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 memory for a transponder includes a data region and a user lock region, wherein the data region stores characters therein and the user lock includes a plurality of bits, each bit corresponding to a respective character. The bits in the user lock region can indicate a lock status regarding whether the corresponding character may be reprogrammed.