Patent ID: 7855679

Claim:
An assisted global positioning system (AGPS) for tracking a movable object of interest; said system comprising: at least one GPS-based smart tag releasably affixed to said movable object, said smart tag interconnected to a ground base station and a plurality of GPS satellites by means of one or more communication links, wherein the ground base station and the plurality of GPS satellites emit retrievable scheduled signals, and said smart tag is configured to: (1) remain in a cold standby condition prior to receiving an ID signal of a nearest one of a plurality of beacons, each beacon adapted to transmit a respective ID signal identifying said beacon, (2) wake up upon receiving the ID signal from the nearest beacon, (3) calculate a set of pseudo ranges and transmit the set of pseudo-ranges from said smart tag via the ground base station to a service center, the service center adapted to provide said smart tag with an assisted data, and (4) be restored to a cold standby condition after transmitting the set of pseudo-ranges; wherein said service center is adapted to communicate with said tag and receiving the set of pseudo-ranges, and calculating a location of the tag by triangulation of the time delays of said signals received from said satellites.