System and method for distributed storage management

• US 20040144842A1
• Filed: 01/24/2003
• Published: 07/29/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 01/24/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Connors, Timothy S., Brignone, Cyril, Pradhan, Salil
• Granted Patent: US 6,817,522 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/385
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders

Abstract

A system and method is disclosed for distributed storage management. The system discloses: an item storage device, including a set of items: an item identification module, for collecting raw data from the set of items located within the item storage device; a processing module, proximate to the item storage device, for summarizing a predetermined subset of the raw data; a memory module, for storing selected system data; and a communications module, for transmitting the summarized data. The method of the present invention discloses: collecting raw data from a set of items located within an item storage device; summarizing a predetermined subset of the raw data with a processing module proximate to the item storage device; storing selected system data; and transmitting the summarized data.

Claims

1. A system for storage management, comprising:

an item storage device, including a set of items;

an item identification module, for collecting raw data from the set of items located within the item storage device;

a processing module, proximate to the item storage device, for summarizing a predetermined subset of the raw data;

a memory module, for storing selected system data; and

a communications module, for transmitting the summarized data.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the item storage device further includes a set of storage areas each hosting a sub-set of the set of items.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the item storage device further includes a set of shelves each holding a set of goods.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the item storage device further includes a set of shelves each holding a set of document files.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the item storage device further includes a set of shelves each holding a set of library books.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the item identification module further includes a tag reader for scanning the item storage device for a set of item tags.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein:

the set of item tags include an item-ID.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the item-ID is a Model-ID.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the item-ID is a Serial-ID.

10. The system of claim 6, wherein:

the set of item tags include a current item location and a previous item location.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the item identification module further includes a RFID tag reader for scanning the item storage device for a set of RFID tags.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the communications module includes a wireless communication device.

13. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a first sensing device for determining the item storage device'"'"'s current location within a predefined coordinate system.

14. The system of claim 13, further comprising:

a second sensing device operating in conjunction with the first sensing device for determining the item storage device'"'"'s current orientation with respect to the predefined coordinate system.

15. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a location sensing device for determining the item storage device'"'"'s current location within a predefined coordinate system; and

a orientation sensing device for determining the item storage device'"'"'s current orientation with respect to the predefined coordinate system.

16. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a set of sensors selected to monitor a set of environmental parameters affecting the set of items.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the memory module stores selected raw data.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein the memory module stores selected summarized data.

19. A method for storage management, comprising:

collecting raw data from a set of items located within an item storage device;

summarizing a predetermined subset of the raw data with a processing module proximate to the item storage device;

storing selected system data; and

transmitting the summarized data.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the transmitting element includes:

broadcasting a greeting message to a set of item storage devices within a predetermined distance of the item storage device.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising:

self-assembling the item storage devices into a network, based on responses to the greeting message.

22. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

identifying a location and orientation of the item storage device with respect to a predefined coordinate system.

23. The method of claim 19 wherein the summarizing element includes:

associating time-tags with the raw data collected from the set of items.

24. The method of claim 19 wherein the collecting element includes:

scanning item tags, affixed to the set of items, for each item'"'"'s Model-ID and Serial-ID.

25. The method of claim 19 wherein the collecting element includes:

scanning a current item location field with an item tag on an item;

comparing a value of the current item location field with a value in a current item storage device location field;

copying the value in the current item location field to a previous item location field within the item tag; and

storing the value of the current item storage device location field in the current item location field.

26. The method of claim 19 wherein the transmitting element includes:

transmitting an alarm due to an out of tolerance condition.

27. The method of claim 19 wherein the transmitting element includes:

transmitting an alarm when an item is no longer within the item storage device.

28. The method of claim 19 further comprising:

responding to data mining queries.

29. The method of claim 28:

wherein the responding element includes, reporting item storage device location and orientation; and

further comprising, generating a map of all storage device locations and orientations with respect to a predefined coordinate system.

30. The method of claim 28:

wherein the responding element includes, reporting an item location for each of the set of items; and

further comprising, generating an inventory of all items within a predefined coordinate system.

31. A system for storage management comprising:

means for collecting raw data from a set of items located within an item storage device;

means for summarizing a predetermined subset of the raw data with a processing module proximate to the item storage device;

means for storing selected system data; and

means for transmitting the summarized data.

32. The system of claim 31, further comprising:

means for self-assembling the item storage devices into a network.

33. The system of claim 31, further comprising:

means for identifying a location and orientation of the item storage device with respect to a predefined coordinate system.