The present invention relates to a packing bag with a RFID function, which comprises a metal layer, two conductive films and a RFID chip. The metal layer has a first slot formed at a position proximate to an edge of the packing bag and is used as a slot antenna. The two conductive films are used for increasing the coupling area of the pins on the two corresponding sides of the RFID chip, and are fixed on an external surface of an insulating layer of the packing bag at a position corresponding to the first slot, such that the two conductive films can be coupled to two feed-in points of the slot antenna respectively, and the RFID chip can receive and transmit electromagnetic signals through the slot antenna (or the metal layer) accordingly.
Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology also known as radio frequency identification tag (RFID tag) is a communication technology for identifying a specific object through an electromagnetic signal by an identification system (such as a reader), as well as reading or writing related data in the specific object, with the advantage of having no mechanical or optical contact between the identification system and specific object at all. Compared with the barcode technology, the RFID tag can store and process a certain quantity of information, and the identification system can exchange information with a RFID tag at a certain data transmission rate through radio signals. Therefore, the RFID tag are used extensively in many areas including:
(1) Anti-counterfeit technology for banknotes and products;
(2) Identity card, pass, and ticket;
(3) Electronic fee collection system, such as Octopus of Hong Kong, and Easycard of Taiwan;
(4) Livestock or wild animal identification; and
(5) Patient identity and electronic medical record.
In general, RFID tags are mainly divided into three types, respectively: passive RFID tags, semi-passive (or semi-active) RFID tags and active RFID tags, and their main properties and differences are listed as follows:
(1) Passive RFID tag: This RFID tag does not come with any internal power supply, and its internal integrated circuit is driven by a received electromagnetic wave, and the electromagnetic wave comes from a reader. If the intensity of an electromagnetic signal received by the passive RFID tag is large enough, data can be transmitted back to the reader.
(2) Semi-passive RFID Tag: This RED tag is similar to the passive RFID tag, except it has a small battery with sufficient electric power for driving the integrated circuit in the tag, setting the integrated circuit at an operating state, and improving the response speed and efficiency of the RFID tag.
(3) Active RFID Tag: Unlike the passive and semi-passive RFID tags, the active RFID tag includes an internal power supply for supplying an electric power source to the internal integrated circuit to generate an external signal. The active RFID tag generally has a longer reading distance and a larger memory capacity for storing additional information transmitted from the reader.
The RFID tag described in the present invention primarily refers to the active RFID tag, and this type of RFID tag is the mainstream product of the present RFID tag market, and has the following advantages:
(1) It provides a greater capacity for storing information;
(2) It provides a longer communication distance;
(3) It requires a higher level of difficulty for duplication;
(4) It has a larger tolerance to environmental changes; and
(5) A reader can read several RFID tags simultaneously.
Due to the aforementioned advantages of the RFID tag, the RFID tag is used extensively in areas of logistics and distribution management for instant monitoring and control of details including production, transportation, allocation, and sales, so that users can control related product information (such as product type, manufacturers, dimensions, quantity, delivery destination and receiver) accurately. With reference to
When the RFID tag 10 is attached onto a non-conductive object (such as an object made of plastic or glass), the RFID tag 10 still can maintain its normal signal transmission effect to exchange information with a reader within a predetermined range (or distance). However, if the RFID tag 10 is attached onto a surface of a metal object and the transceiver antenna 11 transmits an electromagnetic signal, the metal object will produce an image pulse according to the image theory. The image pulse has a phase opposite to the phase of the electromagnetic signal transmitted from the transceiver antenna 11, and the image pulse and the electromagnetic signal have an offset interference, so that the electromagnetic signal will be damaged and cannot be transmitted to the reader, and the reader will be unable to read the information from the RFID tag 10 properly. The so-called offset interference refers to the condition that the peak of a wave and the trough of another wave reach a location at the same time. When the two waves are overlapped, the resultant wave has an amplitude smaller than the amplitude of the component waves. If the two waves have an opposite-phase interference, then a minimum amplitude will be produced, and such phenomenon is called a fully offset interference.
To keep a delivering item dry, avoid the item from becoming rusty or moldy, or comply with the requirement of the item that cannot be placed in direct sunlight, many existing distribution systems require users (or logistic system manufacturers) to pack the delivering item into a metal bag (such as an aluminum foil bag) for the delivery process. Since the metal bag has the advantages of a high strength, a high tenacity, and a good moisture resistance, therefore the use of metal bags becomes increasingly popular in different logistic systems. However, the aforementioned RFID tag 10 cannot be applied to metal bags due to the image pulse problem. If a user attaches the RFID tag 10 onto a metal bag, the transmission distance of the RFID tag 10 may probably drop to zero, and the reader will be unable to read the RFID tag 10, and the user will be unable to manage each delivering item accurately. Obviously, such application requires improvements.
Therefore, it is an important subject for the present invention to improve the problems of the conventional RFID tag by directly using the metal bag as an antenna of the RFID chip to maintain a good transmission performance.
In view of the aforementioned shortcomings of the prior art, the inventor of the present invention based on years of experience in the related industry to conduct extensive researches and experiments, and finally developed a packing bag with a RFID function and invented its method, in hope of using the metal layer in the packing bag as the slot antenna of the RFID chip to overcome the problems of the conventional RFID tag.
