Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Feng (WO Patent No. 2022142762 A1), in view of Mueller (US Patent No. 20240330614 A1).
In re claim 1, Feng teaches An apparatus configured for wireless communication (Page 2, para [0010]: “…a communication method, and the method may be executed by a reader/writer, or may be executed by a component of the reader/writer (for example, a processor, a chip, or a chip system, etc.). The method is applied to a radio frequency identification communication system.”), comprising:
a memory comprising instructions; and
one or more processors configured to execute the instructions (Page 8, para [0005]: “…a reader/writer, including: a processor, where the processor is coupled to a memory, and the memory is used to store programs or instructions, and when the programs or instructions are executed by the processor, the reader/writer is enabled The method in the above-mentioned first aspect or any possible implementation manner of the first aspect is implemented.”) and cause the apparatus to:
output, for transmission to a first radio frequency identification (RFID) device, a request for one or more parameters used by the first RFID device for wireless communication (page 9, para [0012]: “After the reader/writer receives the first information, the reader/writer can determine the capability of the tag according to the first information, and then distinguish the tag from other tags.”, page 9, para [0017]: “The RFID reader/writer 101 can transmit an interrogation RF signal, and the RFID tag 102 located near the RFID reader/writer 101 can detect the interrogation RF signal sent by the RFID reader/writer 101…”, and page 11, para [0004]: “Step 301, the reader sends a query command to the tag, such as query, adjust query, query rep, and the like.”);
obtain, from the first RFID device, a response comprising an indication of the one or more parameters (Page 9, para [0017]: “…and return a response RF signal to the RFID reader/writer 101, The reply RF signal may carry information about the RFID tag 102 itself.” “The RFID reader/writer 101 can detect and parse the reply RF signal.” and page 11, para [0008]: “Step 304: If the RN16 in the ACK information is the same as the RN16 stored in the tag, the tag determines that the ACK information is valid ACK information, and sends the personal computer (PC) number, extended protocol control (extended protocol) to the reader. control, XPC), product electronic code (electronic product code, EPC) and other factory serial numbers.”); and
output, for transmission to the first RFID device, coding information based on the one or more parameters, [wherein the coding information enables communication between or among the first RFID device and at least one of the apparatus] (Page 11, paras [0009]-[0013]: “Step 305: The reader/writer sends random number request (Req_RN) information to the tag, and the Req_RN information may carry RN16.” “Step 306: After the tag receives the Req_RN information, if the access password of the Req_RN is not 0, the tag will send a new RN16, that is, a handle, to the reader.” “Step 307: After the reader/writer receives the new RN16, it will carry the new RN16 when it subsequently sends a command to the tag.” “3. The access process.” “The communication between the reader and the tag (reading from or writing to the tag) operation. A single tag must first be uniquely identified before it can be accessed. Access consists of multiple commands, some of which are encoded using one-time masking based on the reader-to-tag link.”).
Feng fails to teach [wherein the coding information enables communication between or among the first RFID device and at least one of the apparatus] or a second RFID device.
However, Mueller teaches [wherein the coding information enables communication between or among the first RFID device and at least one of the apparatus] or a second RFID device (Para [0029]: “Each reader 120 in FIGS. 1A-1C can also be switched between an interrogator mode in which the reader 120 transmits interrogation signals and receives tag responses to those interrogation signals and a listener or receive-only mode in which the reader 120 receives both interrogation signals from other readers 120 and tag responses to those other interrogation signals but does not transmit interrogation signals.” and para [0030]: “The readers 120 are connected to a system controller 110 via respective Ethernet connections 112 or other suitable (e.g., wired or wireless) connections as shown in FIG. 1A. The Ethernet connections 112 may connect the readers 120 to each other as well.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Feng to incorporate the teachings of Mueller to provide [wherein the coding information enables communication between or among the first RFID device and at least one of the apparatus] or a second RFID device with the COMMUNICATION METHOD AND RELATED DEVICE of Feng. Doing so improves the reader's sensitivity, increases the reader's range, reduces the reader's power consumption, and/or reduces the minimum required dynamic range of the analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) that digitize the received tag replies, as recognized by Mueller (Abstract).
Apparatus claim 12 is rejected for the same reasons as apparatus claim 1 for having similar limitations and being similar in scope.
