Methods of processing wireless communication, methods of processing radio frequency communication, and related systems

A wireless communications method comprising:

• providing an interrogator configured for transmitting and receiving RF communication data;
• providing a plurality of RF identification devices respectively including integrated circuitry configured for receiving RF communication data transmitted by the one interrogator and responsive to said receiving generating and transmitting a backscatter reply back to the interrogator while the transmitter transmits a carrier;
• and
• prior to the transmitting of the reply, respective RF identification devices delaying transmission of their respective replies to the interrogator by a determinable amount of time that is less than a length of the reply, the determinable amount of time being determined using respective random number generators, said delaying being initiated by the RF identification device responsive to RF communication data received from the interrogator, wherein if there is a collision between replies from two RF identification devices, the collision can be more readily detected by the interrogator, using only a checksum analysis, than if there was no delay;
• and
• determining, with the interrogator, using a checksum analysis, whether a valid reply was received.

A wireless communications method comprising:

• providing an interrogator configured for transmitting and receiving wireless communication data;
• providing a plurality of wireless identification devices respectively including integrated circuitry configured for receiving wireless communication data transmitted by the one interrogator and responsive to said receiving generating and transmitting a reply back to the interrogator;
• and
• prior to the transmitting of the reply, respective wireless identification devices delaying transmission of their respective replies to the interrogator for a random amount of time less than a length of the reply, said delaying being initiated by the wireless identification device responsive to wireless communication data received from the interrogator, wherein, if there is a collision between replies from two wireless identification devices, the reply will be purposely corrupted;
• and
• determining, with the interrogator, using a checksum analysis, whether a valid reply was received.

A wireless communications method comprising:

• providing an interrogator configured for transmitting and receiving RF communication data;
• providing a plurality of RF identification devices respectively including integrated circuitry configured for receiving RF communication data transmitted by the interrogator and responsive to said receiving generating for transmitting a reply back to the interrogator;
• and
• prior to the transmitting of the reply, respective RF identification devices delaying transmission of their respective replies to the interrogator for a determinable amount of time which is not so long as to purposely prevent a collision between replies, said delaying being initiated by the RF identification device responsive to RF communication data received from the interrogator, the amount of delay being different for different of the RF identification devices, wherein the RF identification devices include respective random number generators, and wherein the delaying comprises the respective RF identification devices generating respective random delays to delay individual device replies using the respective random number generators by generating binary random numbers and masking a plurality of bits and using the random numbers to calculate individual respective determinable amounts of time in a range of from 0 to 7 times a predetermined amount of time and being less than or equal to ten microseconds, wherein if there is a collision between replies from two RF identification devices, the collision can be more readily detected by the interrogator, using only a checksum analysis, than if there was no delay, wherein the reply comprises a reply packet containing a plurality of bits, and further comprising a checksum bit;
• and
• determining, with the interrogator, using a checksum analysis and the checksum bit contained in the reply, whether the reply was valid.

A wireless communications apparatus comprising:

• an interrogator configured for transmitting and receiving RF communication data;
• a plurality of RF identification devices respectively including integrated circuitry configured for receiving RF communication data transmitted by the interrogator and responsive to said receiving generating for transmitting a reply back to the interrogator, the respective RF identification devices delaying transmission of their respective replies to the interrogator for a determinable amount of time which is not so long as to purposely prevent a collision between replies, said delaying being initiated by the RF identification device responsive to RF communication data received from the interrogator, the amount of delay being different for different of the RF identification devices, the RF identification devices including respective random number generators, the delaying comprising the respective RF identification devices generating respective random delays to delay individual device replies using the respective random number generators by generating binary random numbers and masking a plurality of bits and using the random numbers to calculate individual respective determinable amounts of time in a range of from 0 to 7 times a predetermined amount of time and being less than or equal to ten microseconds, wherein if there is a collision between replies from two RF identification devices, the collision can be more readily detected by the interrogator, using only a checksum analysis, than if there was no delay, the reply comprising a reply packet containing a plurality of bits, and further comprising a checksum bit and wherein the interrogator determines, using a checksum analysis and the checksum bit contained in the reply, whether the reply was valid.