1. A system for tracking personnel and equipment in a hazardous environment comprising:
a tracking tag for being attached to one of a person and a piece of equipment in the hazardous environment, the tracking tag being intrinsically safe and periodically transmitting a radio signal containing a unique tracking tag identification code identifying the tracking tag;
an intrinsically safe reader system including a hub cable driver and a plurality of intrinsically safe antennas, the hub cable driver and the plurality of intrinsically safe antennas connected by communication cables;
the hub cable driver feeding an intrinsically safe power signal into the communication cables and coupling bidirectional data signals onto the power signal, such that the hub cable driver provides intrinsically safe power to and communication with said plurality of intrinsically safe antennas over said communication cables;
the plurality of intrinsically safe antennas located in the hazardous environment in a redundant connective infrastructure topology, each intrinsically safe antenna configured to:
receive the radio signal from said tracking tag; and
transmit a data signal to the hub cable driver over said communication cables, the data signal containing an antenna identification code identifying the antenna and a tracking tag identification code identifying the tracking tag;
wherein the system continues to operate in an explosive environment due to the intrinsically safe nature of the intrinsically safe tracking tag, the plurality of intrinsically safe antennas, and the intrinsically safe power and communication from the hub cable driver; and
wherein the redundant connective infrastructure topology enables the system to continue to operate despite a communication disruption at a location along the redundant connective infrastructure topology.
2. The system of claim 1, wherein the intrinsically safe tracking tag is attached to a hard hat worn by the person in the hazardous environment.
3. The system of claim 1, wherein the intrinsically safe tracking tag is attached to a piece of equipment located in the hazardous environment, the intrinsically safe tracking tag for receiving equipment status and location information for the piece of equipment and periodically transmitting a radio signal containing a unique equipment tag identification code identifying the intrinsically safe equipment tag and the equipment status and location information.
4. The system of claim 1, wherein each intrinsically safe antenna has a first voltage domain, a switching regulator, and a second voltage domain, wherein each intrinsically safe antenna, to maximize intrinsic safety, receives power at a first voltage in the first voltage domain, and converts the power at the first voltage to power at a second voltage for use in the second voltage domain using the switching regulator.
5. The system of claim 1, wherein each intrinsically safe antenna has a plurality of communication ports for connecting with a plurality of other antennas, wherein said plurality of communication ports are un-powered and disconnected from each other until a command is received to power up and connect selected ones of said plurality of communication ports.
6. The system of claim 1, wherein the hub cable driver has an output port for providing said intrinsically safe power and communication, an IS protection block for detecting current and voltage levels at said output port, and a hub microcontroller for receiving said current and voltage levels from said IS protection block and disconnecting power from the output port when necessary.
7. The system of claim 1 further comprising an intrinsically safe atmospheric sensor positioned in the hazardous environment and in communication with the hub cable driver, the intrinsically safe atmospheric sensor being configured to: sense a gas level in an atmosphere at the intrinsically safe atmospheric sensor; and periodically transmit a signal to the hub cable driver containing a unique identification code identifying the intrinsically safe atmospheric sensor and a gas level reading value indicating a sensed gas level.
8. The system of claim 7, wherein said intrinsically safe atmospheric sensor is a wireless atmospheric sensor.
9. The system of claim 7, wherein said intrinsically safe atmospheric sensor is in communication with the hub cable driver by a communication cable, and wherein the intrinsically safe atmospheric sensor is further configured to receive power from the hub cable driver via the communication cable.
10. A system for tracking personnel and equipment in a hazardous environment, comprising:
a plurality of tracking tags, each tracking tag for periodically transmitting a radio message containing a unique tracking tag ID, each tracking tag for being attached to a different person or piece of equipment present in the hazardous environment, each tracking tag being intrinsically safe;
an intrinsically safe reader system including a hub cable driver and a plurality of intrinsically safe antennas connected to the hub cable driver and to each other by communication cables in a redundant connective infrastructure topology, each antenna being located in said hazardous environment for receiving radio messages from nearby tracking tags, determining a signal strength value of each received radio message, sending a tag data message for each received radio message to the hub cable driver, each tag data message including the received radio message, an antenna ID of the receiving antenna, and the signal strength value;
a server database; and
a server including:
a server module for receiving tag data messages from said hub cable driver, determining a location of each tracking tag by determining the antenna receiving the radio message having a highest signal strength value;
a manager module for maintaining a live tag data table in said server database, the live tag data table containing current location data for each tracking tag; and
a view module for generating a display of a current location of each tracking tag on a map of at least a portion of the hazardous environment, and for generating selected displays of data for each tracking tag.
11. The system of claim 10, further comprising at least one atmospheric sensor in communication with the hub cable driver; wherein said server further includes a sensor data shared memory.