In re claim 2, Feng and Mueller teach all of the limitations of claim 1 stated above where Feng further teaches wherein the first RFID device is an RFID tag (Page 9, para [0016]: “Figure 1 shows an example of the architecture of an RFID system. The RFID system includes… an RFID tag (hereinafter referred to as a tag) 102, wherein the RFID reader 101 and the RFID tag Communication between 102 can be performed through radio frequency (RF) signals.”), and wherein the indication of the one or more parameters comprises an indication of one or more of:
a size of a memory of the RFID tag (Page 4, para [0008]: “…the capabilities of the tags in the above steps include… the storage space size in the tag.”),
a modulation capability of the RFID tag (Page 4, para [0008]: “…the capabilities of the tags in the above steps include… The modulation mode supported… ”), and
a demodulation capability of the RFID tag (Page 15, paras [0015]-[0016]: “3. The modulation method supported by the label;” “Optionally, the modulation mode may include amplitude modulation, frequency modulation, and phase modulation. It may also include a specific modulation method, such as: differential phase shift keying (differential phase shift keying, DPSK) or quadrature amplitude modulation (quadrature amplitude modulation, QAM), etc., which is not specifically limited here.” and page 17, para [0009]: “Exemplarily, the first information is encoded using a capability supported by polar codes and the like, and a preamble of the first message is different from a preamble that does not support channel coding capability, so that the reader can identify that the message uses other encoding methods. The reader and tag capabilities are aligned, which can be the default configuration, or the reader can use the special preamble header through the Select, Query and other broadcast commands that indicate the ability to require specific channel coding or tags with certain definite capabilities. Various preambles may also be indicated to support different channel coding capabilities.”).
Apparatus claim 13 is rejected for the same reasons as apparatus claim 2 for having similar limitations and being similar in scope.
In re claim 3, Feng and Mueller teach all of the limitations of claim 2 stated above where Mueller further teaches wherein the second RFID device is an RFID reader (Para [0029]: “Each reader 120 in FIGS. 1A-1C can also be switched between an interrogator mode in which the reader 120 transmits interrogation signals and receives tag responses to those interrogation signals and a listener or receive-only mode in which the reader 120 receives both interrogation signals from other readers 120 and tag responses to those other interrogation signals but does not transmit interrogation signals.” and para [0030]: “The readers 120 are connected to a system controller 110 via respective Ethernet connections 112 or other suitable (e.g., wired or wireless) connections as shown in FIG. 1A. The Ethernet connections 112 may connect the readers 120 to each other as well.”), and wherein the coding information comprises one or more of:
a demodulation codebook and waveform for demodulating command signals and read signals output for transmission from the apparatus (Para [0048]: “There are a variety of ways to configure the receiver front end 232; in this example, it receives analog in-phase and quadrature (I/Q) signals at 40 MHz and converts them into digital I/Q samples at baseband (5 MHz) as explained in greater detail below. The command demodulator 234 is enabled when the reader 120 is in listener mode and demodulates the baseband command I/Q samples to produce interrogator signals 231 at the command bit rate (e.g., 40 kbps to 160 kbps). The command demodulator 234 uses the command payload to determine what the reader 120 in interrogator mode is asking of the tag 130 (e.g., modulation, preamble type, expected reply type, etc.). For example, the reader 120 in interrogator mode may ask the tag 130 to send the first 64 bits of its electronic product code (EPC) using Miller-2 modulation at 320 kHz backscatter link frequency (BLF) with the standard preamble. The readers 120 in listener mode use that information to decode the tag reply 131. The command demodulator 234 is disabled when the reader 120 is in interrogator mode. The tag reply demodulator 236 is enabled in both interrogator and listener modes and demodulates the baseband tag reply I/Q samples to produce tag reply signals 233 at the tag reply bit rate.”); and
a modulation codebook for backscattering the read signals to the second RFID device (Para [0048]: “The command demodulator 234 uses the command payload to determine what the reader 120 in interrogator mode is asking of the tag 130 (e.g., modulation, preamble type, expected reply type, etc.). For example, the reader 120 in interrogator mode may ask the tag 130 to send the first 64 bits of its electronic product code (EPC) using Miller-2 modulation at 320 kHz backscatter link frequency (BLF) with the standard preamble. The readers 120 in listener mode use that information to decode the tag reply 131. The command demodulator 234 is disabled when the reader 120 is in interrogator mode. The tag reply demodulator 236 is enabled in both interrogator and listener modes and demodulates the baseband tag reply I/Q samples to produce tag reply signals 233 at the tag reply bit rate.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the combination of Feng and Mueller to further incorporate the teachings of Mueller to provide wherein the second RFID device is an RFID reader, and wherein the coding information comprises one or more of: a demodulation codebook and waveform for demodulating command signals and read signals output for transmission from the apparatus; and a modulation codebook for backscattering the read signals to the second RFID device with the COMMUNICATION METHOD AND RELATED DEVICE of Feng as modified by Mueller. Doing so improves the reader's sensitivity, increases the reader's range, reduces the reader's power consumption, and/or reduces the minimum required dynamic range of the analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) that digitize the received tag replies, as recognized by Mueller (Abstract).
