(RFID 2004 - - - *Sample* *Sample* *Sample*)

Introduction

RFID 2004 is a technical review of the patents issued for Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) related technology in the United States prior to January 1, 2004.

The report reviews the patents from a technical viewpoint. It, specifically, does NOT address the patents from a legal perspective and makes no claim to provide information suitable to support any legal action with regard to the patents. ( see disclaimer above ) All material provided in the report is the OPINION of the author.

The RFID field has exploded in recent years. This is reflected in both commercial activity and patent activity. Between 1970 and 2003, 1256 patents have been issued which contain the specific term “RFID”. 776 of these (62%) were issued in the four years since January 2000 (2000 – 2003). 211 were issued in 2003 alone.

RFID technology can also be referred to by a number of other terms. For example, EID (Electronic Identification Device) and Inductive Communication System have also been used. When a broader patent search is done with relevant keywords, the list quickly jumps above 2500 patents. The search process used for this report is discussed in more detail in a following section.

The objective of this report was to review ALL of the RFID related patents issued prior to 2004 and to review, in depth, the RFID related patents issued during 2003. The patents in 2003 specifically offering new technology for Passive RFID devices provided additional patent references. Many of these referenced patents do not contain an RFID related key word, but still present technology directly affecting RFID applications. These referenced patents were added to the composite list. Ultimately, over 4000 patents were selected for inclusion in this report.

Report physical structure

The material which makes up this report is physically structured into 3 documents which can be purchased separately or in combination:

1. Technology Summary 100+ pages (This document)
2. Data Base Appendix 200+ pages
3. Translated Patents 400+ pages

The Technology Summary (this document) is an overview of RFID technology. It includes basic descriptions of the technology, describes how the patents were selected, how to use the material in the report and gives summaries of patterns found in the patents using maps, graphs, tables and outlines.

The Data Base Appendix ( a separate document) is a detailed listing of the RFID patent summary data. It lists things like patent number, issue date, title, technology summary, technology category, who were the inventors, what firms the inventions were assigned to and what attorneys prosecuted the patents. Some of this material is taken right from the patent citations. Some of it was derived by reading the patents. This data base was used to prepare the maps, graphs, tables and outlines.

The Translated Patents (a separate document) takes 81 patents issued in 2003, and translates the abstract and claims into technical English. Verbatim copies of the patent abstracts and claims are also included. These patents were selected because they presented true technical improvements to RFID tag or radio system technology. The other RFID relevant patents issued in 2003, 217 in total, were aimed at application methods. The applications were implemented with commercially available RFID products.

The Technology Summary

The following paragraphs use headings that match the sections in this report. The paragraphs summarize what the sections provide.

Title, Legal Statements and Introduction

This section presents legal issues related to the document and describes the overall structure of the document and its contents.

Table of Contents

The table of contents shows all the sections of the report. The table of contents expands the report sections to level 3 headings.

What is RFID?

This section gives a basic definition of RFID and describes the technical elements and nomenclature used in the technology. The report provides a substantial review of the technology that goes into an RFID tag or device. This is helpful, not only to educate someone not familiar with the technology, but also to create a structure for analyzing the technical elements of the patents.

Selecting the RFID Patent Base

This section describes the patent search methodology and explains how patents were selected for inclusion in the report.

Organization of Patent Information

This section establishes and explains the structures developed to categorize RFID patent technology. Because of the large amount of material involved, a sizable amount of effort went into organizing how the material is grouped and analyzed.

Use of the Material Provided in this Report

The material in this report is typically used quite differently by different users. Most users are not aware of what others are interested in or how they might be using the information. This section discusses these uses.

Benefits of the Report

Companies can benefit in many ways by using the material provided in this report. Most reports, however, are bought by specific individuals because they see a current benefit which some specific information in the report can provide them. This section was designed to help readers see the additional benefits they can gain by applying the material across many of the functions in any commercial firm.

RFID Market Overview

This is a short overview of who is doing what in regard to commercial activities. This section brings together the major observations from the analysis section. It provides a brief discussion of these observations trying to put some overall perspective on them.

Using Microsoft Word

This section discusses why the report was prepared in Microsoft Word format and some of the ways to get the best value from this.

About the Author

A short bio of the author.

Maps, Graphs, Tables and Outlines

This section of the document is made up of 33 subsections. Each one extracts patterns which occur in the patent material and presents the information in graphic or tabular format in substantial detail. The subsections are organized into the follow groupings:

• A look at the number of RFID related patents issued since 1975.
• A look at RFID applications by category
• A look at where RFID shows up in the U.S. patent classification system
• What new Interrogator technology showed up in 2003?
• What new tag technology showed up in 2003?
• What patterns can we find in how the inventions are being assigned to companies?
• Who is doing the inventing?
• Which attorneys are preparing these patents?
• Short included appendix of abbreviations.

