Patent ID: 8228198

Claim:
A method that provides unique object numbers for on-demand commissioning of RFID transponders using an RFID encoder having an internal memory to intermittently receive allocations of blocks of subdivided object class serial number space from an external numbering authority, the method comprised of: the external numbering authority allocating blocks from the allocations of blocks of subdivided object class serial number space, from a larger object class serial number space, to the encoder's internal memory for encoding unique object numbers into the RFID transponders as objects of an object class are presented to the encoder for RFID transponder encoding; the allocations of blocks of subdivided object class serial number space being allocated by subdividing the larger object class serial number space into sectors that are defined by a limited number of most significant bits of the object class serial numbers; and assigning to the RFD encoder the allocated blocks with reference to the starting number of each of the allocated blocks and the size of each of the allocated blocks that the RFID encoder is authorized to encode within an object class.