Inventors Develop Metal Container Closures that Carry RFID Tags

Nov. 1, 2006
John P. Palmer of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., Francis M. Claessens of Berkshire, Great Britain, and Timo W. Kipp of London, have developed a metal container

John P. Palmer of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., Francis M. Claessens of Berkshire, Great Britain, and Timo W. Kipp of London, have developed a metal container closure with an integral radio frequency identification (RFID) tag.

According to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (Alexandria, Va. ), the invention relates to an "RFID tag system which communicates with a base station at a predetermined frequency for a container having a metal closure comprising an insulator mounted to an exterior surface of the metal closure and a radio transceiver system coupled to the insulator. The radio transceiver system further comprises an antenna tuned to the predetermined frequency mounted to an exterior surface of the metal closure and an RFID integrated circuit (IC) chip coupled to the antenna and coupled to the metal closure."

An abstract of the invention, released by the Patent Office, said, "In a first embodiment, the RFID IC chip is mounted outside the metal closure. In a second embodiment, the RFID IC chip is mounted within the metal closure and connected to the antenna outside the metal closure through an electrical feed-through connection in the metal closure."

The inventors were issued U.S. Patent No. 7,126,479 on Oct. 24, 2006.

The patent has been assigned to Timo W. Kipp, Palm Beach, Fla.

The original application was filed on Aug. 17, 2004, and is available at: .

Source: US Fed News