A surgical instrument comprising a shaft and an articulatable end effector is disclosed. The surgical instrument further comprises an articulation drive system configured to articulate the end effector and means for retaining the articulation drive system in engagement with the end effector.

Embodiments of the invention are directed facilitating an electronic resource distribution by embedding a short-range wireless tag in a resource distribution request that stores instructions for processing the resource distribution in a fully electronic processing flow. As such, the resource distribution request holder is capable of processing the request without issuing a resource distribution document to the resource requester. In additional embodiments of the invention, the short-range wireless tag further stores instructions for arranging subsequent resource distributions to the resource requester to occur without the need for the resource requester to present a resource request document.

An RFID tag to be used, for example, for tagging livestock. The RFID tag has a high resistance to mechanical and thermal stress due to a physical separation of a main antenna and an integrated circuit forming an RFID circuit. The RFID tag may comprise an inlay with the main antenna and a chip module with the integrated circuit and a loop antenna inductively coupled to the main antenna. The inlay and the chip module are safely embedded in a tag housing. The compact chip module with electrical connections between the loop antenna and the integrated circuit can be reliably protected.

A smartcard (SC) having at least a contactless interface, such as having a dual interface transponder chip module (TCM) with a chip (IC), a module antenna (MA) for the contactless interface, and contact pads (CP) for a contact interface. Metal layers (ML) may have openings (MO) for receiving the module, and slits (S) or nonconductive stripes (NCS) extending to the openings, thereby forming coupling frames (CF). A card body (CB) for the smartcard may comprise two such metal layers (front and rear coupling frames) separated by a layer of non-conductive (dielectric) material. A front face card layer and a rear face card layer may complete a multiple coupling frame stack-up for a smartcard.

Systems and methods using a network of wearable devices to support secure payment for a user are described. The network of wearable devices may include a wearable secure unit including a first short-range transceiver, a wearable sensory unit including a second short-range transceiver, and a wearable communication unit including a third short-range transceiver and a long-range transceiver. The systems and methods may include receiving a transaction request from a merchant device. Thereafter, the systems and methods may obtain information from the wearable secure unit configured to provide an environment in which processes and data are securely stored and executed. The systems and methods may also obtain information from the wearable sensory unit configured to capture and compare biometrics of the user with a stored profile. Based on the obtained information, the systems and methods may instruct the wearable communication unit to transmit to the merchant device user authentication data.

A system includes a near-field communication device configured to transmit a radio frequency control signal in a near-field regime and an interface. The interface includes a near-field communication circuit configured to receive the RF control signal. The interface further includes a pulse width modulation signal generation circuit configured to generate a pulse width modulation signal according to the radio frequency control signal. The system further includes an electrically-controllable equipment configured to be controlled by the pulse width modulation signal.

A Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) inlay, the inlay comprising: a first RFID transponder with a first antenna, based on a first RFID protocol; a second RFID transponder with a second antenna, based on a second RFID protocol; and a conductive isolation structure; wherein the conductive isolation structure is arranged and configured such that the conductive isolation structure reduces a mutual coupling between the two closely spaced antennas, first antenna and the second antenna, and therefore enhancing the read range performance of both RFID transponders.

An approach for training a system to decode a chipless RFID tag involves varying at least one reading parameter of an interrogation signal and acquiring a test response signal response to each variation of the interrogation signal. One or more simulated response signals are simulated for one or more variations of the reading parameter. A decoding processor is trained to decode the identification (ID) of the RFID tag using the test response signals and the simulated response signals.

A disclosed subsurface detection system includes a first communication device positioned in a borehole and configured to scan a plurality of frequencies in at least a portion of an annulus surrounding an exterior of a tubing including the casing string in the borehole or an interior of the tubing including the casing string. The plurality of frequencies include a first frequency corresponding to a first type of RFID tag and a second frequency corresponding to a second type of RFID tag. The first communication device is further configured to detect a response to the scan from an RFID tag of the first type or the second type in the portion of the annulus or the interior of the tubing. The system further includes a processor configured to receive communication of the detected response from the first communication device, and based on the detected response, determine one or more characteristics of an environment around the corresponding RFID tag (e.g., an intrinsic impedance of a fluid material in the environment).

Specifically programmed, integrated motor vehicle dangerous driving warning and control system and methods comprising at least one specialized communication computer machine including electronic artificial intelligence expert system decision making capability further comprising one or more motor vehicle electronic sensors for monitoring the motor vehicle and for monitoring activities of the driver and/or passengers including activities related to the use of cellular telephones and/or other wireless communication devices and further comprising electronic communications transceiver assemblies for communications with external sensor networks for monitoring dangerous driving situations, weather conditions, roadway conditions, pedestrian congestion and motor vehicle traffic congestion conditions to derive warning and/or control signals for warning the driver of dangerous driving situations and/or for controlling the motor vehicle driver use of a cellular telephone and/or other wireless communication devices.