Abstract:
A method and apparatus for making an RFID article such as a label, tag, ticket, envelope, carton, inlay, etc., including a microchip connected to a first antenna which is, in turn, electro-magnetically and coupled to a second antenna.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application claims the benefit of the filing date of co-pending U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/818,185 filed Jun. 30, 2006, entitled METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR COMBINING AN RFID ACTIVE KERNEL INLAY WITH A LABEL STOCK. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     RFID articles such as labels, tags, etc are typically equipped with a microchip electrically, i.e., conductively, capacitively and/or inductively, connected to an antenna so that the chip may be read from and/or written to via radio frequency carrier energy provided and sensed, by an interrogator or reader. RFID articles often include an RFID inlay that carries the microchip and antenna on a convenient poly or paper base layer in a ‘wet’ format, i.e., coated on one side with a pressure sensitive adhesive for bonding the inlay to the article, or, in a ‘dry’ format with no adhesive. Inlays are provided by companies such as Alien Technologies of Morgan Hill, Calif., Avery Dennison of Clinton, S.C., and TAGSYS of Cambridge, Mass. To achieve manufacturing economies of scale, inlays are typically provided in a limited number of antenna formats for general use. In some cases, a customized antenna is desirable to achieve longer range or optimize performance where the size, shape or contents of an RFID article-equipped carton affect the rf performance of the inlay. 
     TAGSYS of Cambridge, Mass. offers an alternative to the conventional chip/antenna inlay combination with its AK™ of Active Kernel™ technology, “Kernel” refers to a relatively small (approximately ¾″ square) UHF (ultra high frequency) inlay consisting of a poly film carrying a microchip and a metallic loop antenna where the chip is conductively connected to the loop antenna. As the loop antenna is relatively small and simply shaped, the reading/writing range of the kernel inlay is relatively short, perhaps less than one foot, compared to a typical UHF inlay with a range of 3-10 feet. This “kernel” provides a “common denominator” or universal form factor inlay that may be used with a second antenna to increase reading/writing range and other performance characteristics. The kernel inlay is applied in relatively close proximity to the second antenna, but the kernel inlay typically does not touch or otherwise conductively connect to the second antenna. The kernel inlay inductively couples or resonates with the second antenna and this resonance increases reading/writing range of the combined kernel inlay and second antenna. The second antenna may be formed using a variety of known techniques, such as printing with a conductive ink, etching or grinding from a metallic layer, stamping a metallic foil, etc. and the second antenna may be carried on a variety of substrates such as paper or poly film. The structure and interaction of the kernel inlay and second antenna is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,172,608 of Cole, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated herein in its entirety. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     To date, no process has been disclosed for combining dry (no adhesive) AK inlays with secondary antennas to make RFID articles such as labels, tags or tickets. 
     In one embodiment, a method and apparatus is provided for making an RFID-equipped label comprising: feeding a web of uniformly spaced kernel inlays, cutting the kernel inlays in registration with their associated antennas, i.e., between spaced antennas to define a single kernel inlay, and applying the kernel inlay in a predetermined position onto a second (or “secondary”) web of label stock upon which second antennas are provided in spaced relation so that the kernel inlay is located in operative electromagnetic relationship, with, but spaced from, the associated second antenna. 
     In alternative embodiments, the secondary antennas may be provided in a number of ways such as printing with conductive ink, chemical etching portions of metalized layer, grinding portions of a metalized layer, stamping a metallic foil, or plating. The second antenna may also be provided as another web, and cut and applied to the article in a predetermined position. Further, the second antenna may be located on the face or, alternatively, the back of the label facestock. The label facestock may be equipped with a variety of known label adhesives and known release liners, or the label may be linerless, that is, wound upon itself with no release liner. 
     Similarly alternative embodiments may include the kernel inlay and second antenna on the same side of the label facestock or one of the inlay and second antenna on the front and the other on the back of the label facestock. 
     Other RFID articles may be produced with the method, such as event or transit tickets, which typically do not include an adhesive for adhering the article to another item. In the case of tickets, there may be a front and back layer with the kernel inlay and second antenna therebetween or with the kernel inlay applied to a separate surface from the second antenna. 
