Patent ID: 8531273
Filing Date: 2013-09-10
Classification: G06K,H04Q

Abstract:
1. A system for monitoring a plurality of RFID tags, the system comprising: a plurality of serially connected transmitters along a transmit path, a serially connected transmitter configured to: identify a position of the serially connected transmitter in a transmit path by measuring a signal strength of a calibration signal at the serially connected transmitter; relay a received transmitter selection signal when the transmitter selection signal identifies a selected transmitter as being further along the transmit path than the serially connected transmitter; and transmit an identification impulse using a transmit antenna when the transmitter selection signal identifies the serially connected transmitter as being the selected transmitter; a control unit responsive to a plurality of transmit paths, the control unit being configured to send the transmitter selection signal along a selected transmit path, the transmitter selection signal identifying one of the plurality of serially connected transmitters along the selected transmit path as the selected transmitter for transmitting the identification impulse; and a receiver configured to receive an RFID response signal generated in response to the transmitted identification impulse using a receive antenna.