Object positioning system, object positioning apparatus and object positioning method

Abstract

An object positioning system (100) for tracking the location of an object (142) comprises a base station (120) including a computer (124) coupled to at least a first receiver (122). The object (142) is fitted with a tag (140) having a limited signal transmission range, which is typically too weak to be directly received by the first receiver (122). A user (180) wears a portable transceiver (160), which activates the base station (120) by means of an object-related signal when within reception range of the signal transmitted by the tag (140). The computer (124) determines the location of the portable transceiver (160) worn by the user (180), and associates this position with the position of the object (142). As soon as the user (180) moves outside the signal transmission range of the tag (140), the object-related signal is terminated and the last known position of the portable transceiver (160) is used as the new location of the object (142).

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.