Method and system for tracking

Abstract

A system for tracking using electronic addresses is disclosed. The system stores an identification code, an electronic address, and a counter. The electronic address is made up of either single values or pairs of single values. A pair of single values for at least one of value of the counter is made up of a pseudonumber and a unique address value. The pseudonumber is able to be disentangled to produce a second pair of single values for a different value of the counter, thereby producing a tracking history.

1 - 29 . (canceled) 
     
     
         30 . A method of tracking an object, comprising the steps of:
 receiving aggregated tracking data at a device, wherein the aggregated tracking data includes at least a pseudonumber and a counter, the pseudonumber representing reversibly combined plurality of addresses and the counter indicating a number of reversibly combined plurality of addresses; and   decoding the pseudonumber at the device using the counter to produce an output of each of the plurality of addresses that was previously reversibly combined thereby providing a tracking history of addresses that an object traversed.   
     
     
         31 . The method of  claim 30 , wherein the decoding step decodes the pseudonumber to produce a plurality of addresses representing logical or physical addresses. 
     
     
         32 . The method of  claim 30 , wherein the decoding step decodes the pseudonumber to produce an Internet Protocol (IP) address or a media access control (MAC) address. 
     
     
         33 . The method of  claim 30 , wherein the decoding step decodes the pseudonumber to produce a global positioning system (GPS) coordinate or a longitude-latitude coordinate. 
     
     
         34 . The method of  claim 30 , wherein in the decoding step the counter controls the decoding sequence of the reversibly combined plurality of addresses. 
     
     
         35 . The method of  claim 30 , wherein the receiving step receives the aggregated tracking data using a radio frequency identification (RFID) technology. 
     
     
         36 . The method of  claim 30 , wherein the step of receiving aggregated tracking data at a device receives the aggregated tracking data at a computer system. 
     
     
         37 . A system that includes the method of  claim 30 . 
     
     
         38 . A digital rights management system that includes the method of  claim 30 . 
     
     
         39 . The method of  claim 30 , wherein the step of receiving aggregate tracking data includes receiving an identification (ID) of an object for which the pseudonumber and counter are associated. 
     
     
         40 . A method for tracking movement of an object, the method comprising:
 a) storing in a memory an address identifying a first location of an object and initializing a counter;   b) recognizing an address identifying a second location that the object is present and counting the second location using the counter;   c) reversibly combining at least a subset of the address identifying the first location and at least a subset of the address identifying the second location to produce a aggregated address in the memory;   d) recognizing an address identifying any subsequent location that the object is present and counting the any subsequent location using the counter;   e) reversibly combining the aggregated address and at least a subset of the address identifying the any subsequent location to update the aggregated address so that the aggregated address represents in a reversibly compressed format all addresses of all locations the object has been present; and   f) repeating steps d) and e) for any subsequent location thereby tracking movement of the object by permitting disentanglement of the aggregated address to provide an identity of every location the object has been present.   
     
     
         41 . The method of  claim 40 , wherein the aggregated address comprises a pseudonumber. 
     
     
         42 . The method of  claim 40 , wherein the reversibly compressed format encodes at least a pair of addresses, each address representing a different address. 
     
     
         43 . The method of  claim 40 , wherein any address is an Internet Protocol (IP) address or a media access control (MAC) address. 
     
     
         44 . The method of  claim 40 , wherein any address represents a global positioning system (GPS) coordinate or a longitude-latitude coordinate. 
     
     
         45 . The method of  claim 40 , wherein any step of recognizing an address includes recognizing a respective address conveyed by radio frequency identification (RFID) technology. 
     
     
         46 . The method of  claim 40 , wherein the storing step further stores an identification (ID) of the object. 
     
     
         47 . The method of  claim 40 , wherein the object is a physical object. 
     
     
         48 . The method of  claim 47 , wherein the memory is associated with the physical object. 
     
     
         49 . The method of  claim 40 , wherein the object is an electronic data object. 
     
     
         50 . A system that includes the method of  claim 40 . 
     
     
         51 . A digital rights management system that includes the method of  claim 40 . 
     
     
         52 . The method of  claim 40 , further comprising the step of generating an output based on the aggregated address and the counter by disentangling the aggregated address to provide an identity of every location for tracking the movement of the object.