Patent Application
20150188227
The application relates generally to an antenna for a transponder, in particular a near field communication (NFC) or radio frequency identification (RFID) device transponder. The application also relates to a transponder comprising the antenna and a flat panel or poster comprising the transponder. The application also relates to methods of manufacturing the antenna, the transponder and/or the flat panel or poster.
Short distance data communication is widely used for wireless data exchange. Near field communication (NFC) is a set of standards for establishing radio communication between two electronic devices by bringing them into close proximity. Communication is particularly possible between an NFC device and an unpowered NFC chip, also referred to as transponder or tag.
NFC standards cover communication protocols and data exchange formats, and are based on existing radio-frequency identification (RFID) standards including, for example ISO/IEC 14443. Other relevant standards are ISO/IEC 15693/ISO/IEC 18000-3. The standards also include ISO/IEC 18092 and others defined by the NFC Forum founded in 2004. NFC is a set of short-range wireless technologies, typically requiring a distance of 10 cm or less. NFC typically operates at 13.56 MHz and at rates ranging from 106 kbit/s to 424 kbit/s. NFC involves an initiator and a target. The initiator actively generates an RF field that powers a passive target (herein also referred to as transponder or tag). Devices equipped with this kind of transponder (for example, smart cards, key fobs, tags) do not require batteries. NFC tags may contain a specific kind of data and are often read out by a reading device (reader). The NFC or RFID tags typically securely store data such as debit and credit card information, loyalty program data, PINS and networking contacts, among other information.
As with proximity card technology, near-field communication uses magnetic induction between two loop antennas located within each other's near field, effectively forming an air-core transformer. It operates within the globally available and unlicensed radio frequency ISM band of 13.56 MHz. Most of the RF energy is concentrated in the allowed ±7 kHz bandwidth range, but the full spectral envelope may be as wide as 1.8 MHz when using ASK modulation. NFC communication has a theoretical working distance with compact standard antennas of up to 20 cm, while a standard working distance is about 4 cm.
There are two modes: passive mode and active mode. In passive mode, the initiating device, i.e. the reader, provides an electromagnetic field and the target device answers by modulating the existing field. The target device can draw its operating power from the electromagnetic field provided by the reader. In active communication, both reader and transponder communicate by alternately generating their own fields. In this mode, both devices typically have their own, at least short time, power supplies.
In passive mode, usually the tag or transponder antenna consists of a single coil whose dimension should at least substantially match the dimension of the reader antenna in order to optimize energy transfer to transponder. In other words, the size of the transponder antenna or rather transponder coil cannot simply be increased. The short maximum distance between reader and transponder as well as the limited size of the antennas of both devices require that the reader is precisely placed on the transponder to allow for reliable data communication. A precise relative placement of reader and transponder antenna is, however, not possible in various application.
It is an object of the methods, systems, and techniques described herein to provide an antenna for a transponder and a transponder, a method of manufacturing the antenna and the transponder, as well as a flat panel comprising the transponder which reduces the requirement for a precise relative placement of reader antenna and transponder antenna with respect to each other.
In one aspect of the invention, an antenna for a transponder, in particular an NFC transponder or RFID tag, is provided. The antenna comprises a plurality of substantially planar coils arranged plane-parallel. The coils are also arranged side-by-side. In this context, plane-parallel means that the coils of the antenna or antenna arrangements described below can be arranged in several planes which are at least substantially parallel. Side-by-side means that the adjacent or neighboring coils do not or only insignificantly overlap. The windings themselves of adjacent coils can however slightly overlap if the adjacent windings are, for example, arranged in different planes. Arranging the adjacent coils side-by-side does therefore not exclude embodiments in which the only the windings of the coils are superimposed in different planes of a substrate (for example, such that the windings of one coil run above or underneath the windings of an adjacent coil separated by an insulating layer). In an advantageous embodiment, the windings of adjacent coils do not overlap or are not superimposed at all.
This specification distinguishes between an antenna (or antenna inlay or inlay) that comprises a plurality of coils which are substantially arranged side-by-side and plane-parallel and an antenna arrangement comprising multiple antennas or antenna inlays. The different antennas (or antenna inlays) of an antenna arrangement can then be further displaced with respect to each other, as explained below. The windings or wires of the coils of the different antennas (or antenna inlays) of an antenna arrangement can overlap to a larger extent than those of a single antenna. This will be explained in more detail below.
