An antenna device includes a first coil and a second coil whose winding axes are parallel or substantially parallel, are disposed so as to be insulated from each other, and that magnetically couple with each other; a first capacitance that is connected in parallel to the first coil and defines a first resonance circuit with the first coil; a second capacitance that is connected in parallel to the second coil and defines a second resonance circuit with the second coil; a third capacitance connected between at least one set of ends of the first coil and the second coil; and a power supply terminal connected to the first coil.

A system and method for monitoring the inventory of a medical storage container that has a required inventory of medical articles. An enclosure is used to isolate, scan, and take an inventory of a tray or other container of medical articles each of which has an RFID tag. The enclosure having a size smaller than the size needed for a resonant frequency at the RFID frequency of operation of the tags. An injection device is used to create a robust electromagnetic field standing wave of constructive interference in the enclosure and a program compares the scanned present inventory of the tray to the required inventory database and indicates any differences. Expired and recalled articles are identified.

Disclosed is a system for electromagnetic interrogation of RFID transponders including at least one RFID transponder, at least one so-called repeater RFID device and at least one RFID terminal, the at least one RFID terminal is configured to emit an interrogation signal towards the at least one repeater at a frequency F1, the at least one repeater is configured to repeat the interrogation signal with frequency F1 towards the at least one RFID transponder at a frequency F2 and the at least one RFID transponder is configured to emit a backscattered response signal at a frequency F3, the system being characterised in that the at least one repeater is configured to perform an exclusively analog frequency transposition from the frequency F1 to the frequency F2.

A radio frequency identification (RFID) system first interrogates, in a first mode, one or more particular target zones of the plurality of target zones including a given target zone. Each particular target zone is interrogated with one of the antennas at a time at a first power for the particular target zone. The RFID system monitors, upon first interrogating, for a trigger condition to occur. In response to the trigger condition not occurring, the RFID system continues the first interrogation in the first mode. In response to the trigger condition occurring, the RFID system second interrogates the given target zone in a second mode at a second power with a plurality of the antennas. The second power for the given target zone is greater in an aggregate across the second interrogating antennas than the first power for the given target zone

An object tracking system including an RFID reader having at least one antenna positioned along an entranceway of an object storage facility. A processor communicates with RFID reader and runs software to perform the steps of: (i) monitoring the phase angle of a target RFID tag; and (iii) returning an indicator of whether the target RFID tag is or is not moving based at least in part on whether the phase angle has changed.

Locations and conditions of objects within a working environment may be tracked using RFID signals. A working surface within the environment may include a plurality of RFID antennas, and the objects to be tracked may include RFID tags. When one of the objects passes within an operational range of one of the antennas, an RFID signal is transmitted from the tag on the object to the antenna, and the location of the object may be determined based on the location of the antenna. Additionally, where a plurality of tags that are specially associated with a different aspect of a condition of an object are provided thereon, the condition of the object may be determined based on a number of the tags from which RFID signals are received, and the aspects of the condition with which each of such tags is associated.

It is possible to provide a replenishment assistance robot and a replenishment assisting system capable of assisting a worker in efficiently replenishing a product. A replenishment assistance robot includes a housing for housing a product, an RFID reader including an antenna capable of reading RFID tags attached to the product on a shelf and capable of reading an RFID tag of the product when the product is housed in the housing, a terminal configured to receive a replenishment instruction of a product on the shelf, and a mobile body containing the housing and the RFID reader and configured to move to a location where a stock of the product is arranged based on location information of the product included in the replenishment instruction.

Circuits and methods concerning radio frequency (RF) communication are disclosed. In some example embodiments, an apparatus includes a first antenna providing a signal path, having at least one loop, between a first pair of nodes. The apparatus also includes a second antenna providing a signal path, having one or more loops, between a second pair of nodes. The second antenna is placed sufficiently close to the first antenna to cause the second antenna to resonate in response to an RF signal being applied to the first pair of nodes by a communication circuit.

Embodiments are generally directed to wireless parallel scanning apparatus(es) and process(es) with reduced time to identify a location associated with a data identifier from a plurality of possible locations. Embodiments perform and process the results of various wireless (e.g., RFID) scans via antenna chains, the wireless scans performed in parallel and scan data representing the results of the wireless scans received in parallel. Some embodiments include a single multi-core processor, the multi-core processor including multiple cores that each independently (1) activate a wireless scanning chain including a transceiver communicable with a switch, the switch associated with controlling a signal transmitted to one of a plurality of antenna chains, and (2) receive scan data received via the wireless scanning chain. Some embodiments include the single multi-core processor including a core that aggregates the scan data from other cores and identifies a location identifier for a target data identifier.

A near-field communication device includes: a processing module and a first antenna arranged in a first near-field communication area and connected to the processing module; a first presence detector arranged in the first area; a second antenna arranged in a second near-field communication area, the first antenna and the second antenna being electrically in series and forming a circuit of antennae; a second presence detector arranged in the second area; and a control circuit designed to place the circuit of antennae into at least two different operating modes: a) a first mode, termed ‘functional mode’, in which the circuit of antennae allows near-field communication, and b) a second mode, termed ‘dysfunctional mode’, in which the circuit of antennae does not allow near-field communication.