Patent ID: 7019663

Claim:
A system for tracking a location of an asset, comprising: an RF tag coupled to the asset; a wireless wide area network (“WWAN”) including a first transceiver and having a first coverage area; a plurality of wireless local area networks (“WLAN”), each of the WLANs having a second coverage area within the first coverage area and a plurality of second transceivers; and a computer communicating with the WWAN and the WLANs, the computer generating a signal and transmitting the signal to the asset over the first coverage area using the first transceiver, wherein the RF tag is a dual-mode tag receiving communications from the WWAN and the WLANs, and wherein the RF tag receives the signal and generates a response signal to the signal, the response signal being transmitted to one WLAN of the plurality of WLANs, the RF tag being located within the second coverage area of the one WLAN, and wherein the second transceivers receive the response signal and forward it to the computer, the computer determining the location of the asset within the particular WLAN as a function of the response signal.