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

Organization of the RFID Patent Information

The patent search turned up over 4000 patents.  To make sense of this large number of patents, a structure is needed.

A first consideration was the U.S. Patent Office system.  The U.S. Patent Office uses a structure called the Patent Classification.  This structure …..  It was not a good choice for RFID and is not used in this report.

Because of the importance of the patent office structure to the legal implementation of patents, however, a section of this report is devoted to exploring the patent classifications related to RFID.

The focus of this report is current market technology and commercial considerations.  A simple structure was needed that reflects how RFID is currently used.  Such a structure is presented here. 

The structure is based on the following observations:

1.       The construction of commercial products …..
2.       The design of products …..
3.       Products are dealt with according to a current commercial business model.  This means…

Observations 1 and 2 led to the category headings shown below.  The categories are …..

The category names are used throughout the document particularly in the technology outlines and patent lists to categorize each patent.

RFID Technology and Application Categories

• Acoustic:  Use of acoustic coupling as ….
• Capacitive:  Use of capacitive coupling as ….
• xxxxxxxx:  Use of RFID tags for the identification of …..
•   yyyyyy:  Use of a conventional passive RFID tag where …..
• Data protocol:  Data processing methods where the patent focuses on RFID data.
• xxxxxxxxx:  Use of conventional RFID circuits where …
• Material Control:  Use of RFID for identification of materials ….. 
• xxxxxx:  The technology of the patent …
• Optical: Use of optical methods, including bar coding, ….
• xxxxxxxxx:  These patents present technology …….
• xxxxxx:    Use of a conventional RFID tag, either separable or …..
• xxxx module: Use of a powered electronic module……

Passive RFID Tags

One of the primary objectives of this report is to dig into the technical improvements that the patents are trying to protect.  Technical improvements essentially means hardware and software.  One category, more than any other, pull these together: xxxxxxx.  Most of the analysis done in the report focused on patents assigned to this category.

In this report, the category xxxxxx  includes patents which conform to the following definition: 

• TECHNOLOGY
• The technology has xxxx
• One is to xxxxx for an ENTITY by …..
• The second is to DETERMINE …….
• The identity and location can be determined by …...

By “TECHNOLOGY” is meant, specifically, the hardware “nuts and bolts” that go into making up the physical elements …

By “xxxx” is meant ….

By “yyyy” is meant ….

8 more defining elements ……….

Commercial Categories

The current commercial business model was used to drive the organization of the report.  The business model is a focus on ownership as it moves through the intellectual property process.  The primary subdivisions used in this report are:

• 5 subdivisions

Since there was substantial foreign activity in RFID technology, both U.S. and foreign locations were addressed in the commercial breakdowns.