Therefore, it is a primary objective of the present invention to provide a packing bag with a RFID function, and the packing bag comprises a bag body, two conductive films and a RFID chip, wherein the bag body comprises a metal layer (such as an aluminum foil), an insulating layer (such as polyethylene terephthalate, PET) and a laminated layer (such as polyethylene, PE or polypropylene, PP), and an external surface of the metal layer is covered onto an internal surface of the insulating layer, and an internal surface of the metal layer is covered onto an external surface of the laminated layer to seal (such as thermally seal) corresponding edges of the laminated layer to form the bag body, and an accommodating space is formed inside the bag body. The metal layer includes a first slot formed at a position proximate to an edge of the bag body, and the conformation of the first slot allows the metal layer to be used as a slot antenna. A second slot is formed between the two conductive films, and the second slot has a size capable for fixing the pins on two corresponding sides of the RFID chip onto the two conductive films respectively, and the two conductive films are used for increasing the coupling area of the pins on the two corresponding sides of the RFID chip, and the two conductive films are fixed on an external surface of the insulating layer and at a position corresponding to the first slot, such that the two conductive films can be coupled to two feed-in points of the slot antenna respectively, and the RFID chip can receive and transmit electromagnetic signals through the slot antenna (or the metal layer). Since the present invention uses the metal layer of the bag body as the slot antenna of the RFID chip, therefore manufacturers simply fix the RFID chip onto the external surface of the insulating layer and at a position corresponding to the first slot through the two conductive films to achieve the effect of using the metal layer as the slot antenna to receive and transmit the RFID signals, without the need of purchasing an additional RFID tag (including the RFID chip and the antenna). If the packing bag is used for packing a metal object, the metal layer can effectively suppress the image pulse of the metal object produced by the image theory, so that the distance of transmitting and receiving electromagnetic waves by the RFID chip will not be decreased significantly by the image pulse, and a good transmission performance of the RFID chip can be maintained.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide a manufacturing method of a packing bag with a RFID function, and the manufacturing method comprises the steps of covering an external surface of a metal layer onto an internal surface of an insulating layer, forming a first slot on the metal layer and at a position proximate to an edge of the metal layer, covering an internal surface of the metal layer onto an external surface of a laminated layer, and sealing corresponding edges of the laminated layer with one another to produce a bag body. Further, two pins of a RFID chip are fixed onto two conductive films respectively, and then the two conductive films are attached onto an external surface of the insulating layer and at a position corresponding to the first slot to produce a packing bag with a RFID function.
A further objective of the present invention is to provide a packaging bag further comprising a protective sticker covered onto the two conductive films to protect the RFID chip and the two conductive films and prevent the components from being damaged or falling apart due to collisions.
The present invention mainly adopts the principle of a slot antenna, and uses a metal layer inside a packing bag as an antenna of a RFID chip. With reference to
The present invention uses the characteristics of the aforementioned slot antenna to change the structure of a general packing bag to design a packing bag with a RFID function. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention as shown in
In this preferred embodiment as shown in
With reference to
In the preferred embodiment as shown in
In the preferred embodiment as shown in
In addition to the structure of the aforementioned preferred embodiment, the manufacturing method of the packing bag 3 is described together with the related drawings. With reference to
(701) Cover an external surface of the metal layer 301 onto an internal surface of the insulating layer 302;
(702) Form the first slot 305 at a position proximate to an edge of the metal layer 301 (by a chemical etching method);
(703) Cover an internal surface of the metal layer 301 onto an external surface of the laminated layer 303;
(704) Seal edges of the laminated layer 303 corresponding to the first slot 305 with one another to form the bag body 30;
(705) Fix two pins 320 of the RFID chip 32 onto the conductive films 31 respectively, and maintain a second slot 310 between the conductive films 31; and
(706) Stick the two conductive films 31 onto an external surface of the insulating layer 302 and at positions corresponding to the first slot 305.
It is noteworthy to point out that manufacturers can form the metal layer 301 with the first slot 305 on the insulating layer 302 in the steps (701) and (702) by an evaporation method. Alternatively, the steps (701) to (703) are changed, wherein after the metal layer 301, the insulating layer 302 and the laminated layer 303 are combined, a punching method is used to form the first slot 305. If manufacturers want to cover the protective sticker 33 onto the two conductive films 31 in the foregoing procedure (as shown in
In the aforementioned preferred embodiment and manufacturing procedure, the two conductive films are fixed onto an external surface of the insulating layer, but the present invention is not limited to such arrangement only, and manufacturers can also adopt the following manufacturing procedure to fix the two conductive films and RFID chip onto the internal surface of the laminated layer. With reference to
(801) covering an external surface of a metal layer onto an internal surface of an insulating layer;
(802) forming a first slot on the metal layer and at a position proximate to an edge of the metal layer;
(803) covering an internal surface of the metal layer onto an external surface of a laminated layer;
(804) fixing two pins of a RFID chip onto two conductive films respectively, and maintaining a second slot between the two conductive films;
(805) fixing the two conductive films (including the RFID chip) onto an internal surface of the laminated layer and at a position corresponding to the first slot; and
(806) sealing edges of the laminated layer corresponding to the first slot with one another to form a bag body.
It is noteworthy to point out that manufacturers can also combine the RFID chip and the two conductive films first in the step (804) before the step (801) takes place, and persons skilled in the art can think of a modification or change of the present invention easily, and these equivalent medications and changes are intended to be covered by the scope of the present invention. With the aforementioned manufacturing procedure, the two conductive films and the RFID chip are sealed into the laminated layer, not only maximizing the RFID effect of the present invention, but also protecting the RFID chip from being damaged.
In summation of the description above, the present invention can waive the design of a conventional RFID antenna and reduce the manufacturing cost. In an actual test on the properties of the antenna of the packing bag of the present invention conducted by the inventor, the real part of a resistance, the imaginary part of a resistance and the Smith chart as shown in
While the invention herein disclosed has been described by means of specific embodiments, numerous modifications and variations could be made thereto by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention set forth in the claims.
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