Patent ID: 7969348

Claim:
A multi-mode tag, comprising: a localized location and telemetry system hardware component that allows a localized location and telemetry system to determine localized location and telemetry system data about an object when the object is located within the coverage area of the localized location and telemetry system, wherein the localized location and telemetry system hardware component uses a communication protocol that is selected from the group consisting of active radio frequency identification, passive radio frequency identification, UltraWideband, ZigBee, Ultrasonic, and mesh networking; and a wide area location and telemetry system hardware component that allows a wide area location and telemetry system to determine wide area location and telemetry system data about the object when the object is located within the coverage area of the wide area location and telemetry system, wherein the wide area location and telemetry system hardware component is configured to transmit a wide area location and telemetry system packet using a burst direct sequence spread spectrum radio signal to be received by one or more base stations of the wide area location and telemetry system, wherein transmission of the wide area location and telemetry system packet facilitates determination of location data about the object based on timing information, wherein the timing information comprises a timestamp that indicates when the wide area location and telemetry system packet was received by the one or more base stations, wherein the localized location and telemetry system hardware component communicates using a different communication protocol than the wide area location and telemetry system hardware component, wherein the wide area location and telemetry system hardware component is different from the localized location and telemetry system hardware component.