Patent ID: 7474210

Claim:
A method for monitoring room activity comprising the steps of: providing a tray sensing device for sensing a tray in a vicinity of the tray sensing device, said tray sensing device adapted for communicating tray information of the presence of a tray to a tray controller; providing a door lock, said door lock being activated by a door lock card, said door lock adapted for communicating door lock information of said door lock card to a door lock/tag controller; providing a door tag, said door tag including an associated RFID tag, said RFID tag adapted for communicating door tag information of said RFID tag to said door lock/tag controller; a room controller receiving one or more of said tray information from said tray controller, said door lock information from said door lock/tag controller and said door tag information from said door lock/tag controller, and associating a room address with said tray information, said door lock information and said door tag information; and forwarding said associated room address and said tray information, said door lock information and said door tag information from said room controller to a central information system.