Patent ID: 7973662

Claim:
A package for at least a first object and a second object each having a tag associated therewith for wirelessly communicating data with a reader, each tag having a tag antenna and the reader having a reader antenna, said package including: a first RFID bridge antenna, a separate second RFID bridge antenna, and a separate third RFID bridge antenna, each said RFID bridge antenna comprising, in combination: two RF antenna elements spaced apart from one another and coupled together by an electrical conductor, said first RF bridge antenna having a first RF antenna element attached to a portion of the package and located proximate to said reader antenna and having a second RF antenna element located proximate to the tag antenna of the first object, the arrangement being such that an electromagnetic carrier signal transmitted by said reader antenna is received by the first RF antenna element and retransmitted by the second RF antenna element to said tag antenna, thereby increasing the distance over which said tag can communicate with said reader, said second RF bridge antenna having a third RF antenna element attached to a portion of the package and a fourth RF antenna element located proximate to the tag antenna of the second object, wherein the reader and the reader antenna are external to said package, and both the first RF antenna element and the third RF antenna element are readable by said external reader, and said third RFID bridge antenna having a fifth RF antenna element located proximate to the tag antenna of the first object separate from the second RF antenna element and having a sixth RF antenna element located proximate to the tag antenna of the second object separate from the fourth RF antenna element, said third RFID bridge antenna enabling communication between the tags associated with both objects while the external reader is placed proximate to only one of said RF antenna elements attached to a portion of said package.