System and method for determining and controlling status and location of an object

Abstract

Techniques are described with regard to determining and controlling a location and status of assets directly and/or indirectly. The techniques may be used to track and control the respective locations and status of any number of objects. Applications include but are not limited to tracking dry and refrigerated trailers and their status in a supply-chain yard; tracking pallets and boxes and their status in a warehouse; tracking items in a retail environment; tracking finished goods and work in progress in and around a manufacturing plant; tracking vehicles in a parking lot; tracking cargo and equipment at an airport; tracking equipment in a lay down yard; etc. In all cases the laborious and error prone data gathering is replaced with automated data collection methods reducing cost, increasing accuracy, and increasing efficiency.

What is claimed: 
     
         1 . A method for tracking one of more assets in a facility, comprising:
 communicating with a vehicle moving in a facility to periodically receiving information from the vehicle as it moves in the facility, the facility having one or more assets located therein, each asset having thereon an associated tag having identifying information to identify the asset, the vehicle having a geolocational sensor capable of obtaining geolocational position information about a present location of the vehicle in the facility, and a tag reader, the tag reader having a defined range in which the tag reader is capable of interrogating/detecting tags to obtain the identifying information therefrom;   wherein the received information received in a/each time period includes information about the current location of the vehicle in the facility based on information obtained from the geolocational senor and information about assets from tags detected by the tag reader during the corresponding time period, wherein the detected tags are in the defined range of tag reader during the during the corresponding time period;   creating a time-based mapping of the locations of the one or more assets in the facility using the periodically received information, wherein the creation of the time-based mapping includes collating the information received in each period to create overlapping sets of detected assets in range of the tag reader at each position of the vehicle;   displaying information about current locations of the one or more assets based on the mapping; and   transmitting instructions to the vehicle based on the time based mapping.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the a geolocational sensor is a GPS sensor. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the tags comprise RFID tags and the tag reader is a RFID tag reader. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the tags include visible identifying indicia and the tag reader comprises a camera capable of the visible identifying indicia. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the assets comprise shipping trailers. 
     
     
         6 . An asset tracking system for tracking assets in a facility, comprising:
 a vehicle capable of moving about a facility, wherein the facility has one or more assets located therein, wherein each asset has thereon an associated tag having identity information to identify the asset;   wherein the vehicle has a geolocational sensor capable of obtaining geolocational position information about a present location of the vehicle in the facility,   wherein the vehicle has a tag reader, the tag reader having a defined range in which the tag reader is capable of interrogating/detecting tags to obtain the identifying information therefrom;   a processor capable of being in communication with the vehicle and capable of periodically receiving information from the vehicle as it moves in the facility, wherein the received information received in a/each time period includes information about the current location of the vehicle in the facility based on information obtained from the geolocational senor and information about assets from tags detected by the tag reader during the corresponding time period, wherein the detected tags are in the defined range of tag reader during the during the corresponding time period;   wherein the processor is capable of creating a time-based mapping of the locations of the one or more assets in the facility using the periodically received information, wherein the creation of the time-based mapping includes collating the information received in each period to create overlapping sets of detected assets in range of the tag reader at each position of the vehicle;   wherein the processor is capable of displaying information about current locations of the one or more assets based on the mapping; and   wherein the processor is capable of transmitting instructions to the vehicle based on the time based mapping.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the a geolocational sensor is a GPS sensor. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the tags comprise RFID tags and the tag reader is a RFID tag reader. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the tags include visible identifying indicia and the tag reader comprises a camera capable of the visible identifying indicia. 
     
     
         10 . The method  claim 6 , wherein the assets comprise shipping trailers.