12. The system of claim 10, further comprising a monitor module for providing e-mail support for database reports and status notifications.
13. The system of claim 12, wherein the monitor module is further for reading and processing commands contained in e-mail messages received from an e-mail server.
14. The system of claim 10, further comprising a key module for providing a means to control licensing based a number of antennas and tracking tags permitted.
15. The system of claim 10, further comprising an OPC module for allowing OPC access to the server by external clients.
16. The system of claim 10, wherein the view module is further for setting an alarm to sound if a tracking tag known to leave a detectable vicinity of the intrinsically safe reader system does not reappear in the detectable vicinity of the intrinsically safe reader system in a predetermined amount of time.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A system for measuring the effectiveness of a mobile advertising campaign using a first mobile terminal having a display configured to display data when positioned proximately at the ear of a user, comprising:
a server configured to:
communicate an advertisement to the first mobile terminal for presentation on the display so as to be visible to at least one viewer other than the user;
communicate a coupon to the first mobile terminal for transmission to a second mobile terminal; and
receive data indicative of whether the at least one viewer redeems the coupon; and
a database configured to store data indicative of whether the at least one viewer redeems the coupon.
2. The system of claim 1, wherein the coupon comprises data identifying the user of the first mobile terminal.
3. The system of claim 2, the stored data comprises the data identifying the user.
4. The system of claim 3, wherein storing data indicative of whether the at least one viewer redeems the coupon comprises the data identifying the user.
5. The system of claim 4, wherein storing data indicative of whether the at least one viewer redeems the coupon comprises storing the data identifying the user.
6. The system of claim 1, wherein communicating an advertisement to the first mobile terminal comprises identifying the advertisement based at least in part on the location of the first mobile terminal.
7. The system of claim 1, wherein the server is further configured to:
determine a value for providing the advertisement based at least in part on the location of the mobile terminal;
provide the advertisement based at least in part on the value.
8. The system of claim 7, wherein the value is based in part on the local time at the first mobile terminal.
9. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the advertisement comprises selecting the advertisement.
10. The method of claim 9, wherein the advertisement is selected at least in part based on the location of the mobile terminal.
11. The method of claim 9, wherein the advertisement is selected at least in part based on the day of the week at the location of the mobile terminal.
12. A method of measuring the effectiveness of a mobile advertising campaign using a first mobile terminal having a display configured to display data when positioned proximately to the ear of a user, comprising:
communicating an advertisement to the first mobile terminal for presentation on the display so as to be visible to at least one viewer other than the user;
communicating a coupon to the first mobile terminal for transmission to a second mobile terminal;
receiving an indication of whether the at least one viewer redeems the coupon; and
storing an indication of whether the at least one viewer redeems the coupon.
13. The method of claim 12, wherein the coupon comprises data identifying the user of the first mobile terminal.
14. The method of claim 13, the stored indication comprises the data identifying the user.
15. The method of claim 14, wherein storing an indication of whether the at least one viewer redeems the coupon comprises storing the data identifying the user.
16. The method of claim 12, wherein communicating an advertisement to the first mobile terminal comprises identifying the advertisement based at least in part on the location of the first mobile terminal.
17. The method of claim 12, wherein communicating an advertisement to the first mobile terminal comprises:
determining a value for providing the advertisement based at least in part on the location of the mobile terminal;
providing the advertisement based at least in part on the value.
18. The method of claim 17, wherein the value is based in part on the local time at the first mobile terminal.
19. The method of claim 17, wherein providing the advertisement comprises selecting the advertisement.
20. The method of claim 19, wherein the advertisement is selected at least in part based on the location of the mobile terminal.
21. The method of claim 19, wherein the advertisement is selected at least in part based on the day of the week at the location of the mobile terminal.
22. A method of providing incentives to a user of a mobile terminal, the method comprising:
providing at least one advertisement for display on the mobile terminal;
providing at least one coupon associated with the advertisement to the mobile terminal for communication to other mobile terminals;
storing data indicative of redemption of the at least one coupon; and
providing incentives to the user of the mobile terminal based on the data indicative of redemption.
23. The method of claim 22, further comprising:
determining a value for providing the at least one advertisement based at least in part on the location of the mobile terminal;
providing the at least one advertisement based at least in part on the value.
24. A system for providing incentives to a user of a mobile terminal, the method comprising:
means for providing at least one advertisement for display on the mobile terminal;
means for providing at least one coupon associated with the advertisement to the mobile terminal for communication to other mobile terminals;
means for storing data indicative of redemption of the at least one coupon; and
means for providing incentives to the user of the mobile terminal based on the data indicative of redemption.
25. The system of claim 24, further comprising:
means for determining a value for providing the at least one advertisement based at least in part on the location of the mobile terminal;
means for providing the at least one advertisement based at least in part on the value.