Active radio frequency identification (RFID) tags require a battery as opposed to passive RFID tags that harvest energy from the air. This disclosure is first concerned with active RFID tags. An active RFID tag contains a radio frequency (RF) receiver in order to respond to inquiries from an interrogator (base station). Typically these active RFID tags have the receiver and other on-board electronics powered to react to incoming inquiries. The general activity of the transponder thus is received by numerous tags at one time although the inquiry may be only directed to a single tag. This activity consumes power on-board the active tag thus reducing battery life.The fundamental concept of this invention is a small device that is interposed between the receiver and the on-board electronics that only looks for messages directed to the particular tag in question. If the message is not for the tag in question it is ignored. If the inquiry is for the tag in question the information (frame) is buffered and the electronics are then awakened to respond to the transponder inquiry (frame). This device interposed between the receiver and the on-board electronics is termed the smart buffer. In the current embodiment the smart buffer is likewise powered by the same battery.
The benefit is in the reduced power consumption by only having the smart buffer awake all the time.