Patent ID: 8159345

Claim:
A system for identifying, monitoring, and tracking a plurality of tools, the system comprising: a pad for placing the plurality of the tools, wherein the pad comprises a plurality of appropriately sized cutouts for nesting each of the tools; a sensor in each cutout that detects placement and removal of the tool in the cutout; a low frequency radio tag placed in the pad and operatively coupled with each sensor for reading each sensor, said radio tag operating at a low clock frequency and configured to receive and transmit data signals within a peer-to-peer network with any low frequency active radiating transceiver, the radio tag comprising: a tag antenna operable at a low radio frequency not exceeding 450 kilohertz, a transceiver operatively connected to the tag antenna, said transceiver configured to transmit and receive data signals at the low radio frequency; a data storage device configured to store data comprising identification data for identifying the tools; a processor configured to process data received from the transceiver and the data storage device and to transmit data to cause said transceiver to emit an identification signal based upon the identification data stored in said data storage device; and a connector for a power source to power the processor and the transceiver.