Apparatus claim 17 and RFID device claim 20 are rejected for the same reasons as apparatus claim 3 for having similar limitations and being similar in scope.
In re claim 4, Feng and Mueller teach all of the limitations of claim 1 stated above where Feng further teaches wherein the request for the one or more parameters is a command signal (Page 4, para [0008]: “…the capabilities of the tags in the above steps include at least one of the following: commands issued by the reader/writer supported by the tags…”).
Apparatus claim 18 is rejected for the same reasons as apparatus claim 4 for having similar limitations and being similar in scope.
In re claim 5, Feng and Mueller teach all of the limitations of claim 2 stated above where Feng further teaches wherein the size of the memory is indicative of memory resources of the RFID tag allocated for coding information elements (Pages 12-13, paras [0004]-[0011] and paras [0001]-[0010] : “Logically, the storage area of the tag is divided into four different storage areas, each of which consists of more than one storage word. The logical storage mapping table is shown in Figure 5. These storage areas are:” “1. Reserved storage area (reserved area).” “Used to store passwords required for kill and access functions (eg: kill password, access password, etc.). Among them, the storage addresses 00h to 1Fh store the kill password, and 20h to 3Fh store the access password. A tag with no kill password and/or access password executed, as if it had a zero-valued password and was permanently read/write locked, does not need to store a zero-valued password in the password storage area in the reserved storage area.” “2. Electronic product code storage area (EPC area).” “CRC-16 is stored from addresses 00h to 0Fh, protocol control bits (PC) are stored from addresses 10h to 1Fh, and addresses 20h and greater than 20h store codes (eg, EPC codes) used to identify the object to which the tag is attached. The PC is subdivided, and the EPC code length is stored at addresses 10h to 14h, the RFU is stored at 15h to 17h, and the numbering system identifier (NSI) is stored at 18h to 1Fh. CRC-16, PC and EPC are stored in MSB first (the MSB of the EPC code is stored at address 20h).” “3. Label identification number storage area (TID area).” “An 8-bit class identifier assigned by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO)/International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) 15693 (the code of EPC global is 11100010_2) is stored at addresses 00h to 07h. The area above address 07h of the TID repository shall contain sufficient identification information so that the reader can uniquely identify the custom commands and/or optional commands supported by the tag. For tags assigned class number 11100010_2 in ISO/IEC 15693, the identification information will constitute a 12-bit tag mask designer identifier (free for EPC global members) and a 12-bit tag model code, the tag mask Membrane designer identifiers are stored at 08h to 13h and model numbers are stored at addresses 14h to 1Fh. The tag may store tag and provider-specific data (eg, the tag's serial number) in an area with a TID area address greater than 1Fh.” “4. User storage area (user area).” “Allows the storage of user-specific data, the storage organization of which is defined by the user.” “The tags and readers that conform to the EPC Class1Gen2 (referred to as G2) protocol should support eleven necessary commands: select (select), query (query), queryAdjust (adjust the query), queryRep (repeat query), ACK ( EPC reply), NAK (turn to cut), Req_RN (random number request), read (read), Write (write), Kill (deactivate), Lock (lock).” “There are three optional commands for tags and readers that conform to the G2 protocol, with or without support: Access (access), BlockWrite (block write), and BlockErase (block erase).” and page 14, para [0009]: “The capabilities of the tags in the embodiments of the present application may be classified into capabilities of… capabilities of storage, and the like, which are not specifically limited here.”).