The Data Base Appendix

The Data Base Appendix is a detailed listing of the patent data which formed the basis of this document. The appendix is provided as a separate document. The appendix includes the following sections:

Year 2003 Patents

This table lists all patents found during the patent search which were issued in 2003. The table provides information for 535 patents. It lists:

• Patent Number
• Patent Issue Date
• Key Inventor
• Patent Title
• Technical explanation if the title is not self explanatory or not accurate.
• Technology categorization

Referenced and pre-2003 Patents

This table lists RFID related patents issued prior to 2003. The table includes both patents located during the patent search and patents referenced by the patents which were translated. The table provides information for 3744 patents. The table lists:

• Patent Number
• Patent Date
• Inventor
• Patent Title

Tables for Inventors in 2003

This collection of tables lists the inventors who were responsible for the RFID patents issued in 2003. These tables provide information on 455 U.S. and 152 foreign inventors. The tables list:

• Inventor name
• Home town for most
• Street address for some
• State for most, if U.S.
• Country
• Patent number
• The tables show the inventor data in multiple forms:
• Alphabetical order
• Multiple patent inventors ordered by number of inventions
• Location order by State and Country
• Patent number order

Tables for Assignees 2003

Assignees are the companies which the patent citation lists. These were the original companies to which the patents were licensed. For patents issued in 2003, this information is probably pretty good. The tables provide information on 112 U.S. and 47 foreign firms. The tables list:

• Company name
• Home town for most
• State for most in the U.S.
• Country
• The tables show the assignee data in multiple forms:
• Alphabetical order
• Multiple assignments ordered by number of assignments
• Location order by State and Country

Table of Attorneys 2003

These tables show which attorneys prosecuted the patents. The tables provide names for 140 attorneys or firms. Only names are shown in these tables. The tables are ordered to show which attorneys prosecuted multiple patents.

Composite Table for 2003

This table forms the basis for the other tables. It lists 298 RFID relevant 2003 patent numbers. For each patent, it lists:

• Patent number
• One or more technology summaries describing the content of the patent.
• A list of the named inventors.
• The assignee firm
• The prosecuting attorney
• This table is vital to make cross correlations of variables.

RFID Information Sources

This section summarizes other information sources, besides the patents, that can be used as references for RFID technology. It includes lists of companies that supply systems and names associations that support RFID. The section is provided as a convenience for finding basic information on the technology. While being 30+ pages long, it only scratches the surface of the information available for RFID, which is extensive.

Abbreviations

Abbreviations used in the patents, titles, maps, graphs, tables and outlines.

Using Microsoft Word

This section discusses why the report was prepared in Microsoft Word format and some of the ways to get the best value from this.

The Translated Patents

The companion Translated Patents document takes 81 patents issued in 2003, and translates the abstract and claims into technical English. Verbatim copies of the patent abstracts and claims are also included. These patents were selected because they presented true technical improvements to RFID tag or radio system technology. The other RFID relevant patents issued in 2003, 217 in total, were aimed at application methods. The applications were implemented with commercially available RFID products.

Because of the legal language, reading patents can be very difficult and therefore a very expensive effort. To simplify this effort, all of the RFID related patents in 2003 that made significant technical improvements were translated into technical English. This is how it was done.

Each of the patents were read completely by the author of this report. Based on his extensive electronic system background, the abstract and claims were then reworded in summary form in technical English. A short statement was made summarizing what the patent was about and comments were provided for any special considerations. Some of the patents were disjoint, meaning the claims, abstract, title and discussion addressed different things. In this case, comments were provided for each of the sections. For non-legal personnel who have to work with these patents, using the translations will greatly reduce their effort and make the results more accurate. The document has the following sections:

( Some material is repeated from the main document because the Translation document can be purchased as an independent work.)

Introduction

Selection Criterion for the translated patents

A detailed review of how the patents were selected. (repeat of the material from the main document)

What is Passive RFID

This section gives a basic definition of RFID and describes the technical elements and nomenclature used in the technology. (repeat of the material from the main document)

Translated patents - Technical English Summaries

This section provides English language translations for the Abstract and Claims of 84 patents. 81 are from 2003. 3 are prior to 2003 and are included because they present the fundamental technology for RFID. Each patent has the following subsections:

What The Patent Covers

This is a short summary which tells what are the major technical contribution of the patent.

Comments

This subsection presents opinions of the author which qualify the overall patent summary.

Abstract

This is a reworded summary of the patent Abstract. If the Abstract is disjoint and doesn’t address the rest of the patent, which occasionally occurs, the wording stays focused on the original intent. This is pointed out in the comments.

Claims

This is a summary of the technical material presented in the patent Claims. The claims are reworded on a claim by claim basis so the structure and dependencies are retained.

Description

This is an optional subsection which is included if the description section of the patent introduces significant material which was not addressed in the claims.

Translated patents – Verbatim

This section presents the same patents as the English language translation section. In this section, the Title, Abstract and Claims are copied directly from the U.S. Patents providing the original legal wording for comparison.