Patent ID: 8629764

Claim:
A method for controlling power consumption of a plurality of tags communicatively coupled to a radio frequency identification (RFID) reader through an ad-hoc/mesh network, each tag in the plurality of tags comprising a battery, tag data, and a battery level indicator, the method comprising: receiving a low battery power signal from the battery level indicator of a first tag in the plurality of tags when the first tag battery level reaches below a predefined level, wherein the first tag data comprises time-critical tag data and non-time critical tag data; in response to receiving the low battery power signal, (i) identifying a second tag in the plurality of tags communicatively coupled to the RFID reader through the ad-hoc/mesh network, the second tag closer to the RFID reader than the first tag, the second tag comprising a battery level indicator that has not generated a low battery power signal, (ii) transmitting the time critical tag data directly from the first tag to the RFID reader, and (iii) transmitting the non-time critical tag data from the first tag to the RFID reader through the identified second tag.