In re claim 6, Feng and Mueller teach all of the limitations of claim 1 stated above where Mueller further teaches wherein the first RFID device is an RFID reader, and wherein the indication of the one or more parameters comprises an indication of a decoding capability of the RFID reader (Para [0048]: “The command demodulator 234 is enabled when the reader 120 is in listener mode and demodulates the baseband command I/Q samples to produce interrogator signals 231 at the command bit rate (e.g., 40 kbps to 160 kbps). The command demodulator 234 uses the command payload to determine what the reader 120 in interrogator mode is asking of the tag 130 (e.g., modulation, preamble type, expected reply type, etc.). For example, the reader 120 in interrogator mode may ask the tag 130 to send the first 64 bits of its electronic product code (EPC) using Miller-2 modulation at 320 kHz backscatter link frequency (BLF) with the standard preamble. The readers 120 in listener mode use that information to decode the tag reply 131.”).
In re claim 7, Feng and Mueller teach all of the limitations of claim 1 stated above where Mueller further teaches wherein the coding information comprises a demodulation codebook for demodulating backscatter signals obtained from an RFID tag (Para [0048]: “The command demodulator 234 uses the command payload to determine what the reader 120 in interrogator mode is asking of the tag 130 (e.g., modulation, preamble type, expected reply type, etc.). For example, the reader 120 in interrogator mode may ask the tag 130 to send the first 64 bits of its electronic product code (EPC) using Miller-2 modulation at 320 kHz backscatter link frequency (BLF) with the standard preamble. The readers 120 in listener mode use that information to decode the tag reply 131. The command demodulator 234 is disabled when the reader 120 is in interrogator mode. The tag reply demodulator 236 is enabled in both interrogator and listener modes and demodulates the baseband tag reply I/Q samples to produce tag reply signals 233 at the tag reply bit rate.”).
In re claim 8, Feng and Mueller teach all of the limitations of claim 1 stated above where Feng further teaches wherein the coding information is a first coding information, and wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause the apparatus to:
obtain an indication of a first group of RFID devices and a second group of RFID devices, wherein the first group of RFID devices comprises the first RFID device (Page 19, para [0011]: “Optionally, after the reader/writer distinguishes the types of tags, the multi-function management of multiple tags can be realized through the combination of some commands. For example, a certain type of tags can be selected through Select, and then the tags of this type can be inventoried according to Query, thereby realizing Multifunctional management of tag groups.”), wherein the first coding information is output for transmission to the first group of RFID devices to modify the one or more parameters of the first group of RFID device [for communication] (Page 17, para [0009]: “…or the reader can use the special preamble header through the Select, Query and other broadcast commands that indicate the ability to require specific channel coding or tags with certain definite capabilities. Various preambles may also be indicated to support different channel coding capabilities.”, page 17, para [0014]: “The command between the reader and the tag may include ChannelENcode and ChannelENcodeRely, ChannelENcode is the control information sent by the reader to the tag, and ChannelENcodeRely is the reply information of the tag to the control information.” and page 19, para [0012]: “In the embodiment of the present application, the reader/writer may determine the capability of the tag according to the first information reported by the tag, and may further perform different operations on tags with different capabilities by distinguishing between multiple tags.”); and
output, for transmission to the second group of RFID devices, second coding information configured to program the second group of RFID devices [for communication] (Page 17, para [0009]: “…or the reader can use the special preamble header through the Select, Query and other broadcast commands that indicate the ability to require specific channel coding or tags with certain definite capabilities. Various preambles may also be indicated to support different channel coding capabilities.”, page 17, para [0014]: “The command between the reader and the tag may include ChannelENcode and ChannelENcodeRely, ChannelENcode is the control information sent by the reader to the tag, and ChannelENcodeRely is the reply information of the tag to the control information.” and page 19, para [0012]: “In the embodiment of the present application, the reader/writer may determine the capability of the tag according to the first information reported by the tag, and may further perform different operations on tags with different capabilities by distinguishing between multiple tags.”).
The combination fails to teach [for communication] with one or more of the apparatus and the second RFID device; and
[for communication] with one or more of the apparatus and the second RFID device.
