Patent Publication Number: US-8118232-B2

Title: Manufacturing method of prducts attached with RFID label in a mold

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is a division of application Ser. No. 12/268,332 fled on Nov. 10, 2008, which is a division of application Ser. No. 11/680,453 filed on Feb. 28, 2007. The content of the above applications is hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     This invention relates to a manufacturing method of products attached with an RFID (radio frequency identification device) in a mold, particularly to one having several steps for making a product attached with a substratum label consisting of a substratum and a radio frequency identification device during forming the plastic product in a mold. Then the RFID combined with the label is positioned between the substratum and the plastic product so that the RFID is protected from unnecessarily broken or damaged, with its identifying capacity possible to be always maintained intact. 
     2. Description of the Prior Art 
     Nowadays radio frequency identification has widely been used on various goods, in order to escalate the speed of circulation, identification, and filing. At present the chips used for radio frequency identification always have an adhesive film layer glued on the electronic circuit of the chip, and then the adhesive film layer is adhered on a product, and an adhesive layer is further attached on the adhesive film layer for protecting the radio frequency identification device under the film layer from being broken, damaged or worn off. 
     However, the conventional radio frequency identification system has a flow that it cannot be applied to a wide variety, in other words, it is extremely limited in its applicable scope, with every circuit board necessary to be adhered on with an adhesive layer, so it is not convenient for mass production, increasing manufacturing processes, lowering effectiveness and enhancing its cost. 
     There are Taiwan patent No. 93127285, China patent NO. 200410078355, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,957,777 B1 disclosed the same “Label to be attached on a plastic product formed in a mold and identifiable by a detective device” wherein a substratum is made of a soft circuit board for arranging thereon a RFID (radio frequency identification device) and an antenna. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention has been devised to offer a manufacturing method of products attached with an RFID label in a mold, for protecting the RFID label from broken or worn out so as to keep intact the identifying capacity of the RFID. 
     The invention has the following features.
         1. The first step of the manufacturing method is to prepare a first mold for making a substratum, and the material of the substratum may be the same as or different from that of a plastic product made in this method.   2. The substratum can be a thin film, a very thin plate, a foam thin plate, or a compound plate depending on the necessity of the plastic product.   3. The second step is to combine an RFID label with the substratum, and the RFID label is composed of a radio frequency identification chip, an antenna and an adhesive surface, and adhered on the substratum with the adhesive surface. Or before the RFID is not formed with the glue surface, it is combined with the substratum by means of an adhesive film, high frequency process or supersonic process, making a substratum label containing the substratum and the RFID label and then to be adhered with the plastic product during injecting molding process of the plastic product.   4. The RFID label can be added with a printed layer, which further has a linking layer.   5. The third step of the method is to place the substratum label in a second mold that a plastic product is to be formed, so the RFID label can be wrapped automatically between the substratum and a plastic product during the molding process.       