     Applicator apparatus adaptable for feeding cutting and applying kernel inlays is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,207,001 of Steidinger et al and PCT Application No. PCT/US2006/015986 of Steidinger et al, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein in their entirety. 
     Another RFID article produced with the method may be folding cartons where the cartons may be in a web format or as a stream of individual cartons. The kernel inlays and secondary antennas may be applied to the inside or outside surface of the carton, or the kernel inlay on one side of the carton and the second antenna on the other. 
     Applicator apparatus adaptable for applying kernel inlays of the inventive method to a predetermined location on a stream of individual cartons is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,772,663 of Machamer, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is atop view of one embodiment of a RFID label web with at least one kernel inlay and second antenna; 
         FIG. 2A  is a cross section view of one RFID label taken through sight line A-A of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 2B  is a cross section view of an alternate embodiment of an RFID label taken through sight line A-A of  FIG. 1  resulting from an alternative assembly process; 
         FIG. 3  is a top view of a RFID tag web with at least one kernel inlay and an associated second antenna; 
         FIG. 4  is a cross section view of one RFID tag taken through sight line  4 - 4  of  FIG. 3 ; 
         FIG. 5  is a top view of an RFID carton with a kernel inlay and second antenna; 
         FIG. 6  is a cross section view of the RFID carton taken through sight line  6 - 6  of  FIG. 5 ; 
         FIG. 7  is a front, schematic view of vacuum cylinder applicator apparatus for feeding, cutting, and applying kernel inlays or second antennas to a web; 
         FIG. 8  is a front schematic view of apparatus, including the applicator of  FIG. 7 , for making a web of RFID labels; 
         FIG. 9  is a front schematic view of apparatus, including the applicator of  FIG. 7 , for making a web of RFID labels, tags, tickets, or cartons; 
         FIG. 10  is a front schematic view of apparatus including a vacuum belt subsystem for feeding, cutting and applying kernel inlays or secondary antennas to make RFID cartons; and 
         FIG. 11  is a close up view of the cutting apparatus shown in  FIG. 10 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       FIG. 1  shows a lop view of a portion of a web  10  of RFID labels  11 . At least one of the labels  11  is equipped with a kernel inlay  12  which includes a typically dielectric substrate  12   a  (See  FIG. 2A ), and a microchip  13  electrically connected with an antenna  14 . The label  11  is typically equipped with an adhesive  18   a  ( FIG. 2A ) such as a pressure sensitive adhesive. A second antenna  16  is also attached to label  11 . The second antenna  16  may be on the same side of the label  11  as the kernel inlay  12 . The second antenna  16  may also be on the opposite side of the label  11  from the kernel inlay  12 , if desired. Similarly, the kernel inlay  12  may be placed on either side of the label facestock  11 . Kernel inlay  12  may also overlie second antenna  16  so long as kernel inlay antenna  14  is separated or insulated from second antenna  16  by the kernel inlay substrate  12  and/or label facestock  11 . 
     Label construction or web  10  may also include a release liner  17  and an adhesive  18   a  selected from known pressure sensitive adhesive, remoistenable, heat-activated or other known adhesives. The kernel inlay substrate  12   a  may be adhered to the label  11  via the adjacent portion of adhesive  18   a . The portion of adhesive  18   a  covered by kernel inlay substrate  12   a  is not available to adhere the label  11  to a subsequent article such as a package, envelop or other product. The covered portion of adhesive  18   a  may be supplemented by an adhesive pattern  18   b . Adhesive pattern  18   b  may be the same size, larger, or smaller than the inlay substrate  12   a , as desired, and secures the inlay. 
     In some cases, the release liner  17  may be omitted if the upper surface  11   a  of the label facestock  11 , the adhesive  18   a , and if used, adhesive  18   b  are selected to allow the label web  10  to be wound, rolled, or coiled upon itself, in a construction known as a linerless label. In the case of the linerless label, the roll of labels may be unwound as the surface  11   a  of the label  11  has less affinity for the adhesive  18  than the surface  11   b.    
