Patent ID: 8319607

Claim:
An inventory monitoring system for monitoring the presence of a product having a product identification tag associated therewith, wherein the product identification tag contains product identification information, wherein the inventory monitoring system comprises: a first data acquisition and transmission device arranged and configured to be coupled to a product storage structure for storing products thereon, the first data acquisition and transmission device comprising: a battery power source operable to power the first data acquisition and transmission device; a control subsystem; a real time clock; a wireless tag reader subsystem operably communicating with the control subsystem; a first antenna switching subsystem electrically connected by at least one electrical conductor to the wireless tag reader subsystem, the first antenna switching subsystem having a connector interface; a plurality of antennas electrically and removably connected by at least one electrical conductor to the first antenna switching subsystem at the connector interface, the plurality of antennas arranged and configured to receive the product identification information encoded in a radio frequency signal from the product identification tag when the product identification tag is within a transmission range of the antennas; and a wireless communications subsystem operably communicating with the control subsystem, wherein the wireless communications subsystem transmits the product identification information via a wireless communication network; a data evaluation subsystem arranged and configured to: receive the product identification information from the wireless communications subsystem of the first data acquisition and transmission device; monitor inventory of the products at the product storage structure; issue automatic alerts based on the product identification information; and transmit commands to the wireless communications subsystem of the first data acquisition and transmission device that change a configuration of the first data acquisition and transmission device, wherein at least some of the commands cause the first data acquisition and transmission device to: download additional software to the first data acquisition and transmission device; and set a periodicity of data transmissions from the first data acquisition and transmission system to the data evaluation subsystem.