Patent ID: 8417538

Claim:
A system for automatically associating an object with a locale or a second object, comprising: an object identifier device linked with an object configured to provide data identifying the object, a location determining module configured to determine a location of the object, the location determining module including an object location module configured to determine the location of the object based at least in part on the data, and an object association module configured to associate the object with both of at least one of a second object and a locale, wherein the object association module is configured to determine based on the location of the object whether the object is in proximity to the second object or the locale for a time period greater than or equal to a threshold time, and if the time period that the object is in proximity to the second object or the locale is greater than or equal to the threshold time, the object association module is configured to create an association between the object and the second object or the locale; an association template identifying associations among objects and locales whereby observed associations are matched with associations in the association template; a network, wherein the location determining module is coupled to the network, and a network connected element including at least one signaling component capable of transmitting or receiving signals, wherein the network connected element is configured to receive the data identifying the object provided by the object identifier device and transmit a signal containing the data to the location determining module; the object association module further configured to prevent false associations comprising a first locale, a second locale, a time spent in the first locale, and a time spent in the second locale, wherein if the time spent in the first locale is greater than or equal to a false association threshold time and the time spent in the second locale is less than the false association threshold time, association with the second locale is prevented and only an association with the first locale is made, whereby a false association determination is prevented; the location determining module further configured to disassociate the association between the object and the second object and the object and the locale upon termination of a signal from the object identifier device for the location determined by the object location module; whereby the association determination and the disassociation are established without input device triggering.