     The drawings are not to scale, particularly in that the thicknesses of the components may be exaggerated for clarity and in actual practice are much thinner so that the ‘bump’ created by the stack-up of the kernel inlay  12 , components  12   a ,  13 , and  14  plus adhesive  18   b , if used, is also much thinner and less noticeable than illustrated. 
     Turning to  FIG. 1 , the kernel inlay  12  has a longitudinal dimension (i.e., in the direction of web elongation or movement) or pitch P ( FIG. 1 ) and the labels  11  have a repeat R on the label stock  10 . The kernel inlay  12  is typically placed in a predetermined position on label  11 . The location of inlay  12  in the longitudinal dimension relative to a predetermined location on the label is denoted as D ( FIG. 1 ). These dimensions, D, P and R, will be further described and related herein. 
     While not shown, kernel inlay  12  may alternatively be adhered to the label facestock upper surface  11   a  ( FIG. 1 ). In this case the inlay may be equipped with a pre-applied or in-situ applied adhesive, such as pressure-sensitive adhesive, to secure it to the facestock. 
       FIG. 3  illustrates a web  20  of tags or tickets  21 . Each ticket  21  is delineated by a perforation  29   p , score, or the like so the tickets may be separated at some point for use. At least one ticket  21  is equipped with a kernel inlay  22  having a kernel substrate  22   a , a microchip  23  electrically attached to an antenna  24  (see  FIG. 4 ). The kernel inlay may be attached to ticket  21 , for example, with an adhesive  25  that may be pre-applied to the inlay or applied in situ to either the kernel inlay substrate  22   a  or ticket substrate upper laminate  29 . The ticket  21  includes a second antenna  26  which may be provided in a variety of known ways, some of which are mentioned above. 
     Similar to the label construction, the kernel inlay  22  of the ticket embodiment has a pitch P (along the longitudinal length of the article) and is typically located in a predetermined position on a ticket with a longitudinal dimension between leading or corresponding edges on adjacent articles, or “repeat” denoted R. In the longitudinal dimension, the predetermined position is denoted as D in  FIG. 5  for cartons. 
       FIG. 4  shows a cross sectional view of the tag or ticket  21  of  FIG. 3 . The ticket may have upper and lower laminates  29 ,  27  with the kernel inlay  22  therebetween. Alternatively, kernel inlay  22  may be placed on outer surfaces  27   a  or  29   a  of ticket  21 . 
     The second antenna  26  is shown on the outer surface  29   a  but may alternatively be placed on surfaces  27   a ,  27   b , or  29   b . An adhesive  28  such as pressure sensitive adhesive, remoistenable adhesive, hot melt adhesive, heat activated or other known adhesive or bonding technique may be used to bond upper and lower laminates  29 ,  27  together. As an alternative embodiment, one of the laminates  27 ,  29  may cover only a portion of the other. As a further alternative, one of the layers  27  or  29  may be deleted, with kernel inlay  22  and second antenna  26  located on the remaining layer. 
       FIG. 5  illustrates a further article, an RFID enabled carton  30 , including a carton blank  31  often made of approx. 0.008″ thick paper carton board, stiff poly materials, e-flute, or other known materials or composites. A kernel inlay  32  is attached to either surface of the carton blank  31 . A second antenna  36  may be provided in conventional ways described herein on either side of the carton blank  31 . The carton blank may be folded and glued in known ways using a carton folder-gluer such as that manufactured by Bobst S A of Lausanne, Switzerland to form a useful carton for containing products such as playing cards, foods, sporting goods, pharmaceuticals and many more. Again, the kernel inlay  32  is typically located in a predetermined position on the carton blank. This is denoted D in  FIG. 5  in the typical carton processing longitudinal direction. 
       FIG. 6  is a cross section view of RFID-equipped carton  30 . The kernel inlay  32  and second antenna  36  are shown on the upper surface of carton blank  31  but may alternatively be on the lower surface, or one on the upper and the other on the lower surface of carton blank  31 . The kernel inlay  32  may be covered with a protective laminate (not shown), so that it is protected during the steps of folding-gluing, filling with product, or general use, as to protect the microchip  33  and its bond to antenna  34 . 
