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System and method for performing object association using a location tracking systemRelated Patent Categories: Data Processing: Database And File Management Or Data Structures, Database Or File Accessing, Distributed Or Remote AccessSystem and method for performing object association using a location tracking system description/claimsThe Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20060277202, System and method for performing object association using a location tracking system. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application is a Continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/096,187 filed on Mar. 11, 2002, which claims priority to a U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/274,544, filed Mar. 9, 2001, entitled Location System. The contents of the aforementioned applications are incorporated herein by reference. FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0002] The illustrative embodiment of the present invention relates generally to a location tracking system and more particularly to performing object association using a location tracking system. BACKGROUND [0003] There is a need to automatically and accurately track the amount of time a person or object spends interacting or associating with other people or objects. This association information may be used for accounting purposes, for worker payroll, to bill a customer, or to log the "work expended" on a given object or by a given person. Alternatively, the information may be used for inventory records, equipment utilization studies, event precipitation and similar uses. Unfortunately, the accuracy of today's object association systems is inadequate. Conventional object association systems require estimates to capture the amount of time devices spend interacting. For example, it is quite common to estimate the amount of time that an expensive piece of medical equipment was used during a procedure. Since medical equipment can generate millions of dollars a year in bills corresponding to the time the equipment is operated, a small inaccuracy in estimation of the time of operation has a big impact on either the payer or the payee. Accordingly, it is becoming more common for medical insurance companies to demand exact time recordings of the usage of particular equipment. Since this requires human oversight, the process becomes very burdensome for the medical staff. [0004] The need for humans to initiate conventional object association systems represents a major difficulty with the systems. This requirement for manual interaction, typically to start and stop timers or record times, results in inaccurate readings that can be subject to fraud. Some people simply forget to start or stop the timers, especially when they have multiple tasks to perform, or they just estimate the time to keep things simpler. In most cases they do not stop the timers when they take small breaks and this leads to inaccurate readings. In some cases, people start or stop the time tracking system fraudulently which results in inaccurate billing. Additionally, tracking the time that objects spend interacting is not possible since the objects, absent an interface with a timer, can not start a timer, a person needs to be involved in some way. Unfortunately conventional assocation systems are not designed to determine and log associations automatically without human intervention. [0005] Conventional object association systems fail to track multiple tasks, either sequentially or simultaneously. In "time clock" type systems, if there are multiple objects or tasks to be tracked there must be multiple timers. These timers can track when a human operator notes that two devices begin to interact, but the problem rapidly becomes too complex to record if there are multiple devices interacting with other devices. Conventional wireless tether systems are limited to noting when two devices are close to each other, they can not deal with multiple interactions starting and stopping. The location system solutions simply show that multiple devices are in the same space, they do not show which is interacting with another nor the times of these interactions as they have difficulty in determining interaction detail. Additionally, most current systems do not have the ability to automatically and continuously track object interactions, such as tracking the progress of a piece of work in process (WIP) and the time it spends interacting with various tools and people, in order to make that information available in "real time" to an interested party. Without this ability to review real-time object association data, supervisors or systems have difficulty in quickly recognizing problems in a production flow. BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0006] The illustrative embodiment of the present invention provides a method of determining and tracking object associations using a location system. Object identifiers equipped with transmitting components are linked to objects and broadcast a transmission signal which includes a unique identifier. The transmission signal broadcast by the object identifiers is received by a networked connected element interfaced with a network. The signal from the object identifier is forwarded by the networked connected element to an electronic device interfaced with the network. The location determining module analyzes a variety of data including the unique identifier, the location of all of the the network connected elements receiving the signal, the receiver characteristics of the receivers of the network connected elements, and the historical location of the object in order to determine the location of the object. Once the location of the object has been determined, the location determining module consults a database to determine associations between the located object and other objects or locations based on the other objects or locations proximity to the located object. Once an association is determined, it is stored and the duration of the association is subsequently recorded. [0007] In one embodiment of the present invention, a location system includes a network with a network connected element and is interfaced with an electronic device. The network connected element has at least one transmitting component giving it the ability to transmit and receive signals. An object identifier which is linked to an object transmits a signal bearing a unique identifier which is received by the network connected element. The network connected element appends a header to the signal and forwards it over the network to the electronic device. The system also includes a database which is interfaced with the network and which is used to store object associations. The object associations record the interaction of objects and locations that are located within a defined distance of other objects