Apparatus and method for tracing a path travelled by an entity or object, and tag for use therewith
First Claim
1. A tracing system comprising:
- a radio receiver associated with the entity or object and operable to scan a predetermined radio band at preset times as the entity or object traverses the path, and capture the extant frequency spectrum, and storage means for storing said captured frequency spectrum and means for retrieving a plurality of captured frequency spectra from the tag and correlating said captured frequency spectra with known antenna transmissions and location data to determine the location of the tag when each captured frequency spectrum was captured and deriving the path from the successive locations.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Apparatus and method for tracing a geographical journey taken by an entity, for example an article (shipment), asset or person, on a worldwide map uses a miniature, passive, low power, radio receiver tag that is attached to the entity and collects multiple FM spectra during the travels of the entity. When the tag is retrieved at the end of the journey, the FM spectra are downloaded and compared against a collection of constructed spectra constructed from antenna transmission and location data derived. Correlating each of the spectra collected by the receiver tag with the corresponding spectra in the database allows the regions traversed by the receiver tag, and hence the entity, during its travels to be plotted.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A tracing system comprising:
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a radio receiver associated with the entity or object and operable to scan a predetermined radio band at preset times as the entity or object traverses the path, and capture the extant frequency spectrum, and storage means for storing said captured frequency spectrum and means for retrieving a plurality of captured frequency spectra from the tag and correlating said captured frequency spectra with known antenna transmissions and location data to determine the location of the tag when each captured frequency spectrum was captured and deriving the path from the successive locations. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 20)
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10. A method of tracing a path previously taken by an entity or object comprising the steps of:
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associating with the entity or object a radio receiver operable to scan a predetermined radio band at preset times as the entity or object traverses the path, and capture the extant frequency spectrum, and store said captured frequency spectrum; and
when the tag and entity/object have traversed the path, retrieving a plurality of captured frequency spectra from the tag and correlating said captured frequency spectra with known antenna transmissions and location data to determine the location of the tag when each captured frequency spectrum was captured and deriving the path from the successive locations. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A radio receiver tag suitable for use in tracing a path taken by an entity or object while accompanied by the radio receiver tag, comprising:
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a radio receiver operable to scan a predetermined radio frequency band and capture data representing a frequency spectrum thereof;
storage means for storing a plurality of data records each corresponding to a respective one of a plurality of the frequency spectra;
control means for controlling the radio receiver to scan the radio frequency band at preset times, while the entity or object is traversing said path, and store the resulting frequency spectra data in said storage means; and
output means for outputting said frequency spectra data.
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Specification