Patent ID: 8264342

Claim:
An apparatus to detect transponder tagged objects which are used in performing medical procedures, the apparatus comprising: a plurality of antennas, at least some of the antennas spaced at intervals along at least a portion of a length of a patient support structure that is sized to support a patient; and a control system communicatively coupled to the antennas and configured to successively transmit an interrogation signal via respective ones of at least two of the antennas and to monitor at least the other ones of the antennas for a response to the interrogation signal in a period following the transmission of the interrogation signal and preceding a transmission of another interrogation signal, wherein the control system is configured to successively transmit an interrogation signal from all of the antennas in the plurality of antennas, one at a time, and to monitor all of the antennas in the plurality of antennas for a response to each of the interrogation signal except the antenna from which a most recent interrogation signal was transmitted.