Patent ID: 7772964

Claim:
A method of programming an RFID tag, the method comprising: storing item information in a memory structure, the item information including: a bar code number; and additional information including one or more data fields; reading a bar code label with a bar code reader, wherein reading the bar code label includes: generating a reflection pattern by illuminating the bar code label with a light beam from the bar code reader; and converting the reflection pattern into the bar code number; using the bar code number read from the bar code label to retrieve the additional information from the memory structure; providing a user interface allowing a user to select, whether or which of the one or more data fields from the additional information are to be transmitted to the RFID tag; transmitting a radio frequency (RF) signal to the RFID tag, the RF signal including the bar code number and the selected one or more data fields; storing the bar code number and selected one or more data fields contained in the RF signal in a memory device in the RFID tag, wherein the memory structure is external to the bar code reader and the RFID tag, and the memory structure is indexed by the bar code number.