In a first aspect, adjacent coils have an opposite sense of winding if adjacent windings of the adjacent coils run close to each other over a substantial distance. In other words, adjacent coils have an opposite sense of winding, if adjacent windings of the adjacent coils run close to each other over a substantial length of the geometrical (e.g., rectangular, triangular, polygonal, oval, circular) outer shape of the each of the adjacent coils. This means that the adjacent windings of the adjacent coils run proximate to each other over a substantial distance of the outer circumferential geometrical shape of the adjacent coils. The outer circumferential geometrical shape of a coil is the shape defined by the outermost windings of the coil. The substantial distance is greater than half of the length of one side of the outer geometrical shape of the coil defined by windings. The adjacent windings of adjacent coils are proximate to each other if the adjacent windings are closer than half the maximum diameter of the outer circumferential geometrical shape of at least one of the adjacent coils.
The distance or length over which the windings of adjacent coils run at least substantially in parallel relates to the geometry of the coil. If, for example, adjacent coils have a substantially rectangular shape, the substantial distance may be the majority or at least half of the length of one side of the rectangle (more than 50% of the side length of the outer geometry of the coil). If the coils have a substantially triangular shape, the substantial distance is at least half of the length of one side of the triangle. In other words, if the windings of two adjacent coils (adjacent in the meaning of side-by-side as discussed above) run close or proximate to each over a substantial length, for example 50% or more of the length of one side of a coil (the outer geometric form of the coil), the sense of winding of the two adjacent coils should be opposite.
In this context, the term “running close” or “running proximate” to each other relates to configurations where the portion of the windings of the two adjacent coils is closer than half the maximum diameter of each of the adjacent coils. This is also the case, if the windings of the portion of the windings of two adjacent coils run substantially in parallel or even perfectly parallel and in very close distance (as close as possible due to limitations given by production or mechanical or electrical constraints) to each other. Running substantially in parallel generally covers embodiments in which the maximum angle of the adjacent windings of adjacent coils is not greater than 45° or 30° with respect to each other. The distance of adjacent windings of adjacent coils can be the range of the maximum thickness (or a multiple thereof) of a single winding. Adjacent windings of adjacent coils can advantageously be closer than 1 cm, and in particular closer than 5 mm.
In an embodiment, the coils of an antenna or antenna arrangement may be arranged on a first side of a substrate and a second opposite side of substrate. Pairs of adjacent coils may, for example, be arranged such that one coil of the pair is on the first side of the substrate and the other coil of the pair is on the second side of the substrate. In another embodiment, all coils of an antenna may be arranged in the same plane. Each pair of adjacent coils of the plurality of coils can then have an opposite sense of winding. In the context of this specification, the term adjacent means that the coils are direct neighbors. In other words, the antenna tracks (or wires) are aligned such that neighboring sub-coils have contrary turn-sense (sense of winding), the neighboring tracks (or wires) have the same current flow direction and destructive interference is avoided while constructive interference is supported.
The coils are arranged such that a current induced by the same external electromagnetic field in adjacent coils flows in the same direction in adjacent wires of the pair of adjacent coils. In other words, in the region where the wires of two adjacent coils run in parallel, the induced current flows in the same direction in all adjacent wires. Dependent on the position of the reader antenna relative to the coils of the antenna, the electromagnetic field emitted by the reader antenna may induce a current in two, three, four or more coils which are pairwise adjacent. This aspect provides that it is not necessary to place the reader antenna precisely on or above one of the coils. The reader antenna that typically has the size of one of the coils can be placed somewhere between two or more coils thereby covering a larger area.
The antenna can be planar comprising planar coils such that the coils are arranged in two or more parallel planes (plane-parallel) or all coils are arranged in a single first plane. The antenna is then flat. The windings of each of the coils of the plurality of coils are then also arranged side-by-side in the plane. The coils may be printed, etched, galvanically grown, punched, laser-cut or applied as a thin layer on a substrate as well as made of winded wires arranged or inlaid in a substrate. This provides that the antenna can be manufactured in an efficient and cheap manner.
