Patent ID: 7088229

Claim:
A tracking system for tracking a plurality of items, comprising: a plurality of wireless tags, each of the plurality of wireless tags being configured to couple to one of the plurality of items, to store a unique tag identifier and to provide tag information including the stored unique tag identifier when queried; a plurality of repeaters, each having a unique repeater identifier and each being associated with selected ones of the plurality of wireless tags, each repeater being configured to issue a query to its associated wireless tags, to receive, to store and, when queried, to provide the tag information provided by the queried wireless tags and repeater information that includes its unique repeater identifier; at least one high-level device, each having a unique high-level identifier and being configured to issue a high-level query to selected ones of the plurality of repeaters, to receive, to store and, when queried, to provide the received tag and repeater information and high-level information that includes its unique high-level identifier; a top-level device, the top-level device being configured to issue a top-level query to the at least one high-level device and, in response to the top-level query, receive and store the provided high-level information, the provided repeater information and the provided tag information, and a conductive mesh coupled to one of the wireless tags, to one of the repeaters or to one of the high-level devices, wherein wireless tag, repeater or high-level device coupled to the conductive mesh is configured to report on a state of the conductive mesh.