     A schematic front view of a basic feed/cut/vacuum applicator apparatus  750  is shown in  FIG. 7 . One disclosure of a basic feed/cut vacuum applicator, or ‘vacuum applicator’ is found in U.S. Pat. No. 2,990,081 of DeNeui et al. Commercially available vacuum applicators have been used to feed, cut and apply various materials such as tapes, laminates, labels, release liners, thin window films, foils, carbon papers, and many others. In more recent years, vacuum applicators have been used to apply RFID inlays and RFID straps. An RFID strap is a relatively small device (about 3 mm×5 mm) consisting of a microchip and connecting pads on a paper or film substrate (i.e. without an antenna). 
     In  FIG. 7 , the material to be cut and applied is in the form of a web  751  of kernel inlays  751   a - 751   g  (in  FIGS. 1 and 2  at  12 ; in  FIGS. 3 and 4  at  22 ; in  FIGS. 5 and 6  at  30 ) wound into a source roll  752 . Each inlay  751   a , etc, has a web direction length or pitch, P. The web  751  is friction fed by gripping between feed rollers  753   a  and  753   b  or alternatively via sprocket holes (not shown) in web  751  and corresponding cogs or teeth on one of the feed rollers  753   a ,  753   b . At least one of rollers  753   a  and  753   b  is driven by a servomotor and gearbox such as provided by Bosch Indramat of Lohr am Main, Germany and others. The servomotor&#39;s interface and control will be described briefly herein and in any event have been more fully disclosed in U.S. application Ser. No. 60/674,439, which is expressly incorporated herein. 
     Web  751  proceeds to vacuum cylinder  754  via an idler roller  757  which deflects web  751  in an advantageous wrap on the vacuum cylinder  754  so that vacuum supplied to the surface of vacuum cylinder  754  in a variety of known ways may act on web  751 , thereby holding web  751  onto the outer surface of vacuum cylinder  754 . Idler roller  757  may be deleted if positions of feed rollers  753   a,b  and vacuum cylinder  754  are adjusted or relocated to similarly feed web  751  onto vacuum cylinder  754 . Cutting cylinder  755  is equipped with at least one blade  756  and cooperates with vacuum cylinder  754  to sever one kernel inlay, such as  751   c  from web  751 . The separated kernel inlays are secured to the surface of vacuum cylinder  754  by applied vacuum and move at the surface speed of the vacuum cylinder until released and applied to carrier web  710 , as at  751   d,e , etc. Vacuum cylinder  754  may be hardened to provide a suitable, long wearing anvil surface for blade  756  to cut against. Vacuum cylinder  754  may be mechanically driven using gears, pulleys driveshafts, etc. from a host machine, such as a flexographic printing press supplied by Mark Andy of Chesterfield, St. Louis. The host machine, conveys carrier web  710  in a manner that controls web tension, speed, and position. 
     Cutting cylinder  755  may foe mechanically driven by vacuum cylinder  754  using gears, for example, or from the host machine using known methods so that one kernel inlay  751   c , etc, of pitch P is cut and then applied for every label or ticket repeat R of the carrier web  710 . Kernel inlay  751   e , for example may be applied at a predetermined location on web  710 , for example so the inlay may fee positioned a distance D from a feature on the label, ticket, tag or carton as shown in  FIGS. 1 ,  3 , and  5 . 
     Alternatively, one or both of the vacuum cylinder  754  and cutting cylinder  755 , may be servo driven via a servo control system where the feed rollers  753   a  or  753   b , vacuum, and cutting cylinders are controlled by and communicate with an Indramat PPC servo controller  766  via fiber optics and SERCOS protocol and operate according to Visual Motion programs. The system operator may interface with the servo control system via a UniOP Exor touchscreen provided by SITEK S.p.A. of San Giovanni Lupatoto V R, Italy. Servo control system also includes an input from an optical scanner  758  such as supplied by Keyence Corporation of USA of Woodcliff Lake, N.J. This allows coordination of the feed rollers  753   a,b  and cutting cylinder  755  so that blade  756  cuts inlay web  751  between adjoining antennas  24  thus delivering a cut kernel inlay  751   c , etc, ( 12 ,  22 ,  32  as illustrated in  FIGS. 1 ,  3 , and  5 ). 
