Patent ID: 7747261

Claim:
A wireless response system, comprising: a base unit having a base transceiver, said base transceiver adapted to wireless signal transmitting and wireless signal receiving; a plurality of response units, each having a response unit transceiver, a user input device and a response unit control, said response unit transceiver adapted to wireless signal transmitting and wireless signal receiving; said user input device receiving user input selections; said response unit control adapted to control said response unit transceiver to transmit a response unit transmission in response to said user input device receiving a user input selection; said base transceiver adapted to receive valid response unit transmissions and to transmit a base transmission including a base acknowledgement of any valid response unit transmissions received by said base unit; wherein said response unit transceiver transmits a response unit transmission generally asynchronously in an interval following receipt of a base transmission after a delay that is based at least in part on a variable assigned to that response unit, wherein conflict between response unit transmissions from different ones of said response units is not precluded; and wherein said response unit determines if a base acknowledgement has been received after a response unit transmission and retransmits said response unit transmission after receipt of another base transmission if a base acknowledgement of a previous response unit transmission of that response unit is not received, wherein said response unit retransmits said response unit transmission in another interval following said another base transmission after another delay that is different from said delay in order to reduce the likelihood of a repeat conflict with another one of said response units.