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 method of locating an object, the method comprising: 
 associating the object with a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag;    detecting by a first interrogator using a first antenna the RFID tag, the first interrogator being one of a plurality of interrogators;    logging the detection of the RFID tag in a log associated with the first interrogator and the first antenna;    receiving identifying information associated with the object;    determining from examining the log associated with the first interrogator a location of the object associated with the RFID tag; and    reporting the location of the object.    
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising interconnecting the plurality of interrogators on a network.  
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein each of the plurality of interrogators are connected to the network via a controller.  
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein a log file is stored on each corresponding RFID tag.  
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising: 
 determining that multiple positions for the object have been reported; and    triangulating a position of the object using multiple antennas communicatively coupled to one or more interrogators.    
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising tracking movements of an object through a facility.