HK1110974A - Transponder-thread and application thereof - Google Patents

Description

Transponder wire and use thereof

Technical Field

The invention relates to a transponder line comprising at least one transponder and to a use of the transponder line.

Background

Transponders are known receivers/transmitters which carry information and operate in accordance with an interrogation/reply system and interact with a mobile or fixed reader. A transponder comprises a chip and an antenna. The corresponding chip is a microelectronic device fulfilling the task of a transponder. In contrast to active transponders, passive transponders do not require a battery and thus have a virtually unlimited service life.

Such transponders are available in a variety of technologies and for completely different purposes, such as identifying the location of a rack or as an anti-theft device for products in a store. When the transponders of the products contain special data, they can also be used for warehouse management, where the data are further transmitted to a warehouse management device.

Such transponders are known and are becoming the trend in combination with woven or knitted textile flat configuration articles. The combination of a transponder chip with a textile planar structure and an antenna provided as required for transmitting and/or receiving signals presents some difficulties. For example, it is known to provide a textile flat structure with an antenna and then to attach a chip to the antenna. Such a production is very difficult, in particular because of the miniaturized components, which have dimensions in the order of millimeters or fractions of a millimeter.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention is based on the object of providing a simpler and more convenient arrangement of transponders on a textile flat structure.

The above object is achieved by a transponder line according to claim 1, which comprises at least one transponder consisting of a chip and a connected antenna. The transponder thread can then be connected in a simple manner to the textile flat structure, for example by weaving or knitting, so that the textile flat structure, for example a label, can be used after the weaving or knitting process. This eliminates the need to subsequently mount a chip on the antenna. Accordingly, another subject matter of the invention is the use of a transponder wire on a tag according to claim 13, whereby at least one transponder is arranged on the tag.

Advantageous further developments of the invention are specified in claims 2 to 12 and 14 to 16.

The transponder may have a chip and an integral antenna. The transponder line is preferably designed such that the antenna consists of two antenna parts, between which the chip is arranged.

The transponder thread according to claim 3 may have a plurality of transponders arranged one after the other, each comprising a chip and a connected antenna, so that the transponder thread may be processed as a plain thread when woven or knitted. The transponder line according to claim 4 may consist of transponders only in line with one another, so that the chips appear to be strung on the antenna in the manner of a bead chain. The transponder according to claim 5 can also be arranged in or on a preferably textile substrate. If the transponders have integrally extending antenna sections between their chips according to claim 7, they must be severed during subsequent processing of the transponder wire.

The transponders according to claim 6 may also be arranged independently of one another.

The antenna of claim 8 formed from a conductive filament. The antenna according to claim 9 may be formed by a woven conductive thread. The antenna according to claim 10 may also be arranged around the wire core.

The transponder line can have various forms and, for example, a round cross section or, according to claim 11, a flat cross section. In the latter case the transponder comprising the chip and the antenna may be arranged on one side of a substrate. In this respect it is advantageous if the transponder line is folded along the center line according to claim 12, so that the substrate encloses the transponder with chip and antenna.

The transponder wire may be arranged as warp according to claim 14 when manufacturing the tag. The transponder wire according to claim 15 may also be arranged as a weft. The transponder-wire arrangement may be accomplished by weaving or knitting. However, it is also possible according to claim 16 to arrange the transponder thread floating on the rear side of the label in the manner of an embossed weft thread.

Drawings

Embodiments of the invention are explained in detail below with the aid of the drawings, in which:

fig. 1 shows in plan view a first transponder line consisting only of a chip and an antenna section;

FIG. 2 shows a second transponder line with a transponder arranged in a circular base layer in longitudinal section;

FIG. 3 shows in plan view a third transponder-wire with a transponder arranged in a flat substrate; and

fig. 4 shows a plan view of a label with a line-shaped transponder-line.

Detailed Description

Fig. 1 shows a transponder line 2, which has transponders 4a, 4b hooked to one another, so to speak in the manner of a bead chain. Each transponder comprises a chip 6, on the opposite side of which antenna parts 8, 10 are provided, which are respectively connected integrally with the antenna parts of adjacent transponders. The antenna parts 8, 10 are for example made of a single conductive thread or of conductive threads woven together and have a circular cross section and are exposed, that is to say not embedded in a base layer.

