| US 7,492,256 B2 | ||
| Tilt detecting apparatus and method | ||
| Selcuk Suat Eren, Chapel Hill, N.C. (US); Brian Jules Jaeger, Chapel Hill, N.C. (US); Douglas Alan Law, Chapel Hill, N.C. (US); Paul Allen Roberts, Raleigh, N.C. (US); and Shawn Konrad Sremaniak, Chapel Hill, N.C. (US) | ||
| Assigned to International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, N.Y. (US) | ||
| Filed on Dec. 29, 2005, as Appl. No. 11/320,930. | ||
| Prior Publication US 2007/0152841 A1, Jul. 05, 2007 | ||
| Int. Cl. G08B 13/14 (2006.01) | ||
| U.S. Cl. 340—572.1 [340/572.8; 340/686.1; 340/686.2; 340/689] | 20 Claims |
| 1. An apparatus for detecting whether a device has been tilted beyond a predefined threshold, said apparatus comprising:
a casing for temporarily enclosing a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag, said RFID tag being unable to receive an RFID
interrogation signal when said RFID tag is enclosed in said casing;
said apparatus detecting an amount of tilt of said device; and
in response to said amount of tilt exceeding said predefined threshold, said RFID tag being exposed to RFID interrogation
signal and said RFID tag receiving said RFID interrogation signal when said RFID tag is exposed; and
said RFID tag transmitting a reply RFID signal in response to a receipt by said RFID tag of said RFID interrogation signal,
said RFID tag transmitting said reply RFID signal only when said RFID tag is exposed, said RFID reply signal indicating that
said device has been tilted beyond said predefined threshold.
|