Patent ID: 7898391

Claim:
A method of operating a plurality of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) readers in a group, the method comprising: determining, by each of the plurality of readers, transmission characteristics of each of the other readers during a calibration phase; generating, based on the determination, a spatial-division and time-division synchronization schedule for the plurality of readers in the group, the synchronization schedule specifying one or more scheduled turns for each reader to operate at a specific transmission power level, communication protocol and operating frequency, such that the plurality of readers do not unduly interfere with each other; and operating the plurality of readers according to the synchronization schedule, wherein a reader in a group may further operate out of its one or more scheduled turns if it determines that operation of a scheduled reader will not unduly interfere with its out-of-turn operation and the reader in the group changing a respective communication protocol when another reader not in the group is detected.