Patent ID: 8356758

Claim:
An electronic storage system, comprising: a substrate with a state region; a transceiver including: an output electrical-connection pad; an excitation circuit adapted to provide an excitation signal to the output electrical-connection pad; an input electrical-connection pad; a detection circuit connected to the input electrical-connection pad; an interface; a nonvolatile memory; and a controller connected to the excitation circuit, the detection circuit, the memory, and the interface; and a code circuit separate from the transceiver, disposed over the substrate, and including a conductor disposed over the substrate at least partly in the state region, the conductor having an electrical state and a mechanical state, the code circuit adapted to electrically connect the output electrical-connection pad to the input electrical-connection pad, so that the detection circuit detects an electrical state of the input electrical-connection pad in response to the excitation signal and in response to the electrical or mechanical state of the conductor; wherein the conductor in the state region is adapted to permit external alteration of its electrical or mechanical state; the controller is adapted to, at intervals, detect the electrical state of the input electrical-connection pad using the excitation circuit and the detection circuit, and store the detected electrical state or a representation thereof in the memory; and the interface is responsive to a downlink signal to transmit an uplink signal representing the stored detected electrical state(s) of the input electrical-connection pad, or the stored representations thereof.