Advantageously, the coils of the plurality of coils are arranged side-by-side such that the adjacent windings of adjacent pairs of coils do not overlap each other. This also supports easy production of the antenna, for example, by printing, etching, galvanical growth, punching, or laser cutting.
The coils may generally have various shapes, sizes or sense of windings within the same antenna. However, in an advantageous embodiment, all coils of the plurality of coils can have substantially the same shape and dimension. In an advantageous embodiment, the shape of the coils is rectangular. However, the shape of the coils can also be circular, oval, triangular, square, or polygonal.
The coils of the plurality of coils can be arranged in the same plane in form of a regular pattern, for example, a checkerboard pattern (also called a chessboard pattern). The centers of the coils can then be placed on a grid such that all centers of a row and/or a column of coils have the same distance to each other. In this configuration, the plurality of coils is advantageously arranged in columns and rows side-by-side in a non-overlapping manner. The coils can then advantageously be arranged such that pairs of adjacent coils in the same row or the same column have an opposite sense of winding.
The number of windings per coil is preferably small. The number of windings can for example be smaller than 20, in particular be smaller than 10. In an advantageous embodiment, the number of windings can be 2 or 3. In an embodiment, the number of windings can be 2.5, which means that one winding encompasses the coil only half-way of the circumference.
Advantageously, two adjacent coils can share a wire which is located between the coils and couples the coils to each other. In other words, a wire of one coil can be used as a wire of an adjacent coil connecting the first and second coil.
The shape and/or dimensions of the coils advantageously correspond to the dimensions and/or shape of a coil of a reader antenna. Each coil of the plurality of coils can then be configured to optimally receive the electromagnetic field from a reader. In other words, each coil can be configured to perform wireless communication between a reader and an integrated circuit to which the antenna is coupled.
Dependent on the specific geometry of the antenna and the coils, three principles of defining adjacent coils having an opposite sense of winding can be derived.
In an embodiment in which the coils all have the same shape and dimensions and are arranged in a regular pattern, for example, a checkerboard pattern side-by-side (non-overlapping) in rows and columns (rows and columns are perpendicular to each other), adjacent coils having an opposite sense of winding are directly neighboring coils within the same row or the same column.
In an embodiment, in which the coils have the same triangular shape and the same dimension and are arranged in rows and columns while within the same row the coils are oriented alternately in opposite direction (180° turned from one coil to the next neighboring coil) and within the same column the coils have the same orientation, adjacent coils either have the same row index and a column index that differs by 1 (plus or minus 1) or the adjacent coils have a row index that differs by one (plus or minus 1) and a column index that also differs by 1 (plus or minus 1).
In an embodiment in which the coils are segments of a larger geometrical shape as, for example, a disk or a triangle and in which the coils in form of the segments are arranged around a center (or circumcenter) of the geometrical shape, adjacent coils are directly neighboring coils along a circumferential path around the center of the geometrical shape.
The coils of the plurality of coils are coupled with each other either in series or in parallel. In particular, any number of coils of the plurality of coils may be coupled in series (thereby creating serial sub-loops or groups) and/or any number of coils of the plurality of coils may be coupled in parallel. The serial sub-loops of an antenna together form a single coil that is flattened and arranged as flat sub-coils having a lower number of windings in a plane or plane-parallel in multiple planes. The antenna generally comprises a multi-coil structure to ensure good connectivity or power transfer from a reader to the NFC/RFID chip. The wires of serial sub-loops (coils) can either be directly connected to a chip or in parallel together with other serial sub-loops.
The plurality of coils may be coupled to form groups of coils being coupled in series. The groups of coils being coupled in series can then be coupled in parallel such that all coils of the plurality of coils are finally coupled together. The antenna can then be coupled to a single electronic circuit or electronic device, in particular to an integrated circuit, such as an NFC/RFID chip.
