Patent ID: 8207828

Claim:
A system for configuring a radio frequency identification tag reader comprising: a radio-frequency-readable configuration tag physically associated with one or more physical articles in a physical article handling system, the configuration tag storing one or more configuration control parameters, each of the one or more physical articles having at least one radio-frequency-readable identification tag; a user-proximity detector to detect two or more user presence indicators selected from the group consisting of user movement detector, user weight detector, an electronic eye beam, and a user temperature detector; a configuration tag reader positioned in a flow of physical articles of the physical article handling system to read the one or more configuration control parameters from the configuration tag reader before the one or more physical articles pass a position of the identification tag reader in the flow; and a commander configured to receive the one or more configuration control parameters from the configuration tag reader, and to command a change in one or more hardware configuration options of the physical article handling system, wherein the change comprises commanding a slowing of speed of a conveyor portion of the physical article handling system responsive to detection of a user in proximity to the flow by the user-proximity detector, and responsive to no detection of a user in proximity to the flow, increasing of speed of the conveyor portion.