The present application is directed to an autonomous system for managing crops, the system being configured to record and utilises data indicative of both above and below ground conditions at the same location to provide an output that incorporates data derived from soil conditions and land use activity. The system combines data reflective of each of above and below ground parameters as measured concurrently from in-soil sensors, imaging devices and activity trackers, and analyses the data to provide data outputs based on accurate and consistent soil and crop management measurement parameters.

A smart inventory management system is described for a dispensing and blend-in-cup beverage platform including a container having an information tag that is configured to store unique information specific to a particular product, a reader configured to read the stored information from the information tag, a control board configured to host a software based decision engine which is configured to interpret the information specific to a particular product and to control one or more system components based at least in part on the information, a pump controlled by the control board and configured to pump beverage concentrates out of the containers in order to dispense the beverage concentrate into a beverage holder, and a check valve located between an opening on the container and the pump, the check valve configured to provide backflush prevention of foreign solutions into the container.

A system and method for multi-reading RFID codes is disclosed. The system may comprise a portal, a RFID reader, an entrance sensor, an exit sensor and a controller. The controller is configured to receive the RFID code data and the read timestamp for each article, receive the start trigger timestamp and the stop trigger timestamp, determine a read area time range based on the start trigger timestamp and the stop trigger timestamp, determine an active read area timeframe based on the read area time range as adjusted by a pre-read offset and a post-read offset, associate RFID code data with the first group if the read timestamp associated with the RFID code data occurred during the active read area timeframe, and process the RFID code data of the first group and transmit a result of the processing of the first group to an output interface.

A dispenser can include: an optional water source inlet; a plurality of supplement cartridges including a supplement composition; at least one dispenser fluidly coupled with the optional water source inlet and plurality of supplement cartridges; a formulation mechanism operably coupled with the optional water source inlet and supplement cartridges, wherein the formulation mechanism is configured for regulating fluid flow from the optional water source inlet and the supplement cartridges to the dispenser; an input device configured to receive input from a user; and a dispenser controller. The dispenser controller can be configured to: receive identification information from a user via the input device; obtain a supplement dosage formulation for the user based on a personalized supplement protocol; and control dispensing of water and supplement composition(s) to provide the supplement dosage formulation to the user.

A personal protection system can comprise a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag coupled to a personal protective equipment, a barometric sensor coupled to the RFID tag, and a computing device communicatively coupled to the RFID tag and the barometric sensor. The computing device can comprise a processing unit that can be configured to access radio frequency (RF) data received from the RFID tag and receive, from the barometric sensor, barometric data determined by the barometric sensor. Further, the processing unit can be configured to determine a positioning state of the personal protection equipment. The positioning state can indicate whether the personal protection equipment is being worn correctly or incorrectly by the user.

This disclosure relates to systems with multiple NFC front ends and at least one shared controller. One disclosed system includes a first discrete device having a first near field communication (NFC) controller, a second discrete device having a second NFC controller, a communicative connection between the first discrete device and the second discrete device, and a system controller located on the first discrete device. The system controller is communicatively connected to the first NFC controller. The system controller is connected to the second NFC controller via the communicative connection. In specific approaches, the second discrete device can include a display which is also controlled by the system controller, and the system controller is NCI compliant and application aware. In specific approaches, the system controller can control the second NFC controller based on the content concurrently being provided to the display.

A card for storing both emergency information and payment information is disclosed. The card can be used by an emergency responder to retrieve emergency information for the user. The emergency information can enable the emergency responder to better render aid to the user. The card can have one or more processors, a sensor, and a memory in communication with the one or more processors and storing an application thereon. The application can cause the card to receive a request from a user device (e.g., from an emergency medical technician, or EMT) to access emergency information stored in the memory, transmit a security challenge to the user device, authenticate a received response to the security challenge from the user device, and transmit the emergency information to the user device.

In accordance with an embodiment, a wireless tag reading apparatus includes an antenna, first and second power feeding ports, and a controller. The first power feeding port feeds electric power into the antenna so as to emit the first linearly polarized wave from the antenna. The second power feeding port feeds electric power into the antenna so as to emit the second linearly polarized wave from the antenna. The controller sets a ratio of a time of power feeding from the first power feeding port to a time of power feeding from the second power feeding port to take a value according to a ratio of the number of wireless tags existing in the direction of the first linearly polarized wave to the number of wireless tags existing in the direction of the second linearly polarized wave.

In this patent disclosure, various embodiments of using near-field communication (NFC) to facilitate the transfer of data and power between a robotic surgical system and a surgical tool attached to the robotic surgical system are disclosed. In one aspect, a process for automatically managing surgical tool attachment in a robotic surgical system can begin by detecting an attachment of a surgical tool. The process next establishes a secure near-field communication (NFC) link between a first NFC module embedded in the robotic surgical system and a second NFC module embedded in the surgical tool. Next, the process requests tool calibration data from the surgical tool via the secure NFC link. The process subsequently uses the received tool calibration data to initialize the surgical tool so that the surgical tool is ready for use.

An authentication method includes RFID tags authenticating RFID readers. A tag sends a tag identifier and a reader challenge to a reader in response to one or more commands from the reader. The reader then either derives a response to the reader challenge itself or has a verification authority derive the response. The response may be derived from parameter(s) in the reader challenge, and may be derived using a cryptographic key. The reader then sends the response to the tag along with one or more commands. The tag verifies the response before executing action(s) associated with the command(s).