Source: http://www.google.com/patents/USRE41471?dq=amazon.com
Timestamp: 2017-12-16 05:32:08
Document Index: 170797280

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 3', 'art 3', 'art 3', 'art 3', 'art 4', 'art 4', 'art 1', 'art 1', 'art 2', 'art 2', 'art 3', 'art 3', 'art 2', 'art 2', 'art 1', 'art 1']

Patent USRE41471 - Method of Addressing Messages and Communications System - Google Patents
A method of establishing wireless communications between an interrogator and individual ones of multiple wireless identification devices, the method comprising utilizing a tree search method to attempt to identify individual ones of the multiple wireless identification devices so as to be able to perform...http://www.google.com/patents/USRE41471?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent USRE41471 - Method of Addressing Messages and Communications System
Publication number USRE41471 E1
Application number US 11/862,121
Also published as US6061344, US6282186, USRE40686, USRE41352, USRE42254, USRE42599
Publication number 11862121, 862121, US RE41471 E1, US RE41471E1, US-E1-RE41471, USRE41471 E1, USRE41471E1
Patent Citations (119), Non-Patent Citations (112), Referenced by (38), Classifications (9), Legal Events (3)
US RE41471 E1
transmitting by an interrogator a first signal, the first signal including a first set of bits to identify a first subgroup of a group of possible random numbers;
receiving by one or more RFID devices the first signal;
communicating by each of the one or more RFID devices a first response if the one or more RFID devices has generated a random number that is included in the first subgroup;
receiving by the interrogator one or more received responses, the one or more received responses being received from respective ones of the one or more RFID devices; and
responsive to receiving one of the one or more received responses without a collision, retransmitting by the interrogator at least the first signal.
40. The method of claim 39, wherein the first signal includes a selection indicator, the selection indicator identifying one or more RFID devices, the communicating by each of the one or more RFID devices only being performed if the selection indicator corresponds to one or more selection bits stored on each respective RFID device.
42. The method of claim 39, further comprising transmitting by the interrogator a wake-up signal, the wake-up signal causing an RFID device to transition out of a sleep state.
43. The method of claim 39, wherein the one of the one or more received responses without a collision is received from a first RFID device, and further comprising the interrogator transmitting a command to silence the first RFID device.
a first radio frequency identification (RFID) device configured to generate a random number and to communicate a response, including at least a portion of the random number, upon receiving a request that includes an indication of a subset of possible random numbers if the first RFID device determines that the subset includes the random number generated by the first RFID device;
an antenna positioned in a first region; and
an interrogator coupled to the antenna, the interrogator configured to transmit a signal comprising a portion of an identifier and to receive a reply to the signal from a target RFID device that has generated a random number having a portion equal to the portion of the identifier, the interrogator further configured to re-transmit the signal, including at least the portion of the identifier, if the reply is received without a collision.
51. The system of claim 50, wherein the request includes a selection indicator, the selection indicator identifying one or more RFID devices, the first RFID device being configured to communicate the response only if the selection indicator corresponds to one or more selection bits stored on the first RFID tag.
53. The system of claim 50, wherein the first RFID device is further configured to communicate the response after receiving a wake-up signal.
54. The system of claim 50, wherein the first RFID device is further configured to communicate a response at a time slot corresponding to a random number generated by the first RFID device.
a receiver communicatively coupled to at least one of the one or more antennas to receive one or more messages from one or more radio frequency identification (RFID) devices;
a transmitter communicatively coupled to at least one of the one or more antennas to transmit one or more messages; and
a control unit communicatively coupled to the transmitter and the receiver, the control unit configured to implement an algorithm to detect at least a single RFID device in a field of the interrogator, including re-transmitting a first signal responsive to receipt of a first response from the one or more RFID devices without a collision, the first signal including a first set of bits of at least a first portion of possible random numbers that may be generated by the one or more RFID devices, and the first response including at least a second portion of a random number generated by the one or more RFID devices.
59. The interrogator of claim 58, wherein the first signal includes a selection indicator, the selection indicator corresponding to one or more selection bits stored on the one or more RFID devices.
64. The interrogator of claim 58, wherein the control unit is further configured to transmit a wake-up signal, indicate a number of time slots, and receive a random value from a first RFID device in a time slot randomly determined by the first RFID device from among the number of time slots.
providing an interrogator to generate an RF field and to initiate the implementation of an algorithm to detect at least a single target RFID device out of potentially multiple target RFID devices in the RF field, the algorithm including:
defining a first subgroup of possible random numbers that may be generated by the target device, the first subgroup being defined by a first set of bits common to the first subgroup;
transmitting a signal comprising at least the first set of bits to identify the first subgroup of possible random numbers and requesting the target device to respond if the target device has generated a random number included in the subgroup;
receiving a response from the target device if the target device has generated the random number included in the subgroup;
if no collision is detected in the receiving of the response from the target device, determining, from the response, the random number generated by the target device and retransmitting the signal; and
if a collision is detected in the receiving of the response from the target device, defining a second subgroup of possible random numbers that may be generated by the target device, the second subgroup being a subset of the first subgroup and being defined by a second set of bits common to the second subgroup, and retransmitting the signal.