The antenna is advantageously coupled to a capacitance. The coils of the antenna and the capacitance may then form an LC resonator. The capacitance may be formed of a single or a plurality of capacitors. The capacitance may be formed of at least two overlapping layers. The capacitance is also flat and arranged in the same plane as the coils of the antenna. The layers of the capacitance may be made of the same material or materials as the coils. This simplifies production of the antenna and the capacitance. The capacitance may then be used for tuning the antenna to a target resonance frequency.
In some embodiments, the NFC/RFID chip (integrated circuit) may comprise an internal capacitance. If this capacitance is large enough for the required resonant frequency, the external capacitance may not be used.
The plurality of capacitors may advantageously be placed within one or more of the coils of the antenna. This saves spaces and allows the coils of the antenna to be arranged regularly and close to each other.
The techniques described herein also provide for an antenna arrangement. The antenna arrangement may comprise a first plurality of coils and a second plurality of coils. Each of the plurality of coils may then be configured in accordance with the aspects and embodiments described herein. The first plurality of coils may be arranged in a first plane. The second plurality of coils may be arranged in a second plane. The coils of the first plurality of coils in the first plane may be arranged on one side of a substrate. The coils of the second plurality of coils in the second plane may be arranged on an opposite side of the substrate than the first plurality of coils. The first plane and the second plane can be electrically insulated from each other. The first plurality of coils may then form a first antenna in accordance with the aspects and embodiments described herein. The second plurality of coils may then form a second antenna in accordance with the aspects and embodiments described herein. The antennas can then be arranged such the antennas are misaligned or displaced with respect to each other. This means that coils in different parallel planes are not exactly superimposed. This results in further reduction of read-holes and in less negative (coupling) effects with the antenna on the opposite side.
In the antenna arrangement, the first antenna and the second antenna can be electrically coupled (or connected) such that the first antenna and the second antenna form a single antenna. This single antenna can then be coupled to a single NFC/RFID chip. In other words, a single antenna can also be formed by coils on two different sides or two or more different layers of a substrate.
Any antenna described herein may be coupled to at least one electronic device, in particular an integrated semiconductor device, such as an NFC transponder chip or RFID chip. In particular, also two or three semiconductor devices may be coupled to the antenna. With respect to the previously described antenna arrangement, the first antenna may be coupled to a first electronic circuit, in particular a first integrated electronic circuit such as an electronic chip. The second antenna may be coupled to a second electronic circuit, in particular a second integrated electronic circuit such as an electronic chip.
The electronic circuits which are coupled to the antenna or antennas are advantageously integrated semiconductor electronic circuits, also referred to as chips. These integrated circuits are configured to perform the functionality of RFID or NFC wireless data communication through the antenna or antennas. The integrated circuits are configured to process signals received by the antenna and to respond to the reader or transmit data to the reader, for example also through the antenna or antennas. The integrated circuits may particularly be configured to operate in passive mode or semi-active mode. The integrated circuits may further be configured to perform load modulation. The integrated circuits are advantageously placed on the same substrate as the antenna. The integrated circuits are preferably mounted on the substrate without housing, i.e. the integrated circuits are in form of dies and mounted on the substrate in a flip-chip configuration. The wires of the coils of the antenna, which are preferably flat conductive layers, can then provide respective areas on which the die or chip can be placed.
In the antenna arrangement, the first antenna and the second antenna may be similar. The two antennas which are arranged on two sides of an insulating layer or substrate may have the same number of coils and the coils may all have the same shape and dimensions. In particular, the coils may have rectangular shape and the coils may be arranged in a regular grid in form of a regular pattern, for example, a checkerboard pattern. The first antenna may then be displaced with respect to the second antenna. The first antenna and the second antenna are then not exactly superimposed. In other words, the centers of the coils of the first antenna may not coincide with the centers of the coils of the second antenna in a view perpendicular to the plane of the antennas. The displacement or misalignment of the first antenna with respect to the second antenna can be half the grid size. The grid size can be the distance between the centers of two adjacent coils. If the coils are arranged in a regular pattern, as a checkerboard pattern, there can be a first grid size in the direction of the rows and a second grid size in the direction of the columns. The displacement of the first antenna with respect to the second antenna may then be half the first grid size and half the second grid size. This provides that the centers of the coils of the first antenna are then located above the corners of the coils of the second antenna. If a separate electronic circuit is coupled to each of the two antennas, the two electronic circuits may provide similar functionality. The above aspects further minimize read holes.