Fig. 2 shows another transponder-line 12 comprising transponders 14a, 14b arranged in line with each other, the chip 16 and the antenna parts 18, 20 of which are embedded in a base layer 22. Such a substrate may consist, for example, of a worsted fabric or a plastic coating.

Fig. 3 shows a strip-shaped transponder thread 24 with a strip-shaped substrate 26 on which transponders 28a, 28b are arranged. The tape-like base layer can for example consist of a fibre web or a plastic tape, for example Lurex thread. The antenna portions 30, 32 are zigzag-shaped provided between the chips 34 so as to set the length of the antenna to be greater than that provided by the base layer 26. The antenna is formed, for example, by etching of a metal layer arranged on the substrate.

The transponder thread represented in fig. 1 to 3 can be processed in the textile flat fabric as a conventional thread, for example as weft or warp threads or possibly as knitting thread. The antenna portion extending continuously between the two chips must typically be severed at half the length, as indicated by the separation line 36 indicated by a dash-dot line in the figure.

The textile flat-shaped articles to be produced, in particular the structure of the tags, comprising such transponder threads are designed in terms of the length of their antenna sections in such a way that the transponder present in the section of the transponder thread has an antenna whose length is such that the chip operates sufficiently efficiently, i.e. its length is matched to the chip. For example, an antenna about 17cm long is required for transponders in the UHF range.

Fig. 4 shows different tags 40a, 40b, in which, for example, one such transponder line is arranged as a weft 42 or as a warp 44. Such tags usually have a single transponder. The tag may also comprise two or more transponders having different characteristics and for different purposes. For example one transponder may be used for theft protection and another transponder may be used for material management.

List of reference numerals

2 Transponder-wire

4a transponder

4b transponder

6 chip

8 antenna part

10 antenna part

12 transponder-wire

14a transponder

14b transponder

16 chips

18 antenna part

20 antenna part

22 base layer

24 transponder-wire

26 base layer

28a transponder

28b transponder

30 antenna part

32 antenna part

34 chip

36 line of separation

40a label

40b label

42 weft

44 warp threads

Claims (16)

1. A transponder-line characterized by: the transponder line contains at least one transponder (4a, 4b, 14a, 14b, 28a, 28b) consisting of a chip (6, 16, 34) and a connected antenna (8, 10, 18, 20, 30, 32).

2. Transponder-wire according to claim 1, characterized in that the antenna consists of two antenna parts (8, 10, 18, 20, 30, 32), between which the chip (6, 16, 34) is arranged.

3. Transponder line according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the transponder line comprises a plurality of transponders (4a, 4b, 14a, 14b, 28a, 28b) arranged one after the other, each consisting of a chip (6, 16, 34) and a connected antenna (8, 10, 18, 20, 30, 32).

4. Transponder-wire according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that it consists of only one or more transponders (4a, 4 b).

5. Transponder-thread according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the transponders (14a, 14b) are provided in a preferably textile substrate (22).

6. Transponder-line according to claim 6, characterized in that the transponders are arranged independently of each other.

7. Transponder line according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the transponders (4a, 4b, 14a, 14b, 28a, 28b) have integrated, extending antennas (8, 10, 18, 20, 30, 32) between their chips (6, 16, 34), which are severed (36) during subsequent processing of the transponder line.

8. Transponder line according to one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the antenna (18, 20) is made of a conductive wire.

9. Transponder wire according to one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the antenna (18, 20) is made of a woven conductive wire.

10. The transponder-wire of claim 5, wherein the antenna is disposed around the filament core of the substrate.

11. Transponder wire according to claim 5, characterized in that the transponder wire is designed to be flat, wherein the transponder (28a, 28b) comprising the chip (34) and the antenna (30, 32) is arranged on one side of the base layer (26) which is designed to be flat.

12. Transponder-wire according to claim 11, characterized in that the transponder-wire is folded along its centre line.

13. Transponder line according to one of claims 1 to 12, applied in a tag (40a, 40b) in such a way that at least one transponder (4a, 4b, 14a, 14b, 28a, 28b) is provided on the tag.

14. Use according to claim 13, characterized in that the wire-like transponder wire (2, 12, 24) is arranged as a warp wire (44).

15. Use according to claim 13, wherein the transponder wire (2, 12, 24) is arranged as a weft (42).

16. Use according to claim 13, characterized in that the transponder wire (2, 12, 24) is arranged floating on the back side of the label.