Patent ID: 7138916

Claim:
A system for protecting an article comprising the steps of affixing an electronic tag to the article characteristic of the article, said tag including a wireless transceiver for communication over a communications network a GPS receiver to receiving location related information from a global positioning system, a microprocessor for performing on board calculations and transferring data from said GPS receiver to said transceiver and firmware in said microprocessor for processing instructions for operation of said transceiver, said GPS receiver and said microprocessor and for communicating with the communications network; delivering an electronic signal from a remote location via a global positioning system to said transceiver on the article to activate said tag to receive location related information from the global positiong system and to emit a signal directly from said GPS receiver indicative of the location of the article to said remote location; and providing a FLASH memory within said electronic tag for tracking the location of the article over a period of time and delivering corresponding information from said firmware to said remote location to display the path of travel of the article over time on a map at said remote location.