Patent ID: 7405663

Claim:
A system comprising: a plurality of radio frequency (RF) antennas set up to provide an interrogation corridor; a RF reader coupled to the plurality of antennas, the RF reader having a single transmitter/receiver (T/R) port that provides each of the antennas with RF power to produce interrogation fields within the interrogation corridor and delivers a combined input signal to the RF reader, wherein the RF reader generates a tag detection signal to indicate that at least one tag is present within the interrogation corridor; a splitter that receives the RF power from the RF reader and delivers the RF power to each of the plurality of antennas in the form of a plurality of antenna drive signals, wherein the splitter receives one or more input signals from the plurality of antennas and combines the one or more tag signals to form the combined input signal; a sensor to detect a patron within the interrogation corridor and generate a patron signal; and a controller that outputs an alarm signal upon receiving the tag detection signal and the patron signal within a time period.