    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
       This invention will be better understood by referring to the accompany drawings, wherein: 
         FIG. 1  is a flow chart of a manufacturing method of products attached with an RFID label in a mold in the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is an upper view of a forming device used in a first preferred embodiment of a manufacturing method of products attached with an RFID label in a mold in the present invention; 
         FIG. 3  is a side view of an substratum and a RFID label used in a second step of the manufacturing method of products attached with an RFID label in a mold in the present invention; 
         FIGS. 4   a ,  4   b ,  4   c  and  4   d  are respectively an upper, a side, and two side cross-sectional views of a cup (as a plastic product) being formed to be attached with an RFID label in a second preferred embodiment of a manufacturing method in the present invention; 
         FIGS. 5   a ,  5   b ,  5   c  and  5   d  are respectively an upper, a side and two side cross-sectional views of a cap (as a plastic product) attached with an RFID in the second preferred embodiment of a manufacturing method in the present invention; 
         FIG. 6  is an upper view of a substratum used in the manufacturing method of products attached with an RFID label in a mold in the present invention; 
         FIG. 7  is a cross-sectional view of the line A-A in  FIG. 6 ; 
         FIG. 8  is a cross-sectional view of a substratum label used in the second preferred embodiment of a manufacturing method in the present invention; 
         FIG. 9  is a cross-sectional view of a substratum label used in a third preferred embodiment of a manufacturing method in the present invention; 
         FIG. 10  is an upper view of a substratum label used in a fourth preferred embodiment of a manufacturing method in the present invention; 
         FIG. 11  is an upper view of a substratum label used in a fifth preferred embodiment of a manufacturing method in the present invention; 
         FIGS. 12A and 12B  are cross-sectional views of a substratum label used in a sixth preferred embodiment of a manufacturing method in the present invention; and, 
         FIGS. 13A ,  13 B,  13 C and  13 D are the perspective views of various products made by the manufacturing method in the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     A first preferred embodiment of a manufacturing method of products formed in a mold and attached with a RFID label during molding process in the present invention, as shown in  FIG. 1 , includes a first step, a second step, and a third step. 
     The first step is to prepare a first mold  1  for forming a substratum  10  by means of injecting molding, pushing molding, vacuum molding, pressing molding or sword molding, and the substratum may be made of the same as or a different material from that of plastic products, as a thin film, a thin plate, a foamed thin sheet, or a compound thin plate having a thickness 0.1-1.0 mm according to the necessity of a product, but it may be thinner than 0.1 mm or thicker than 1.0 mm, if necessary. 
     The second step is to attach a RFID label  2  on a product being made in a mold, and the RFID label  2  is an electronic circuit board  20  with a radio frequency identification chip and an antenna arranged thereon, which preferably has a thickness 0.05-0.3 mm and any shape such as square shown in  FIGS. 6 and 10  or round shown in  FIG. 10  and antenna, and an adhesive layer  21  is then adhered on the radio frequency identification chip and the antenna, but this adhesive layer  21  can be omitted as shown in  FIGS. 9 and 11 . Then the RFID label  2  can be attached on one side of the substratum  10 , making a substratum label  3  composed of the substratum  10  and the RFID label  2  as shown in  FIGS. 7 and 8 . Next, a printed layer can be added to the RFID label  2 , and a connecting layer  22  can be added to the underside of the RFID label  2  as shown in  FIG. 8  for attaching the substratum label  3  to a plastic product being formed in the mold, preferably made of the same material as that of the plastic product so that the substratum label  3  may be sufficiently attached to a product during the product being formed in the mold. However, if the RFID label  2  is not provided with the adhesive layer  21  as shown in  FIGS. 9 ,  10  and  11 , a gelatin film  23  may be adhered to the substratum  10  for making the substratum label  3  containing the substratum and the RFID label  2  as shown in  FIG. 9 . In addition, high frequency process or supersonic process can be used for combining the RFID label  2  with the substratum  10  to make the substratum label  3  as well as shown in  FIG. 11 . 
     Next, the third step of the manufacturing method is to prepare a second mold  4 , which the substratum label  3  is to be placed therein and also used for injecting molding a plastic product  4  therein so that the substratum label  3  may automatically be attached in the plastic product when finished. Thus, the RFID label  2  is completely wrapped between the substratum and the plastic product  5  so the RFID can be protected from broken or damaged, enhancing the value of the plastic product. 
       FIGS. 2 and 3  show an upper view of a first mold  1  and a second mold  4  positioned on a interchanging base  6  used in a first preferred embodiment of a manufacturing method of products attached with an RFID label in a mold, A substratum  10  is formed in the first mold  1 , which is then moved circularly by the rotation of the interchanging base  6  to the location where the second mold  4  is and then the second mold  4  may be moved to the original location of the first mold  1 , with the first mold  1  being all the same as the second mold  4 . Then the first mold  1  with the substratum  10  moved at the right side is to be opened manually or mechanically for placing an RFID label  2  closely beside the substratum  10  in the first mold  1 , and then closed tightly. Then the first mold  1  is combined with an injecting arm of an injecting molding machine so that plastic may be injected in the first mold  1  to form a plastic product that the substratum label  3  with the RFID label  2  may automatically be attached between the substratum and the plastic product. Thus the finished plastic product  5  is attached with the RFID label  2 , which is protected by the rather thick substratum  10  from easily broken, damaged or worn off. Thus the RFID can always maintain identified capacity, with the plastic products raised in the value. 
     Next,  FIGS. 4 and 5  show a second preferred embodiment of a manufacturing method of products attached with an RFID label in a mold, after the substratum  10  is formed in the first mold, the RFID label  2  is manually or mechanically adhered with the substratum  10  to form a substratum label  3 , then the substratum label  3  is placed in the second mold  4  and plastic is injected in the second mold  4 , letting the substratum label  3  closely attached with the plastic product during molding process. Thus, as the substratum  10  has enough thickness and toughness so as to protect the RFID label  2  from easily broken, damaged or worn off. 
     As to the shape of the plastic product  5 , it can be of any shape, such as a bottle, a cup, a cap, shown in  FIG. 12  having curved or bent with irregular lines, with a common advantage that the RFID label  2  may be sufficiently wrapped by the sub stratum  10  and the plastic product  5 . As the substratum  10  and the plastic product  5  are not liable to break, substantially protecting the RFID label  2  from broken, damaged or worn off, with the plastic product always completely identifiable by means of the RFID label. 
     While the preferred embodiments of the invention have been described above, it will be recognized that various modifications may be made therein and the appended claims are intended to cover all such modifications that may fall into the spirit and scope of the invention.