ELECTRONIC INVENTORY SYSTEM FOR STACKED CONTAINERS

摘要

A device (100) locates a container from a group of containers utilizing an electronic tag (142). The electronic tag is capable of being positioned in close proximity to one of the containers. The electronic tag includes at least one long range transceiver portion (143) and at least one short range transceiver portion (147). Each long range transceiver portion is capable of communicating with either a short range transceiver portion associated with another tag, or an interrogation unit (102). Each short range transceiver portion is capable of communicating with a long range transceiver portion of another tag. The device assists in locating a container, relative to other containers, when the containers are stored in a stacked (fig. 3a) or nested (fig. 3b) configuration. A global positioning system (GPS) can be utilized to locate the position of the containers on the Earth's surface.