Patent ID: 7961078

Claim:
A method comprising: initiating communications with at least one type of wireless identification tags in a monitored region based on use of a corresponding at least one radio communication protocol; and while carrying out the communications, interleaving i) a portion of dead time during which no portion of the at least one radio communication protocol is transmitted, and ii) a portion of active time during which different portions of the at least one radio communication protocol is transmitted for purposes of communicating with wireless identification tags in the monitored region wherein initiating communications with the at least one type of wireless identification tags in the monitored region includes: initiating communications with at least two different types of wireless identification tags in the monitored region based on use of a corresponding set of different radio communication protocols, initiating a first communication with a first type of wireless identification tag in the region based on use of a first radio communication protocol; and initiating a second communication with a second type of wireless identification tag in the monitored region based on use of a second radio communication protocol; wherein interleaving the portion of dead time includes interleaving a respective portion of dead time during which no portion of the corresponding set of different radio communication protocol is transmitted; and wherein interleaving the portion of active time includes interleaving a respective portion of active time during which different portions of the corresponding set of different radio communication protocols are transmitted for purposes of communicating with wireless identification tags in the monitored region.