Patent ID: 7432855

Claim:
An RFID reader and active tag (RAT) for a pallet of goods, comprising: a first antenna aligned with a first edge of the pallet; a second antenna aligned with a second edge of the pallet, the second antenna being orthogonally aligned with the first antenna; an RFID interface operable to generate RF transmissions to interrogate RFID tags; a first fixed phase variable gain beam forming interface coupled to the first antenna and the second antenna and to the RFID interface, the first fixed variable gain interface being operable to independently adjust a set of gains for the RF transmissions from the RFID interface to the antennas so as to steer an interrogating RF transmission throughout the pallet to obtain RFID data from RFID tags within the pallet; a third antenna; and a wireless interface configured to communicate through the third antenna with an access point, the wireless interface being operable to transmit the RFID data to the access point.