Tracking system for persons and/or objects

1. A method of determining which subarea within a plurality of subareas comprising an area to be monitored contains an object of interest that may move between subareas comprising the steps of:

a) associating each of said subareas with at least one gateway device, each said gateway device being associated with only one subarea, said gateway device being capable of detecting the presence of a radio frequency signal from a first object of interest within at least a portion of said subarea with which said gateway device is associated and through which said first object of interest must pass in order to be located within said subarea;

b) determining the strength of said radio frequency signal being received from said first object of interest by at least one gateway device;

c) analyzing said strength of said radio frequency signal being received by at least one gateway device, said analysis including the application of configurable parameters when said radio frequency signal is received by more than one said gateway device to determine the subarea in which said first object of interest is present; and

d) applying rules identifying a second object of interest that is not permitted in the same subarea as said first object of interest, said first and second objects of interest being persons.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

analyzing another radio frequency signal received by at least two of said at least one gateway device from a reference radio frequency tag to derive a difference in perceived signal strength of said another radio frequency signal at each of the said at two of said at least one gateway device; and

deriving said configurable parameters for said at least one gateway device from said difference in perceived signal strength.

3. A system for determining which subarea within a plurality of subareas comprising an area to be monitored contains an object of interest that may move between said subareas comprising at least one gateway device associated with each of said subareas and having a field of view within its associated subarea, a transmitter device operatively attached to said object of interest, said transmitter device transmitting a unique identifier for said object of interest, a computer device operatively connected to said gateway device, said computer device executing software associating said unique identifier with said object of interest and determining the subarea in which said object of interest is present regardless of whether said object of interest is being continuously detected by said gateway device, said transmitter device being a radio frequency tag comprising electrical circuitry and a battery, said electrical circuitry being interposed between said battery and said object of interest, said radio frequency tag becoming substantially omnidirectional when operatively attached to said object of interest.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein said electrical circuitry comprises a radio frequency transmitter and an antenna.

5. The system of claim 3 wherein:

said object of interest is a person of interest;

said radio frequency tag comprises at least one of an accelerometer to detect an acceleration, or a temperature sensor to detect a temperature;

said radio frequency tag transmits an indication of at least one of the detected acceleration or the detected temperature along with said unique identifier; and

said software executed by said computer device analyzes the at least one of the detected acceleration or the detected temperature to determine whether said radio frequency tag is currently worn by said person of interest.

6. A system for determining which subarea within a plurality of subareas comprising an area to be monitored contains an object of interest that may move between said subareas comprising at least one gateway device associated with each of said subareas and having a field of view within its associated subarea, a transmitter device operatively attached to said object of interest, said transmitter device being a radio frequency tag, said transmitter device transmitting a unique identifier for said object of interest, a computer device operatively connected to said gateway device, said computer device executing software associating said unique identifier with said object of interest and determining the subarea in which said object of interest is present regardless of whether said object of interest is being continuously detected by said gateway device, further including at least one remote computer device operatively connected to said computer device permitting said at least one remote computer device to access the determinations relating to said subarea in which said object of interest is present and including a near field gateway device operatively connected to said at least one remote computer device, said near field gateway device being utilized to create an association between the identity of the object of interest with its said unique identifier contained in its associated radio frequency tag.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein:

said object of interest is a person of interest;

said radio frequency tag comprises at least one of an accelerometer to detect an acceleration, or a temperature sensor to detect a temperature;

said radio frequency tag transmits an indication of at least one of the detected acceleration or the detected temperature along with said unique identifier; and

said software executed by said computer device analyzes the at least one of the detected acceleration or the detected temperature to determine whether said radio frequency tag is currently worn by said person of interest.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein:

said gateway device comprises an ambient temperature sensor to detect an ambient temperature of a subarea of said subareas that is associated with said gateway device;

said computer device comprises a system clock to provide a time of day;

said software executed by said computer device employs at least one of the detected ambient temperature and the time of day in the analysis of the at least one of the detected acceleration or the detected temperature to determine whether said radio frequency tag is currently worn by said person of interest.

9. A method of determining which subarea within a plurality of subareas comprising an area to be monitored contains an object of interest that may move between said subareas comprising the steps of:

a) associating each of the said subareas with at least one gateway device, each said gateway device being associated with only one subarea, said gateway device being capable of detecting the presence of a radio frequency signal from said object of interest within at least a portion of said subarea with which said gateway device is associated and through which said object of interest must pass in order to be located within said subarea, said object of interest being operatively attached to a radio frequency tag incorporating a unique identifier, said gateway device being capable of reading said unique identifier, said radio frequency tag transmitting said unique identifier substantially periodically on multiple radio frequencies sequentially in random order;

b) determining the strength of said radio frequency signal being received from said object of interest by at least one said gateway device; and

c) analyzing said strength of said radio frequency signal being received by said at least one gateway device by utilizing configurable parameters comprising zone boundary offset parameters and difference threshold parameters, said analysis including the application of at least one of said configurable parameters when said radio frequency signal is received by more than one said gateway device to determine the subarea in which said object of interest is present.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein:

said object of interest is a person of interest;

said radio frequency tag comprises at least one of an accelerometer to detect an acceleration, or a temperature sensor to detect a temperature;

said radio frequency tag transmits an indication of at least one of the detected acceleration or the detected temperature along with said unique identifier; and

said software executed by said computer device analyzes the at least one of the detected acceleration or the detected temperature to determine whether said radio frequency tag is currently worn by said person of interest.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein:

said gateway device comprises an ambient temperature sensor to detect an ambient temperature of a subarea of said subareas that is associated with said gateway device;

said computer device comprises a system clock to provide a time of day;

said software executed by said computer device employs at least one of the detected ambient temperature and the time of day in the analysis of the at least one of the detected acceleration or the detected temperature to determine whether said radio frequency tag is currently worn by said person of interest.

