Patent ID: 7603144

Claim:
A method comprising: providing a flexible peel-and-stick RFID device that includes a multi-bit identifier value, an RF-activated switch, and a thin-film battery deposited on a flexible substrate; pressure-adhering the RFID device to an article; receiving RF energy at the RFID device; based on the reception of the RF energy, coupling battery power through the RF-activated switch to the RFID device to activate a circuit and initiate a task in the RFID device using the power from the battery, wherein the task includes transmitting an identifier (ID) value based on the multi-bit identifier of the RFID; receiving an interrogation code into the RFID device from a remote RF transmitter device; performing an analysis of the interrogation code; transmitting the ID value from the RFID device to a remote RF receiver device based upon the analysis of the interrogation code; storing a timestamp for an event based on receiving the interrogation code into the RFID device; storing a first timestamp to mark a shipping event; storing a second timestamp to mark a receiving event; and comparing the first and second stored timestamps to determine the duration of shipping related events.