Wide-area dynamic rfid system using uwb

Abstract

A wide area radio frequency identification (RFID) system includes: a first RFID cell and a second RFID cell. The first RFID cell and the second RFID cell each include a reader and tags. The readers access the tags using ultra-wide band signaling. The RFID cells each include: a communications interface operable to communicate with a network operations center, and a communications gateway which supports direct communications between RFID cells. The method includes accessing the second RFID cell from the first RFID cell, and the accessing is performed using the communications gateway that can cover a range of at least five hundred meters.

1 . A wide area radio frequency identification (RFID) system comprising:
 at least two RFID cells, wherein a first RFID cells includes a first reader and a first plurality of tags and a second RFID cell includes a second reader and a second plurality of tags, wherein the first reader is configured to accesses the first plurality of tags and the second reader is configured to access the second plurality of tags;   wherein the first RFID cell and the second RFID cell include
 a communications gateway operable to support direct communications between at least the first RFID cell and the second RFID cell; 
 wherein, via the communications gateways of the first RFID cell and the second RFID cell, the first reader of the first RFID cell is configured to query data from, or write data to, a tag within the second plurality of tags of the second RFID cell; 
 wherein the second RFID cell is configured to receive a security alarm from the first RFID cell via the direct communications that is arranged over a range of at least five hundred meters. 
   
     
     
         2 . (canceled) 
     
     
         3 . The wide area RFID system, according to  claim 1 , wherein at least one of said at least two RFID cells is located in a mobile vehicle. 
     
     
         4 . The wide area RFID system, according to  claim 1 , wherein said ultra-wide band signaling is operable to determine respective locations of the tags and to store said respective locations. 
     
     
         5 . The wide area RFID system, according to  claim 1 , wherein said communications gateway includes a cellular telephone communications interface. 
     
     
         6 . The wide area RFID system, according to  claim 1 , wherein said communications gateway includes a cellular telephone operatively attached to the at least one reader. 
     
     
         7 . The wide area RFID system, according to  claim 1 , wherein said communications gateway is operatively attached to a communications link selected from the group of communications technologies consisting of: cellular communications, terrestrial radio communications, satellite communications, point-to-point microwave communications, infrared free space point-to-point communications, and free space point-to-point optical communications. 
     
     
         8 . The wide area RFID system, according to  claim 1 , wherein the tags are attached to objects included in materiel of an organization, wherein said objects are managed by a materiel management application accessible through the network operations center. 
     
     
         9 . A method for communicating between a first RFID cell and a second RFID cell in a wide area radio frequency identification (RFID) system. comprising:
 querying data from, or writing data to, a tag within a second plurality of tags of the second RFID cell via a communications gateway operable to support direct communications between the first RFID cell and the second RFID cell, the querying or writing being performed by a first reader;   wherein the first RFID cell includes the first reader and a first plurality of tags and the second RFID cell includes a second reader and the second plurality of tags, wherein the first reader accesses the first plurality of tags using ultra-wide band signaling and the second reader accesses the second plurality of tags using ultra-wide band signaling;   wherein the first RFID cell and the second RFID cell each include communications gateways operable to support the direct communications between the first RFID cell and the second RFID cell; and   wherein the second RFID cell is configured to receive a security alarm from the first RFID cell via the direct communications that is arranged over a range of at least five hundred meters.   
     
     
         10 . (canceled) 
     
     
         11 . The method, according to  claim 9 , wherein at least one of said at least two RFID cells is located in a mobile vehicle. 
     
     
         12 . (canceled) 
     
     
         13 . The method, according to  claim 9 , wherein said accessing includes a transmission from the first RFID cell, wherein said transmission is selected from the group consisting of unicast, multicast and broadcast transmissions. 
     
     
         14 . (canceled) 
     
     
         15 . (canceled) 
     
     
         16 . (canceled) 
     
     
         17 . The method, according to  claim 9 , wherein the second reader maintains in storage a plurality of respective locations of the second plurality of tags of the second RFID cell. 
     
     
         18 . The wide area RFID system of  claim 1 , wherein the first reader of the first RFID cell is configured to query data from, or write data to, the tag within the second plurality of tags of the second RFID cell in an instance in which the readers are prevented from transmitting an alarm to the network operations center. 
     
     
         19 . The wide area RFID system of  claim 1 , wherein the first RFID cell or the second RFID cell is a personal area network (PAN). 
     
     
         20 . The wide area RFID system of  claim 1 , wherein, using the communications gateways of the first RFID cell and the second RFID cell, the first reader of the first RFID cell is configured to query data from and write data to a tag within the second plurality of tags of the second RFID cell. 
     
     
         21 . The wide area RFID system of  claim 1 , wherein at least one tag within the second plurality of tags is not within range of the first reader of the first RFID cell and the first reader of the first RFID cell is configured to query data from, or write data to, the at least one tag within the second plurality of tags via the communications gateways of the first RFID cell and the second RFID cell.