Another aspect of the invention provides a transponder or tag comprising an electronic circuit and an antenna in accordance with the embodiments described herein.
Yet another aspect of the invention provides a flat panel, in particular a poster having information, signs, patterns and/or art provided thereon. The flat panel or poster may, for example, have the following size: A5, A4, A3, A2 or A1 or larger. The antenna or antenna arrangement may be configured as a module or inlay in a predefined size. Each module or inlay may be provided with a separate electronic circuit. Each of the inlays or modules may then be configured such that a plurality of inlays or modules can be arranged side-by-side in order to cover a larger area (in particular a flat area or plane). The antenna may, for example be configured to have the dimensions corresponding to paper size A5. Two of the modules or inlays may then be used to cover the area of an A4 sheet and four inlays or modules may then be used to cover the area of an A3 sheet etc. The coils of the antenna of an inlay or module may then be configured in a regular pattern as, for example, a checkerboard pattern as described herein. The outer edges of the inlays can then be arranged side-by-side such that the currents of adjacent coils of adjacent inlays or modules still provide that the current through the adjacent wires of adjacent coils of two different inlays flow in the same direction in response to the same electromagnetic field.
The above aspects provide that the expandability of the antenna size is simplified, i.e. the reception area is theoretically unlimited. There can be one general antenna design (inlay, module) that can be used for nearly all different (poster) sizes. The (poster) dimension only needs to fit in the grid pattern that is given by the antenna dimension. The poster dimension is then a multiple of the antenna dimension (inlay, module dimension). The design simplifies lateral adding of multiple inlays to increase the covered area as several antennas can be placed side-by-side without any drawback regarding the reception.
Another aspect of the invention provides a method of manufacturing an antenna, an antenna arrangement, a transponder or a flat panel including the antenna or transponder in accordance with the embodiments described herein.
The substrate on which the coils of the antenna are arranged is advantageously a foil, film, sheet or layer of, for example, PET (polyethylene terephthalate), paper, polyimide, polycarbonate, PVC (polyvinylchloride), teslin (polyolefin plastic material), or PEN (polyethylene naphthalate).
A soft magnetic foil (for example, a ferrite foil) may be placed on the rear side of the foil. This may serve as a diverter of a magnetic field if the antenna is placed on an electrically conductive layer, if the antenna (the substrate with the coils of the antenna on it) is placed on an electrically conductive layer, so that the magnetic field is diverted from entering the electrically conductive layer. The soft magnetic foil may cover the entire area of the antenna if an electrically conductive layer (e.g. metal) is present all over the substrate or carrier or only a part of it, if the electrically conductive layer (e.g. metal) is only partially present. If the electrically conductive layer is formed as frame, the soft magnetic foil may also be configured as a frame substantially covering the electrically conductive frame.
In an embodiment, a foil of PET covered by a metal foil may be provided (for example, on a roll) and the aluminum foil may be etched (by use of masking) so as to form a plurality of coils of an antenna or antenna arrangement.
In another embodiment, the coils of an antenna or antenna arrangement may be printed on a substrate (e.g. a foil) using silver paste or another printable conductive substance.
The coils of the antenna and optionally additional structures of the antenna and/or the capacitors may be formed of aluminum, copper, or silver (silver paste). Furthermore, the coils of the antenna and optionally additional structures of the antenna may be formed by etching, laser cutting, printing (silver paste printing, Ink-Jet printing), punching and/or galvanic coating or growing as well as by vapor deposition
The systems and methods described herein also provide for a large RFID tag which size is multiple times larger than a standard RFID tag. Furthermore, a new antenna design that is suitable to cover large areas is provided. The aspects and embodiments described herein enable placement of several antenna modules or inlays side by side to increase the covered area without limits. Read-holes across the whole antenna-area or poster-area can then be avoided or reduced, and large areas (e.g. posters) can be covered while the number of chips or antennas per large area (e.g. poster) is reduced. Read-holes are especially reduced by avoiding destructive interference and supporting constructive interference of currents or electromagnetic fields.