     Typically, dimensions D, P, and R remain constant through a given production run. Any of dimensions D, P, R may, however, intentionally vary during the course of a job. For example, placing inlays at alternating locations on a label, where the label is placed in an otherwise constant location on a stack of closely spaced items such as envelopes, allows more reliable reading of the inlays. U.S. Pat. No. 5,766,406 of Brod disclosed dynamically or cyclically varying the speeds of the servo drives to feeding, cutting, and vacuum axes to intentionally vary dimensions D, P, and/or R from article to article and the disclosure thereof is incorporated here in its entirety. 
     Adhesive may be required to adhere kernel inlays to a substrate, particularly the tag or ticket laminations  27  or  29  of  FIG. 4 . The adhesive  25 , which may be of various known adhesives including pressure sensitive adhesive, may be pre-applied or applied in situ with applicators such as extrusion or roller applicators shown schematically at alternate locations  759  or  760  in  FIG. 7 . Applicator at  759  may apply a continuous coating of adhesive, while the applicator at  760  may apply a continuous or pattern coating. Timing and duration of a pattern coating may be effectively controlled via the Indramat PPC servo controller  766  disclosed herein and in application 60/674,439. 
     Vacuum cylinder applicator  750  may be installed in and coordinated with a web transport system  840  ( FIG. 8 ) to make RFID articles such as webs of labels  10  of  FIG. 1 , tags or tickets  20  of  FIG. 3 . 
     In the case of label web  10  ( FIGS. 1 and 2 ), a roll of labelstock  810  which may include label facestock  11 , release liner  17  and adhesive  18   a , may be unwound in a known unwind stand  812 , with splicing table  813 , web guide  814  and tension control  815 . The web may be printed with graphics and/or second antennas  16  in print station  816 , typically on upper surface  11   a . The label facestock  11  with adhesive  18   a  may be separated from release liner  17  in a delamination station  821 . The facestock  11  and adhesive  18   a  follow the web path  819 . Kernel inlay  851   a , is cut from inlay web  851  and applied to the adhesive  18   a  on label facestock  11  at a repeat R via applicator  750 . Note that the kernel inlay  851   a  covers a portion of the label adhesive  18   a  on the facestock  11 . When label  10   a  ( FIGS. 1 and 2 ) is removed from liner  17 , This results in a ‘dry spot’ or area lacking adhesive for fully adhering the label  10   a  onto an article to be labeled. If desired, the portion of adhesive  18   a  covered by the kernel inlay  851   a , may be ‘replaced’ by adding a corresponding area of adhesive  18   b  ( FIG. 2A ) to release liner  17  via an adhesive applicator  823  such as the Apex™ pattern adhesive applicator provided by ITW Dynatec of Hendersonville, Tenn. This applicator may be controlled, by processor  766  ( FIG. 7 ) to deliver the adhesive area in register with the eventual position of kernel inlays  851   a,b , etc. 
     The label facestock  11 , with adhesive  18   a  and kernel inlays  851   a,b , are relaminated with release liner  17  at relamination station  822  in press finishing section  817  where the label web  10  of  FIG. 1  may be die cut, matrix-removed, read, cut, perforated, folded, sheeted or rewound in known ways. In this embodiment, the second antenna  16  is on the opposite surface of label facestock  11  from kernel inlay,  12  as shown in  FIG. 1 . 
