초록 ▼

A system and method for wide area item tracking. An item identifier for a tracked item is detected in a handling zone within a cellular network. A mobile station associated with the handling zone transmits a signal containing the item identifier and a zone identifier over an air interface of the cel

A system and method for wide area item tracking. An item identifier for a tracked item is detected in a handling zone within a cellular network. A mobile station associated with the handling zone transmits a signal containing the item identifier and a zone identifier over an air interface of the cellular network. Upon receipt of the signal, data correlating the item identifier and the handling zone is stored in a database. Subsequently, a request for the current location of the tracked item is received, and the stored correlation data is retrieved to determine the current handling zone for the tracked item. The cell location of the handling zone is then determined. In one implementation, the mobile station transmits a registration signal, permitting the cellular network to determine in which cell the handling zone is currently located, and data associating the handling zone with the current cell is stored. Then, in response to the location request, the association data is retrieved to determine the current cell. In another implementation, the mobile station is paged and the page return signal is used to identify the current cell, which can be converted into geographical location data using a look-up table.

대표청구항 ▼

[ What is claimed is:] [1.]1. A wide area item tracking system, comprising:an item identifier to be associated with an item to be tracked;a handling zone associated with an item identification reader for detecting the item identifier of the item to be tracked; a radio frequency identification device

[ What is claimed is:] [1.]1. A wide area item tracking system, comprising:an item identifier to be associated with an item to be tracked;a handling zone associated with an item identification reader for detecting the item identifier of the item to be tracked; a radio frequency identification device (RFID) attached to the item to be tracking, the RFID having encoded thereon the item identifier;a cellular transmitter coupled to the item identification reader, the cellular transmitter transmitting upon detection of the item identifier by the coupled item identification reader an item identification signal over an air interface, the cellular transmitter also intermittently transmitting a registration signal over the air interface, wherein the item identification signal includes the detected item identifier and an identification of the handling zone and wherein the registration signal includes the identification of the handling zone;a cellular network, said network having a plurality of base stations, each base station conducting cellular communications over the air interface in a predetermined one of a plurality of cells, wherein one of the base stations receives the item identification signal and wherein a currently serving one of the base stations receives one of the registration signals;a database for storing item identifier data associating the detected item identifier with the handling zone identification;a location node for storing, in receipt of the registration signal, handling zone data associating the handling zone identification with an identification of the cell of the currently serving base station; anda server for receiving a location request for a current location of the item to be tracked and for retrieving, in response to the location request, the stored item identifier data from the database to obtain the identification of the handling zone with which the item to be tracked is associated, and retrieving the handling zone data stored in the location node to identify the cell of the base station currently serving the handling zone using the retrieved handling zone identification.