Patent ID: 7675412

Claim:
A method for dynamically tracking a plurality of entities progressing through an operation each having an electronic tagging device associated therewith, said method comprising: sensing signals emitted by each of the plurality of tagging devices, at predetermined instances or when triggered by external events, by a plurality of sensors located at predetermined sites with respect to the operation, each signal including information uniquely identifying the corresponding tagging device; communicating the sensed signals and corresponding energy levels at which they were sensed by each of the plurality of sensors to a data processor; processing the unique identification information provided by the signals and their energy levels to determine a location of each tagging device relatively to the predetermined sites of the sensors; dynamically updating a path of each tagging device and the associated entity based on the determined location with respect to at least a portion of the operation; determining that a first of the plurality of tagging devices and a second one of the plurality of tagging devices are progressing in close proximity to each other through the operation, when a distance between the dynamically updated paths of each of the first and second tagging devices remains smaller than a predetermined physical dimension during a segment of time; and determining whether the first tagging device and the second tagging device are correlated to one another based on corresponding unique identification information, and utilizing the determined correlation to improve a forecast of a flow of the operation; and synchronizing internal clocks of the tagging devices with internal clocks of the sensors to improve the accuracy of the signal time-stamps and minimize noise; and time-stamping the emitted signals via the internal clocks internal of the tagging devices.