Abstract: A method for determining temperature from a transponder utilizing a thermistor and a running counter comprises providing a running count which varies as a function of temperature; latching the count at predetermined time intervals; determining the difference between the values of successive latched counts; aggregating the differences; determining the total elapsed time between a first latched count and a last latched count; dividing the aggregate by the total time to obtain a frequency; and converting the frequency to a temperature based upon the temperature frequency characteristics of the thermistor.

Abstract: A transponder includes a memory, the memory having a data region and a status byte region. A clock generator receives a program signal and outputs a data latch signal. An address module receives the address latch signal and addresses predetermined adresses in the memory. A program control reads the status byte from the memory and outputs a program enable signal in response thereto causing the clock generator to output the address latch in response to the program enable signal. The memory may further include a user lock region, where in the data stores characters therein and the user lock having a plurality of bits, each bit corresponding to a respective character. A lock status being stored in each bit of the user lock region to indicate whether the corresponding character may be reprogrammed.