and locations. A location determining module is also interfaced with the network and uses the unique identifier sent to the electronic device and the location of the network connected element receiving the signal to calculate the location of the object. The calculated location is checked against the stored location of other objects and predetermined locations to identify associations. Any identified associations are stored in the database. [0008] In another embodiment, a method which utilizes a location system is practiced over a network to determine object associations. The network is interfaced with an electronic device and a network connected element. An object identifier linked to an object broadcasts a signal containing a unique identifier which is received by the network connected element. The signal is forwarded to the electronic device. A location determining module calculates the location of the object identifier and the object to which it is linked using the known location of the network connected element and the unique identifier extracted from the signal retrieved from the object identifier signal. The calculated position of the object is compared against the position of other objects and locations of interest in order to determine associations. Identified associations are stored in a database interfaced with the network. In one aspect of the invention, the associations are made available as input data to other applications executing on the network. In an additional aspect of the invention, a fixed location identifier which is not interfaced with the network is used to receive and transmit signals from the object identifier to the network connected element. The known location of the fixed location identifier and its receiver characteristics provide additional data to the location determining module which is used to determine the location of the object identifier. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS [0009] FIG. 1A depicts a block diagram of an environment suitable for practicing an illustrative embodiment of the present invention; [0010] FIG. 1B depicts a block diagram of an alternate environment suitable for practicing an illustrative embodiment of the present invention not utilizing a network; [0011] FIG. 2A depicts a block diagram of an object identifier used by the illustrative embodiment of the present invention; [0012] FIG. 2B depicts a block diagram of a fixed location identifier used by the illustrative embodiment of the present invention; [0013] FIG. 3 depicts a block diagram of the layout of a hospital practicing an illustrative embodiment of the present invention; [0014] FIG. 4 depicts a block diagram of components of the illustrative embodiment of the present invention used to analyze the associations determined by the location determining module; [0015] FIG. 5 is a flowchart of the sequence of steps followed by the illustrative embodiment of the present invention to perform equipment utilization analysis and bill generation as a result of object association determined by the illustrative embodiment of the present invention; and [0016] FIG. 6 is a flowchart of the sequence of steps followed by the illustrative embodiment of the present invention to perform event initiation as a result of object association determined by the illustrative embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION [0017] The illustrative embodiment of the present invention provides a method of recording object associations using a location system. Object locations are determined based on signals generated from object identifiers linked to the objects and forwarded to an electronic device interfaced with a network. The origin of the signal is calculated based on the known position of the receivers receiving the signal, the historical recorded position of the object, the characteristics of the receivers receiving the signal (i.e. the range), the strength of the received signal, the type of signal, and whether or not the signal was repeated. The location is determined by software (the location determining module) either running on, or interfaced with, the electronic device. Once the location of the object has been determined, the location determining module consults a database to determine associations between the located object and other objects or specified locations based on the other objects proximity to the located object. Once an association is determined, it is stored and the duration of the association is subsequently recorded. The identified associations may then be leveraged in a number of ways by other applications interfaced with the network, such as by being used in billing systems, inventory systems, asset management, and automatic event generation based on the identified association. [0018] FIG. 1A depicts a location system 11 suitable for practicing an illustrative embodiment of the present invention. A plurality of object identifiers 2 linked to objects include an infrared (IR) transmitter 3 and a radio frequency (RF) transmitter 4 which are used to generate a signal which is sent to a network connected element 6. The signal includes a unique identifier identifying the object identifier (and by extension the object to which it is linked). The network connected element 6 includes an IR transmitter 3, an RF transmitter 4, an IR receiver 7 and an RF receiver 8. The IR receiver 7 is capable of receiving an IR signal generated by the object identifier 2. The RF receiver 8 is capable of receiving an RF signal generated by the object identifier 2. The network connected element 6 is interfaced with a network 10 and forwards the signal received from the object identifier 2 to an electronic device 12 which is also interfaced with the network 10. The interface between the network connected element 6 and the network 10 may be a physical interface in the case of a wired network, or a wireless interface in the case of a wireless network. The electronic device 12 may be a desktop computer system, PDA, handheld wireless device, laptop, web server or other device interfaced with the network 10. The network 10 may be a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), the Internet, an intranet, or a metropolitan network. The network 10 may be a wireless network such as a Bluetooth network, a cellular network, a GSM based network or some other type of network. Although the object identifier 2 and network connected element 6 have been described as including IR and RF transmitters 3 and 4 and receivers 7 and 8, those skilled in the art will recognized that other types of transmitters may be used such as ultrasound (US) either alone or in combination with the implementation depicted herein without departing from the scope of the present invention. Continue reading about System and method for performing object association using a location tracking system... 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