     In alternative embodiments, the second antenna  16  may be on the same side of label facestock  11  as kernel inlay  12  with the processing apparatus  940  reconfigured as shown in  FIG. 9 . In these embodiments, a web of label facestock  11 , only, i.e. without adhesive  18   a  and liner  17 , is unwound from roll  910 . The facestock web  11  is printed with graphics if desired, and second antennas  16 , typically at a repeat R or some multiple thereof in the case where all labels  11  do not receive an antenna. The facestock web  11  is turned over with turn bar module  921  thus secondary antennas  16  are on the underside of web path  919  and kernel inlays  951   a, b, c  are applied to the same side of facestock web  11  as secondary antennas  16  and also at a repeat R corresponding to the secondary antennas  16  and at a predetermined position D ( FIG. 1 ). Kernel inlays  951   a,b,c  may be adhered to facestock  11  via an adhesive  15  ( FIG. 2B ), either pre-applied (a combination often referred to as a ‘wet’ inlay) or applied in situ via adhesive applicator  923 . Further, in the case of a ‘wet’ inlay the kernel inlays  12  may be peeled from a release liner carrier (not shown) by a known peel bar device (not shown) that takes the place of the cutting cylinder  755  and cutting blade  756  and acting in cooperation with vacuum cylinder  754  in the applicator  750  of  FIG. 7 . 
     Release liner  17  is supplied from roll  920  ( FIG. 9 ) and adhesive  18   a  (FIG.  2 AB) is provided from applicator  924 . Alternatively, roll  920  may be a transfer tape that includes both liner  18  and adhesive  17 , in which case applicator  923  would not be needed. 
     The facestock  11  including secondary antennas  16  and kernel inlays  951   a,b,c  are laminated with release liner  17  and adhesive  18   a ′ at lamination station  922  and further processed as previously disclosed. 
     In the case of a tag or ticket construction of  FIGS. 3 and 4 , The apparatus of  FIG. 9  may also be used. In the case of tags or tickets, the upper laminate  29  ( FIG. 4 ) is supplied from roll  910  and the lower laminate  27  ( FIG. 4 ) is provided from roll  920  which is a paper or poly ticket laminate instead of release liner. In alternative embodiments, the kernel inlay  951   a  may be on the same or opposite sides of top web  29 . 
     In an alternative embodiment, not shown, secondary antenna  16  rather than being printed directly on a surface of facestock  11 , may instead be supplied on a separate web, similar to the kernel inlay web  951 . The secondary antennas could then be fed, cut and applied by an additional applicator (not shown) and applied to facestock web  11  in a predetermined position to allow function and interaction with kernel inlays. This may be advantageous where secondary antennas are produced by methods less compatible with the printing press-based web handling device shown in  FIGS. 8 and 9 , such as when the secondary antennas are formed by chemical etching or plating process. In such cases, it may be advantageous to prepare the secondary antennas in advance, in a separate process, and then combine them with kernel inlays. The combination may be accomplished in two passes through a system  940  with one applicator  950  (as shown) or in one pass in a system with two applicators (not shown). 
     Another kind of vacuum applicator is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,772,663 of Machamer. This vacuum applicator was originally developed to apply thin film windows to folding cartons where the folding cartons are discrete pieces carried at varying repeats, R, on earner bells such as in a folding-gluing machine. This vacuum applicator has feed roller(s) and cutting cylinder much like the vacuum cylinder applicator, but the vacuum cylinder has been replaced by one or more vacuum belt assemblies. The instant invention may employ such methods and apparatus. 
     A basic vacuum belt applicator  1050  installed on a host machine such as a carton folder-gluer that feeds carton blanks  1031  onto carrier belts  1062 . Carrier belts  1062  are driven and cooperate with upper belts  1063  which hold carton blanks  1031  against driven carrier belts  1062  causing the carton blanks  1031  to be moved in the direction of the arrow at a speed essentially matching the speed of the driven belts  1062 . The hopper feeder  1064  feeds carton blanks  1031  onto carrier belts  1062 , at slower speed than carrier belts  1062  with a resulting gap between carton blanks  1031  on carrier belts  8102 . The carton blanks  1031  thus feed at a nominal pitch or repeat R which may vary somewhat due to inconsistencies in feeding at hopper feeder  1064 . The vacuum belt applicator  1050  can react to variations in repeat R by scanning the position of a lead or trail edge of a carton blank  1031  using an optical scanner  1065 . Scanner  1065  sends an input to servo controller  1066  which controls the speed and timing of several servo motors which drive at least one of the feed rollers  1053   a, b , and the cutting cylinder  1055 . In this case the servo drives for at least one of feed cylinders  1053   a ,  1053   b  and cutting cylinder  1055  rotate the rollers intermittently in response to the carton edge sensed by scanner  1065 . The vacuum, belts are also servo-driven and controlled so that the speed of the vacuum belt(s)  1067  essentially matches the continuous speed of the carrier belts  1062 . 
