Patent ID: 7969306

Claim:
A method for context-aware and real-time tracking of items, comprising: receiving multiple instances of tag-read-data, each instance including information read from a tag bound to an item, the information read including a unique digital identifier read automatically from the tag, each instance also including status information including a location of the corresponding tag and its bound item when the unique identifier was read from the tag, the multiple instances of tag-read-data collectively including information read from tags bound to multiple items; receiving one or more instances of context information, each instance describing an associated non-taggable physical circumstance, the context information indicating a status including a location of the circumstance, the multiple instances of context information collectively including information describing multiple circumstances; using the received tag-read-data and context information to maintain virtual items and virtual circumstances in a virtual world, the virtual items including an object for each of the multiple articles and the virtual circumstances including an object for each of the multiple circumstances, each of the objects representing the status of its corresponding item or circumstance; and detecting interactions occurring in the virtual world between the circumstances and the items as represented by the virtual items and virtual circumstances.