US 12,333,374 B1
Fast frequency switching for RFID applications
Mike Thomas, Wake Forest, NC (US); Omer Onen, Redmond, WA (US); Joe Tarantino, Seattle, WA (US); and Christopher J. Diorio, Shoreline, WA (US)
Assigned to Impinj, Inc., Seattle, WA (US)
Filed by Impinj, Inc., Seattle, WA (US)
Filed on Apr. 12, 2024, as Appl. No. 18/633,708.
Application 18/633,708 is a continuation of application No. 17/994,048, filed on Nov. 25, 2022, granted, now 11,960,955.
Application 17/994,048 is a continuation of application No. 17/326,806, filed on May 21, 2021, granted, now 11,514,255, issued on Nov. 29, 2022.
Application 17/326,806 is a continuation of application No. 16/893,489, filed on Jun. 5, 2020, granted, now 11,017,187, issued on May 25, 2021.
Application 16/893,489 is a continuation of application No. 16/047,243, filed on Jul. 27, 2018, granted, now 10,679,019, issued on Jun. 9, 2020.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/537,606, filed on Jul. 27, 2017.
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. G06K 7/10 (2006.01); G06K 19/07 (2006.01)
CPC G06K 7/10158 (2013.01) [G06K 19/0709 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) reader that transmits commands to an RFID tag using amplitude modulation (AM) of a radio frequency (RF) waveform and is configured to change a frequency of the RF waveform while transmitting commands, the reader comprising:
a transceiver configured to transmit RF waveforms; and
a processing block coupled to the transceiver and configured to:
cause the transceiver to transmit the RF waveform at a first frequency;
cause the RF waveform to be amplitude-modulated with a low-amplitude pulse;
while the transceiver is transmitting the low-amplitude pulse, cause the transceiver to switch from transmitting the RF waveform at the first frequency to transmitting the RF waveform at a second frequency different from the first frequency; and
after the transceiver transmits the low-amplitude pulse, cause the transceiver to continue transmitting the RF waveform at the second frequency.