     According to the invention, when practiced using the type of equipment described herein, a web of kernel inlays  1051  is unwound from a roll of kernel inlays  1052  by the feeding action of feed rollers  1053   a,b . The web  1051  proceeds onto vacuum belts  1061  and is cut by blade  1056  of rotating cutting cylinder  1055  contacting anvil surface  1068  which rides on vacuum belt (s)  1067 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 11 , the web  1051  is cut to a length P corresponding to the pitch of the kernel inlays and the cut is positioned between antenna patterns by means of input from optical scanner  1069  to a conventional servo controller  1066  and coordination of servo driven feeding roller, one of  1053   a  or  1053   b , and cutting cylinder  1055 . 
     Once the web of kernel inlays  1051  is cut, the cut inlay  1051   a  accelerates to the surface speed of the vacuum belt(s)  1067  and is conveyed toward the predetermined position on a particular folding carton blank  1031   a  which is sensed by scanner  1065  and thereby located by servo controller  1066 . In a similar manner, inlay  1051   b  is already en route to placement on the desired position on carton blank  1031   b  which was scanned by scanner  1065  at a repeat Rb. The desired position of inlay  1051   a ,  1051   b  on cartons  1031   a ,  1031   b  may be in relation to a physical feature on carton blank such as an edge of a carton blank or an antenna on the carton blank. The antenna may be pre-printed on the carton blank  1031  and may be on the upper surface  1031  upper or lower surface  1031  lower. As previously mentioned, the RFID article may be constructed with the kernel inlay  1051   a  on the same surface as, or on an opposite surface from, the second antenna. The surface  1031  upper generally becomes the inner surface of a finished carton and the location of kernel, inlay  1051   a  on an inner surface of the carton may be chosen to allow protection from damaging external forces, impacts, peeling, tampering, etc. or to obscure the kernel inlay from view. Similarly, the secondary antenna may be protected on the inside of the carton. Or the antenna may be displayed on the outside as an overt feature, or to separate the secondary antenna from the eventual contents of the carton, possibly enhancing antenna performance by separating it slightly from metallic contents, for example. 
     Kernel inlay  1051   a ,  1051   b  may be adhered to its respective carton blank  1031   a ,  1031   b  by adding an adhesive to the upper surface,  1031  upper, by means of an adhesive applicator  1068 , illustrated schematically as a roller type where the rollers may also be servo driven and controlled by controller  1066  to coordinate its application of adhesive in register with the intermittent motion of web  1051 . Adhesive applicator may also be an extrusion type such as supplied by ITW Dynatec of Hendersonville, Tenn. which may also be controlled by processor  1066  to apply adhesive intermittently or continuously onto web  1051 . 
     In the case of ‘wet’ kernel inlays, the inlays  1051   a ,  1051   b  may be supplied such as pressure sensitive labels on a release liner. A conventional peel mechanism peels individual kernel inlays  1051   a ,  1051   b  from the liner and dispenses them onto the vacuum belt, as a functional alternative to the cutting operation of cutting cylinder  1055  and blade  1056 . In this embodiment the adhesive of the ‘wet’ inlay would be exposed on kernel inlay upper surface  1051 . When kernel inlay  1051   a  is applied to a carton blank  1031   a  in the predetermined position, the exposed adhesive adheres the kernel inlay to the carton blank  1031   a.    
     Having thus disclosed in detail an embodiment of the invention, persons skilled in the art will be able to modify the structure illustrated and substitute equivalent elements for those disclosed; and it is, therefore, intended that all such substitutions and equivalents be covered as they are embraced within the scope of the appended claims.