Patent ID: 7626505

Claim:
A method for accessing information about a travel bag during shipment thereof, said method comprising the steps of: a) associating a radio frequency (RF) travel bag tag with said travel bag, the aforesaid travel bag RF tag comprising a travel bag data storage device operable to store information, the stored information comprising both identification information that identifies said travel bag and an owner thereof and database information concerning characteristics of the travel bag, the aforesaid database information being selected from information concerning the destination, origin, travel history of bag, and historical characteristics of said travel bag, the aforesaid RF travel bag tag further comprising a first loop antenna, a transceiver operatively connected with said first antenna and operable to receive a first RF interrogation signal at a low frequency not exceeding 15 MHz from a first reader and to transmit RF signals in response thereto, a microprocessor operable to control data flow between said data storage device and said transceiver in response to said RF interrogation signal, and an energy storage device for providing energy to said transceiver, data storage device, and said microprocessor; and b) interrogating said RF travel bag tag with said first RF interrogation signal from said first reader to obtain said stored information and wherein said travel bag is disposed at a first level repository and said method further comprises the steps of associating a first level RF tag with said first level repository, said first level RF tag comprising a first level data storage device operable to store first level information, the first level stored information comprising both first level identification information that identifies said first level repository and said travel bag disposed thereat and first level database information concerning characteristics of said first level repository, said first level database information being selected from information concerning the destination, origin, and historical characteristics of said first level repository, said first level RF tag further comprising a second loop antenna, a second transceiver operatively connected to said second antenna and operable to receive a second RF interrogation signal at a low frequency not exceeding 15 MHz from second reader and to transmit RF signals in response thereto, a first level microprocessor operable to control data flow between said first level data storage device and said second transceiver in response to said second RF interrogation signal, and an energy source for providing energy to said second transceiver, first level data storage device, and said first level microprocessor; and interrogating said first level RF tag with said second interrogation signal from said first reader to obtain said first level stored information.