Patent ID: 7327218

Claim:
An electronic radio frequency identification system for correcting errors due to burst noise including: an interrogator comprising a forward error correction code generator, wherein the interrogator is configured to transmit a radio frequency interrogation signal comprising a forward error correctable data message, the message including base data encoded as a set of symbol characters in accordance with a forward error correcting code and a set of check characters derived from the base data in accordance with the forward error correcting code, wherein the forward error correcting code is a member of a class of cyclic block codes; a plurality of radio frequency transponders, wherein at least one of the plurality of radio frequency transponders is structured to receive the forward error correctable data message and respond by backscatter modulation of the forward error correctable data without reconstructing the forward error correctable data; and wherein the interrogator further comprises a receiver for receiving the forward error correctable data message; and a data processor programmed to utilize data relating to the forward error correcting code, the symbol characters and the check characters in the received forward error correctable data message, to reconstruct the transponder identifying base data even despite burst noise error corruption of the received forward error correctable data message.