Patent ID: 8659427

Claim:
A sensor network system comprising: a plurality of sensors at known locations, each sensor having a microcell and capable of communicating wirelessly with a personal digital key (PDK) in its microcell and gathering position data about such PDK, the PDK containing a memory having service blocks, each service block accessible by a corresponding service block access key, wherein a service block access key is distinct from a credential input by a user, wherein each sensor contains a service block access key, and wherein at least one service block access key is accessible by a plurality of applications and capable of accessing the corresponding service block; a sensor management module (SMM) communicatively coupled to the plurality of sensors and configured to facilitate communication with one or more applications; wherein the SMM and the sensor provide a data path between a service block on the PDK and an application that has access to the corresponding service block access key contained by the sensor; and the SMM receives the position data gathered by the sensors about a PDK, generates location tracking data for the PDK based on the position data and makes the location tracking data available to applications, and a coordinator module communicatively coupled to the SMM, the coordinator module having a coordinator cell, the coordinator module broadcasting a beacon to sensors and PDKs in its coordinator cell, the sensors and PDKs synchronizing to the beacon.