However, Mueller teaches [for communication] with one or more of the apparatus and the second RFID device (Para [0029]: “Each reader 120 in FIGS. 1A-1C can also be switched between an interrogator mode in which the reader 120 transmits interrogation signals and receives tag responses to those interrogation signals and a listener or receive-only mode in which the reader 120 receives both interrogation signals from other readers 120 and tag responses to those other interrogation signals but does not transmit interrogation signals.” and para [0030]: “The readers 120 are connected to a system controller 110 via respective Ethernet connections 112 or other suitable (e.g., wired or wireless) connections as shown in FIG. 1A. The Ethernet connections 112 may connect the readers 120 to each other as well.”); and
[for communication] with one or more of the apparatus and the second RFID device (Para [0029]: “Each reader 120 in FIGS. 1A-1C can also be switched between an interrogator mode in which the reader 120 transmits interrogation signals and receives tag responses to those interrogation signals and a listener or receive-only mode in which the reader 120 receives both interrogation signals from other readers 120 and tag responses to those other interrogation signals but does not transmit interrogation signals.” and para [0030]: “The readers 120 are connected to a system controller 110 via respective Ethernet connections 112 or other suitable (e.g., wired or wireless) connections as shown in FIG. 1A. The Ethernet connections 112 may connect the readers 120 to each other as well.”).
In re claim 9, Feng and Mueller teach all of the limitations of claim 8 stated above where Feng further teaches wherein the indication of the first group and the second group is obtained from a network (SEE BELOW), and wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause the apparatus to:
obtain, from the network, an indication of the first coding information and the second coding information (Page 19, para [0011]: “Optionally, after the reader/writer distinguishes the types of tags, the multi-function management of multiple tags can be realized through the combination of some commands. For example, a certain type of tags can be selected through Select, and then the tags of this type can be inventoried according to Query, thereby realizing Multifunctional management of tag groups.” and page 23, para [0005]: “The integrated unit, if implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as an independent product, may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solutions of the present application can be embodied in the form of software products in essence, or the parts that contribute to the prior art, or all or part of the technical solutions, and the computer software products are stored in a storage medium , including several instructions for causing a computer device (which may be… a network device, etc.) to execute all or part of the steps of the methods described in the various embodiments of the present application.”).
In re claim 10, Feng and Mueller teach all of the limitations of claim 1 stated above where Feng further teaches wherein the coding information is configured to modify the one or more communication parameters of the first RFID device (Page 17, paras [0007]-[0011]: “1. The tag supports channel coding capability.” “Optionally, the preamble header of the first information sent by the tag that supports the channel coding capability and the tag that does not support the channel coding capability is different.” “Exemplarily, the first information is encoded using a capability supported by polar codes and the like, and a preamble of the first message is different from a preamble that does not support channel coding capability, so that the reader can identify that the message uses other encoding methods. The reader and tag capabilities are aligned, which can be the default configuration, or the reader can use the special preamble header through the Select, Query and other broadcast commands that indicate the ability to require specific channel coding or tags with certain definite capabilities. Various preambles may also be indicated to support different channel coding capabilities.” “Optionally, for a tag with a certain capability, after the tag reports the capability, it can be enabled by default, or the reader can send a start instruction command through dedicated signaling in subsequent communication with the reader.” “Exemplarily, when the capability is the channel coding capability, a feature of the command may be as shown in Table 3:”).
In re claim 11, Feng and Mueller teach all of the limitations of claim 1 stated above where Feng further teaches configured to:
transmit the request for the one or more parameters (Page 20, para [0015]: “The receiving unit 1101 is used to receive the first information sent by the tag, where the first information is the first piece of information sent by the reader to receive the tag during the inventory process;”);
receive the response comprising the indication of the one or more parameters (Page 21, para [0001]: “The determining unit 1102 is configured to determine the capability of the tag according to the first information, and the capability is used by the reader to distinguish the tag from other tags.”); and
transmit coding information based on the one or more parameters (Page 21, paras [0003]-[0005]: “The sending unit 1103 is configured to send second information to the tag, where the random number in the second information does not have the first target bit.” “The sending unit 1103 is configured to send second information to the tag, where the second information includes a 16-bit random number.” “The sending unit 1103 is configured to send query information to the tag, where the query information is used by the reader to obtain the capability of the tag.” and page 21 para [0007]: “In this embodiment, the operations performed by each unit in the reader/writer are similar to those described in the foregoing embodiment shown in FIG. 6 , and details are not repeated here.”), wherein the apparatus is configured as a network node (Page 23, para [0005]: “The integrated unit, if implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as an independent product, may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solutions of the present application can be embodied in the form of software products in essence, or the parts that contribute to the prior art, or all or part of the technical solutions, and the computer software products are stored in a storage medium , including several instructions for causing a computer device (which may be… a network device, etc.) to execute all or part of the steps of the methods described in the various embodiments of the present application.”).
