wherein each possible location is associated with a single elongated reader coil in the first set and a single elongated reader coil in the second set.
Expanded and contracted region coil mapping
An antenna configuration for determining identity and location of RFID tags in a two-dimensional distribution of possible locations, comprising the row-associated and column-associated elongated reader coils, wherein each elongated reader coil has a series of expanded regions interconnected by contracted regions, with conductors in expanded regions further apart than in contracted regions, and each expanded region corresponds to a different possible location in the corresponding column or row.
Neighboring-coil signal injection inhibition
Control electronics adapted to energize each elongated reader coil and record the identity of RFID tags responding to each energized reader coil, and to inject a signal into one or more neighboring reader coils that neighbor an energized reader coil, where the injected signal inhibits RFID tags associated with the corresponding neighboring reader coil from being read by the energized reader coil.
Hierarchical sample-storage communication architecture
A system for storing samples comprising one or more cabinets with hierarchy levels and control electronics that communicate with next-lower hierarchy levels, where the lowest hierarchy level is a box level with boxes receiving sample containers, container electronics communicate sample-identification information to box control electronics, and box control electronics communicate the sample-identification information upward, in combination with the two-dimensional reader-coil antenna configuration.
Sector-shaped annular and radial slot distribution
An antenna configuration for determining identity and location of RFID tags in a two-dimensional distribution of possible locations, wherein the two-dimensional distribution corresponds to a box having slots for receiving samples with unique RFID tags, and wherein the distribution is a substantially sector-shaped arrangement of annular and radial rows or columns of slots, with at least two annular rows or columns having different numbers of slots and at least two radial rows or columns having different numbers of slots.
The independent claims collectively cover a two-dimensional RFID-tag location approach that maps each possible location to one coil from each of two elongated reader-coil sets, and includes reading RFID tag identity while inhibiting neighboring-coil interference. The claims also encompass expanded and contracted region coil structures, a hierarchical cabinet-box-container sample-storage communication architecture, and a sector-shaped annular and radial slot distribution within a box.
Stated Advantages
Not explicitly described in patent.
Documented Applications
RFID cold storage system for biological samples, using a box-level two-dimensional slot distribution of sample locations and a database mapping tag IDs to location identifiers.
Sample storage system with one or more cabinets and hierarchy levels that communicate sample-identification information between cabinet, box, and sample-container electronics while determining identity and location of RFID tags in a two-dimensional distribution of possible locations.
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