Patent ID: 7336167

Claim:
A system for reading RFID transponders, said system is comprised of: one or more items each having at least one RFID transponder associated therewith or affixed thereto; one or more RFID readers capable of reading encoded information on each of the RFID transponders; a rotational device capable of rotation, wherein said one or more items each having at least one RFID transponder associated therewith or affixed thereto are placed upon said rotational device and rotated while said one or more RFID readers remain at a fixed point and read information from said RFID transponders; a pallet, wherein said one or more items are placed on said pallet and said pallet and said one or more items are placed on said rotational device for reading said RFID transponders while rotating; and a pallet RFID transponder, wherein the pallet RFID transponder is affixed or associated with the pallet; wherein the pallet RFID transponder is electronically linked to the RFID transponders associated with or affixed to each of the items and the number of items having RFID tags on the pallet can be determined, and wherein said rotational device continues to rotate said items and read said RFID transponders until all the RFID transponders on the pallet have been read or until a predetermined time limit has passed.