Patent ID: 8421601

Claim:
An RFID transponder comprising: a transponder substrate; a microprocessor associated with the substrate; an antenna associated with the substrate; nonvolatile memory associated with the microprocessor, wherein the nonvolatile memory stores an identity of the RFID transponder; and a battery associated with the substrate; wherein the microprocessor is configured to operate in a passive mode and in a battery powered mode, the passive mode involving microprocessor operations where portions of the microprocessor remain in a quiescent low power state to reduce the amount of energy needed to power the microprocessor, wherein, when in the passive mode, the microprocessor is configured to write instructions to nonvolatile memory for operating the RFID transponder in battery powered mode, wherein power for the microprocessor in the passive mode is received through the antenna and wherein power for the microprocessor in the battery powered mode is received from a battery.