12. A method of determining which subarea within a plurality of subareas comprising an area to be monitored contains an object of interest that may move between said subareas comprising the steps of:

a) associating each of said subareas with at least one gateway device, each said gateway device being associated with only one subarea, said gateway device being capable of detecting the presence of a radio frequency signal from said object of interest within at least a portion of said subarea with which said gateway device is associated and through which said object of interest must pass in order to be located within said subarea, said object of interest being operatively attached to a radio frequency tag incorporating a unique identifier, said gateway device being capable of reading said unique identifier, said radio frequency tag transmitting said unique identifier substantially periodically on multiple radio frequencies, said gateway device including multiple single channel receivers each set to one of said multiple radio frequencies;

b) determining the strength of said radio frequency signal being received from said object of interest by at least one said gateway device; and

c) analyzing said strength of said radio frequency signal by said at least one gateway device by utilizing configurable parameters comprising zone boundary offset parameters and difference threshold parameters, said analysis including the application of at least one of said configurable parameters when said radio frequency signal is received by more than one said gateway device to determine the subarea in which said object of interest is present.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein:

said object of interest is a person of interest;

said radio frequency tag comprises at least one of an accelerometer to detect an acceleration, or a temperature sensor to detect a temperature;

said radio frequency tag transmits an indication of at least one of the detected acceleration or the detected temperature along with said unique identifier; and

said software executed by said computer device analyzes the at least one of the detected acceleration or the detected temperature to determine whether said radio frequency tag is currently worn by said person of interest.

14. The method of claim 12 further comprising:

analyzing another radio frequency signal received by said more than one said gateway device from a reference radio frequency tag to derive a difference in perceived signal strength of said another radio frequency signal at each of the said more than one gateway device; and

deriving said configurable parameters for said at least one gateway device from said difference in perceived signal strength.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein:

said reference radio frequency tag transmits multiple other radio frequency signals, each transmitted at a different one of said multiple radio frequencies; and

deriving said configurable parameters for said at least one gateway device from differences in perceived signal strength associated with each of said multiple radio frequencies.

16. A method of determining which subarea within a plurality of subareas comprising an area to be monitored contains an object of interest that may move between said subareas comprising the steps of:

a) associating each of said subareas with at least one gateway device, each said gateway device being associated with only one subarea, said gateway device being capable of detecting the presence of a radio frequency signal from said object of interest within at least a portion of said subarea with which said gateway device is associated and through which said object of interest must pass in order to be located within said subarea, said object of interest being a first object of interest that may move between said subareas within said area to be monitored;

b) determining the strength of said radio frequency signal being received from said first object of interest by at least one gateway device;

c) analyzing said strength of said radio signal being received by said at least one gateway device by utilizing configurable parameters comprising zone boundary offset parameters and difference threshold parameters, said analysis including the application of at least one of said configurable parameters when said radio frequency signal is received by more than one said gateway device to determine the subarea in which said first object of interest is present; and

d) applying rules identifying a second object of interest that is not permitted in the same subarea as said first object of interest.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprising:

analyzing another radio frequency signal received by said more than one said gateway device from a reference radio frequency tag to derive a difference in perceived signal strength of said another radio frequency signal at each of the said more than one gateway device; and

deriving said configurable parameters for said at least one gateway device from said difference in perceived signal strength.

18. A system for determining which subarea within a plurality of subareas comprising an area to be monitored contains an object of interest that may move between said subareas in any order comprising at least one gateway device associated with each of said subareas and having a field of view within its associated subarea, a transmitter device operatively attached to said object of interest, said transmitter device transmitting a unique identifier for said object of interest, said transmitter device being a radio frequency tag, said radio frequency tag transmitting said unique identifier on multiple radio frequencies, said gateway device including multiple single channel receivers each set to one of said multiple radio frequencies, and a computer device operatively connected to said gateway device, said computer device executing software associating said unique identifier with said object of interest and determining the subarea in which said object of interest is present regardless of whether said object of interest is being continuously detected by said gateway device.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein:

said radio frequency tag transmits said unique identifier substantially periodically; and

said radio frequency tag transmits said unique identifier on said multiple radio frequencies sequentially in random order to enable a different one of said multiple single channel receivers to receive the said unique identifier with each transmission thereof.

20. The system of claim 18 wherein:

said object of interest is a person of interest;

said radio frequency tag comprises at least one of an accelerometer to detect an acceleration, or a temperature sensor to detect a temperature;

said radio frequency tag transmits an indication of at least one of the detected acceleration or the detected temperature along with said unique identifier; and

said software executed by said computer device analyzes the at least one of the detected acceleration or the detected temperature to determine whether said radio frequency tag is currently worn by said person of interest.