Media access control (MAC) for an active RFID system

摘要

A system of radio frequency communication between Readers and Tags having a scalable Media Access Control (MAC) protocol for an active RFID system employing multiple access. The system comprising at least one tag Reader and a plurality of Tags each having a unique tag ID and deployed in a region in which at least some of the Tags are in radio communication with the tag Reader. A multi-dimensional addressing scheme of the MAC protocol enables division of the plurality of Tags into a number of groups for different stages of MAC protocol processing, based on different portions of the tag ID. The MAC has an inherent flexibility in the sense that it allows readers to communicate with different versions of tags and also optimize communication parameters to reader's capabilities, without pre-configuration of the tags. Furthermore, the MAC supports means to achieve very high access reliability, such as relay between tags.

主权项

1. A system of radio frequency communication between Readers and Tags, the system comprising;
(a) at least one tag Reader; (b) a plurality of Tags deployed in a region in which at least some of the Tags are in radio communication with said tag Reader, and each Tag in the plurality of Tags is associated with a unique tag ID, and (c) a Media Access Control protocol according to which:
said tag Reader is configured to send and receive radio communications to and from at least some of said plurality of Tags,said plurality of Tags are configured to send and receive radio communications to and from said tag Reader, andsaid Media Access Control protocol is configured to control said radio communications between said tag Reader and said plurality of Tags, and said Media Access Control protocol includes a multi-dimensional addressing scheme, said multi-dimensional addressing scheme using a hash function to transform said tag ID into a pseudo random ID and enabling division of said plurality of Tags into one or more groups for different stages of Media Access Control protocol processing, based on different portions of said tag pseudo random ID.