Abstract: Apparatus identifying an instrumentality such as a person's hand or an article of merchandise, wherein the instrumentality carries a tag incorporating a transponder generating and transmitting a radio frequency identification signal in response to a radio frequency transmitted inquiry, a nest comprising an identifying station and incorporating a proximity sensor sensing the presence of the instrumentality at the identifying station and producing an indication of the presence or absence of the instrumentality, the identifying station comprising a radio frequency sensor portion generating a radio frequency transmitted inquiry transmitted to the transponder in response to sensing the presence of the instrumentality and receiving the radio frequency identification signal from the transponder, the proximity sensor terminating generation of the radio frequency transmitted inquiry when a clear and reliable output indication identifying the tag has been produced, and the proximity sensor also preventing, after produc

Abstract: In the case of a pizza home delivery system, customer addresses and mapping information may be auomatically retrieved and displayed based on customer telephone number, and order data including an assigned order number may be imprinted on a label to be attached to each pizza container. Preferably, the system produces the order number in the form of a bar code on an adhesively backed label. Each driver may check out order for delivery by inserting his coded identification key at a bar code reader station and having the bar code labels scanned into the system, so that each order is assigned to a particular driver in a reliable and accurate manner. A voice synthesizer unit at the station can then remind the driver that the order includes beverages or more than one pizza container, and can advise the driver when the sum of the cash payments he has received for his deliveries exceeds a certain amount, making it advisable to deposit some of the accumulated cash before the next delivery.

Abstract: There is disclosed an apparatus and technique for recovering frequency-shift-keyed (FSK) data from a conventional FM detector while allowing the system to operate over wide temperature ranges without FM detector temperature compensation. The FSK input signal is coupled through a bandpass filter and differentiated to provide positive and negative voltage spikes. The voltage spikes are compared with positive and negative reference levels to produce set and reset inputs to a set/reset flip-flop. The output from the flip-flop is a reconstruction of the FSK data which is not affected by temperature-related DC offsets and detector drift.