The combination fails to teach further comprising a transceiver.
However, Mueller teaches further comprising a transceiver (Para [0045]: “The reader 120 includes an RF antenna and front end 210, a processor 212, an RF calibration and tuning block 214, a hop generator 220, and a hop receiver 230. The RF antenna and front end 210 may include one or more antenna elements, amplifiers, filters, and/or other analog RF components for transmitting RFID interrogation signals 121 and receiving tag replies 131 and RFID interrogation signals 121 from other readers.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the combination of Feng and Mueller to further incorporate the teachings of Mueller to provide further comprising a transceiver with the COMMUNICATION METHOD AND RELATED DEVICE of Feng as modified by Mueller. Doing so improves the reader's sensitivity, increases the reader's range, reduces the reader's power consumption, and/or reduces the minimum required dynamic range of the analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) that digitize the received tag replies, as recognized by Mueller (Abstract).
RFID device claim 19 is rejected for the same reasons as apparatus claim 1 and apparatus claim 11 for having similar limitations and being similar in scope.
In re claim 14, Feng and Mueller teach all of the limitations of claim 13 stated above where Feng further teaches wherein the size of the memory is indicative of memory resources of the apparatus allocated for coding both a first information element and a second information element, wherein a first portion of the memory resources is configured to store coding for the first information element, and wherein a second portion of the memory resources is configured to store coding for the second information element (Pages 12-13, paras [0004]-[0011] and paras [0001]-[0010] : “Logically, the storage area of the tag is divided into four different storage areas, each of which consists of more than one storage word. The logical storage mapping table is shown in Figure 5. These storage areas are:” “1. Reserved storage area (reserved area).” “Used to store passwords required for kill and access functions (eg: kill password, access password, etc.). Among them, the storage addresses 00h to 1Fh store the kill password, and 20h to 3Fh store the access password. A tag with no kill password and/or access password executed, as if it had a zero-valued password and was permanently read/write locked, does not need to store a zero-valued password in the password storage area in the reserved storage area.” “2. Electronic product code storage area (EPC area).” “CRC-16 is stored from addresses 00h to 0Fh, protocol control bits (PC) are stored from addresses 10h to 1Fh, and addresses 20h and greater than 20h store codes (eg, EPC codes) used to identify the object to which the tag is attached. The PC is subdivided, and the EPC code length is stored at addresses 10h to 14h, the RFU is stored at 15h to 17h, and the numbering system identifier (NSI) is stored at 18h to 1Fh. CRC-16, PC and EPC are stored in MSB first (the MSB of the EPC code is stored at address 20h).” “3. Label identification number storage area (TID area).” “An 8-bit class identifier assigned by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO)/International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) 15693 (the code of EPC global is 11100010_2) is stored at addresses 00h to 07h. The area above address 07h of the TID repository shall contain sufficient identification information so that the reader can uniquely identify the custom commands and/or optional commands supported by the tag. For tags assigned class number 11100010_2 in ISO/IEC 15693, the identification information will constitute a 12-bit tag mask designer identifier (free for EPC global members) and a 12-bit tag model code, the tag mask Membrane designer identifiers are stored at 08h to 13h and model numbers are stored at addresses 14h to 1Fh. The tag may store tag and provider-specific data (eg, the tag's serial number) in an area with a TID area address greater than 1Fh.” “4. User storage area (user area).” “Allows the storage of user-specific data, the storage organization of which is defined by the user.” “The tags and readers that conform to the EPC Class1Gen2 (referred to as G2) protocol should support eleven necessary commands: select (select), query (query), queryAdjust (adjust the query), queryRep (repeat query), ACK ( EPC reply), NAK (turn to cut), Req_RN (random number request), read (read), Write (write), Kill (deactivate), Lock (lock).” “There are three optional commands for tags and readers that conform to the G2 protocol, with or without support: Access (access), BlockWrite (block write), and BlockErase (block erase).” and page 14, para [0009]: “The capabilities of the tags in the embodiments of the present application may be classified into capabilities of… capabilities of storage, and the like, which are not specifically limited here.”).
