System and Method for Locating Individuals and Equipment, Airline Reservation System, Communication System

Abstract

A system for locating an individual in a facility, the system comprising a portable wireless transponder device borne by the individual; an interrogator; and a plurality of antennas distributed in the facility, the antennas being selectively separately connected to the interrogator, the interrogator when connected to any of the antennas having a communications range covering less than the area of the entire facility, the interrogator being configured to repeatedly transmit a wireless command to the portable wireless transponder device using alternating antennas, the portable wireless transponder device being configured to transmit data identifying the portable wireless transponder device in response to a command if the portable wireless transponder device is within communications range of the antenna sending the command, the individual being locatable by determining with which antenna the interrogator was able to establish communications with the portable wireless transponder device.

1 . A system for locating an object, the system comprising: 
 an output device;    a plurality of databases;    a plurality of interrogators, each interrogator electrically coupled to a plurality of antennas, each of the interrogators configured to communicate with radio frequency identification (RFID) tags within communication range of each respective interrogator; and    a plurality of controllers, each controller communicatively coupled to one or more of the interrogators and to one or more of the databases, each controller being further configured to store in one or more of the databases information associated with RFID tags within communication range of each respective interrogator, each of the controllers being further configured to receive an object identifier associated with the object and to access the databases to locate the object, each controller causing the output device to output a location of the object.    
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the output device comprises a display.  
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the display is incorporated on the RFID tags.  
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of interrogators is communicatively coupled to each other and each interrogator is configured to share information with other interrogators.  
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of databases comprises log files stored on each of the controllers.  
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the object identifier comprises a unique number assigned to a person.  
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the object comprises a person.  
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the object comprises inventory.  
     
     
         9 . A system for managing objects in a geographically dispersed environment, the system comprising: 
 a plurality of sites, each of the sites being remotely located from other sites;    a plurality of radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, each RFID tag being associated with an object;    one or more interrogators located at each site, each interrogator being communicatively coupled to one or more antennas and configured to communicate with and to log a presence of any RFID tag within communication range of the antennas;    a network communicatively coupling the one or more interrogators; and    an access system communicatively coupled to the network, the access system configured to receive identifying information associated with the object and to access a log to locate the object.    
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein the log comprises a database.  
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein the log comprises a log file stored on each respective interrogator.  
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein each of the one or more interrogators are communicatively coupled to the network via a controller.  
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein each interrogator is configured to share information with other interrogators.  
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein each interrogator is further configured to triangulate to determine a position of an RFID tag when the RFID tag is detected by a plurality of antennas.