Other aspects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with accompanying drawings illustrating the principals of the invention by way of example only.
The advantages of the invention described above, together with further advantages, may be better understood by referring to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. The drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead generally being placed upon illustrating the principles of the invention.
Coils 1 to 16 are arranged in rows and columns. Coils 1 to 4 are arranged in a first row. Coils 5 to 8 are arranged in a second row. Coils 9 to 12 are arranged in a third row. Coils 13 to 16 are arranged in a fourth row. Coils 1, 5, 9, 13 are arranged in a first column. Coils 2, 6, 10, 14 are arranged in a second column. Coils 3, 7, 11, 15 are arranged in a third column. Coils 4, 8, 12, 16 are arranged in a fourth column.
The grid size is ‘b’ along the rows of the antenna and ‘a’ along the columns of the antenna. The number of coils per row and per column is advantageously an even number. This allows arrangement of the inlays of each antenna side-by-side in order to expand the area covered by the antennas. However, in another advantageous embodiment, the number of coils per row and/or per column can also be uneven, which then requires that the antennas (inlays) are turned upside-down to arrange the antennas (inlays) side-by-side in order to expand the area covered by similar inlays.
Coil 1 is adjacent to coils 2 and 5. Coil 2 is adjacent to coils 1, 6 and 3. Coil 3 is adjacent to coils 2, 7 and 4 etc. In other words, each coil 1 to 16 has direct neighbors within the same row and column. These direct neighbors are the adjacent coils. The next coil in diagonal direction is not “adjacent” in the context of this specification. Adjacent coils have an opposite sense of winding. The sense of winding of each coil 1 to 16 is indicated by a circled arrow within each coil 1 to 16. In other words, the sense of winding of the coils is alternating from one coil to the next coil along the rows and columns. The alternating sense of winding from one coil to an adjacent coil provides that the currents through the adjacent wires of the adjacent coils flow in the same direction. The directions of the currents through the wires of the coils 1 to 16 are indicated by straight arrows (just as an illustrative example, as the direction of the currents depends on the direction of the electromagnetic field). This also applies to configurations different than the regular checkerboard pattern of this embodiment. For example, adjacent coils 1 and 2 have adjacent wires in the area 104 (dashed circle). The currents through the adjacent wires of adjacent coils flow in the same direction if the same electromagnetic field is used to induce a current into the coils 1 and 2. This means that a reader antenna having about the same dimensions and shape as a single coil 1 to 16 (not shown) can be placed somewhere between two adjacent coils and the induced currents of the two adjacent coils are added up to a single stronger current in the antenna 100.
The coils 1 to 16 can be arranged on the same side of a foil, layer, or substrate. This allows printing or etching the coils only from one side. The bridges, here for example referenced as BR12 (electrically conductive bridge between coil 1 and coil 2) and BR34 (electrically conductive bridge between coil 3 and coil 4) can then be arranged on the opposite side of the foil, layer, or substrate. The foil, layer, or substrate is electrically insulating.
An integrated circuit (not shown) can be mounted at position 101 on respective extensions of the wires. Due to the very small dimensions of the integrated circuit (NFC chip, RFID chip), especially without housing, the integrated circuit would hardly be visible due to the dimensions of the antenna.
The capacitance described above is implemented by capacitors 102, 103. At least one capacitor or arrays of capacitors 102, 103 are arranged inside coils 5 and 9 respectively. These capacitors can be used for tuning the antenna. The antenna usually operates as LC resonator at a specific resonating frequency. The coils 1 to 16 provide for the inductivity L while the capacitors provide for the C. The integrated circuit may have enough internal capacitance such that the external capacitors 102, 103 are not used.
The coils 1 to 16 are either directly coupled by extending the wire of a first coil to a second coil or the coils 1 to 16 are coupled by bridges 105. In the present embodiment, coils 1 to 8 are coupled in series and coils 9 to 16 are coupled in series. This means that coils 1 to 8 form a first group of coils which are all coupled in series and coils 9 to 16 form a second group of coils which are all coupled in series. The two groups of coils are then coupled in parallel such that all coils 1 to 16 are coupled together.