In re claim 15, Feng and Mueller teach all of the limitations of claim 14 stated above where Feng further teaches wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause the apparatus to:
obtain, from the first RFID device, a read signal or a command signal in an analog domain (Page 9, para [0017]: “…and return a response RF signal to the RFID reader/writer 101, The reply RF signal may carry information about the RFID tag 102 itself.” “The RFID reader/writer 101 can detect and parse the reply RF signal.”);
convert the read signal or the command signal to a digital signal in a digital domain; and
decode the digital signal by grouping elements of the digital signal according to a size of the first portion and a size of the second portion of the memory resources (Page 11, paras [0004]-[0011]: “Step 301, the reader sends a query command to the tag, such as query, adjust query, query rep, and the like.” “Step 302, the tag sends a 16-bit random number (RN16) to the reader.” “The tag sends RN16 to the reader according to the received query command.” “Step 303: The reader/writer sends an acknowledgement (acknowledge, ACK) information to the tag, and the ACK information may carry the RN16.” “Step 304: If the RN16 in the ACK information is the same as the RN16 stored in the tag, the tag determines that the ACK information is valid ACK information, and sends the personal computer (PC) number, extended protocol control (extended protocol) to the reader. control, XPC), product electronic code (electronic product code, EPC) and other factory serial numbers.” “Step 305: The reader/writer sends random number request (Req_RN) information to the tag, and the Req_RN information may carry RN16.” “Step 306: After the tag receives the Req_RN information, if the access password of the Req_RN is not 0, the tag will send a new RN16, that is, a handle, to the reader.” “Step 307: After the reader/writer receives the new RN16, it will carry the new RN16 when it subsequently sends a command to the tag.”).
In re claim 16, Feng and Mueller teach all of the limitations of claim 12 stated above where Feng further teaches the one or more processors are further configured to cause the apparatus to:
decode the request for the one or more parameters using a default set of one or more parameters; and
modify the default set of one or more parameters based on the coding information obtained from the first RFID device (Page 15, paras [0015]-[0016]: “3. The modulation method supported by the label;” “Optionally, the modulation mode may include amplitude modulation, frequency modulation, and phase modulation. It may also include a specific modulation method, such as: differential phase shift keying (differential phase shift keying, DPSK) or quadrature amplitude modulation (quadrature amplitude modulation, QAM), etc., which is not specifically limited here.” and page 17, para [0009]: “Exemplarily, the first information is encoded using a capability supported by polar codes and the like, and a preamble of the first message is different from a preamble that does not support channel coding capability, so that the reader can identify that the message uses other encoding methods. The reader and tag capabilities are aligned, which can be the default configuration, or the reader can use the special preamble header through the Select, Query and other broadcast commands that indicate the ability to require specific channel coding or tags with certain definite capabilities. Various preambles may also be indicated to support different channel coding capabilities.”).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US7944339B2 teaches A method and system for RFID communication is provided. The system includes a first RFID reader and an RFID read-write tag uniquely assigned to the first RFID reader. The RFID read-write tag receives information from RFID readers other than the first RFID reader and provides the information to the first RFID reader.
US7990249B1 teaches RFID tag circuits, tags, and methods are provided for backscattering a received RF wave using a controllable admittance difference between the ON state and the OFF state. The admittance difference is controlled responsive to a control signal. In some embodiments, the control signal is generated responsive to a command. In others, the control signal is generated responsive to detecting the power level of the received RF wave. In those, the inherent behavior of the admittance difference can be shaped as desired. For example, it can be such that the backscatters with advantageously more power when it is away from the reader, and with less power when it is close to the reader, so as to meet regulatory requirements.
US7501953B2 teaches RFID readers transmit data to query RFID tags. Before transmitting the data, the RFID readers also transmit special preambles that inform of parameters of communication that are to be used. RFID tags decode the preamble, and adjust accordingly to optimize the communication. The preambles of the invention start with a delimiter that has a substantially constant duration regardless of the communication parameters that will be used, such as transmission data rate.
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/JAMES E MUNION/Examiner, Art Unit 2688 08/21/2026
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