Patent ID: 8626193

Claim:
A method of calibrating a product tracking system used in connection with a transportation vehicle transporting a tracked product where the materials used in the transportation vehicle as well as details of construction of the transportation vehicle along with any products being transported by the transportation vehicle typically will modify the strength of the signal received by a tracking device used in association with a product being transported by said transportation vehicle whether said product is mounted upon or within the transportation vehicle as compared to the signal strength set forth in a reference database for a given location comprising: assembling a reference database of communication reference signal strength characteristics at a plurality of locations along a given route of travel for use in a prediction algorithm of wireless communication gaps during transportation of at least one specific product tracking device being transported by a transportation vehicle along a given route of travel; actuating an initialization communication between at least one specific product tracking device operated in conjunction with a transportation vehicle container and a wireless communication service wherein said one specific product tracking device is situated with respect to said container such that the one specific product tracking device received signal strength is modified with respect to the signal strength characteristics set forth in said database of communication reference signal strength characteristics for the location at which the initialization communication occurs, said location corresponding to one of said plurality of locations in said database; determining the signal strength received by said at least one specific product tracking device from said presently used wireless communication service while said initialization communication is taking place, said signal strength as determined being designated as a at least one reference signal strength and further being indicative of signal strength received by said tracking device when said tracking device is situated in a travel ready position and condition with respect to said container; and calibrating a product tracking system used in predicting the extent of wireless communication quality problems including data gap zones along said given route for said at least one specific product tracking device that is to be transported along said given route by using the difference between said at least one reference signal strength and said database of communication reference signal strength characteristics as a modification of data retrieved from said database by said prediction algorithm in conjunction with said at least one specific product tracking device while said to be monitored container is transported along said given route.