66. The method of claim 65, wherein the signal includes a selection indicator that identifies a class of one or more of a plurality of RFID devices from which a response is being requested.
receiving a first signal from an interrogator in accordance with an algorithm to identify a radio frequency identification (RFID) device in a field of the interrogator, the first signal comprising a first set of bits and requesting a response from one or more RFID devices in the field selected in accordance with at least the first set of bits;
responsive to receiving the first signal, determining if the first set of bits is equal to a first portion of a random number generated by the RFID device, and, if so, modulating an RF field, provided by the interrogator, to communicate a reply to the interrogator in accordance with the algorithm; and
receiving, in accordance with the algorithm, a retransmission of the first signal from the interrogator in response to the interrogator receiving the reply without detecting a collision.
73. The method of claim 72, further comprising communicating with the interrogator in one of a first communication mode and a second communication mode determined by the interrogator, wherein in accordance with the first communication mode the RFID device modulates an RF field generated by the RFID device and in accordance with the second communication mode the RFID device modulates an RF field generated by the interrogator.
responsive to receiving the second signal, determining if the second set of bits is equal to a second portion of the random number generated by the RFID device, and, if so, modulating the RF field to communicate a second reply to the interrogator in accordance with the algorithm, wherein the second signal comprises the first signal, the second set of bits comprises the first set of bits plus at least two additional bits, and the second portion of the random number comprises the first portion of the random number.
82. The method of claim 81, wherein the second reply comprises at least a portion of the random number.
a radio frequency identification (RFID) device comprising a receiver to receive a first command including a portion of an identification number, a random number generator to generate a random number to identify the device, and a transmitter to communicate a reply to the first command if the portion of the identification number is equal to a first portion of the random number; and
86. The system of claim 85, further comprising memory storing a unique identification code to be transmitted by the system.
104. An apparatus for wirelessly reading radio frequency identification (RFID) devices, comprising:
a transmitter to transmit a command along with a first portion of a set of random numbers to request a response from at least one RFID device that has generated a random number in the set;
an antenna to provide an RF field to be modulated by the device;
processing circuitry to perform collision detection, to determine the random number using the response, and to cause the transmitter to retransmit the command along with at least the first portion of the set of random numbers responsive to detecting no collision in the response.
105. The apparatus of claim 104, wherein the transmitter is configured to transmit the command along with an indication of the number of bits on the first portion.
122. A radio frequency identification (RFID) reader, comprising:
a transmitter to transmit at least a first portion of an identifier along with an indication of a first number of bits in the first portion, and to request a first response from an RFID device that has generated a first portion of a random number equal to the first portion of the identifier;
123. The reader of claim 122, wherein the processing circuit is configured to determine the random number using the first response.
an RFID target device to receive a portion of an identifier, to compare the portion of the identifier to a portion of a random value generated by the target device, and to communicate a reply value if the portion of the identifier is equal to the portion of the random value; and
an RFID initiating device to initiate communication with one or more RFID target devices, the initiating device to transmit a first request including a first command and first information, to receive a first response to the first request from each of one or more RFID target devices that has generated a respective random number that is included in a first subgroup of one or more of a group of possible random numbers indicated by the first information, to perform collision detection on the first response, and to transmit a second request including a retransmission of at least the first command and the first information responsive to detecting no collision.
137. The system of claim 136, wherein the target and initiating devices are to implement a time slot method in accordance with a protocol with which the target and initiating devices are compliant.
157. A radio frequency identification (RFID) device, comprising:
a random number generator to generate a first random number identifier;
processing circuitry to compare the first set of bits to a first portion of the first identifier; and
a modulating circuit to modulate an RF field produced by the reader to communicate a second set of bits to the reader if the first set of bits is equal to the first portion of the first identifier, wherein the first identifier comprises the second set of bits, and wherein in accordance with the algorithm the receiver is to further receive a retransmission of at least the first set of bits from the reader if the reader receives the second set of bits without collision.
158. The device of claim 157, wherein the second set of bits comprises the first set of bits.
More than one reissue application has been filed for the reissue of U.S. Pat. No. 6,282,186. The reissue applications are the initial reissue application Ser. No. 10/652,573 filed Aug. 28, 2003, a continuation reissue application Ser. No. 11/862,130, filed Sep. 26, 2007, a continuation reissue application Ser. No. 11/862,124, filed Sep. 26, 2007, and the present continuation reissue application.
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