System and method for determining asset location in a rack

1. A method of determining the location of an asset within a rack comprising the steps of:

for each asset tag in the rack, exchanging identity information and location information with at least one asset tag of a neighboring asset, wherein at least the location information is exchanged along a substantially physically unobstructed path between the asset tag and its at least one neighboring asset tag and the location information is derived from taking an image of the at least one asset tag of a neighboring asset, the image capturing a dot spacing from a pair of laser diodes in the each asset tag;

for each asset tag, transmitting the identity information and location information, exchanged to a collection unit; and

based on the information transmitted to the collection unit, determining the location of the assets relative to other assets in the rack.

2. The method recited in claim 1 wherein the location information and the identity information are transmitted over an RF communication channel and the collection unit is an RFID reader.

3. The method recited in claim 1 wherein the location and identity information are transmitted over a hard wired connection to the rack and the collection unit is a memory device hard electrically connected to the rack.

4. The method recited in claim 1 wherein the location information is information regarding the relative position of the neighboring asset with respect to the asset of interest.

5. The method recited in claim 4 , wherein the exchange of information between each asset tag is unidirectional, and the information exchanged cascades in one direction along the asset tag chain until transmission to the collection unit.

6. The method recited in claim 5 , wherein there is a single transmitting unit that transmits identification and location information to the collection unit.

7. The method recited in claim 4 wherein each asset tag includes a transmitting unit capable of transmitting identification and location information to the collection unit.

8. The method recited in claim 1 wherein transmitting and receiving pairs for exchanging information transmit location information via an IR communication channel.

9. The method recited in claim 1 wherein at least one of the transmitting and receiving pairs for exchanging location information transmits location information acoustically.

10. The method recited in claim 9 , wherein the location information from the acoustic source and the location information from the IR sources are compared to determine the physical distance between the neighboring assets.

11. The method recited in claim 1 , wherein the physical distance of the neighboring asset can be determined by the size of the pattern of the image.

12. The method recited in claim 1 , wherein the physical distance separating the asset of interest and the neighboring asset can be determined based on the captured image of the dot spacing.

13. A system for determining the location of an asset, comprising:

a plurality of asset tags, each of the plurality of asset tags associated with an asset, each asset tag capable of exchanging identity information and location information with the asset tag of at least one neighboring asset, wherein at least the location information is exchanged along a substantially physically unobstructed path between the asset tag and its at least one neighboring asset tag and the location information is derived from taking an image of the at least one neighboring asset tag, the image capturing a dot spacing from a pair of laser diodes in each asset tag; and

a data collection unit, for collecting information transmitted from the plurality of asset tags, wherein based on the identity and location information collected, the data collection unit determines the location of the asset.

14. An asset tag comprising,

an RF transmitting device for transmitting location and identification information to a collection unit;

a pair of laser diodes; and

a local information exchange mechanism for exchanging identity information and location information with at least one neighboring asset, wherein at least the location information is exchanged along a substantially unobstructed path between the local information exchange mechanism and at least one neighboring asset tag and the location information is derived from taking an image of the at least one neighboring asset tag, the image capturing a dot spacing from the pair of laser diodes.

15. The asset tag recited in claim 14 wherein the local information exchange mechanism includes an IR transceiver.

16. The asset tag recited in claim 15 wherein the local information exchange mechanism includes an image capture device for taking an image of the asset tag of the neighboring asset.

17. The asset tag recited in claim 16 wherein the local information exchange mechanism includes an acoustic transceiver.