The substrate on which the coils of the antenna are arranged is advantageously a foil, film, sheet or layer of, for example, PET (polyethylene terephthalate), paper, polyimide, polycarbonate, PVC (polyvinylchloride), teslin (polyolefin plastic material), or PEN (polyethylene naphthalate).
The coils of the antenna and optionally additional structures of the antenna may be formed of aluminum, copper or silver (silver paste) or other electrically conductive material. Furthermore, the coils of the antenna and optionally additional structures of the antenna may be formed by etching, laser cutting, printing (silver paste printing, Ink-Jet printing), punching and/or galvanic coating or growing.
Also shown is a reader antenna RA1, which has about the same shape and dimension as each of the coils 1 to 16. The reader antenna RA1 can be placed anywhere on the antenna (inlay or module) 100 in order to communicate with an integrated circuit (RFID/NFC chip) which can be coupled to the antenna (inlay or module) 100.
Even across the edges of an inlay, i.e. from inlay to inlay (or antenna to antenna) 1001 to 1004 the adjacent coils have an opposite sense of windings. This allows the inlays or antennas to be placed side-by-side in order to cover large areas. Just as an example, coil 13 of antenna 1001, coil 16 of antenna 1002, coil 1 of antenna 1003 and coil 4 of antenna 1004 are discussed. The adjacent wires of all adjacent pairs of coils (13-16; 16-4, 4-1, 1-13) are flowing in the same direction as indicated by the straight arrows. In order to provide this kind of expandability, it is advantageous that the number of coils in a row and the number of coils in a column of an antenna 1001 to 1004 is even. However, configurations with an uneven number of coils per row and/or column can also be used which then requires to turn neighboring antennas (inlays) upside-down in order to continue the concept of opposite windings of neighboring coils.
A soft magnetic foil (for example, a ferrite foil) may be placed on the rear side of the substrate indicated by a hatched area. This may serve as a diverter of magnetic field if the antenna (the substrate with the coils of the antenna on it) is placed on an electrically conductive layer so that the magnetic field is diverted from entering the electrically conductive layer. The soft magnetic foil may cover the entire area of the antenna if the electrically conductive layer is present all over the substrate or only a part of it, for example as a frame, if the electrically conductive layer is only partially present on the substrate, or also forms a frame. The electrically conductive layer may, for example, be a metal frame of a poster.
A similar principle applies to the embodiment shown in
Three principles of defining adjacent coils having an opposite sense of winding can be derived from the disclosed embodiments: (1) If the coils have the same shape and dimensions and are arranged in a regular checkerboard pattern side-by-side (non-overlapping) in rows and columns (rows and columns are perpendicular to each other), adjacent coils having an opposite sense of winding are directly neighboring coils within the same row or the same column. (2) if the coils have the same triangular shape and the same dimension and are arranged in rows and columns while within the same row the coils are oriented alternately in opposite direction (180° turned from one coil to the next neighboring coil) and within the same column the coils have the same orientation, adjacent coils either have the same row index and a column index that differs by 1 (plus or minus 1) or the adjacent coils have a row index that differs by one (plus or minus 1) and a column index that also differs by 1 (plus or minus 1). (3) In an embodiment in which the coils are segments of a geometrical shape as, for example, a disk or a triangle and in which the coils in form of the segments are arranged around a center (or circumcenter) of the geometrical shape, adjacent coils are directly neighboring coils along a circumferential path around the center of the geometrical shape. The number or segments or coils should then be even.
In the above-described embodiments, and in particular in the embodiments shown in
The distance or length over which the windings of adjacent coils run at least substantially in parallel relates to the geometry of the coil. If, for example, adjacent coils have a substantially rectangular shape, the substantial distance may be the majority or at least half of the length of one side of the rectangle (more than 50% of the side length of the outer geometry of the coil). In the embodiments shown in
If the single antenna has a size of A5, two antennas may be used to cover the entire area of an A4 sized flat panel or poster. Four antennas may then be used to cover the area of an A3 sized panel, and generally an n×m antenna matrix can be used to cover any large area.
One skilled in the art will realize the invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The foregoing embodiments are therefore to be considered in all respects illustrative rather than limiting of the invention described herein.
