Patent ID: 7362212

Claim:
A method, comprising: operating several RF tags within communication range of an RF tag interrogator, the RF tags each including a respective random number generator and a respective one of a several different identification numbers, the different identification numbers each being unique relative to one another, one or more of the RF tags reporting the respective one of the different identification numbers to the interrogator, said reporting including the one or more of the RF tags each: seeding the respective random number generator with the respective one of the different identification numbers to generate a first random number; determining a first time period to transmit the respective one of the different identification numbers as a function of the first random number; determining that the respective one of the different identification numbers was not properly transmitted to the interrogator during the first time period; seeding the respective random number generator with the first random number to provide a second random number; and determining a second time period to transmit the respective one of the unique identification numbers to the interrogator as a function of the second random number.