Patent ID: 7196613

Claim:
A radio identification interrogator associated with a plurality of protocols including a first protocol and a second protocol different from the first protocol, comprising: a first radio frequency (RF) module being associated with a first frequency band and having a receiver and a frequency source, the frequency source of the first RF module having a frequency within the first frequency band, the receiver of the first RF module configured to receive a return signal associated with the first frequency band and associated with the first protocol; a second radio frequency (RF) module being associated with a second frequency band and having a receiver and a frequency source, the frequency source of the second RF module having a frequency within the second frequency band and different from the frequency of the frequency source of the first RF module, the receiver of the second RF module configured to receive a return signal associated with the second frequency band of the second RF module and associated with the second protocol; and a decoder coupled to the receiver of the first radio frequency module and the receiver of the second radio frequency module, the decoder having a field programmable gate array, and a first output channel and a second output channel, the first output channel being associated with the first protocol, the second output channel being associated with the second protocol, wherein the field programmable gate array is configured to receive a first pulse stream associated with the first output channel and a second pulse stream associated with the second output channel.